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Langland, William

(Encyclopedia)Langland, William, c.1332–c.1400, putative author of Piers Plowman. He was born probably at Ledbury near the Welsh marshes and may have gone to school at Great Malvern Priory. Although he took minor...

Kirby, William

(Encyclopedia)Kirby, William, 1817–1906, Canadian author, b. England. He was a journalist and civil servant. Besides volumes of verse and tales, he wrote The Golden Dog (1877), also published as Le Chien d'or (18...

Laud, William

(Encyclopedia)Laud, William, 1573–1645, archbishop of Canterbury (1633–45). He studied at St. John's College, Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1601. From the beginning Laud showed his hostility to Puritanis...

Law, William

(Encyclopedia)Law, William, 1686–1761, English clergyman, noted for his controversial, devotional, and mystical writings. One of the nonjurors, Law was deprived of his fellowship in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, a...

Kidd, William

(Encyclopedia)Kidd, William, 1645?–1701, British privateer and pirate, known as Captain Kidd. He went to sea in his youth and later settled in New York, where he married and owned property. In 1691 he was rewarde...

Lamb, William

(Encyclopedia)Lamb, William: see Melbourne, William Lamb, 2d Viscount. ...

Painter, William

(Encyclopedia)Painter, William, 1540?–1594, English translator. His Palace of Pleasure (1566–67)—a collection of translations from Boccaccio, the Heptameron, and many other sources—was drawn upon by Shakesp...

Paley, William

(Encyclopedia)Paley, William, 1743–1805, English theologian. Ordained in 1767, he lectured on moral philosophy at Christ's College, Cambridge. Made a prebendary of the cathedral church of Carlisle (1780), he beca...

Parsons, William

(Encyclopedia)Parsons, William: see Rosse, William Parsons, 3d earl of. ...

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