JAMESON, MRS. ANNA BROWNELL (MURPHY) (1794-1860).—Writer on art,dau.of Denis B.M., a distinguished miniature painter,m.Robert Jameson, a barrister (afterwards Attorney-General of Ontario). The union, however, did not turn out happily: a separation took place, and Mrs. J. turned her attention to literature, and specially to subjects connected with art. Among many other works she producedLoves of the Poets(1829),Celebrated Female Sovereigns(1831),Beauties of the Court of Charles II.(1833),Rubens(translated from the German),Hand Book to the Galleries of Art,Early Italian Painters,Sacred and Legendary Art(1848), etc. Her works show knowledge and discrimination and, though now in many respects superseded, still retain interest and value.
JEBB, SIR RICHARD CLAVERHOUSE (1841-1905).—B.at Dundee, anded.at St. Columba's Coll., Dublin, Charterhouse, and Camb., at the last of which he lectured on the classics, and was in 1869 elected Public Orator. After being Prof. of Greek at Glasgow, he held from 1889 the corresponding chair at Camb., and for a time represented the Univ. in Parliament. He was one of the founders of the British School of Archæology at Athens. Among his works areThe Attic Orators,An Introduction to Homer,Lectures on Greek Poetry,Life of Richard Bentley(English Men of Letters Series), and he ed. the works of Sophocles, and the Poems and Fragments of Bacchylides, discovered in 1896. J. was one of the most brilliant of modern scholars.
JEFFERIES, RICHARD (1848-1887).—Naturalist and novelist,s.of a farmer, wasb.at Swindon, Wilts. He began his literary career on the staff of a local newspaper, and first attracted attention by a letter in theTimeson the Wiltshire labourer. Thereafter he wrote for thePall Mall Gazette, in which appeared hisGamekeeper at Home, andWild Life in a Southern County(1879), both afterwardsrepub.Both these works are full of minute observation and vivid description of country life. They were followed byThe Amateur Poacher(1880),Wood Magic(1881),Round about a Great Estate(1881),The Open Air(1885), and others on similar subjects. Among his novels areBevis, in which he draws on his own childish memories, andAfter London, or Wild England(1885), a romance of the future, when London has ceased to exist.The Story of My Heart(1883) is an idealised picture of his inner life. J.d.after a painful illness, which lasted for six years. In his own line, that of depicting with an intense sense for nature all the elements of country and wild life, vegetable and animal, surviving in the face of modern civilisation, he has had few equals. Life by E. Thomas.
JEFFREY, FRANCIS (1773-1850).—Critic and political writer,s.of a legal official,b.in Edinburgh,ed.at the High School there, and at Glasgow and Oxf., where, however, he remained for a few months only. Returning to Edinburgh he studied law, and was called to the Bar in 1794. Brought up as a Tory, he early imbibed Whig principles, and this, in the then political state of Scotland, together with his strong literary tendencies, long hindered his professional advancement. Gradually, however, his ability, acuteness, and eloquence carried him to the front of his profession. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1829 and, on the accession to power of the Whigs in 1830, became Lord Advocate, and had a large share in passing the Reform Bill, in so far as it related to Scotland. In 1832 he was elected M.P. for Edinburgh, and was raised to the Bench as Lord Jeffrey in 1834. His literary fame rests on his work in connection with theEdinburgh Review, which he edited from its commencement in 1802 until 1829, and to which he was a constant contributor. The founding of this periodical by a group of young men of brilliant talents and liberal sympathies, among whom were Brougham, Sydney Smith, and F. Horner, constituted the opening of a new epoch in the literary and political progress of the country. J.'s contributions ranged over literary criticism, biography, politics, and ethics and, especially in respect of the first, exercised a profound influence; he was, in fact, regarded as the greatest literary critic of his age, and although his judgments have been far from universally supported either by the event or by later critics, it remains true that he probably did more than any of his contemporaries to diffuse a love of literature, and to raise the standard of public taste in such matters. A selection of his papers, made by himself, waspub.in 4 vols. in 1844 and 1853. J. was a man of brilliant conversational powers, of vast information and sparkling wit, and was universally admired and beloved for the uprightness and amiability of his character.
