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Keane, John, Lord, a distinguished military officer, was born at Belmount, County of Waterford, 1781. He entered the army when but twelve, obtained a company in the 44th Foot in 1799, and served in Egypt and at Martinique. In 1812 he was appointed to the command of a brigade in the Peninsular army, and signalized himself by his prudence and bravery at Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthez, and Toulouse. At the peace of 1814 he was made a major-general; was afterwards sent out to a command in the war with America, and was severely wounded at the battle of New Orleans. From 1823 to 1830 he was Commander-in-chief in Jamaica; three years afterwards he was sent to Bombay, and appointed to lead the forces intended for Scinde. The army entered Cabul in May 1839, and on 21st July invested the fortress of Ghuznee, garrisoned by 500 Afghans, and deemed impregnable. After two days' desperate struggle, however, the gates were blown in and the place captured. The fall of Ghuznee terminated the war for a time. Marshman, in his History of India, writes: "There can, of course, be no wish in any quarter to deny that he commanded the forces of the Queen and the Company on more than one occasion when brilliant victories were achieved; but it cannot be concealed that no commander of modern times has been more severely criticized, and that the memorable victory of Ghuznee did not obtain for Lord Keane that unqualified approbation which conquests of equal magnitude usually procure for the General Commander-in-chief. We find him much censured for the hauteur with which he treated the Ameers of Scinde, and there are not wanting many persons who attribute the fatal difficulties into which those unfortunate princes plunged themselves to the open suspicion and irritating manner with which they were treated about this period." He was rewarded with a peerage and a pension of £2,000 a year. Baron Keane died 26th August 1844, aged about 63.

Keating, Geoffrey, D.D., a distinguished Irish historian, was born about 1570, at Burges or Tubbrid, near Clogheen, in the County of Tipperary, where, we are told, his family lived in affluent circumstances. He went to school at an early age, and at sixteen was sent to a foreign college (in all possibility Salamanca) to complete his studies and qualify himself for the priesthood. He returned to Ireland in 1610, after twenty-four years' residence abroad, and was appointed curate to the Rev. Eugene Duhy in his native parish. His fame as a preacher soon extended; and the building of a new church at Tubbrid engaged his care. About this period he produced some religious works, and conceived the idea of collecting materials and writing an Irish history. In one of the seasons of Catholic persecution which then occasionally swept over Ireland, when laws, always in force, were attempted to be carried out, he was obliged to secrete himself for many years in the fastnesses of the Glen of Aherlow, and thus found leisure for the completion of his great work. According to one account, the Uniformity Act was put in force specially against him, for having dared to protest against outrages perpetrated upon some of his flock by a neighbouring magnate. O'Curry, speaking of Keating's History of Ireland, which was written in Irish, says: "This book is written in the modified Gaedhlic of Keating's own time; and although he has used but little discretion in his selections from old records, and has almost entirely neglected any critical examination of his authorities, still his book is a valuable one, and not at all in my opinion the despicable production that it is often ignorantly said to be... It would be more becoming those who have drawn largely, and often exclusively, on the writings of these two eminent men [Colgan and Keating], and who will continue to draw on them, to endeavour to imitate their devoted industry and scholarship, than to attempt to elevate themselves to a higher position of literary fame by a display of critical pedantry and what they suppose to be independence of opinion, in scoffing at the presumed credulity of those whose labours have laid in modern times the very groundwork of Irish history." Keating's History extends from the earliest times to the Anglo-Norman invasion. It is specially valuable as containing numerous references to MSS. no longer in existence. Of Dr. Keating's later life or death no record remains, except an inscription on the ruins of the old church at Tubbrid: "Orate pro animabus Rev. Paetris Eugenii Duhuy, Vicarii de Tubrid, et D. Doctoris Keating, hujuscesac elli fundatorum nec non et pro omnibus aliis, tam sacerdotibus quam laicis, cujus corpora in eodem jacent. A.D. 1644." His Foras Feasa ar Eirinn was first trans­ lated into English and printed in 1723. References to some of the numerous translations will be found in Notes and Queries, 2nd Series, and the following remarks on the different editions of the work were made by Dr. Todd, in his Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaell: "The new translation of Keating's History of Ireland, lately published at New York (Haverty, 1857) by Mr John O'Mahony, … largely indebted to O'Donovan's notes upon the Four Masters,.. is a great improvement upon the ignorant and dishonest one published by Mr. Dermid O'Connor more than a century ago (Westminster, 1726, fol.) which has so unjustly lowered, in public estimation, the character of Keating as a historian; but O'Mahony's translation has been taken from a very imperfect text, and has evidently been executed, as he himself confesses, in great haste; it has, therefore, by no means superseded a new and scholarlike translation of Keating, which is greatly wanted. Keating's authorities are still almost all accessible to us, and should be collated for the correction of his text. Two excellent MS. copies of the original Irish, by John Torna O'Mulconry, a contemporary of Keating, are now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin."

Keegan, John, the author of several poetical pieces of great beauty, was born in 1809, on the banks of the Nore, in the Queen's County. He received a hedge- school education, and was all through life essentially a man of the people. In a short notice in the Irishman of October 1876, it is remarked: "All the different phases of Irish passion - the fierce outbursts of anger - the muttered tone of contempt - all the deep and heart-rendering sorrow of the people - John Keegan was master of all! Not a side of the Irish character was there that he did not probe and understand. From the sweet mood of love murmured in the eventide over the milk-pail, to the violent words of animosity at the faction fight, there was not a page of the Irish character that escaped the keen eye of Keegan." Several of his verses will be found in Hayes's Ballads of Ireland: “Caoch the Piper," and "The Dark Girl at the Holy Well," are amongst the best. Keegan died in 1849, aged 40, when on the point of publishing his poems in a collected form.

