Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Carstares or Carstairs, William, 1649–1715, Scottish statesman and Presbyterian divine. While studying theology at Utrecht, he became a friend of William of Orange (later William III of England). He...

(Encyclopedia) Hudson, Henry, fl. 1607–11, English navigator and explorer. He was hired (1607) by the English Muscovy Company to find the Northeast Passage to Asia. He failed, and another attempt (1608) to find a ...

(Encyclopedia) Tazewell, Littleton Walter tăzˈwəl [key], 1774–1860, American politcal leader, b. Williamsburg, Va., grad. College of William and Mary, 1792. He was admitted (1796) to the bar, practiced law in V...

(Encyclopedia) Byrde, William. For persons thus named, use Byrd, William.

(Encyclopedia) Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3d earl of rŏtˈslē [key], 1573–1624, English nobleman and patron of letters. He succeeded to his title in 1581, was educated at Cambridge, and gained favor at the ...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Sir William, 1715–74, British colonial leader in America, b. Co. Meath, Ireland. He settled (1738) in the Mohawk valley, became a merchant, and gained great power among the Mohawk and other...

(Encyclopedia) Browne, William (William Browne of Tavistock) tăvˈĭstŏkˌ [key], 1591?–1645?, English poet. An imitator of Spenser, he did his finest work in pastoral poetry, of which Britannia's Pastorals (161...

(Encyclopedia) Peacham, Henry, 1576?–1643?, English author, b. Hertfordshire, educated at Cambridge. The Compleat Gentleman (1622), his best-known work, offers his formula for the ideal Englishman. Among his other...

(Encyclopedia) Medwall, Henry, fl. 1486, first known English vernacular dramatist. He was chaplain to Cardinal Morton. His Fulgens and Lucrece (1497), whose heroine must choose between two suitors, is the earliest k...

(Encyclopedia) Wilson, Henry, 1812–75, American politician, Vice President of the United States (1873–75), b. Farmington, N.H. At 21 he legally changed his name from Jeremiah Jones Colbath, and as Henry Wilson h...