JERROLD, DOUGLAS WILLIAM (1803-1857).—Dramatist and miscellaneous writer,s.of an actor, himself appeared as a child upon the stage. From his 10th to his 12th year he was at sea. He then became apprentice to a printer, devoting all his spare time to self-education. He early began to contribute to periodicals, and in his 18th year he was engaged by the Coburg Theatre as a writer of short dramatic pieces. In 1829 he made a great success by his drama ofBlack-eyed Susan, which he followed up byThe Rent Day,Bubbles of the Day,Time works Wonders, etc. In 1840 he became ed. of a publication,Heads of the People, to which Thackeray was a contributor, and in which some of the best of his own work appeared. He was one of the leading contributors toPunch, in whichMrs. Caudle's Curtain Lecturescame out, and from 1852 he ed.Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. Among his novels areSt. Giles and St. James, andThe Story of a Feather. J. had a great reputation as a wit, was a genial and kindly man, and a favourite with his fellowlittérateurs, who raised a fund of £2000 for his family on his death.
JESSE, JOHN HENEAGE (1815-1874).—Historical writer,ed.at Eton, was a clerk in the Admiralty. He wroteMemoirsof theCourt of England, of G. Selwyn and his contemporaries (1843), of the Pretender (1845), etc., andCelebrated Etonians(1875).
JEVONS, WILLIAM STANLEY (1835-1882).—Logician and economist,b.in Liverpool,s.of an iron merchant, his mother was thedau.ofW. Roscoe(q.v.). He wased.at the Mechanics Institute High School, Liverpool, and at University Coll., London. After studying chemistry for some time he received in 1853 the appointment of assayer to the mint at Sydney, where he remained until 1859, when he resigned his appointment, and came home to study mathematics and economics. While in Australia he had been a contributor to theEmpirenewspaper, and soon after his return home hepub.Remarks on the Australian Goldfields, wrote in various scientific periodicals, and from time to timepub.important papers on economical subjects. The position which he had attained as a scientific thinker and writer was recognised by his being appointed in 1863 tutor, and in 1866, Prof. of Logic, Political Economy, and Mental and Moral Philosophy in Owen's Coll., Manchester. In 1864 hepub.Pure LogicandThe Coal Question; other works wereElementary Lessons in Logic(1870),Principles of Science(1874), andInvestigations in Currency and Finance(1884), posthumously. His valuable and promising life was brought to a premature close by his being drowned while bathing. His great object in his writings was to place logic and economics in the position of exact sciences, and in all his work he showed great industry and care combined with unusual analytical power.
JEWSBURY, GERALDINE ENDSOR (1812-1880).—Novelist, wrote several novels, of whichZoe,The Half-Sisters, andConstance Herbertmay be mentioned. She also wrote stories for children, and was a contributor to various magazines.
JOHN of SALISBURY (1120?-1180?).—B.at Salisbury, studied at Paris. He became sec. to Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury, and retained the office under Becket. In 1176 he was made Bishop of Chartres. He wrote in Latin, in 8 books,Polycraticus, seu De Nugis Curialium et Vestigiis Philosophorum(on the Trifles of the Courtiers, and the Footsteps of the Philosophers). In it he treats of pastimes, flatterers, tyrannicide, the duties of kings and knights, virtue and vice, glory, and the right of the Church to remove kings if in its opinion they failed in their duty. He also wrote a Life of Anselm. He was one of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages.
JOHNSON, LIONEL (1867-1902).—Poet and critic.Ireland and other Poems(2 vols.) (1897),The Art of Thomas Hardy, and miscellaneous critical works.
JOHNSON, SAMUEL (1649-1703).—Political writer, sometimes called "the Whig" to distinguish him from his great namesake. Of humble extraction, he wased.at St. Paul's School and Camb., and took orders. He attacked James II. inJulian the Apostate(1682), and was imprisoned. He continued, however, his attacks on the Government by pamphlets, and did much to influence the publicmind in favour of the Revolution. Dryden gave him a place inAbsalom and Achitophelas "Benjochanan." After the Revolution he received a pension, but considered himself insufficiently rewarded by a Deanery, which he declined.
