Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Dwight, Theodore, 1764–1846, American author, b. Northampton, Mass.; brother of Timothy Dwight and grandson of Jonathan Edwards. A leader of the Federalist party in New England, he became famous for...

(Encyclopedia) Hopkins, Samuel, 1721–1803, American clergyman and theologian, b. Waterbury, Conn., grad. Yale, 1741. He was a leading disciple of Jonathan Edwards, whose theology was the foundation for his own sys...

(Encyclopedia) Astell, Mary ăsˈtəl [key], 1666–1731, English author and feminist. Her Serious Proposal to the Ladies (2 parts, 1694–97) offered a scheme for a women's college, an idea far in advance of the ti...

(Encyclopedia) Forster, John, 1812–76, English biographer and critic. He was influential as literary and dramatic critic of the London Examiner. His Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth (5 vol., 1836–39) e...

(Encyclopedia) swallow, common name for small perching birds of almost worldwide distribution. There are about 100 species of swallows, including the martins, which belong to the same family. Swallows have long, nar...

(Encyclopedia) water wheel, device for utilizing the power of flowing or falling water. The Norse wheel is the oldest type known. Despite its name it probably originated in the Middle East, where the swift stream re...

(Encyclopedia) Bentley, Richard, 1662–1742, English critic and philologist. Generally considered the greatest of English classical scholars, he was also an Anglican clergyman who became (1717) Regius Professor of ...

(Encyclopedia) Inn ĭn [key], river, c.320 mi (515 km) long, rising near the Lake of Sils, SE Switzerland. It flows NE through the Engadine valley, then through W Austria, past Innsbruck and Solbad Hall (the head of...

(Encyclopedia) Miller, Perry, 1905–63, U.S. historian, b. Chicago. He received his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Chicago in 1931 and taught at Harvard from 1931 until his death. A towering figure in the field of America...

(Encyclopedia) Northampton nôrthˌhămpˈtən, nôrˌthămpˈtən [key], city (1990 pop. 29,289), seat of Hampshire co., W Mass., on the Connecticut River; inc. as a town 1656, as a city 1883. Brushes, wire, optica...