Kelly, Hugh, a dramatist, was born at Killarney in 1739. Having received a tolerable education, and served his time to a stay-maker, he went to London, where before long he obtained employment as a scrivener. In 1762 he began to write for the press, and was entrusted with the management of the Ledger and other minor periodicals. His satire of Thespis attracted the attention of Garrick, who brought out for him his first comedy of False Delicacy, which had great success. A writer in the University Magazine says: "We may thank our stars that the degeneracy of modern taste has utterly repudiated this vapid sentimentality. At the same time let it be fully admitted that none but an accomplished and elegant mind could have conceived and written this comedy." His second work, although of equal merit, met a far different fate, in London at least. Kelly had rendered himself unpopular as a government hack- writer, and for several nights Drury-lane was turned into a "bear-garden" by the determination of Wilkes's friends not to listen to the play, and the wish of the author's friends that it should be heard; while the desire of Garrick and Kelly that it should be withdrawn was not listened to. Kelly brought out several other plays, many under an assumed name, and they were mostly successful. The writer from whom we have previously quoted, remarks: "On summing up his pretensions as a dramatic writer, we perhaps strain a point in his favour when we place him in the middle rank of the second class." It must have been a bitter enemy who when asked if he had hissed one of his plays, replied: "How could I? a man can't hiss and yawn at the same time." Desirous of more settled employment than authorship, he entered at the Middle Temple, and was studying law when he was cut off after a few days' illness, 3rd February 1777, aged 37.

Kelly, Michael, distinguished as a musician and vocalist, was born in Dublin about 1764. He early showed decided musical talents, and when but eleven was able to play the most difficult sonatas on the piano. Rauzzini, who was then singing at the Rotunda, gave the lad some lessons, and advised his father to send him to Italy to perfect his musical education. Accordingly he set out provided with a letter of introduction to Sir William Hamilton, who procured an entrance for him to the Conservatory of Music at Naples. There he made the acquaintance of Aprile, then the foremost singing master in Naples, and was soon qualified to make his debut as first tenor at Leghorn and at Florence. This success procured him engagements at Venice and other places in Italy, and ultimately at Vienna, where he became a favourite with the Emperor Joseph II. Mozart wrote for him the part of "Basilio" in Nozzi di Figaro. Having obtained leave of absence from the Emperor, he went to London in 1787 with the cantatrice Storace, and in April appeared at Drury-lane in English opera. He decided not to return to Italy, and continued as first tenor at Drury-lane, and afterwards as musical director, singing occasionally at the Italian Opera, at the Haymarket, and at royal state concerts. He composed or adapted upwards of sixty pieces of music. In his latter days he appears to have reverted to his father's business of wine merchant, and Sheridan facetiously proposed that his sign should be: "Michael Kelly, composer of wine, and importer of music." A writer in the Imperial Dictionary of Biography remarks: "Kelly, though a shallow musician, had a highly cultivated taste. His own airs, though slight, are always elegant; and his knowledge of the Italian and German schools, not very general among the English musicians of his day, enabled him to enrich his pieces with many gems of foreign art. The popularity, therefore, of Kelly's numerous pieces had a very favourable influence on the taste of the public. As a singer, his powers were by no means great; but his intelligence, experience, and know­ ledge of the stage rendered him very useful." He died at Margate, 9th October 1826. His Reminiscences of the King's Theatre and Theatre Royal, Drury-lane, was published posthumously in 1826, in 2 Vols. 8vo.

Kennedy, Patrick, was born in the County of Wexford early in 1801. In 1823, although a Catholic, he came to Dublin as assistant at the Protestant Training School, Kildare-place. After a few years he established the small lending-library and bookshop in Anglesea-street (corner of Cope-street), where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a man of considerable ability, and contributed several articles to the pages of the University Magazine. The best of these, Legends of the Irish Celts, Tales of the Duffrey, Banks of the Boro, were afterwards published separately. In the graphic delineation of Irish rural life, as he experienced it when a boy in the County of Wexford, he has seldom been surpassed. His works are singularly pure, and he cramped his prospects in trade by declining to lend or deal in works that he considered of an objectionable tendency. For many years the committees of the Hibernian Temperance Association and kindred bodies were held at his house. Mr. Kennedy was widely known and respected by the literary world of Dublin. He died 28th March 1873, aged about 72, and was buried at Glasnevin.

Kenney, James, a dramatic author, was born in Ireland in 1780. The University Magazine, vol. 47, which gives a careful resume of his writings, says: "Tragedy, play, comedy, opera, farce, interlude, and melodrama alternately employed his pen, which was seldom idle for forty years, during which long period he produced as many different pieces, the greater number of which are eminently attractive, and still keep the stage with undiminished popularity." Love, Law, and Physic; Matrimony; The World; The Illustrious Stranger - were amongst the best of his works. For these he was well paid, yet he died in poverty 1st August 1849, aged about 69, his health having been for a long time broken. He suffered cruelly from a nervous affection which gave him such an eccentric appearance that he was more than once taken for an escaped lunatic. Byron, who evidently had a low estimate of him, wrote thus: "While Kenney's World-ah! where is Kenney's wit? Tires the sad gallery, lulls the listless pit."