JOHNSON, SAMUEL (1709-1784).—Moralist, essayist, and lexicographer,s.of a bookseller at Lichfield, received his early education at his native town, and went in 1728 to Oxf., but had, owing to poverty, to leave without taking a degree. For a short time he was usher in a school at Market Bosworth, but found the position so irksome that he threw it up, and gained a meagre livelihood by working for a publisher in Birmingham. In 1735, being then 26, hem.Mrs. Porter, a widow of over 40, who brought him £800, and to whom he was sincerely attached. He started an academy at Ediol, near Lichfield, which, however, had no success, only three boys, one of whom wasDavid Garrick(q.v.), attending it. Accordingly, this venture was given up, and J. in 1737 went to London accompanied by Garrick. Here he had a hard struggle with poverty, humiliation, and every kind of evil, always, however, quitting himself like the true man he was. He contributed to theGentleman's Magazine, furnishing the parliamentary debates in very free and generally much improved form, under the title of "Debates of the Senate of Lilliput." In 1738 appearedLondon, a satire imitated from Juvenal which,pub.anonymously, attracted immediate attention, and the notice of Pope. His next work was the life of his unfortunate friendSavage(q.v.) (1744); and in 1747 he began his greatEnglish Dictionary. Another satire,The Vanity of Human Wishes, appeared in 1749, and in the same yearIrene, a tragedy. His next venture was the starting of theRambler, a paper somewhat on the lines of theSpectator; but, sententious and grave, it had none of the lightness and grace of its model, and likewise lacked its popularity. It was almost solely the work of J. himself, and was carried on twice a week for two years. In 1752 his wife, "his dear Tetty"d., and was sincerely mourned; and in 1755 hisDictionaryappeared. The patronage ofLord Chesterfield(q.v.), which he had vainly sought, was then offered, but proudly rejected in a letter which has become a classic. The work made him famous, and Oxf. conferred upon him the degree of M.A. He had become the friend of Reynolds and Goldsmith; Burke and others were soon added. TheIdler, a somewhat less ponderous successor of theRambler, appeared in 1758-60, andRasselas, his most popular work, was written in 1759 to meet the funeral expenses of his mother, who thend.at the age of 90. At last the tide of his fortunes turned. A pension of £300 was conferred upon him in 1762, and the rest of his days were spent in honour, and such comfort as the melancholy to which he was subject permitted. In 1763 he made the acquaintance, so important for posterity, of James Boswell; and it was probably in the same year that he founded his famous "literary club." In 1764 he was introduced to Mr. Thrale, a wealthy brewer, and for many years spent much of his time, an honoured guest, in his family. The kindness and attentions of Mrs. T., described by Carlyle as "a bright papilionaceous creature, whom the elephant loved to play with, and wave to and fro upon his trunk," were a refreshment andsolace to him. In 1765 his ed. of Shakespeare came out, and his last great work was theLives of the Poets, in 10 vols. (1779-81). He had in 1775pub.hisJourney to the Western Isles of Scotland, an account of a tour made in the company of Boswell. His last years were darkened by the loss of friends such as Goldsmith and Thrale, and by an estrangement from Mrs. T., on her marriage with Piozzi, an Italian musician. Notwithstanding a lifelong and morbid fear of death, his last illness was borne with fortitude and calmness, soothed by the pious attentions of Reynolds and Burke, and hed.peacefully on December 13, 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and a monument in St. Paul's was erected by the "club." Statues of him were also erected in Lichfield and Uttoxeter. He had received from Oxf. and Dublin the degree of LL.D.
Though of rough and domineering manners, J. had the tenderest of hearts, and his house was for years the home of several persons, such as Mrs. Williams and Levett, the surgeon, who had no claim upon him but their helplessness and friendlessness. As Goldsmith aptly said, he "had nothing of the bear but his skin." His outstanding qualities were honesty and courage, and these characterise all his works. Though disfigured by prejudice and, as regards matters of fact, in many parts superseded, they remain, as has been said, "some excellent, all worthy and genuine works;" and he will ever stand one of the greatest and most honourable figures in the history of English literature. Boswell's marvellousLifehas made J.'s bodily appearance, dress, and manners more familiar to posterity than those of any other man—the large, unwieldy form, the face seamed with scrofula, the purblind eyes, the spasmodic movements, the sonorous voice, even the brown suit, metal buttons, black worsted stockings, and bushy wig, the conversation so full of matter, strength, sense, wit, and prejudice, superior in force and sparkle to the sounding, but often wearisome periods of his written style. Of his works the two most important are theDictionary, which, long superseded from a philological point of view, made an epoch in the history of the language, and theLives of the Poets, many of them deformed by prejudice and singularly inadequate criticism, others, almost perfect in their kind, and the whole written in a style less pompous and more natural and lively than his earlier works.
SUMMARY.—B.1709,ed.Oxf., usher and hack writer, starts academy at Ediol, goes to London 1737, reports parliamentary debates,pub.London1738,Life of Savage1744, beganDictionary1747,pub.Vanity of Human WishesandIrene1749, conductsRambler1750-52,pub.Dictionary1755,Idlerappears 1758-60,pub.Rasselas1759, receives pension 1762, became acquainted with Boswell 1763,pub.ed. ofShakespeare1765, andLives of Poets1779-81,d.1784.
Recollections, etc., by Mrs. Piozzi, Reynolds, and others, alsoJohnsoniana(Mrs. Napier, 1884), Boswell'sLife, various ed., including that of Napier, 1884, and Birkbeck Hill, 1889.
