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Portland, William Bentinck, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Portland, William Bentinck, 1st earl of, 1649–1709, Dutch statesman in England. He was William III's most trusted personal adviser. In 1677 he engaged in negotiating the marriage of William (then pr...

Sackville-West, Vita

(Encyclopedia)Sackville-West, Vita (Victoria Mary Sackville-West), 1892–1962, English writer; wife of Sir Harold Nicolson and granddaughter of the 2d Baron Sackville. Both she and Nicolson were members of the Blo...

Tyler, Anne

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, Anne, 1941–, American novelist, b. Minneapolis. Her witty and perceptive fiction, which is often set in the American South and frequently in and around Baltimore, portrays vivid contemporary ...

Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo

(Encyclopedia)Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo go͞ostäˈvō ädôlˈfō bāˈkĕr [key], 1836–70, Spanish poet and writer of romantic tales. Bécquer's work is considered to be among the best 19th-century lyric poetry....

purification

(Encyclopedia)purification, in religion, the ceremonial removal of what the religion deems unclean. The usual agents of purification are water (as in baptism), bodily alteration (as in circumcision), and fire. The ...

Pyramus and Thisbe

(Encyclopedia)Pyramus and Thisbe pĭrˈəməs, thĭzˈbē [key], in classical mythology, youth and maiden of Babylon, whose parents opposed their marriage. Their homes adjoined, and they conversed through a crevice...

Omri

(Encyclopedia)Omri ŏmˈrī [key]. 1 King of Israel. He was a general in the army of Elah, and on the king's death at the hands of Zimri (1,) Omri proclaimed himself king. Soon after this Zimri killed himself. Omri...

Sontag, Henriette

(Encyclopedia)Sontag, Henriette kôntĕsˈsä rôsˈsē [key], 1806–54, German operatic soprano, studied at the Prague Conservatory. In Vienna in 1823 she created the leading role in Weber's Euryanthe and in 1824...

Skram, Amalie

(Encyclopedia)Skram, Amalie ämäˈlēə skräm [key], 1846–1905, Norwegian writer. In Denmark, where she lived most of her life, Skram wrote Constance Ring (1885, tr. 1988), her first major novel and the first v...

Britannicus

(Encyclopedia)Britannicus (Claudius Tiberius Germanicus Britannicus) brĭtănˈĭkəs [key], a.d. 41?–a.d. 55, Roman prince, son of Claudius I and Messalina, so called in honor of Claudius' conquests in Britain. ...