# The Nuttall Encyclopædia/K

K
Kaaba. See Caaba.
Kabul (70), on the Kabul River, at the foot of the Takht-i-Shah Hills, 650 m. NW. of Delhi, is the capital of Afghanistan, an ancient, mud-built city, but progressing; noted for its fruit and trading in carpets, camel-hair cloth, and skins; the town was taken by General Pollok 1842, avenging the death of Burnes and Macnaughten, and by General Roberts in 1879, avenging the murder of Cavagnari.
Kabyles, the name given to a division of the Berbers of N. Africa, who occupy the coast and tablelands of Mauritania, and are indigenous to it.
Kadijah, a rich widow, the wife of Mahomet, who had been her steward and factotum, and whom he married when she was forty and himself only twenty-five, and with whom he lived till her death, “loving her truly and her alone,” himself now a man of fifty; he had begun his mission as a prophet before she died, and one service she did him he never forgot as the greatest of them all: she believed in him, when no one else did.
Kadris, a set of Mohammedan dervishes who lacerate themselves with scourges, like the Flagellants.
Kaffirs, including Kaffirs proper and Zulus, a division of the Bantu negroes, found all over S. Africa, are a pastoral and latterly agricultural people of fine physique, naturally hospitable, honest, and truthful, but now much contaminated by the white man; Kaffir wars broke out in 1834, 1846, 1850, and 1877; the name, which means infidel, was originally applied by the Mohammedans to all pagans.
Kafiristan (200), a lofty mountainous region in the E. of Afghanistan, S. of the Hindu-Kush, with the Panjshir, Kabul, and Chitral Rivers on the W., S., and E.; the people are undersized, pastoral, and devoted to their Aryan faith, which here has its last stronghold, not organised politically, but united in their love of independence and hatred of Mohammedanism.
Kairwan` (5), the sacred city of Northern Africa, in Tunis, 80 m. S. of Tunis, a decayed town, was the chief seat of the Mohammedans in N. Africa, and a sacred city; manufactures copper vessels, carpets, and articles of leather.
Kaisar-i-Hind (i. e. Cæsar of India), a title applied to Queen Victoria as Empress of India since 1876.
Kaiser, the name, derived from the Latin Cæsar, given to the emperor of the old German Empire or Reich, and resumed by the modern Emperor, William I., and his successors.
Kaiser Wilhelm's Land (116), the N. of the eastern half of New Guinea, belonging partly to Britain, partly to Holland, and partly to Germany.
Kaithal (15), in the Punjab, 90 m. NW. of Delhi, an ancient town, with saltpetre refineries; has old associations with the Hindu monkey-god, Hanuman (q. v.).
Kâla, the Hindu Chronus, or god of time, who, as in the Greek mythology, at once produces and devours all things.
Kalahari Desert, in S. Africa, stretches far northward from the Orange River between German SW. Africa and the Transvaal, an elevated plateau, not really desert, but covered with scrub and affording coarse pasturage for cattle.
Kalamazoo` (18), a railway centre and flourishing town in the SW. of Michigan, 144 m. NE. of Chicago; manufactures machinery, paper, and flour.
Kaleidoscope, an optical instrument, invented by Sir David Brewster in 1817, consisting of a cylinder with two mirrors set lengthwise inside, two plates of glass with bits of coloured glass loose between at one end and an eye-hole at the other, presents varying patterns on rotation.
Kalevale, a collection of popular songs current among the peasantry of Finland from earliest times.
Kali (i. e. the black one), one of the names of the wife of Siva (q. v.), and of whom she is the female counterpart, and has been identified with the Greek Hecate (q. v.); she is represented with a necklace of human heads.
Kálidása, a great Indian dramatist and poet, probably of the 6th century A.D.; was author of “The Lost Ring” and “The Hero and the Nymph,” translated by Sir William Jones, much praised by Goethe and Max Müller.
Kalmar (12), seaport in SE. of Sweden, on an island in Kalmar Sound; carries on a large timber trade, and manufactures of tobacco and matches.
Kalmucks, the name given to the Western Moguls, inhabiting Central Asia, and considerably intermingled with their neighbours, the Russians, Persians, and Turks; they are Buddhists, nomadic, and have herds of horses and cattle.
Kalpa, a Braminical name for the immense period of time which separates one destruction of the world from the next, a day and a night of Brahma.
Kalpi (14), a decaying town in the NW. Provinces of India, on the Jumna, 50 m. SW. of Cawnpore; was the scene of the defeat of 12,000 mutineers in 1858; manufactures paper, and exports grain and cotton.
Kâma, the Hindu Cupid, or god of love, a potent god of the Hindu pantheon, able to subdue nearly all the rest of the gods except Siva, who once with a single glance of his Cyclop eye reduced him to ashes for daring to bring trouble into his breast; he is one of the primitive gods of the Hindu pantheon, like the Eros (q. v.) of the Greeks.
Kamchatka (7), a long narrow peninsula on the E. coast of Siberia, stretching southwards between the Behring Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, with a precipitous coast and a volcanic range of mountains down the centre, has a cold, wet climate, grass and tree vegetation, and many hot springs; the people live by fishing, hunting, and trading in furs; they are Russianised, the peninsula having been Russian since the 17th century.
Kames, Henry Home, Lord, Scottish judge and philosopher, born in Berwickshire; became an advocate in 1723 and judge in 1752; wrote books on law, “Essays on Morality and Natural Religion,” and other philosophical works, in which he indulged in a wide and often fanciful range of speculation; was noted for his sociality and public spirit, and died at Edinburgh (1696-1782).
Kampen (19), a reviving Dutch town on the Yssel, 3 m. from the Zuyder Zee, and 5½ m. W. of Zwolle; has shipbuilding and fishing industries; the inhabitants are the proverbial fools of Holland.
Kamptulicon, a floorcloth composed of cork and india-rubber or similar substance.
Kamthi (43), a town of recent origin in the Central Provinces of India, 9 m. NW. of Nagpur; trades in cattle and grain, salt, and timber.
Kanara, a rainy district on the W. coast of India, between Goa and Malabar, mostly malarial forest country, with the Ghat Mountains and many rivers. North Kanara (446) is in Bombay Presidency. South Kanara (1,056), capital Mangalore, is in Madras.
Kanaris, Constantin, an intrepid Greek sea-captain who distinguished himself by his exploits in the Greek War of Independence, particularly in the destruction of the Turkish vessels by means of fire-ships; he attained the rank of admiral in 1862, and took part in the revolution which overthrew King Otho (1780-1877).
Kandahar, capital of Southern Afghanistan, near the Argandab River, 200 m. SW. of Kabul; a well-watered, regularly built town in the middle of orchards and vineyards; is of great political and commercial importance; a centre of trade with India, Persia, and Turkestan; it was held by the British through the war of 1839-41, and again in 1880-81; population variously estimated from 25,000 to 100,000.
Kandy (20), a town on a mountain lake in the middle of Ceylon, 75 m. NE. of Colombo; is a railway centre; has the ruins of the palace of the old native kings, and a temple with the famous tooth of Buddha.
Kane, Elisha Kent, an American explorer, born in Philadelphia; bred to medicine; became a surgeon in the navy; acquired a taste for adventure; from his experiences in such accompanied, in 1850, the first Grinnell expedition to the Arctic seas, and commanded the second in 1853, after three years returning with many discoveries; he wrote accounts of both expeditions (1820-1857).