JOHNSTON, ARTHUR (c.1587-1641).—Poet in Latin,b.near Aberdeen, studied medicine at Padua, where he graduated. After living for about 20 years in France, he returned to England, became physician to Charles I., and was afterwards Rector of King's Coll.,Aberdeen. He attained a European reputation as a writer of Latin poetry. Among his works areMusæ Aulicæ(1637), and a complete translation of the Psalms, and he ed.Deliciæ Poetarum Scotorum, a collection of Latin poetry by Scottish authors.
JOHNSTONE, CHARLES (1719?-1800).—Novelist. Prevented by deafness from practising at the Irish Bar, he went to India, where he was proprietor of a newspaper. He wrote one successful book,Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea, a somewhat sombre satire, and some others now utterly forgotten.
JONES, EBENEZER (1820-1860).—Poet, wrote a good deal of poetry of very unequal merit, but at his best shows a true poetic vein. He was befriended by Browning and Rossetti. His chief work wasStudies of Sensation and Event(1843). His most widely appreciated poems were "To the Snow," "To Death," and "When the World is Burning." He made an unhappy marriage, which ended in a separation.
JONES, ERNEST CHARLES (1819-1869).—Poet, novelist, and Chartist,s.of Major J., equerry to the Duke of Cumberland, afterwards King of Hanover, wasb.at Berlin. He adopted the views of the Chartists in an extreme form, and was imprisoned for two years for seditious speeches, and on his release conducted a Chartist newspaper. Afterwards, when the agitation had died down, he returned to his practice as a barrister, which he had deserted, and also wrote largely. He produced a number of novels, includingThe Maid of Warsaw,Woman's Wrongs, andThe Painter of Florence, also some poems,The Battle Day(1855),The Revolt of Hindostan(1857), andCorayda(1859). Some of his lyrics, such asThe Song of the Poor,The Song of the Day Labourers, andThe Factory Slave, were well known.
JONES, SIR WILLIAM (1746-1794).—Orientalist and jurist, wasb.in London, anded.at Harrow and Oxf. He lost hisf., an eminent mathematician, at 3 years of age. He early showed extraordinary aptitude for acquiring languages, specially those of the East, and learned 28. Devoting himself to the study of law he became one of the most profound jurists of his time. He was appointed one of the Judges in the Supreme Court of Bengal, knighted in 1783, and started for India, whence he never returned. While there, in addition to his judicial duties, he pursued his studies in Oriental languages, from which he made various translations. Among his original works areThe Enchanted Fruit, andA Treatise on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India. He founded the Bengal Asiatic Society. He left various works unfinished which, with his other writings, werecoll.and ed. by Lord Teignmouth. Hed.universally beloved and honoured at the early age of 48. His chief legal work wasThe Institutes of Hindu Law or the Ordinances of Manu.
JONSON, BEN or BENJAMIN (1573-1637).—Poet and dramatist, was probablyb.in Westminster. Hisf., whod.before Ben was four, seems to have come from Carlisle, and the family to have originally belonged to Annandale. He was sent to Westminster School, for which he seems to have been indebted to thekindness ofW. Camden(q.v.), who was one of the masters. His mother, meanwhile, hadm.a bricklayer, and he was for a time put to that trade, but disliking it, he ran away and joined the army, fighting against the Spaniards in the Low Countries. Returning to England about 1592 he took to the stage, both as an actor and as a playwright. In the former capacity he was unsuccessful. In 1598, having killed a fellow-actor in a duel, he was tried for murder, but escaped by benefit of clergy. About the same time he joined the Roman Catholic Church, in which he remained for 12 years. It was in 1598 also that his first successful play,Every Man in his Humour, was produced, with Shakespeare as one of the players.Every Man out of his Humour(1599),Cynthia's Revels(1600), andThe Poetaster(1601), satirising the citizens, the courtiers, and the poets respectively, followed. The last called forth several replies, the most notable of which was theSatiromastix(Whip for the Satirist) ofDekker(q.v.), a severe, though not altogether unfriendly, retort, which J. took in good part, announcing his intention of leaving off satire and trying tragedy. His first work in this kind wasSejanus(1603), which was not very favourably received. It was followed byEastward Ho, in which he collaborated with Marston and Chapman. Certain reflections on Scotland gave offence to James I., and the authors were imprisoned, but soon released. From the beginning of the new reign J. devoted himself largely to the writing of Court masques, in which he excelled all his contemporaries, and about the same time entered upon the production of the three great plays in which his full strength is shown. The first of these,Volpone, or the Fox, appeared in 1605;Epicæne, or the Silent Womanin 1609, andThe Alchemistin 1610. His second and last tragedy,Catiline, was produced in 1611. Two years later he was in France as companion