Kenrick, Francis Patrick, Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, was born in Dublin, 3rd December 1797. He received a classical education, and after six years of theological study at Rome, was in 1821 ordained a priest. He then went to the United States, and conducted a school in Kentucky. In 1828 he published Letters of Omicron to Omega in defence of his religion. In 1842 he was consecrated Bishop of Philadelphia, and in 1851 was promoted Archbishop of Baltimore. The Pope named him Apostolic Delegate to preside over the first plenary Council of the United States, convened at Baltimore in May 1852, and in 1859 conferred on him and his successors the Primacy of the United States. He was the author of numerous theological works, and was latterly engaged upon a revised English translation of the Scriptures. Primate Kenrick died at Baltimore, 8th July 1863, aged 65. His brother Peter, also an Irishman, was in 1843 consecrated Archbishop of St. Louis.

K'eogh, John, D.D., a learned divine, born at Clooncleagh, near Limerick, the middle of the 17th century. His family, originally MacEochadhs, lost their property in the Cromwellian wars. He entered Trinity College in 1669, was a scholar in 1674, and M.A. 1678. Taking orders, he was, by his relative John Hudson, Bishop of Elphin, given a living in that diocese; and was collated and installed prebendary of Termonbarry in 1678. There he continued forty-seven years, until his death, devoting himself to literary pursuits. He is said to have been the author of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin grammars, and other learned works. His biographer in Walker's Magazine (1778) writes: "He also wrote a demonstration of the Trinity in Latin verse; he has been often heard to say, that it was as plain to him as two and three made five; this performance was shown to Sir Isaac Newton, who seemed to approve mightily of it. He wrote many other books which were destroyed by an accidental fire that happened at his dwelling house near Strokestown... Although the Doctor had a very numerous issue, not less than twenty-one children, males and females, yet he never would take tythe from a poor man." His numerous writings still remain unpublished. His eldest son, John K'eogh, D.D., was the author of Botanologia Hibernica (Cork, 1735), containing a list of medicinal plants growing in Ireland, with their names in Irish, English, and Latin; also Zoologia Medicinalis Hibernica (little in accord with modern medical science), and a Vindication of the Antiquities of Ireland (Dub. 1748), in which last he gives an account of his family.

Keogh, John, the prominent Catholic leader, a Dublin merchant, was born in 1740. In his own words, he "devoted near thirty years of his life for the purpose of breaking the chains of his countrymen;" and his mansion at Mount Jerome was long the rallying point for discussion and organization upon all questions relating to Emancipation. Although he did not involve himself in the revolutionary plots of the United Irishmen, he was the ardent friend and confidant of many of them. Tone thus writes: "I can scarcely promise myself ever to see him again, and I can sincerely say that one of the greatest pleasures which I anticipated in case of our success was the society of Mount Jerome, where I have spent many happy days, and some of them serviceable to the country. It was there that he and I used to frame our papers and manifestoes. It was there we drew up the petition and vindication of the Catholics which produced such powerful effects both in England and Ireland." Henry Grattan, Junior, says: "He was the ablest man of the Catholic body; he had a powerful understanding, and few men of that class were superior in intellect, or even equal to him. His mind was strong and his head was clear; he possessed judgment and discretion, and had the art to unite and bring men forward on a hazardous enterprise, and at a critical moment. He did more for the Roman Catholics than any other individual of that body. To his exertions the meeting of the Convention [held at the Tailors' Hall, Back-lane, 2nd December 1792] was principally owing, and their success in procuring the elective franchise. He had the merit of raising a party, and bringing out the Catholic people. Before his time they were nothing; their bishops were servile, and Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, though an excellent man, was under the influence of the Castle... At the outset of life he [Keogh] had been in business, and began as an humble trades­ man. He contrived to get into the Catholic Committee, and instantly formed a plan to destroy the aristocratic part, and introduce the democratic. He wrote, he published, he harangued, and strove to kindle some spirit among the people... When Keogh went to London [as a delegate of the Catholics in 1792] he was introduced to Mr. Burke, who liked him, and said that he possessed parts that were certain to raise him in the world. The account of that mission afforded Mr. Burke and Mr. Grattan much amusement - seeing Keogh and the other delegates on their journey to London, admitted to the first court in Europe, going in great state, and making a splendid appearance... He was highly delighted with his position, looked very grand and very vain - he seemed to soar above all those he had left in Ireland. But when he returned home he had too much good sense to preserve his grandeur; he laid aside his court wig and his court manner, and only retained his Irish feelings." The Act of 33 George III. c. 21, passed mainly through his instrumentality and that of the committee emanating from the Catholic Convention of 2nd December 1792, enabled Catholics to vote for members of Parliament; admitted them to the outer Bar; enabled them to vote for municipal officers; permitted them to carry arms, provided they possessed a certain freehold and personal estate, and took oaths, neither of which were necessary for Protestants; allowed them to serve on juries; admitted them, under certain restrictions, to hold military and naval commissions, some of the higher grades being excepted. Most of these privileges were subject to the taking a humiliating oath; and the term “Papist or Roman Catholic" was used all through the Act. The Bill (given in full in Mitchel's History of Ireland) received the royal assent on 9th April 1793. A clause admitting Catholics to sit in Parliament was defeated by 136 to 69. The passage of this Act was, however, followed by the Convention Act (33 George III. c. 29), passed on 29th September, by 128 to 27, which has ever since prevented the holding in Ireland of assemblies such as those of Dungannon, the Rotunda, and the Catholic Convention. John Keogh died in Dublin, 13th November 1817, aged 77, and was buried in St. Kevin's churchyard, under a stone he had erected to his father and mother; and where eight years later his wife was laid.