Kane, Sir Robert, chemist, born in Dublin; originator of the Dublin Journal of Medical Science in 1832, and of the Irish Museum of Industry in 1846; was President of Queen's College, Cork, and President of the Royal Irish Academy in 1876; Published “Elements of Chemistry,” and other works (1810-1890).
Kansas (1,427), the central State of the American Union; lies in the basin of the Kansas and Arkansas Rivers, between Nebraska on the N. and Oklahoma on the S., with Colorado on the W. and Missouri on the E. It is a rolling prairie, with a fine climate subject to occasional extremes, and a rainfall, except in some districts, sufficient; raises crops of grain and sugar, and affords excellent grazing ground. Pork and beef packing, flour-milling, and iron-founding industries are carried on. The State University is at Lawrence, an agricultural college at Manhattan, and good schools in every town. Previous to its admission to the Union in 1859 Kansas was the scene of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery parties for five years. In the Civil War it joined the North. The capital is Topeka (31), and the largest other towns Kansas City (38) and Wichita (23).
Kansas City, two contiguous towns on the S. bank of the Missouri River, 280 m. W. of St. Louis, are so called. The larger and more easterly one (164) is the second city of Missouri; an important railway centre, and distributes the agricultural products of a large region; has pork-packing industries and iron manufactures. The smaller, westerly city (51), is in Kansas, the largest town of that State; has a remarkable elevated railway.
Kant, Immanuel, a celebrated German philosopher, born in Königsberg, the son of a saddler, of Scotch descent, and fortunate in both his parents; entered the university in 1740 as a student of theology; gave himself to the study of philosophy, mathematics, and physics; wrote an essay, his first literary effort, on “Motive Force” in 1747; settled at the University as a private lecturer on a variety of academic subjects in 1755; became professor of Logic and Metaphysics in 1770, when he was 46, and continued till his retirement, in 1797, from the frailties of age, spending the last 17 years of his life in a small house with a garden in a quiet quarter of the town; his great work, the “Kritic of Pure Reason,” was published in 1781, and it was followed by the “Kritic of Practical Reason” in 1788, and the “Kritic of Judgment” in 1790; his works inaugurate a new era in philosophic speculation, and by the adoption of a critical method dealt a death-blow to speculative dogmatism on the one hand and scepticism on the other; it was, he says, the scepticism of Hume that first broke his dogmatic slumber, so that had Hume not been, he had not been, and the whole course of modern thought different; Kant by his critical method did for philosophy what Copernicus did for astronomy; he centralised the intelligence in the reason or soul, as the latter did the planetary system in the sun; Kant was a lean, little man, of simple habits, and was never wedded (1724-1804).
Kaolin, a fine white clay, a hydrous silicate of alumina, which does not colour when fired; used in making porcelain; called also China clay.
Kapellmeister, director of an orchestra or choir, more particularly of the band of a German prince.
Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya system of Hindu philosophy (q. v.); was regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu (q. v.).
Kara, a gold-mining district in East Siberia, 300 m. from Chita, of which the mines are the private property of the Czar, and are worked by convicts, who are often disgracefully treated, many of them merely political offenders.
Kara Sea is a portion of the Arctic Sea, on the NE. corner of Russia, between Nova Zembla and the Yalmal; receives the rivers Obi and Yenisei, and is navigable from July to September.
Karaites, a Jewish sect which originated in the 8th century; adhered to the letter of Scripture and repudiated all tradition; were strict Sabbatarians.
Karakorum, a range of the Himalayas, extending from the Hindu-Kush eastward into Thibet, and a pass in the centre of it 18,000 ft. high. Also the name of the old capital of Mongolia.
Karamsin, a Russian historian; his first work was “Letters of a Russian Traveller,” in 6 vols., published in 1797-1801, which gained him a high reputation, and it was followed by his “History of Russia,” in 12 vols., published in 1816-1829, for the materials of which he had access, to the most authentic documents as imperial historiographer, an office to which he was appointed in 1803, and the work is a work in the highest repute (1766-1826).
Karikal (93), a French possession in India, on the Coromandel coast, 150 m. S. of Madras; rears and exports rice in large quantities.
Karli, a famous temple-cave in Bombay Presidency, on the Bombay-Poona road; dates from the 1st century B.C. at latest.
Karma, the unbroken sequence, according to the Theosophists, of cause and effect, in which every effect is regarded the cause of the next.
Karman, the name given in the Brahminical philosophy and in Buddhism to that act of the soul by which, as is conceived, it determines its own destiny, a truly serious conception, and in itself soul affecting.
Karmathians, originally a secret society of the Ismaîlis, developed into a religious and communistic sect, and waged a great peasants' war under successive leaders between A.D. 900 and 950; Mecca was captured 930; the movement of the Karmathians did much to overthrow the power of the Khalifate.
Karr, Jean Baptiste Alphonse, French novelist, born at Paris; entered journalism, became editor of the Figaro 1839, started Les Guepes the same year, retired to Nice 1855, and there died; his chief novel is “Géneviève,” and best known book, “Voyage autour de mon Jardin” (1808-1890).
Karroo, the name of a barren tract of tableland in South Africa with a clay soil, which, however, bursts into grassy verdure and blossom after rain; the Great Karroo, which is 850 m. long and about 80 m. broad, is 3000 ft. above the sea-level, while the Little Karroo is 1000 ft. lower; large flocks of sheep are pastured on them, and the value of the land has immensely increased within late years.
Kars (9), an almost impregnable fortress on the Russo-Turkish frontier in Asia, 100 m. E. of the Caspian Sea; was successfully held by the Turks under General Williams in 1855, of which Laurence Oliphant wrote an account, but captured by Russia in 1877, and ceded to her by the Treaty of Berlin, 1878; it is a strong place, and a prize to any power that possesses it.
Karun River, rising in the Zarduh Koh Mountains W. of Ispahân; flows W. and S. past Shuster into the Persian Gulf; is the sole navigable waterway of Persia, and was thrown open to trade 1888.
Kaschau (29), a beautiful town in Northern Hungary, on the Hernad River, 140 m. NW. of Budapest; has a royal tobacco factory, is noted for hams, has an agricultural school and a Jesuit university.
Kashgar (120), political capital and second largest city of Chinese Turkestan, on the Kizil River; has cotton, silk, carpet, and saddlery industries, and trades with Russia; it is the centre of Mohammedanism in Eastern Turkestan, a pilgrim city; has been in Chinese hands since 1758, but is chiefly under Russian influence.
Kassala (3), a fortified town in the Soudan, near the Abyssinian boundary, on the Chor-el-Gash, a tributary of the Atbara, is 260 m. S. of Suakim; suffered severely from the Madhist rising of 1883-1885.
Katakama, the square style of writing of the Japanese.
Kater, Henry, a physicist, born in Bristol; bred to the law, but entered the army, and went out to India, where, to the injury of his constitution, he was for seven years engaged on the trigonometrical survey of the country; devoted the rest of his life to scientific research; he contributed to the Philosophical Transactions, determined the length of the seconds pendulum at the latitude of London, and invented the floating collimator (1777-1835).
Katkoff, Michael Nikiforovitch, Russian journalist and publicist, born at Moscow, educated at Moscow, Königsberg, and Berlin; became professor of Philosophy in Moscow and in 1801 editor of the Moscow Gazette; though at first an advocate of parliamentary government, he became a violent reactionary, made his paper the most influential in Russia, and had great influence in public affairs; he is said to have determined the reactionary policy of Alexander III. (1818-1887).