to the son of Sir W. Raleigh, and on his return he held up hypocritical Puritanism to scorn inBartholomew Fair, which was followed in 1616 by a comedy,The Devil is an Ass. In the same year hecoll.his writings—plays, poems, and epigrams—in a folio entitled hisWorks. In 1618 he journeyed on foot to Scotland, where he was received with much honour, and paid his famous visit toDrummond(q.v.) at Hawthornden. His last successful play,The Staple of Newes, was produced in 1625, and in the same year he had his first stroke of palsy, from which he never entirely recovered. His next play,The New Inn, was driven from the stage, for which in its rapid degeneracy he had become too learned and too moral. A quarrel with Inigo Jones, the architect, who furnished the machinery for the Court masques, lost him Court favour, and he was obliged, with failing powers, to turn again to the stage, for which his last plays,The Magnetic LadyandThe Tale of a Tub, were written in 1632 and 1633. Town and Court favour, however, turned again, and he received a pension of £100; that of the best poets and lovers of literature he had always kept. The older poets were his friends, the younger were proud to call themselves, and be called by him, his sons. In 1637, after some years of gradually failing health, hed., and was buried in Westminster Abbey. An admirer caused a mason to cut on the slab over his grave the well-known inscription, "O Rare Ben Jonson." He left a fragment,The Sad Shepherd. His works include a number of epigrams and translations,collections of poems (UnderwoodsandThe Forest); in prose a book of short essays and notes on various subjects,Discoveries.
J. was the founder of a new style of English comedy, original, powerful, and interesting, but lacking in spontaneity and nature. His characters tend to become mere impersonations of some one quality or "humour," as he called it. Thus he is the herald, though a magnificent one, of decadence. He painted in general with a powerful, but heavy hand; in his masques, however, he often shows a singular gracefulness, especially in the lyrics which he introduces. His character, as given by Drummond, is not a particularly attractive one, "a great lover and praiser of himself, a contemner and scorner of others, given rather to lose a friend than a jest, jealous of every word and action of those about him, especially after drink ... a dissembler of ill parts which reign in him, a bragger of some good that he wanteth ... passionately kind and angry ... oppressed with fantasy which hath ever mastered his reason." There must, however, have been far other qualities in a man who could command, as J. undoubtedly did, the goodwill and admiration of so many of the finest minds of his time. In person he was tall, swarthy, marked with small-pox, and in later years burly.
SUMMARY.—B.1573,ed.Westminster School, serves in Low Countries, returns to England 1592, and takes to stage, kills actor in brawl 1598, a Romanistc.1598-c.1610,Every Man in his Humour1598,Every Man out of his Humour1599, and other plays till 1633,coll.workspub.1616, visits Drummond 1618, loses and recovers Court favour,d.1637.
Among the ed. of J.'s works may be mentioned those of Gifford (9 vols., 1816), re-issued (1875), selected plays Mermaid Series (3 vols., 1893-5), Morley (1884), and Symonds (1886). Lives and studies by Symonds (English Worthies), and Swinburne (1890).
JORTIN, JOHN (1698-1770).—Ecclesiastical historian,ed.at Camb., and entering the Church held various benefices, becoming in 1764 Archdeacon of London. Hepub.Remarks on Ecclesiastical History(1751-54), a Life of Erasmus, and various miscellaneous pamphlets and tracts; 7 vols. of sermons appeared after his death. All his works show learning, and are written in a lively style.
JOWETT, BENJAMIN (1817-1893).—Scholar, wasb.at Camberwell, anded.at St. Paul's School and Balliol Coll., where he had a distinguished career, becoming Fellow 1838, Tutor 1840, and Master 1870. He held the Regius Professorship of Greek 1855-93, though for the first 10 years he was, owing to the opposition of his theological opponents in the Univ., deprived of a large part of the usual emoluments. He was a keen and formidable controversialist, and was usually found on what was, for the time, the unpopular side. His contribution (an essay onThe Interpretation of Scripture) to the famousEssays and Reviews, which appeared in 1860, brought him into strong collision with powerful sections of theological opinion, to which he had already given offence by his commentaries on theEpistles to the Thessalonians, Galatians, and Romans. His views were, indeed, generally considered to be extremely latitudinarian. Latterly he exercised an extraordinary influence in the Univ., and was held in reverence by his pupils, many of whom haverisen to eminence. His chief works are translations, with learned introductions, ofThe Dialoguesof Plato, of Thucydides, and of thePoliticsof Aristotle. He also, in conjunction with Prof. Campbell, brought out an ed. ofThe Republicof Plato. He held the degree of LL.D. from the Univ. of Edin. (1884), and Camb. (1890), and Doctor of Theology of Leyden (1875).