Kettle, Dame Alice, a reputed witch, resident in Kilkenny in the 14th century, to whom frequent references are made in the history of the Pale. One of the Camden Society's publications, for 1843, is devoted to full consideration of her strange history. It quotes the following short account of her career from Holinshed's Chronicle of Ireland, under date 1323. It may be premised that she was four times married - to William Outlaw (a Kilkenny banker), Adam le Blound, Richard de Valle, and John le Poer. Her favourite son, William, was a banker. Seeing that the proceedings against her were not followed up in England, it is possible they had their origin either in jealousy of her wealth, or in some dispute with the Church. "In these daies lived in the diocese of Ossorie the lady Alice Kettle, whom the Bishop asscited to purge herselfe of the fame of inchantment and witchcraft imposed unto hir, and to one Petronill and Basill hir complices. She was charged to have nightlie conference with a spirit called Robert Artisson, to whom she sacrificed in the high waie nine red cocks and nine peacock's eies... At the first conviction they abjured and did penance, but shortlie after they were found in relapse, and then was Petronill burnt at Kilkennie, the other twaine might not be heard of. She at the hour of hir death accused the said William [the Dame's son] as privie to their sorceries, whome the bishop held in durance nine weeks, forbidding his keepers to eat or to drink with him, or to speake to him more than once in the daie. But at length, through the sute and instance of Arnold le Powre then seneschall of Kilkennie, he was delivered, and after corrupted with bribes the seneschall to persecute the bishop; so that he thurst him into prison for three moneths. In rifling the closet of the ladie, they found a wafer of sacramental bread, having the devil's name stamped thereon in ested of Jesus Christ, and a pipe of ointment, wherewith she greased a staffe, upon which she ambled and gallopped through thicke and thin, when and in what manner she listed. This businesse about these witches troubled all the state of Irelande the more, for that the ladie was supported by certeine of the nobilitie, and lastlie conveied over into England, since which time it could never be understood what became of hir."

Keugh, Matthew, Governor of Wexford during its occupation by the insurgents in 1798, was born in Ireland about 1744, entered the army, served during the American war, and rose to be Captain- Lieutenant. At the breaking out of the insurrection he was living upon his property in the town of Wexford. For revolutionary proclivities he had been deprived of the commission of the peace in 1796. His appearance is thus described by Musgrave: "He was about five feet nine inches high, and rather robust. His countenance was comely, his features were large and indicative of an active, intelligent mind. Joined to a very happy and persuasive manner of expressing himself, he had an engaging address and great affability of manner." Upon the occupation of Wexford by the insurgents on 30th May 1798, he was appointed Military Governor of the town. Though his power was much limited by the passions and prejudices of the people, he spared no endeavours to secure the safety of such of the royalists as remained. But he was not able to prevent the piking on the bridge on 20th June, of 97 out of the 260 royalist prisoners, against whom charges were brought of previous insults or wrongs against the peasantry. When Wexford was reoccupied by the military two days afterwards. Captain Keugh and others of the leaders remained, under the impression that their lives would be spared. He was, however, with many others, immediately brought to a drumhead trial. He made an able and manly defence, "during the whole of which," says Musgrave, "he was cool and deliberate, and so eloquent and pathetick as to excite the most tender emotions in the breasts of his auditors. Lord Kingsborough, Mr. Lehunte, and other respectable witnesses proved that he acted on all occasions with singular humanity, and endeavoured to prevent the effusion of blood; and that they owed their lives to his active interference." He was executed on the bridge on 25th June-suffering with dignity and composure. His body was thrown into the river, and his head placed on the Court­ house.

Kidd, William Lodge, M.D., a distinguished medical practitioner, was born at Thornhill, in the County of Armagh, 16th December 1784. His early life was spent at sea as a navy surgeon during the French war. In the Raleigh, Polorus, and Bacchante he saw much active service. In 1816 he retired on half-pay, and before long entered upon extensive practice at Armagh. In November 1817 he read an important paper before the Royal Physical Society on the dreadful typhus then raging in Ireland. His exertions were untiring during the cholera year - 1832. He died 2nd April 1851, aged 66.

Kilburn, William, an artist and calico printer, was born in Capel-street, Dublin, 1st November 1745. He was the only son of an architect of some eminence, and was apprenticed to calico-printing, as a business likely to afford scope to his talent for design. Removing to London, he executed the plates for Curtis's Flora Londiniensis, engaged in calico-printing, and rapidly amassed a large fortune. He died 23rd December 1818, aged 73- Edmund Burke passed a bill through Parliament to protect Kilburn's designs from piracy.