Katrine, Loch, a long narrow beautiful lake in the Trossachs, Scotland, about 30 m. N. of Glasgow, to which it affords an abundant water supply, is 8 m. long and ¾ broad; the splendid scenery of it is described in Scott's “Lady of the Lake.”
Kauffmann, Angelica, painter, born in the Tyrol; gave early evidence of artistic talent; came to London, and became one of the first members of the Royal Academy; produced pictures on classical and mythological subjects, as well as portraits of the royal family among others; her story forms the basis of a fiction by Miss Thackeray (1741-1807).
Kaufmann, Constantino von, Russian general, of German descent; did much to contribute to the establishment of the Russian power in Central Asia (1818-1882).
Kaulbach, Wilhelm von, German painter, head of the new German school, born in Waldeck; was a pupil of Cornelius, and associated with him in painting the frescoes in the Glyptothek in Münich; among other works, which have made his name famous, he executed the splendid series of compositions that adorn the vestibule of the Berlin Museum; he illustrated Goethe's “Faust” and his “Reinecke Fuchs” (1805-1874).
Kaunitz, Prince von, Austrian statesman, born at Vienna; under Charles VI. and Maria Theresa distinguished as a diplomatist at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, and sided with France in the Seven Years' War; was for nearly 40 years “the shining star and guide of Austrian politics, and greatest of diplomatists in his day, supreme Jove in that extinct Olympus; regarded with sublime pity, not unalloyed to contempt, all other diplomatic beings”; he shared with Colonne the sobriquet of the “European coach-driver”; he was sold body and soul to the interests of Austria (1711-1794).
Kavanagh, Julia, novelist, born in Tipperary, a very dainty little lady; wrote “Madeleine,” “Woman in France,” “Women of Letters,” “Women of Christianity,” &c.; spent most of her life in France (1824-1877).
Kawi, the old language of Java found in old documents and inscriptions.
Kay, Sir, a rude and boastful Knight of the Round Table, foster-brother of King Arthur, who from his braggart ways often made himself the butt of the whole court.
Kay, John, a Scottish caricaturist, born near Dalkeith; began business in Edinburgh first as a barber and then as a print-seller; author of sketches of local celebrities, now collected in two volumes, and of much interest and value as a record of the Edinburgh of his time (1742-1826).
Kaye, Sir John William, historian of English India, an officer in the Bengal Artillery, retired in 1841; in 1856 entered the East India Company's service in England, and was subsequently a secretary in the Government India Office; he wrote “History of the Sepoy War 1857-58,” and “Essays of an Optimist” (1814-1876).
Kean, Charles John, actor, second son of the succeeding, born in Waterford; made his first appearance in Drury Lane in 1827, which proved unsuccessful, but by assiduous study and his marriage with Helen Tree, a popular actress who played along with him, he rose in the profession and became lessee of the Princess's Theatre, London, where he distinguished himself by his revivals of Shakespeare's plays, with auxiliary effects due to scenery and costume; he was at his best in melodramas, such as “Louis XI.” (1811-1868).
Kean, Edmund, distinguished English tragedian, born in London; trod the stage from his infancy; his first success was Shylock in the “Merchant of Venice” in 1814, and the representation of it was followed by equally famous representations of Richard III., Othello, and Sir Giles Overreach; he led a very dissipated life, and under the effects of it his constitution gave way; he broke down one evening beside his son as Iago, as he was playing the part of Othello, was carried off the stage, and never appeared on the boards again (1787-1833).
Keary, Annie, novelist, born in Yorkshire; began as a writer of children's books, “Castle Daly,” an Irish novel, among her best; was a woman of a sympathetic nature, and was devoted to works of benevolence (1825-1882).
Keats, John, was the son of a livery-stable proprietor, born at Finsbury, London; never went to a university, but was apprenticed to a London surgeon, and subsequently practised medicine himself in London; abandoning his profession in 1817, he devoted himself to literature, made the acquaintance of Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Lamb, Wordsworth, and other literary men; left London for Carisbrooke, moved next year to Teignmouth, but on a visit to Scotland contracted what proved to be consumption; in 1819 he was betrothed to Miss Fanny Browne, and struggled against ill-health and financial difficulties till his health completely gave way in the autumn of 1820; accompanied by the artist Joseph Severn he went to Naples and then to Rome, where, in the spring following, he died; his works were three volumes of poetry, “Poems” 1817, “Endymion” 1818, “Lamia, Isabella and other Poems,” including “Hyperion” and “The Eve of St. Agnes” 1820; he never reached maturity in his art, but the dignity, tenderness, and imaginative power of his work contained the highest promise; he was a man of noble character, sensitive, yet strong, unselfish, and magnanimous, by some regarded as the most original of modern poets (1795-1821).
Keblah, the point of the compass to which people turn their faces when they worship, as the Mohammedans do to Mecca when they pray.
Keble, John, English clergyman, author of the “Christian Year,” born in Fairford, Gloucestershire; studied at Oxford, and became Fellow of Oriel College in 1811; in 1827 appeared the “Christian Year,” which he published anonymously; in 1831 was appointed professor of Poetry in Oxford, and that same year issued an “Address to the Electors of the United Kingdom” against the Reform Bill; he was one of four who originated the Tractarian movement at Oxford, and was the author of several of the “Tracts for the Times”; in 1835 he was presented to the vicarage of Hursley, which he held till his death; he was author of “Lyra Innocentium,” and along with Newman and others of “Lyra Apostolica”; the secession of Newman rather riveted than loosened his attachment to the English Church (1792-1866).
Kedron, a wady E. of Jerusalem, traversed by a brook in the rainy season, and which runs in the direction of the Dead Sea.
Keelhauling, a naval punishment of the 17th and 18th centuries; consisted in dropping the victim into the sea from one yardarm, hauling him under the keel and up to the yardarm on the other side; is now a term for a severe rebuke.
Keeling Islands. See Cocos Islands.
Keewatin, a district in Canada under the jurisdiction of the government of Manitoba, and N. of it; the mineral wealth is great, and includes copper and silver.
Kehama, a Hindu rajah who obtains and sports with supernatural powers, whose adventures are given in Southey's “Curse of Kehama.”
Keighley (30), a Yorkshire town, on the Aire, 9 m. NW. of Bradford; manufactures woollen and worsted fabrics and spinning-machinery.
Keightley, Thomas, man of letters, born in Dublin; wrote a number of school manuals, and “Fairy Mythology” (1789-1872).
Keim, Theodor, a German theologian, born at Stuttgart, professor at Zurich and afterwards at Giessen; his great work, to which others were preliminary, was his “History of Jesu of Nazara,” in which he presents the person of Christ Himself as the one miracle in the story and that eclipses every other in it, and makes them of no account comparatively (1823-1878).
Keith, James, known as Marshal Keith, born near Peterhead, of an old Scotch family, Earls Marischal of Scotland; having had to leave the country for his share in the Jacobite rebellion, fled first to Spain and then to Russia, doing military service in both, but quitted both in 1747 for service in Prussia under Frederick the Great, who soon recognised the worth of him, and under whom he rose to be field-marshal; he distinguished himself in successive engagements, and fell shot through the heart, when in the charge of the right wing at Hochkirch; as he opened his way by his bayonet the enemy gathered round him after being twice repulsed (1696-1758).