JUDD, SYLVESTER (1813-1853).—Novelist,b.at Westhampton, Mass., studied for the ministry at Yale, and became a Unitarian pastor. Hepub.Philo, a religious poem, followed byMargaret, a Tale of the Real and the Ideal(1845),Richard Edney, A Rus-Urban Tale(1850). He also produced some theological works. His work is very unequal, but often, as inMargaret, contains fine and true descriptive passages both of nature and character.
KAMES, HENRY HOME, LORD (1696-1782).—Miscellaneous writer,s.of Geo. H., of Kames, Berwickshire, was admitted an advocate in 1723, and raised to the Bench in 1752. In 1748 hepub.a collection of Decisions of the Court of Session. It is, however, on his philosophical and historical writings that his literary fame rests. His writings includeEssays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion(1751),The Elements of Criticism(1762), in which he sought for principles based on the elements of human nature;Sketches of the History of Man(1774), andLoose Hints on Education, in which many modern views are anticipated. In all these works, while the style is stiff and crabbed, there is much original thought. Lord K. was also an eminent authority upon agriculture, on which he in 1777pub.a work entitledThe Gentleman Farmer.
KAVANAGH, JULIA (1824-1877).—Novelist,dau.of Morgan K., poet, and philologist, wrote many novels, of which the scene is usually in France, among which areMadeleine(1848),Adèle, andDaisy Burns; also biographical works,Woman in France in the 18th Century(1850), etc.
KAYE, SIR JOHN WILLIAM (1814-1876).—Historian and biographer,s.of a London solicitor, wased.at Eton and Addiscombe. After serving for some time in the Bengal Artillery, he succeeded J.S. Mill as sec. to the political and secret department in the East India Office. His first literary work was a novelpub.in 1845, and he then began his valuable series of histories and biographies illustrative of the British occupation of India, includingThe War in Afghanistan(1851), andThe Sepoy War in India, which he did not live to finish, and which was completed by G.B. Malleson asThe History of the Indian Mutiny(6 vols., 1890); also histories of the East India Company and of Christianity in India, and Lives of Sir John Malcolm and other Indian soldiers and statesmen. All his writings are characterised by painstaking research, love of truth, and a style suited to the importance of his subjects. He was made K.C.S.I. in 1871.
KEARY, ANNIE (1825-1879).—Novelist, wrote some good novels, includingCastle Daly,A Doubting Heart, andOldbury, also books for children and educational works.
KEATS, JOHN (1795-1821).—Poet,s.of the chief servant at an inn in London, whom.his master'sdau., andd.a man of some substance. He was sent to a school at Enfield, and having meanwhile become an orphan, was in 1810 apprenticed to a surgeon at Edmonton. In 1815 he went to London to walk the hospitals. He was not, however, at all enthusiastic in his profession, and having become acquainted with Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Shelley, and others, he gave himself more and more to literature. His first work—some sonnets—appeared in Hunt'sExaminer, and his first book,Poems, came out in 1817. This book, while containing much that gave little promise of what was to come, was not without touches of beauty and music, but it fell quite flat, finding few readers beyond his immediate circle.Endymion, begun during a visit to the Isle of Wight, appeared in 1818, and was savagely attacked inBlackwoodand theQuarterly Review. These attacks, though naturally giving pain to the poet, were not, as was alleged at the time, the cause of his health breaking down, as he was possessed of considerable confidence in his own powers, and his claim to immortality as a poet. Symptoms of hereditary consumption, however, began to show themselves and, in the hope of restored health, he made a tour in the Lakes and Scotland, from which he returned to London none the better. The death soon after of his brother Thomas, whom he had helped to nurse, told upon his spirits, as did also his unrequited passion for Miss Fanny Brawne. In 1820 hepub.Lamia and Other Poems, containingIsabella,Eve of St. Agnes,Hyperion, and the odes to theNightingaleandThe Grecian Urn, all of which had been produced within a period of about 18 months. This book was warmly praised in theEdinburgh Review. His health had by this time completely given way, and he was likewise harassed by narrow means and hopeless love. He had, however, the consolation of possessing many warm friends, by some of whom, the Hunts and the Brawnes, he was tenderly nursed. At last in 1821 he set out, accompanied by his friend Severn, on that journey to Italy from which he never returned. After much suffering hed.at Rome, and was buried in the Protestant cemetery there. The character of K. was much misunderstood until the publication by R.M. Milnes, afterwardsLord Houghton(q.v.), of hisLife and Letters, which gives an attractive picture of him. This, together with the accounts of other friends, represent him as "eager, enthusiastic, and sensitive, but humorous, reasonable, and free from vanity, affectionate, a good brother and friend, sweet-tempered, and helpful." In his political views he was liberal, in his religious, indefinite. Though in his life-time subjected to much harsh and unappreciative criticism, his place among English poets is now assured. His chief characteristics are intense, sensuous imagination, and love of beauty, rich and picturesque descriptive power, and exquisitely melodious versification.