Kilmaine, Charles Jennings, a distinguished general in the French army, was born in Dublin in 1754. In his fifteenth year he went to France, and entered the cavalry regiment of Lauzun as a private. He served under Lafayette through the American War of Independence, distinguished himself in several engagements, and was appointed Sous-Lieutenant. He returned to France with strong republican principles. Upon the breaking out of the French Revolution he contributed largely by his influence and example to keep the men of his regiment true to their colours; while, as the principal officers left the country in large numbers, the way was opened for his rapid promotion, and he soon attained to the post of Chef d'Escadron. In this capacity he served through the first campaigns of the Revolution, and fought with remarkable bravery at Jemappes (6th November 1792). In consequence of the neglect of the National Convention, his cavalry were for a time destitute of boots, saddles, carbines, pistols, and even sabres, the military chest was empty, and 6,000 horses were permitted to die of starvation. With other staff officers, he frequently supplemented out of his private means the miserable rations of his men, who with difficulty were prevented from deserting. After the defection of Dumouriez, Kilmaine adhered to the National Convention, and so ably seconded General Dampierre and the aroused energies of the country, that the army was quickly supplied with all necessaries, and discipline was re-established. He took a leading part in the engagements of the army of the north with the Allies; and escaped the fate of many of the leading commanders, only to be thrown into a Paris dungeon. By the influence of the more extreme revolutionary party, Kilmaine recovered his liberty after the fall of Robespierre. Without employment for a time, on the 22nd May 1795, he assisted General Pichegru in his defence of the National Convention against the faubourgs. He was appointed to the command of a division of the army of Italy, marched with Napoleon across the Alps, and shared in all his Italian victories. He conducted the operations of the siege of Mantua, which (gallantly defended by Wurmser) ultimately surrendered, 3rd February 1797, after a desperate resistance. In the spring of the following year he was appointed to command the centre of the army intended for the descent on the British Isles. On St. Patrick's day he and the other Irish generals met at a great banquet in Paris, at which Thomas Paine and Napper Tandy were present. The Irish Republic was enthusiastically toasted, and every confidence expressed in the accomplishment of their most ardent desires for the emancipation of Ireland. There were 500 gunboats ready, and 300 transports were collected at Dunkirk to carry over the vast armament encamped on different parts of the French coast. By the end of the year, however, Napoleon turned the ambition of the Directory eastwards; and Tone's two descents upon the Irish coast failed miserably. In 1798 Kilmaine was appointed generalissimo of the army of Switzerland, but his rapidly failing health obliged him to resign the baton to Massena. Family sorrows and disappointments contributed to the break-up of his constitution, and he died in Paris, 15th December 1799, aged about 45.

King, Edward, Viscount Kingsborough, author of The Antiquities of Mexico, was born in the County of Cork in 1795. With the exception of a parliamentary career of six years, which he voluntarily abandoned, his life was devoted to the study of Mexican antiquities. This passion was acquired when a student at Oxford, where a Mexican MS. in the Bodleian Library fired his imagination. His magnificent work, replete with illustrations, was given to the world in 1831, in 7 vols. imperial folio, price.£210. Two additional volumes appeared after his death at a price of £25 4s. The book cost him upwards of £32,000, and his life; for, oppressed with debt, he was arrested at the suit of a paper- manufacturer, and lodged in the debtors' prison, Dublin, where he died of typhus fever, 27th February 1837, aged 42. Had he lived, he would within a year have become Earl of Kingston, with a fortune of £40,000 a year. Mr. Prescott, the historian of Mexico, says: "The drift of Lord Kingsborough's speculations is to establish the colonization of Mexico by the Israelites. To this the whole battery of his logic and learning is directed. For this, hieroglyphics are unriddled, manuscripts compared, monuments delineated... By this munificent undertaking, which no government, probably, would have, and few individuals could have executed, he has entitled himself to the lasting gratitude of every friend of science."

King, William, Archbishop of Dublin, was born at Antrim, 1st May 1650. He received his preliminary education at Dungannon, and took his degree of M.A. at Trinity College in 1673, and in the same year took orders in the Church. He became chaplain to the Archbishop of Tuam (who, we are told, took him into his protection), in 1679 was preferred to a chancellorship of St. Patrick's, and next year was made Dean of the Cathedral. He took a prominent part in forwarding the interests of the Prince of Orange, and on James II.'s accession to power in Ireland, suffered several months' imprisonment. Eventually he was liberated and permitted the free exercise of his religion. At this period he prepared the materials for one of his great works-The State of the Protestants of Ireland under the late King James's Government (London, 1691). This book was characterized by Burnet as "not only the best book that hath been written for the service of the Government; but without any figure it is worth all the rest put together - and will do more than all our scribblings for settling the minds of the nation." It is indeed an extremely interesting and valuable work, containing a mass of information regarding James II.'s Irish career. Heavy spiritual cares devolved upon him until after the battle of the Boyne, in consequence of many Protestant clergymen having fled to England. He was by William III. preferred to the bishopric of Derry, left vacant by the death of Bishop Walker at the battle of the Boyne. In his diocese he did much to repair churches burned or dilapidated during the war; he improved the episcopal palace, established a library, and was altogether untiring in the affairs of the see, and in exertions for the amelioration of the condition of the clergy. In 1703 he was promoted to the archbishopric of Dublin. On four occasions he acted as one of the Lords-Justices. Harris says: "He knew the temper, disposition, and genius of the nation most exactly, and as he was remarkably happy in a quick and clear conception of things, a piercing judgment into the consequences of political affairs, and a marvellous sagacity and readiness in properly executing business of the greatest importance; so he exerted all these excellent qualities with continued vigour and resolution to their utmost stretch to promote the public good and his Majesty's interest in the kingdom." Disappointed in his expectations of being raised to the primacy on the death of Archbishop Lindsay (the excuse being that he was too old), we are told that he received the new Primate, Dr. Boulter, without get­ ting out of his chair, remarking, " My lord, I am sure your grace will forgive me, because you know I am too old to rise" Archbishop King died at his palace of St. Sepulchre's, Dublin, 8th May 1729, aged 79, and was by his own desire buried in Donnybrook old churchyard. In Harris's list his works number some twenty. The State of the Protestants was replied to in 1692 by the Rev. Charles Leslie, a non-juror. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, in commenting on Archbishop King's writings, says: "The greatest of all his works was his essay On the Origin of Evil, published in Latin at Dublin in 1702. In this essay he advocated what is known as the optimist view, which, with differences on subordinate points, is that adopted by Augustin and Leibnitz. According to this view, King, in common with these great thinkers, attempts to reconcile the existence of evil with the government of a perfectly holy, good, and powerful being, by treating it as the necessary result of creature limitation. His work attracted great attention both at home and abroad. Among its assailants was Leibnitz, who, while holding the monoistic hypothesis, denied much of King's reasoning and many of his conclusions on minor points; and Bayle, the last and greatest defender of the dualistic hypothesis. King did not publish any reply to either of his assailants, but left notes of a defence, which, after his death, were given to the world by Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle, along with an English version of the De Origine Mali. Amongst his other works may be mentioned his Discourse on Predestination, which has been edited, with valuable annotations, by Archbishop Whately. King's personal charac­ ter stood very high through life; and his correspondence with Swift shows him to have been a man of fine wit and great general accomplishments." Interesting notes upon his correspondence will be found in Notes and Queries, 4th Series; and upon other matters relating to his life in the 2nd and 3rd Series.