Keith, Lord, English admiral, born near Stirling; served in various parts of the world, and distinguished himself in the American and French wars.
Kelat (14), capital of Beluchistan, in a lofty region 140 m. S. of Kandahar; is the residence of a British agent since 1877, and was annexed as a British possession in 1888. It is a military stronghold, and of great importance in a military point of view.
Keller, Ferdinand, Swiss archæologist; his reputation rests on his investigations of lake-dwellings in Switzerland in 1853-54 (1800-1881).
Keller, Gottfried, distinguished poet and novelist, born in Zurich; his greatest remance, and the one by which he is best known, is “Der Grüne Heinrich”; wrote also a collection of excellent tales entitled, “Die Leute von Seldwyla” (1819-1890).
Kellermann, François Christophe, Duke of Valmy, French general born in Alsace, son of a peasant; entered the army at 17; served in the Seven Years' War; embraced the Revolution; defeated the Duke of Brunswick at Valmy in 1792; served under Napoleon as commander of the reserves on the Rhine, but supported the Bourbons at the Restoration (1735-1820).
Kells (2), an ancient town in co. Meath, with many antiquities; gives its name to the “Book of Kells,” a beautiful 9th-century Keltic illuminated manuscript of the Gospels, now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
Kelp, an alkaline substance derived from the ashes of certain sea-weeds, yielding iodine, soda, potass, and certain oils; kelp-burning was formerly a valuable industry in Orkney and the Hebrides.
Kelpie, an imaginary water-spirit which, it is said, appears generally in the form of a horse.
Kelso, a market-town in Roxburghshire, beautifully situated on the Tweed, where the Teviot joins it, with the ruins of an abbey of the 12th or the early 13th century.
Kelvin, Lord. See Thomson, William.
Kemble, a family of three sons and one daughter, children of Roger Kemble, a provincial theatrical manager, all actors, of whom the greatest was the eldest, Sarah, Mrs. Siddons (q. v.).
Kemble, Adelaide, daughter of Charles, was noted as an operatic singer, but retired from the stage on her marriage 1842 (1814-1879).
Kemble, Charles, son of Roger, born at Brecon; appeared first at Sheffield as Orlando, in 1792, and two years later came to London, where he continued playing till 1840, when he was appointed Examiner of Plays (1775-1854). Two daughters of Charles also won fame on the stage.
Kemble, Frances Anne, daughter of Charles, born in London; made her début in 1829, and proved a queen of tragedy; in 1832 went to America, where, in 1834, she married a planter, from whom she was divorced in 1848; resuming her maiden name, Fanny Kemble, she gave Shakespearian readings for 20 years (1809-1893).
Kemble, John Mitchell, Anglo-Saxon scholar, born in London, son of Charles Kemble; edited writings belonging to the Anglo-Saxon period; his chief work “The Saxons in England” (1807-1857).
Kemble, John Philip, eldest son of Roger, born at Prescot, Lancashire; began to study for the Roman Catholic priesthood, but adopted the stage, and appeared first at Wolverhampton in 1776; after touring in Yorkshire and Ireland he came to London in 1783, playing Hamlet at Drury Lane; became manager of that theatre in 1788; in 1802 transferred himself to Covent Garden, where, on the opening of the new house in 1809, the “Old Price” riots brought him ill-will; he retired in 1817, and lived at Lausanne till his death (1757-1823).
Kemble, Stephen, son of Roger, was from 1792 till 1800 manager of Edinburgh Theatre (1758-1822).
Kemp, George Meikle, architect, born in Moorfoot, Peeblesshire; bred a millwright, became a draughtsman, studied Gothic architecture, and designed the Scott Monument in Edinburgh; was drowned one evening in the Union Canal before the work was finished (1796-1844).
Kempen, a Prussian town, 27 m. NW. of Düsseldorf; manufactures textile fabrics in silk, cotton, linen, &c.; was the birthplace of Thomas à Kempis.
Kempenfelt, Richard, British admiral, born at Westminster; distinguished himself in several actions, was on board of the Royal George as his flagship when she went down at Spithead, carrying him along with her and over a thousand others also on board at the time; he was a brave and skilful officer, and his death was a great loss to the service (1718-1782).
Kempis, Thomas à, born at Kempen, near Düsseldorf, son of a poor but honest and industrious craftsman named Hämerkin; joined, while yet a youth, the “Brotherhood of Common Life” at Deventer, in Holland, and at 20 entered the monastery of St. Agnes, near Zwolle, in Oberyssel, where he chiefly resided for 70 long years, and of which he became sub-prior, where he spent his time in acts of devotion and copying MSS., that of the Bible, among others, in the Vulgate version of it, as well as in the production of works of his own, and in chief the “Imitation of Christ,” a work that in the regard of many ranks second to the Bible, and is thought likely to survive in the literature of the world as long as the Bible itself; it has been translated into all languages within, as well as others outside, the pale of Christendom, and as many as six thousand editions, it is reckoned, have issued from the press; it is five centuries and a half since it was first given to the world, and it has ever since continued to be a light in it to thousands in the way of a holy and divine life; it draws its inspiration direct from the fountain-head of Holy Scripture, and is breathing full of the same spirit that inspires the sacred book (1380-1471).
Ken, Thomas, English prelate, born at Little Berkhampstead; is famous as the author of hymns, especially the morning one, “Awake, my Soul,” and the evening one, “Glory to Thee, my God”; was committed to the Tower for refusing to read James II.'s “Declaration of Indulgence,” and deprived of his bishopric, that of Bath and Wells, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William III. (1637-1711).
Kendal (14), a Westmorland market-town on the Kent, 38 m. S. of Carlisle; manufactures heavy woollen goods, paper, and snuff; it owes the introduction of its woollen manufacture to the settlement in it of Flemings in the reign of Richard III.
Kenia, Mount, a mountain in British East Africa, 10° S. of the Equator, 18,000 ft. above the sea-level, and one of the highest on the continent.
Kenilworth (4), a Warwickshire market-town, 5 m. N. of Warwick; noted for its castle, where, as described by Scott in his novel of the name, Leicester sumptuously entertained Elizabeth in 1575; has some tanworks, tanning being the chief industry.
Kennaquhair (i. e. know-not-where), an imaginary locality in Scott's “Monastery.” See Weissnichtwo.
Kennedy, Benjamin Hall, head-master of Shrewsbury, son of a schoolmaster, born at Birmingham; after a brilliant career at Cambridge became, in 1828, Fellow of St. John's, in 1830 assistant-master at Harrow, and in 1830 was appointed to Shrewsbury, where he proved one of the greatest of schoolmasters (1804-1889).
Kennicott, Benjamin, English Hebraist, born at Totnes, Devonshire, educated at Oxford; became Fellow of Exeter, Radcliffe librarian, and in 1770 canon of Christ Church; from 1753 he organised and took part in an extensive collation of Hebrew texts, issuing in 1776-80 the “Hebrew Old Testament, with Various Readings” (1718-1783).
Kensal Green, a cemetery in the NW. of London; celebrated as the burial-place of many eminent men, Thackeray in chief.
Kensington (166), a West London parish, in which stand the Palace (Queen Victoria's birthplace), the Albert Memorial and Hall, South Kensington Museum, the Royal College of Music, the Imperial Institute, and many other institutions: contains also Holland House, and has long been the place of residence of notably artistic and literary men.
