Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Wallace, Sir Richard, 1818–90, English art collector. The illegitimate son of the marquess of Hertford, he inherited in 1871 his father's superb collection of continental art, which he had helped to...

(Encyclopedia) Hodges, George, 1856–1919, American Episcopal clergyman, b. Rome, N.Y. While at Calvary Church, Pittsburgh (1881–94), he attracted attention by the quality of his preaching. He was an early expone...

(Encyclopedia) Spark, Dame Muriel, 1918–2006, Scottish novelist, b. Muriel Sarah Camberg. She lived in Edinburgh, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), London, New York, and Rome, and spent her last years in Tuscany. Spark's t...

(Encyclopedia) Ouchy o͞oshēˈ [key], village, Vaud canton, W Switzerland, on the Lake of Geneva. It is the port and shorefront of Lausanne. Ouchy is a resort and was at times the residence of Shelley and Byron. ...

(Encyclopedia) horror or horror story, literary genre in which an eerie, tense, often suspenseful atmosphere typically builds to the discovery of something repugnant, such as cannibalism, incest, or the killing of c...

(Encyclopedia) Ward, Barbara Mary, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, 1914–81, British writer. Educated at the Sorbonne and at Oxford, she joined the staff of the Economist in 1939 and became foreign editor in 1940. F...

(Encyclopedia) Wise, Thomas James, 1859–1937, English bibliographer and book collector. His famous Ashley Library of rare editions and manuscripts was acquired by the British Museum in 1937. His many bibliographie...

(Encyclopedia) Wandering Jew, in literary and popular legend, a Jew who mocked or mistreated Jesus while he was on his way to the cross and who was condemned therefore to a life of wandering on earth until Judgment ...

(Encyclopedia) Rizzio, David rĭtˈsēō [key], 1533?–1566, favorite of Mary Queen of Scots. He was a Piedmontese musician (also called Riccio) who arrived (1561) in Scotland with the ambassador from Savoy. He cam...

(Encyclopedia) Cenci, Beatrice bāˌätrēˈchā chānˈchē [key], 1577–99, Italian noblewoman, tragic figure of the late Renaissance. Her father, Francesco Cenci (1549–98), was a Roman noble noted for his vici...