Life, Letters, etc., by R.M. Milnes (1848),Poems and Letters(Forman, 5 vols., 1900). Keats (Men of Letters Series, Colvin, 1887), etc.Poems(1817),Endymion(1818),Lamia and Other Poems(1820).
KEBLE, JOHN (1792-1866).—Poet and divine,s.of the Rev. John K., Vicar of Coln St. Aldwyn's, Gloucestershire,b.at Fairford in the same county,ed.by hisf.and at Oxf., where hewas elected a Fellow of Oriel Coll., and was for some years tutor and examiner in the Univ. His ideal life, however, was that of a country clergyman, and having taken orders in 1815, he became curate to hisf.Meantime he had been writingThe Christian Year, which appeared in 1827, and met with an almost unparalleled acceptance. Though at first anonymous, its authorship soon became known, with the result that K. was in 1831 appointed to the Chair of Poetry at Oxf., which he held until 1841. In 1833 his famous sermon on "national apostasy" gave the first impulse to the Oxf. movement, of which, after the secession of Newman to the Church of Rome, he, along with Pusey, was regarded as the leader, and in connection with which he contributed several of the more important "tracts" in which were enforced "deep submission to authority, implicit reverence for Catholic tradition, firm belief in the divine prerogatives of the priesthood, the real nature of the sacraments, and the danger of independent speculation." Hisf.havingd., K. became in 1836 Vicar of Hursley, near Winchester, where he remained until his death. In 1846 hepub.another book of poems,Lyra Innocentium. Other works were a Life of Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, and an ed. of the Works of Hooker. After his death appearedLetters of Spiritual Counsel, and 12 vols. ofParish Sermons. The literary position of K. must mainly rest uponThe Christian Year,Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays, andHolidays throughout the Year, the object of which was, as described by the author, to bring the thoughts and feelings of the reader into unison with those exemplified in the Prayer Book. The poems, while by no means of equal literary merit, are generally characterised by delicate and true poetic feeling, and refined and often extremely felicitous language; and it is a proof of the fidelity to nature with which its themes are treated that the book has become a religious classic with readers far removed from the author's ecclesiastical standpoint and general school of thought. K. was one of the most saintly and unselfish men who ever adorned the Church of England, and, though personally shy and retiring, exercised a vast spiritual influence upon his generation.
Lifeby J.D. Coleridge (1869), another by Rev. W. Lock (1895).
KEIGHTLEY, THOMAS (1789-1872).—Historian,ed.at Trinity Coll., Dublin, wrote works on mythology and folklore, and at the request of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, a series of text-books on English, Greek, and other histories. HisHistory of Greecewas translated into modern Greek. Among his other books areFairy Mythology(1850), andMythology of Ancient Greece and Italy, and a work on Popular Tales and their transmission from one country to another.
KEITH, ROBERT (1681-1757).—Historian,b.in Kincardineshire, belonged to the family of the Earls Marischal, and was Bishop of Fife in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He was deeply versed in Scottish antiquities, andpub.History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotlandduring the Reformation. He also compiledA Catalogue of the Bishops of Scotland(1755).
KELLY, HUGH (1739-1777).—Dramatist,s.of a Dublin publican, worked in London as a staymaker, 1760, and after ed.various journals, wroteMemoirs of a Magdalen(1767). His play,False Delicacy(1768), had an extraordinary success, and was translated into French, German, and Portuguese. His other plays had no great success. He left off writing for the stage in 1774, and endeavoured to practise as a barrister, but without success. He also wrote political pamphlets, for which he received a pension from Government.