Kent (1,142), English maritime county in the extreme SE.; lies between the Thames estuary and the Strait of Dover, with Surrey and Sussex on the W.; it is hilly, with marshes in the SE. and on the Thames shore; is watered by the Medway, Stour, and Darent; has beautiful scenery, rich pasturage, and fine agricultural land, largely under hops and market-gardens; a large part of London is in Kent; Maidstone (32) is the county town; Rochester (26) and Canterbury (23) are cathedral cities; Woolwich (99), Gravesend (35), and Dover (33) are seaports, and Margate and Ramsgate watering-places.
Kentigern, St., or St. Mungo, the Apostle of Cumbria, born at Culross, the natural son of a princess named Thenew; entered the monastery there, where he had been trained from a boy, and founded a monastery near Glasgow and another in Wales; was distinguished for his missionary labours; was buried at Glasgow Cathedral (518-603).
Kentish Fire, vehement and prolonged derisive cheering, so called from indulgence in it in Kent at meetings to oppose the Catholic Emancipation Bill of 1829.
Kentucky (1,859), an American State in the S. of the Ohio basin, with the Virginias on its E. and Tennessee on its S. border and the Mississippi River on the W.; is watered by the Licking and Kentucky Rivers that cross the State from the Cumberland Mountains in the SE. to the Ohio, and the Tennessee River traverses the western corner; the climate is mild and healthy; much of the soil is extremely fertile, giving hemp and the largest tobacco crops in the Union; there are dense forests of virgin ash, walnut, and oak over two-thirds of the State, and on its pasturage the finest stock and horses are bred; coal is found in both the E. and the W., and iron is plentiful; the chief industries are whisky distilling, iron smelting and working; admitted to the Union in 1792, Kentucky was a slave-holding State, but did not secede in the Civil War; the capital is Frankfort (8), the largest city Louisville (160); the State University is at Lexington (29).
Kepler, John, illustrious astronomer, born at Weil der Stadt, Würtemberg, born in poverty; studied at Tübingen chiefly mathematics and astronomy, became lecturer on these subjects at Grätz; joined Tycho Brahé at Prague as assistant, who obtained a pension of £18 for him from the Austrian government, which was never paid; removed to Lintz, where Sir Henry Wotton saw him living in a camera obscura tent doing ingenious things, photographing the heavens, “inventing toys, writing almanacs, and being ill off for cash ... an ingenious person, if there ever was one among Adam's posterity ... busy discovering the system of the world—grandest conquest ever made, or to be made,” adds Carlyle, “by the sons of Adam”; he was long occupied in studying the “'motions of the star' Mars, with calculations repeated seventy times, and with the discovery of the planetary laws of the Universe”; these last are called from his discovery of them Kepler's Laws; the first, that the planets move on elliptic orbits, the sun in one of the foci; the second, that, in describing its orbit, the radius vector of a planet traverses equal areas in equal times; and the third, that the square of the time of the revolution of a planet is proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the sun; poverty pursued Kepler all his days, and he died of fever at Ratisbon (1571-1630).
Kepler's Laws. See Kepler, John.
Keppel, Augustus, Viscount, son of the Earl of Albemarle; entered the navy, and was in several engagements between 1757 and 1778; when encountering the French off Ushant he quarrelled with his second-in-command and let them escape; was court-martialled, but acquitted; he was afterwards First Lord of the Admiralty (1725-1786).
Ker, Dr. John, minister and professor, was born in Peeblesshire, brought up in Edinburgh; studied there and in Halle, was chosen to fill the chair of Practical Training in the U.P. Theological College in 1876; published some “Sermons,” and “The Psalms in History and Biography” (1819-1886).
Keratin, a substance forming the chief constituent in the hair, nails, and horn of animals.
Kerguelen's Land, an island with rugged coasts, 85 m. long by 70 wide, of volcanic origin, in the Antarctic Ocean; so called after its discoverer in 1772, changed to Desolation Island in 1776 by Captain Cook; belongs to France.
Kerman (300), an eastern province of Persia, the N. and the NE. of it a desolate salt waste, and with a chief town (30) of the name in the middle of it, once a great emporium of trade; manufactures carpets.
Kerner, Andreas, a lyric poet of the Swabian school, born in Würtemberg; studied and wrote on animal magnetism and spiritualism (1786-1862).
Kerosene, a refined petroleum used as oil for lamps.
Kerry (179), maritime county in the SW. of Ireland, between the Shannon and Kenmare Rivers, with Limerick and Cork on the E.; has a rugged, indented coast, Dingle Bay running far inland; is mountainous, having Mount Brandon, the Macgillicuddy, and Dunkerron ranges, and contains the picturesque Lakes of Killarney; there is little industry or agriculture, but dairy-farming, slate-quarrying, and fishing are prosecuted; iron, copper, and lead abound, but are not wrought; the population is Roman Catholic; county town, Tralee (9).
Kertch (30), a seaport of the Crimea, on the eastern shore; had a large export trade, which suffered during the Crimea War, but has revived since.
Keswick (4), a Cumberland market-town and tourist centre and capital of the Lake District, on the Derwent, 20 m. SW. of Carlisle; manufactures woollens, hardware, and lead-pencils; is the seat of an annual religious convention which gives its name to a phase of Evangelicalism.
Ket, Robert, a tanner in Norfolk, leader of an insurrection in the country in 1549, was after seizing Norwich driven out by the Earl of Warwick, captured, and hanged.
Kettering (20), market-town in Northamptonshire; manufactures boots and shoes, stays, brushes, &c.
Kew (2), a village on the Thames, in Surrey, 6 m. W. of Hyde Park, where are the Royal Botanic Gardens, a national institution since 1840, and an observatory.
Key, Francis Scott, author of “The Star-spangled Banner,” born in Maryland, U.S.; wrote the words that have immortalised him when he saw the national flag floating over the ramparts of Baltimore in 1814 (1780-1857).
Key West (10), a seaport, health resort, and naval station on a coral island 60 m. SW. of Caple Sable, Florida; it has a good harbour and strong fort; was the basis of operations in the Spanish-American War, 1898; exports salt, turtles, and fruit, and manufactures cigars.
Keyne, St., a pious virgin, lived in Cornwall about 490, and left her name to a church and to a well whose waters are said to give the upper hand to whichever of a bridal pair first drinks of them after the wedding.
Keys, House of, the third estate in the Isle of Man, consisting of 24 members chosen by themselves, when a vacancy occurs, by presenting to the Governor “two of the oldest and worthiest men in the isle” for his selection.
Keys, Power of the, power claimed, according to Matt. xvi. 19, by the authorities of the Church to admit or exclude from church membership, a power the Roman Catholics allege conferred at first on St. Peter and afterwards on his successors in office.
Khamsin (fifty), a hot sand wind which blows in Egypt from the desert for fifty days, chiefly before and after the month of May.
Khan, the title of a Tartar sovereign or prince; also an Eastern inn or caravansary.
Khandesh, a district of Bombay in the valley of the Tapti; a great cotton-growing centre; Dhulia, the capital.
Kharkoff (194), important town in Little Russia, 350 m. NE. of Odessa; has immense horse and wool fairs, and manufactures sugar, soap, felt, and iron; it is a Greek bishopric, a university seat, and has various schools of learning.
Khartoum (60), a caravan depôt in the Soudan, just above the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, 1100 m. S. of Cairo; was an active slave-trade centre, and commercially important; was captured by the Mahdists in 1885, when General Gordon fell; retaken by Lord Kitchener in 1898; lately has been superseded by Omdurman on the opposite bank of the Nile.