Kinrechtin, Maurice, Rev., was born in Kilmallock in the 16th century, entered the priesthood, was appointed chaplain to Gerald, Earl of Desmond, and continued true to his cause through the succeeding years. Falling into the hands of the English soldiery, he was thrown into prison at Clonmel, where he was confined in chains for more than a year. His jailer was bribed by a wealthy Catholic to let the father out to celebrate Easter, 1585. The English commander, however, caused the house where mass was being secretly celebrated to be surrounded, and Father Kinrechtin was taken prisoner. He was executed 30th April, in the same year.-" When he came to the place of execution, turning to the people, he exhorted, as far as time would permit, and at the end, begging all Catholics to pray for him, and blessing them, he was hung from the gallows, and, being taken down half dead, his head was cut off, and his body cut into four parts; and these were watched all night by the soldiers, lest they should be taken away by the Catholics. The next day the four pieces were fastened on a cross in the middle of the town, and the head on a high place where it could be seen by all, and so he completed his glorious martyrdom."

Kirwan, Francis, Bishop of Killala, was born in Gal way in 1589, and received the rudiments of education from his uncle, Rev. Arthur Lynch, a Catholic clergyman, who from time to time had endured the most trying persecutions on account of his faith. He subsequently studied at Lisbon, and was ordained in 1614. Proceeding to France the year following, to pursue his studies, he for a time "taught philosophy" at Dieppe. In 1620, returning to Ireland, he was commissioned by Florence Conroy as Vicar-General of his province of Tuam, and in this capacity laboured untiringly in the wilds and islands of the west until Conroy's death in 1629, after which he proceeded to France. At Paris, on 7th May 1645, Kirwan was consecrated Bishop of Killala, when he returned to his native city for a time; but after its fall in 1651 had to lie concealed from the fury of the Parliamentary troops in the neighbourhood for many months. He underwent the greatest sufferings and privations - during eight entire months being able but thrice to leave his hiding place in a miserable garret infested by mice. He was afterwards imprisoned in Galway, where, forgetful of his own sufferings, he strove to alleviate those of his fellow-prisoners. In August 1655 the Bishop was banished to France, and at Nantes was for some years sheltered in the house of a “noble widow." His death took place at Rennes, 27th August 1661, at the age of 72 years. His Life, written by his nephew, the Archdeacon of Tuam [See LYNCH, JOHN] was republished, with a translation and notes by Rev. C. P. Meehan, in 1848.