KEN, THOMAS (1637-1711).—Religious writer,s.of an attorney, wasb.at Little Berkhampstead,ed.at Winchester and Oxf., and entering the Church received the living of Brightstone, Isle of Wight, where he composed hisMorning, Evening, and Midnight Hymns, perhaps the most widely known of English hymns. These he was accustomed to sing daily to the lute. After holding other benefices he became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and a Chaplain to Charles II. He was one of the "Seven Bishops" sent to the Tower by James II. Refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary, he was deprived, and spent his later years in comparative poverty, though he found an asylum at Longleat with Lord Weymouth. Izaak Walton was his brother-in-law. K. wrote a manual of prayers for Winchester School, and other devotional works.
KENNEDY, JOHN PENDLETON (1795-1870).—Novelist,b.in Baltimore, was distinguished as a lawyer and politician. He wrote three novels,Swallow Barn(1832),Horse Shoe Robinson(1835), andRob of the Bowl(1838), which give a vivid presentation of life in the Southern States.
KENNEDY, WALTER (fl.1500).—S.of Lord K., wased.at Glasgow, and is perhaps best known as Dunbar's antagonist in theFlyting of Dunbar and Kennedy. Other poems arePraise of Aige(Age),Ane Ballat in Praise of Our Lady, andThe Passion of Christ. Most of his work is probably lost.
KILLIGREW, THOMAS (1612-1683).—Dramatist,s.of Sir Robert K., of Hanworth, was a witty, dissolute courtier of Charles II., and wrote nine plays, each in a different city. Of them the best known isThe Parson's Wedding.
KING, HENRY (1592-1669).—Poet,s.of a Bishop of London, wased.at Westminster School and Oxf. He entered the Church, and rose in 1642 to be Bishop of Chichester. The following year he was deprived, but was reinstated at the Restoration. He wrote many elegies on Royal persons and on his private friends, who included Donne and Ben Jonson. A selection from hisPoems and Psalmswaspub.in 1843.
KINGLAKE, ALEXANDER WILLIAM (1809-1891).—B.near Taunton,ed.at Eton and Camb., was called to the Bar in 1837, and acquired a considerable practice, which in 1856 he abandoned in order to devote himself to literature and public life. His first literary venture had beenEothen, a brilliant and original work of Eastern travel,pub.in 1844; but hismagnum opuswas hisInvasion of the Crimea, in 8 vols. (1863-87), which is one of the most effective works of its class. It has, however, been charged with being toofavourable to Lord Raglan, and unduly hostile to Napoleon III., for whom the author had an extreme aversion. Its great length is also against it.
KINGSFORD, WILLIAM (1819-1898).—Historian,b.in London, served in the army, and went to Canada, where he was engaged in surveying work. He has a place in literature for hisHistory of Canadain 10 vols., a work of careful research, though not distinguished for purely literary merits.
KINGSLEY, CHARLES (1819-1875).—Novelist and historian,s.of a clergyman, wasb.at Holne Vicarage near Dartmoor, but passed most of his childhood at Barnack in the Fen country, and Clovelly in Devonshire,ed.at King's Coll., London, and Camb. Intended for the law, he entered the Church, and became, in 1842, curate, and two years later rector, of Eversley, Hampshire. In the latter year hepub.The Saints' Tragedy, a drama, of which the heroine is St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Two novels followed,Yeast(1848) andAlton Locke(1850), in which he deals with social questions as affecting the agricultural labouring class, and the town worker respectively. He had become deeply interested in such questions, and threw himself heart and soul, in conjunction with F.D. Maurice and others, into the schemes of social amelioration, which they supported under the name of Christian socialism, contributing many tracts and articles under the signature of "Parson Lot." In 1853 appearedHypatia, in which the conflict of the early Christians with the Greek philosophy of Alexandria is depicted; it was followed in 1855 byWestward Ho, perhaps his most popular work; in 1857 byTwo Years Ago, and in 1866 byHereward the Wake.At Last(1870), gave his impressions of a visit to the West Indies. His taste for natural history found expression inGlaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore(1855), and other works.The Water Babiesis a story for children written to inspire love and reverence of Nature. K. was in 1860 appointed to the Professorship of Modern History at Camb., which he held until 1869. The literary fruit of this wasRoman and Teuton(1864). In the same year he was involved in a controversy with J.H. Newman, which resulted in the publication by the latter of hisApologia. K., who had in 1869 been made a Canon of Chester, became Canon of Westminster in 1873. Always of a highly nervous temperament, his over-exertion resulted in repeated failures of health, and hed.in 1875. Though hot-tempered and combative, he was a man of singularly noble character. His type of religion, cheerful and robust, was described as "muscular Christianity." Strenuous, eager, and keen in feeling, he was not either a profoundly learned, or perhaps very impartial, historian, but all his writings are marked by a bracing and manly atmosphere, intense sympathy, and great descriptive power.