Khatmandu (50), the capital of Nepal, India, at the confluence of the Baghmati and Vishnumati Rivers, 60 m. N. of the British frontier; is the centre of a considerable trade.
Khedive, the official title of the Viceroy of Egypt since 1867, the first to hold it being Ismail, the son of Ibrahim Pasha (q. v.), by grant of the Sultan, his suzerain.
Kherson (62), on the Dnieper, 19 m. from the sea and 60 m. E. of Odessa; capital of the Russian government of Kherson; has been surpassed in importance by Odessa; its trade is in timber, and industries are soap-making, brewing, and wool-cleansing.
Khingans, The, a range of volcanic mountains on the E. of the desert of Gobi.
Khiva (500), a Turkestan province or khanate in Central Asia, S. of the Sea of Aral; is under Russian protection since 1873; a sandy desert with many oases, and in some parts well irrigated from the Oxus; it produces wheat, rice, cotton, and fruit; climate subject to extremes. Khiva, the capital (20), on a canal connected with the Amu, some distance from the left bank of the Oxus, and 300 m. NW. of Merv, is a town of earth huts; it was at one time one of the chief slave-markets in Asia till the traffic was put a stop to by Russia.
Khorassan, the largest province of Persia; is on the Afghan border, mountainous, and fertile only in the N. among the valleys of the Elburz range; grain, tobacco, and medicinal plants are grown; gold and silver, turquoises, and other gems found. The capital is Meshed (50), a sacred Moslem city, with carpet, jewellery, and silk manufactures.
Khyber Pass, a narrow defile 33 m. long, in one place only 10 ft. wide, through not lofty but precipitous mountains; lies to the NW. of Peshawur, and is the chief route between the Punjab and Afghanistan; was the scene of a British catastrophe in the war of 1839-42, but has been repeatedly forced since, and since 1879 has been under British control.
Kiakhta (9), a Russian town in Transbaikalia, Siberia, on the borders of China; an emporium of trade between China and Russia.
Kiao-chau, a province of Shantung, China; occupied by Germany in 1897, and ceded to her on a 99 years' lease by China in 1898; extends to about 160 m. along the coast, and about 20 m. inland.
Kidd, William, a noted pirate, born of Covenanting parents at Greenock; went to sea early, and served in privateering expeditions with distinction; appointed to the command of a privateer about 1696, and commissioned to suppress the pirates of the Indian Ocean, he went to Madagascar, and there started piracy himself; entering Boston harbour in 1700 he was arrested, sent to London, tried on a charge of piracy and murder, and executed in 1701.
Kidderminster (26), in the N. of Worcester, 18 m. SW. of Birmingham; has been since 1735 noted for its carpets; manufactures also silk, paper, and leather; was the scene of Richard Baxter's labours as vicar, and the birthplace of Sir Rowland Hill.
Kieff (184), on the Dnieper, 300 m. N. of Odessa, is a holy city, the capital of the province of Kieff, strongly fortified, and one of the oldest towns in Russia, where Christianity was proclaimed the religion of the country in 988; has St. Vladimir's University, theological schools, and Petchersk monastery; a pilgrim resort; industries unimportant, include tanning and candle-making; trade chiefly in the hands of the Jews.
Kiel (69), on the Baltic, 60 m. N. of Hamburg, is the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, a German naval station and important seaport, with shipments of coal, flour, and dairy produce; has shipbuilding and brewing industries, a university and library, and is the eastern terminus of the Baltic Ship Canal, opened 1895.
Kiepert, Heinrich, distinguished German cartographer, born at Berlin; was professor of Geography there; his chief works an “Atlas of Asia Minor,” and his “Atlas Antiquus”; b. 1818.
Kierkegaard, Sören Aaby, philosophical and religious thinker, born at Copenhagen; lived a quiet, industrious, literary life, and exerted a chief influence on 19th-century Dano-Norwegian literature; his greatest works are “Either-Or,” and “Stadia on Life's Way” (1813-1855).
Kieselghur, powder used for polishing and in the manufacture of dynamite, formed from shells of microscopic organisms.
Kilda, St., a lonely island in the Atlantic, 60 m. W. of Harris, 3 m. long by 2 broad, with a precipitous coast and a few poor inhabitants, who live by fishing and fowling.
Kildare (70), inland Irish county, in Leinster, in the upper basins of the Liffey and Barrow, W. of Dublin and Wicklow; is level and fertile, with the great Bog of Allen in the N., and in the centre the Curragh, a grassy plain; agriculture is carried on in the river basins; the county town is Naas (4); other towns Maynooth, with the Roman Catholic theological college, and Kildare.
Kilian, St., the first apostle of the Franks, an Irish monk; deputed by the Pope in 686.
Kilima-Njaro, a volcanic mountain group, 19,000 ft. high, on the northern border of German East Africa, 170 m. from the coast, with two peaks, Kibo and Kimawenzi; in 1894 an Austrian communistic settlement was established on the slopes.
Kilkenny (87), inland Irish county in Leinster, surrounded by Waterford, Tipperary, Queen's County, Carlow, and Wexford, watered by the Barrow, Suir, and Nore; extremely fertile in the S. and E., producing fine corn, hay, and green crops; is moorland, and devoted to cattle-rearing in the N., where also anthracite coal is abundant. Kilkenny (11), the county town, is noted for a fine black marble quarried near it.
Killarney (5), market-town and tourist centre, in co. Kerry, Ireland, on the shores of the lake, 15 m. SE. of Tralee; has a Roman Catholic cathedral and some arbutus-carving industry.
Killarney, The Lakes of, three beautiful lakes at the northern foot of the Macgillicuddy Reeks, in the basin of the Leane, much resorted to by tourists.
Killiecrankie, Pass of, 15 m. NW. of Dunkeld, in Perthshire, where General Mackay was defeated by Claverhouse, who fell, in 1689; is traversed by a road and a railway.
Kilmainham (5), a suburb of Dublin, with a royal hospital for disabled soldiers and a jail; the treaty of Kilmainham was an agreement said to have been made in 1882 between Gladstone and Parnell, who was then confined in Kilmainham jail, affecting Irish government and policy.
Kilmarnock (28), on the Irvine, 20 m. SW. of Glasgow, largest town in Ayrshire; is an important railway centre, has extensive engineer works, carpet factories, and breweries; is in the middle of a rich coal and iron district, and has a great annual cheese and dairy produce show.
Kimberley (29), 500 m. NE. of Cape Town; is capital of Griqualand West, and chief inland town in South Africa, in a dry but healthy situation; exists in virtue of diamond mines in the vicinity, the richest in the world. Also the name of a district in the N. of West Australia, a district of rising prosperity.
Kimberley, Earl of, English Liberal statesman, son of Baron Wodehouse; succeeded to the title 1846; was twice over Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland 1864-66; in 1866 created Earl of Kimberley, he was in succession Lord Privy Seal, Colonial Secretary, Secretary for India, and Foreign Secretary; b. 1826.
Kimchi, David, a Jewish rabbi, born at Narbonne; wrote a Hebrew grammar and lexicon, which forms the basis of all subsequent ones, also commentaries on most books of the Old Testament (1160-1235).
Kincardineshire (35), east coast Scottish county, lying between Aberdeen and Forfar, faces the North Sea, with precipitous cliffs; has much fertile soil under corn, green crops, and small fruit, also pasture and grazing land where cattle are reared; the fishing is important, and there are some coarse linen factories; chief towns, Stonehaven (5) and Bervie (1).