Kirwan, Richard, LL.D., an eminent chemist and geologist, was born in the County of Galway, early in the 18th century. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and at St. Omer's, his family intending him for the medical profession. The death of his brother put him in possession of an ample fortune, and he quitted college, became a Protestant, renounced the study of medicine, and devoted himself to science. In 1779 he settled in the neighbourhood of London, and read many papers before the Royal Society, gaining the Copley medal in 1781. In 1789 he returned to Ireland, was for some time President of the Royal Irish Academy, and became associated with most of the scientific societies of the metropolis, and intimate with all the leading literary men. The following estimate of his scientific researches is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica: "Though Kirwan devoted his whole life to scientific inquiry, and was contemporary with Cavendish, Lavoisier, Black, Scheele, Priestley, and the fathers of modern chemistry, he did not advance the boundaries of the science by any great discovery of his own. One of the earliest of his works was his Essay on Phlogiston and the Composition of Acids, in which he endeavoured to reconcile the old chemistry with modern discoveries... [The work was refuted by Lavoisier and other eminent French chemists.].. These refutations, though quite irrefragable, were so skilfully and courteously worded, that Kirwan, with a candour and liberality unfortunately too rare, abandoned phlogiston and adopted the theory of his opponents. In 1794 Kirwan published his Elements of Mineralogy, in 2 vols. 8vo., a work of great merit for its day, though now quite superseded. His Geological Essays were less successful; but his Essay on the Analysis of Mineral Waters was useful, both for the number of analyses which it contained, and for the method of procedure which it inculcated. Kirwan was also the author of numerous papers in the Transactions of the Royal Society and of the Royal Irish Academy, on subjects connected with mineralogy and meteorology, as well as chemistry." He was an enthusiast concerning Irish music, and travelled with Mr. Bunting for the purpose of collecting old tunes. His latter years were devoted almost exclusively to theology. At his residence in Cavendish-row, Dublin, he was accustomed to receive his friends once a week, as he "reclined on a sofa, his hat on, a long screen behind him, and a blazing fire before him, no matter whether winter or the dog days." He remained covered even in courts of justice and at levees, and gave as a reason for never going to a place of worship the impossibility of removing his hat. He was singularly generous and unselfish as a landlord and a friend. He strenuously opposed the Union, and is said to have indignantly refused a baronetcy offered him by Lord Castlereagh if he would support the measure. He died in Dublin, 22nd June 1812. Portraits of him will be found in the Royal Dublin Society and Royal Irish Academy.

Kirwan, Walter Blake, Dean of Killala, a distinguished preacher, was born in the County of Galway in 1754. A Catholic, he was educated at St. Omer's with a view to entering the Church. At seventeen he visited a rich relation in the West Indies; but the trying climate and the miseries of slavery so wrought on his mind and body that he threw up prospects of opulence and returned to Europe. He took orders, rose to distinction at Louvain, and in 1778 went to London as chaplain to the Neapolitan Embassy. Coming to Ireland to visit his relatives, he was converted to Protestantism, received into the Established Church, and appointed rector of St. Peter's, Dublin, June 1787. He almost immediately took his place as the most popular city preacher of the day. Barrington says: "He was by far the most eloquent and effective pulpit orator I ever heard;.. his figure, and particularly his countenance, were not prepossessing; there was an air of discontent in his looks, and a sharpness in his features, which, in the aggregate, amounted to something not distant from repulsion. His manner of preaching was of the French school:.. his tact equalled his talent... In St. Peter's, where he preached an annual charity sermon, the usual collection, which had been under £200, was raised by the Dean to £1,100. I knew a gentleman myself who threw both his purse and watch into the plate." In 1800 Lord Cornwallis advanced him to the deanery of Killala. He died in Dublin, 27th October 1805, aged about 51, leaving a family but poorly provided for. George III. granted his widow £300 a year, with reversion to his daughters. A painting in the Royal Dublin Society House represents him preaching, while a group of orphans for whom he is pleading sit round the base of the pulpit. Grattan uttered a brilliant eulogium on Dr. Kirwan in the Irish Parliament, on 19th June 1792: "What is the case of Dr. Kirwan? This man preferred our country and our religion, and brought to both genius superior to what he found in either. He called forth the latent virtues of the human heart, and taught men to discover in themselves a mine of charity of which the proprietors had been unconscious. In feeding the lamp of charity, he has almost exhausted the lamp of life. He came to interrupt the repose of the pulpit, and shakes one world with the thunder of another. The preacher's desk becomes the throne of light. Round him a train - not such as crouch and swagger at the levee of princes - not such as attend the procession of the viceroy, horse, foot, and dragoons; but that where­ with a great genius peoples his own state- charity in ecstacy, and vice in humiliation - vanity, arrogance, and saucy empty pride appalled by the rebuke of the preacher, and cheated for a moment of their native improbity and insolence. What reward?.. The curse of Swift is upon him: to have been born an Irishman and a man of genius, and to have used it for the good of his country." In Notes and Queries, 1st Series, mention is made of his delivering even a shorter sermon than Swift's famous one. Too ill to preach, he mounted the pulpit while the church was crowded to suffocation, and having given out the text, he merely pointed to the orphan children in the aisle, and said: "There they are." It is added that the collection ensuing was one of the largest ever made in Dublin. Dean Kirwan left a son who became Dean of Limerick.

