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Watterson, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Watterson, Henry, 1840–1921, American journalist, b. Washington, D.C. Throughout most of his life he was known as “Marse Henry.” Early in life he became a Washington newspaper reporter. He serve...

Thomson, James , 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, James, 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist. He is remembered for his darkly pessimistic poem The City of Dreadful Night. He was raised in an orphan asylum and became (1851) an army teacher ...

Bellarmine, Saint Robert

(Encyclopedia)Bellarmine, Saint Robert bĕlärˈmĭn [key], 1542–1621, Italian theologian, cardinal, Doctor of the Church, and a principal influence in the Counter Reformation. His full name was Roberto Francesco...

Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth

(Encyclopedia)Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth ālēzäbĕtˈ vēzhāˈ-ləbröNˈ [key], 1755–1842, French portrait painter; pupil of her father, the painter Louis Vigée. She was influenced by Greuze. Summoned to Vers...

Willard, Emma

(Encyclopedia)Willard, Emma, 1787–1870, American educator, pioneer in woman's education, b. Emma Hart in Berlin, Conn. She attended and later taught in the local academy and in 1807 took charge of the Female Acad...

Plata, Río de la

(Encyclopedia)Plata, Río de la rēˈō ᵺā lä pläˈtä [key], estuary, c.170 mi (270 km) long, SE South America, formed by the Paraná and Uruguay rivers. Between Argentina and Uruguay, the estuary is c.120 mi...

Pérez Galdós, Benito

(Encyclopedia)Pérez Galdós, Benito bānēˈtō pāˈrĕth gäldōsˈ [key], 1843–1920, Spanish novelist and dramatist, b. Canary Islands. At 20 he went to Madrid, where he spent most of his adult life. For his ...

basking shark

(Encyclopedia)basking shark, large, plankton-feeding shark, Cetorhinus maximus, inhabiting many oceans of the world, especially in temperate regions. Found singly or in schools of up to 100, it spends much of its t...

Shapiro, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Shapiro, Karl, 1913–2000, American poet and critic, b. Baltimore, studied Univ. of Virginia, Johns Hopkins. His interests in the aesthetics and artifice of modern poetry and the role of the poet as ...

García Márquez, Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)García Márquez, Gabriel gäbrēĕlˈ gärsēˈä märˈkās [key], 1927–2014, Colombian novelist, short-story writer, and journalist, b. Aracataca. Widely considered one of the great Latin America...
 

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