Kindergarten, schools conducted according to Froebel's system for the development of the power of observation and the memory of young children.
Kinematics, the science of pure motion under the categories of space and time, irrespective of consideration of the forces determining it and the mass of the body moved.
Kinematograph, a photographic apparatus by which an impression is taken of closely consecutive stages in the development of a scene.
Kinetics, the science of the action of forces causing motion; both this law and the two preceding are derived from a Greek word signifying “to move.”
King, William Rufus, American statesman and diplomatist, born in North Carolina; was a member of Congress and the Senate, and Vice-President of the Republic, represented the United States both at St. James's and in France (1755-1827).
King Nibelung, king of the Nibelungen (q. v.), who left his two sons an inexhaustible hoard of wealth, so large that 12 waggons in 12 days at the rate of 3 journeys a day could not carry it off.
King of the Romans, a title assumed by the Emperor Henry II., and afterwards conferred on the eldest son of the emperor of Germany.
Kinglake, Alexander William, historian, born near Taunton; bred for the bar, gave up the legal profession, in which he had a lucrative practice, for literature; is the author of two works, “Eothen” and the “History of the War in the Crimea,” in 8 vols., the former a brilliantly written book of travels in the East, published in 1844, the latter a minute record of the war, of which the last vol. was published in 1890, pronounced by Prof. Saintsbury, in a literary point of view, to be “an imposing failure” (1809-1891).
Kingmaker, The, a title popularly given to Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, who was instrumental in raising Edward IV. to the throne of England by dethroning Henry VI., and afterwards in restoring Henry by the defeat of Edward.
Kings, The Book of, two books of the Old Testament, originally one, but divided in the Septuagint into two, containing the history of the Jewish kingdom under the kings from its establishment under David to its fall, and covering a period from 1015 B.C. to 560 B.C., during which time the kingdom fell into two, that of Israel and that of Judah, the captivity of the former, occurring 130 years before that of the latter; the author, who is unknown, wrote the history at the time of the captivity, and his object is didactic of the effect on the history of a nation of its apostasy from faith in its God, not, however, without a promise of restoration in the case of repentance.
King's College, London, a Church of England institution, with faculties of Theology, Arts, Science, and Medicine, Evening Class, Civil Service and Art departments, a preparatory School and a Ladies' department; it grants the title of associate.
King's Counsel or Queen's Counsel are those barristers in England and Ireland who, having been successful in their profession have received the letters-patent conferring that title and right of precedence in all courts; the appointment is honorary and for life, but in acting against the Crown a Q.C. must obtain leave by special license, which is always granted.
King's County (66), an inland Irish county on the left bank of the Shannon, between Tipperary and West Meath; is mostly flat, a quarter of it bogland and a quarter under crops; the chief towns are Tullamore (5), the county town, on the Grand Canal, and Birr or Parsonstown (4), where Lord Rosse's great telescope is.
Kingsley, Charles, canon of Westminster and chaplain to the Queen, born at Holne Vicarage, near Dartmoor; studied at Cambridge; became rector of Eversley, in Hampshire, in 1844; was the author in 1848 of a drama, entitled “The Saint's Tragedy,” with St. Elizabeth of Hungary for heroine, which was followed successively by “Alton Locke” (1849), and “Yeast” (1851), chiefly in a Socialistic interest; “Hypatia,” a brilliant book in the interest of early Christianity in Alexandria and “Westward Ho!” a narrative of the rivalry of England with Spain in the days of Elizabeth, and besides other works, including “Two Years Ago,” “Water Babies,” and “Hereward the Wake,” he was the author of the popular ballads of “The Three Fishers,” “The Starlings,” and “The Sands of Dee”; his writings had a great influence on his contemporaries, particularly on young men; Professor Saintsbury writes an appreciative estimate of Kingsley (1819-1875).
Kingsley, Henry, younger brother of the preceding; after a brief experience of life in Australia he returned home to start on the career of letters in rivalry with his brother, and distinguished himself by exhibitions of similar literary ability, as a novelist especially, as well as kindred sympathies; his principal novels were “Geoffrey Hamlyn,” one of the best novels on Australian life; “Ravenshoe,” his masterpiece, and “The Hillyars and the Burtons” (1830-1876).
Kingston, 1, capital (13) of Frontenac County, Ontario, on the NE. shore of the Lake, 150 m. E. of Toronto, an important commercial town with shipbuilding and engineering works; is the seat of Queen's University, military and medical colleges, and an observatory. 2, Capital (47) of Jamaica, on a great bay on the S. coast, on the edge of a sugar-growing district; exports sugar, tobacco, and dye-woods, and imports cotton, flour, and rice. 3, a town (21) on the Hudson, N.Y., has great blue stone-flag quarries, and cement-works, breweries, and tanneries.
Kingston-upon-Thames (27), in Surrey, 10 m. SW. of London, has a fine church and other buildings, and malting industry.
Kingston, W. H. G., popular boys' story-writer, born in London, spent his youth in Oporto, was interested in philosophic schemes, and helped to arrange the Anglo-Portuguese commercial treaty; he wrote 120 tales, of which the “Three Midshipmen” series is the best, and died at Willesden (1814-1880).
Kingstown, seaport of Dublin, 7 m. SE.; was till 1817 but a fishing village; has a harbour designed by Rennie, which cost £525,000; was originally Dunleary, and changed into Kingstown on George IV.'s visit in 1821.
Kinkel, Johann Gottfried, German poet and writer on æsthetics, born near Bonn; studied for the Church, but became lecturer on Art in Bonn, 1846; two years later he was imprisoned for revolutionary proceedings; escaped in 1850 to England, and became professor at Zurich in 1866; wrote “Otto der Schütz,” an epic, and “Nimrod,” a drama (1815-1882).
Kinross (7), small Scottish county lying between Perth and Fife, round Loch Leven, is agricultural and grazing, with some hills of no great height, and coal mines; the co. town, Kinross (2), is on the W. shore of Loch Leven; manufactures tartan.
Kinsale (5), a once important seaport in co. Cork, at the mouth of the Bandon, 13 m. S. of Cork; has lost its trade, and is now a summer resort and fishing station; King James II. landed here in 1689, and re-embarked in 1690.
Kintyre, a long narrow isthmus on the W. coast of Scotland, between the Atlantic and the Firth of Clyde, is chiefly hill and grass country; but at Campbeltown are great distilleries; at Machrihanish Bay, on the W. coast, are fine golfing links.
Kipchaks, a nomadic Turkish race who settled on the south-eastern steppes of Russia about the 11th century, and whose descendants still occupy the district.
Kipling, Rudyard, story-teller and poet, born in Bombay, and educated in England; went out to India as a journalist; his stories respect Anglo-Indian, and especially military, life in India, and his “Soldiers Three,” with the rest that followed, such as “Wee Willie Winkie,” gained for him an immediate and wide reputation; as a poet, his most successful effort is his “Barrack-Room Ballads,” instinct with a martial spirit, in 1864; he is a writer of conspicuous realistic power; he deems it the mission of civilisation to drill the savage races in humanity; b. 1865.
Kirby, William, entomologist, born in Suffolk; distinguished as the author of “Monographia Apium Angliæ,” and “Introduction to Entomology”; was rector of Barham, Suffolk, for 68 years (1759-1850).