Knowles, James Sheridan, a distinguished actor, dramatist, author, and preacher, was born in Cork, 12th May 1784. His father, James Knowles, first cousin of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was a schoolmaster of high reputation, and the editor of an edition of Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary, at which he is said to have laboured for thirty years. When only twelve years of age, James evinced considerable dramatic talents. In London (whither his father removed when James was quite a young man), he gained much from intimacies formed with Hazlitt, Coleridge, Lamb, and other literary men. He visited Dublin in 1808, and resided for a time with his relations, the LeFanus, who endeavoured to dissuade him from going on the stage. In 1809 he acted at Waterford, in company with Edmund Kean. There he played in tragedy, comedy, and opera, and having a good voice, succeeded well in the latter. In Waterford he published a volume of Fugitive Pieces of Poetry and his drama of Leo, or the Gipsy. His father and he afterwards established a school at Belfast. Sir Joseph Napier was one of his scholars, and praises his method of teaching: "His habits were altogether those of a child of genius - hence his discipline was irregular - he was neither our school­ master nor our schoolfellow - he was both, and sometimes more than both, but we loved him, and he taught us." In Belfast he produced his drama of Brian Boroihme. Caius Gracchus followed in 1815. At the request of his friend Kean he now wrote his great tragedy of Virginius, which was brought out at Glasgow, and afterwards in London. William Tell appeared in 1825, establishing the author's reputation as one of the greatest dramatists of the age. Other works followed each other in quick succession, and he acquired a right to be considered a great actor as well as a great writer, by impersonations in his plays of The Hunchback and The Wife. He was also the author of several novels. He appeared at the principal theatres throughout the United Kingdom, his visit to Cork in 1834 being made the occasion of an ovation from his fellow-townsmen. Amongst indications of his warmth of heart may be mentioned the fact that on this last occasion he sought out his old nurse, and insisted on her occupying the best seat in the boxes during his engagement. In 1836 he visited America; some time after his return, ill- health obliged him to give up the stage, and he appeared as a lecturer on oratory and the drama. In his later years his mind received a theological bias; he wrote on religious subjects, and ultimately became a Baptist preacher. He died at Torquay, on 1st December 1862, aged 78. From 1849 he had been in the receipt of a pension on the Civil List of £200 a year. Besides numerous minor writings, his works in Allibone's list number twenty- six. A posthumous play, Alexina, or True unto Death, in two acts, was produced in 1866. Allan Cunningham writes of Knowles: "The poetry of his dialogue is the poetry of passion; it is kindled up in him by the collision of events, and seems less proper to the man than to the scene; his language is to the purpose; it is but little ornamented. His dramas are full of impressive groupings, domestic incidents, the bustle of business, the activity of life; he subdues subject, scene, and language to the purpose and aim of his play. In this he differs from many writers, and differs for the better. His strength lies in home­ bred affections: his Virginius, his Beggar's Daughter, and his Wife of Mantua, all bear evidence of this, and contain scenes of perfect truth and reality, such as no modern dramatist surpasses - he touches the heart and is safe."

Knox, Alexander, a man of great learning and piety, a voluminous writer on religious questions, was born in Londonderry the middle of the 18th century. He was the author of Essays on the Political Circumstances of Ireland (Dublin, 1798), in denunciation of the United Irishmen and their principles. Their drift may be gathered from a portion of the concluding paragraph: "Let me entreat the sober, moderate, intelligent part of the community.. to ask their own understandings, to consult their own feelings, whether the sovereignty of the public will or the will of the people is not a principle in every point of view ruinous and detestable. Whether it is not a monster in politics, which even poetic fiction is inadequate to describe, a blind and shapeless thing, which adds to the mutability of Proteus, the hands of Briareus and the heads of the hydra." Private Secretary to Castlereagh, he strenuously supported and advanced the passage of the Act of Union, but no less strenuously and consistently advocated the admission of Catholics and dissenters to complete equality of political rights. After the Union he for a short time represented his native city in Parliament, but most of his life, apart from official duties, was given up to religious meditation, and correspondence, especially with Bishop Jebb. The editor of his Remains says: "His least digested thoughts are precious... With every qualification for a distinguished career in public life,.. his choice was made for a more immediate service of God, in the cultivation of revealed truth, for the dissemination of which he was eminently fitted, not more by the powers of his pen than by the unrivalled charm of his conversation. The whole tenor of Mr. Knox's writings is evidence that, for the ground of man's hope and trust, he looked to Christ as `all in all.'" He died in 1831. Thirty Years' Correspondence between John Jebb, Bishop of Limerick, and Alexander Knox, appeared in 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1834, and his Remains, in 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1834- 1837 - yet we have no particulars concerning his life.

Knox, William, politician and author, was born in Ireland in 1732. In 1756 he received an appointment in the American colonies, and after his return in 1761 recommended the creation of a colonial aristocracy and colonial representation in the British Parliament. He was soon afterwards appointed agent for Georgia and East Florida, a post which he forfeited by writing in favour of the Stamp Act. His principal political work, the Present State of the Nation, published in 1768, drew forth a reply from Burke. He held the office of Under-Secretary of State for twelve years succeeding 1770. Through the Revolutionary War his pen was untiring in support of the American loyalists, and at the conclusion of peace he submitted a plan for making New Brunswick a refuge for such of them as desired to leave the United States. He secured a pension of £1,200 for losses incurred by himself and his wife in the War of Independence. In 1789 he published the valuable Extra-Official State Papers. Mr. Knox died at Great Ealing, 25th August 1810, aged about 78.

Kyan, Esmonde, a distinguished leader in the Insurrection of 1798, was a gentleman of some property, who resided at Monamolin, near Oulart. At the breaking out of hostilities in the County of Wexford, he threw himself heartily into the struggle. Courageous to desperation, his arm was shattered at the battle of Arklow, while leading his division against the royalist artillery. Confined in Wexford by this wound, he did all he could to prevent the disgraceful massacre of royalists on the bridge. He subsequently joined the insurgent force that, after the fall of Wexford, endeavoured to penetrate the County of Carlow, and for a time held out with Holt, Myles Byrne, and Dwyer in the glens of Wicklow. Returning to his home secretly to visit his relatives, he was arrested, and executed in July 1798. Few particulars are preserved of Esmonde Kyan. He is uniformly spoken of by his associates in terms of the highest respect, as a man of talents and nobility of character. Myles Byrne writes: "He was, of all the chiefs of our little Irish army, the one who merited most good terms from the English. Throughout the war he had shown the greatest humanity, and made unceasing exertions to save the lives of prisoners, even of those whose hands were steeped in the blood of the inhabitants of the County of Wexford."

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