Kirghiz, a nomadic Turkish people occupying the Kirghiz steppes, an immense tract E. of the Ural River and the Caspian Sea, numbering 2½ millions, adventurous, witty, and free-spirited; refuse to settle; retain ancient customs and characteristics, and are Moslems only in name.
Kirk Session, an ecclesiastical court in Scotland, composed of the minister and elders of a parish, subject to the Presbytery of the district.
Kirkcaldy (27), a manufacturing and seaport town in Fifeshire, extending 4 m. along the north shore of the Forth, known as the “lang toon.” It was the birthplace of Adam Smith, and one of the scenes of the schoolmastership period of Thomas Carlyle's life; manufactures textile fabrics and floorcloth; is a busy town.
Kirkcudbright (40), a Scottish county on the Solway shore between Wigtown and Dumfries, watered by the rivers Nith, Dee, and Cree; has Mount Merrick on the NW. border, and Loch Dee in the middle; one-third of its area cultivated, the rest chiefly hill pasturage. County town Kirkcudbright (3), on the Dee, 6 m. from the Solway; held St. Cuthbert's church.
Kirkdale Cave, a cave in the vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, discovered by Buckland to contain the remains of a number of extinct species of mammals.
Kirke's Lambs, the soldiers of Colonel Kirke, an officer of the English army in James the Second's time, distinguished for their acts of cruelty inflicted on the Monmouth party.
Kirkintilloch (10), a town on the Forth and Clyde Canal, 7 m. N. of Glasgow, manufactures chemicals, has calico works, and mines of coal and iron.
Kirkwall (4), capital of Orkney, in the E. of Mainland, 35 m. NE. of Thurso; has a fine cathedral named St. Magnus, and some shipping trade; it was in mediæval times subject to Norway, and was the residence of the jarls.
Kirriemuir (4), a small Forfarshire town, 5 m. NW. of Forfar, native place of J. M. Barrie, and the “Thrums” of his books; manufactures brown linens.
Kirschwasser (cherry water), a liqueur formed from ripe cherries with the stones pounded in it after fermentation and then distilled.
Kisfaludy, Karoly, Hungarian dramatist, brother of the following, was founder of the national drama, and with his brother ranks high in the literature of the country (1788-1830).
Kisfaludy, Sandor, a Hungarian lyric poet, “Himfy's Loves” his chief work, was less distinguished as a dramatist (1772-1844).
Kissingen (4), Bavarian watering-place on the Saale, 65 m. E. of Frankfort-on-the-Main, visited for its saline springs by 14,000 people annually; its waters are used both internally and externally, and are good for dyspepsia, gout, and skin-diseases.
Kitcat Club, founded in 1688 ostensibly to encourage literature and art, and named after Christopher Catt, in whose premises it met; became ultimately a Whig society to promote the Hanoverian succession; Marlborough, Walpole, Congreve, Addison, and Steele were among the thirty-nine members.
Kitchener of Khartoum, Horatio Herbert, Lord, son of Col. Kitchener; joined the Royal Engineers, and was first engaged in survey work in Palestine and Cyprus; became a major of cavalry in the Egyptian army 1882, served in the 1884 expedition, was governor of Suakim 1886, and after leading the Egyptian troops at Handub 1888 was made aide-de-camp to the Queen, C.B., and adjutant-general in the Egyptian army; he was appointed Sirdar, commander-in-chief of that army, in 1892, organised and led the expedition of 1898 which overthrew the Khalifa at Omdurman, and for which he was awarded a peerage and received many honours, the freedom of the cities of London and Edinburgh, &c.; a gift of £30,000 was voted by the Government in 1899; b. 1850.
Kizil (red river), the ancient Halys, the largest river in Asia Minor, which flows into the Black Sea 40 m. E. of Sinope after a course of 450 m.
Klapka, a Hungarian patriot, distinguished in arms against the Austrians during the revolution, and for his heroic defence of Komorn in the end (1820-1892).
Klaproth, Julius von, Orientalist and philologist; was an accomplished Chinese scholar; explored Siberia and Caucasia (1783-1835).
Klaus, Peter, the German prototype of Rip Van Winkle, a goat-herd who slept for the same number of years and at the end had similar experiences.
Klausthal (9), in Hanover, 25 m. NE. of Göttingen, is the chief mining town of the northern Hartz Mountains, and the seat of the German mining administration, surrounded by silver, copper, lead, and zinc mines.
Kléber, Jean Baptiste, French general, born at Strasburg; originally an architect, served with distinction in the Revolutionary army, accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt, and was left by him in command, where, after a bold attempt to regain lost ground and while in the act of concluding a treaty with the Turks, he was assassinated by an Arab fanatic (1753-1800).
Kleist, Heinrich von, German dramatist and poet, born at Frankfort-on-the-Oder; entered the army, but afterwards devoted himself to literature; slow recognition and other trials preyed on his mind, and he shot himself near Potsdam (1777-1811).
Klondike, a small section of Yukon, a territory in the extreme NW. of N. America, and a present-day centre of pilgrimage by gold-seekers since the recent discovery of the gold-fields there.
Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, German poet, born at Quedlinburg; distinguished as the author of an epic poem entitled the “Messiah,” which is his chief work, his treatment of which invested him with a certain sense of sanctity, and the publication of which did much to quicken and elevate the literary life of Germany (1724-1803).
Knaresborough (5), Yorkshire market-town, 14 m. W. of York; manufactures woollen rugs, grinds flour, and trades in corn.
Kneller, Sir Godfrey, portrait-painter, born at Lübeck; studied under Rembrandt and at Italy, came to England in 1674, and was appointed court painter to Charles II., James II., William III., and George I.; practised his art till he was seventy, and made a large fortune (1646-1723).
Knickerbocker, the imaginary author of the fictitious “History of New York,” by Washington Irving.
Knight, Charles, London publisher and editor, publisher for the Useful Knowledge Society, of “Library of Entertaining Knowledge,” of the “Penny Magazine,” and the “Penny Cyclopædia,” &c., as well as a “Pictorial Shakespeare,” edited by himself (1791-1873).
Knighthood, a distinction granted to commoners, ranking next to baronet, now bestowed by the crown; formerly knighthood was a military order, any member of which might create new knights; it was originally the highest rank of Chivalry (q. v.); it was an order of many subdivisions developed during the crusades, and in full flower before the Norman conquest of England.
Knights of Labour, an American labour organisation, founded in 1869, resembling a union of all trades, male and female; in 1886 had 730,000 members, which have since disagreed and fallen off.
Knights of the Round Table, King Arthur's knights, so called from the round table at which they sat, so that when seated there might seem no precedency, numbered popularly at twelve, though reckoned by some at forty.
Knights of the Shire, English gentry representing a middle class between the barons and the peasants, acting as members of Parliament for the county they belonged to.
Knowles, Sheridan, dramatist, born at Cork; was connected with the stage first as actor and then as an author of plays, which include “Virginius,” “The Hunchback,” and “The Wife”; latterly he gave up the stage, and took to preaching in connection with the Baptist body (1784-1862).
Know-nothings, a party in the United States that sprung up in 1853 and restricted the right of American citizenship to those who were born in America or of an American parentage, so called because to those inquisitive about their secret organisation they uniformly answered “I know nothing.”
Knox, John, the great Scottish Reformer, born at Giffordgate, Haddington, in 1505; studied at Glasgow University; took priest's orders; officiated as a priest, and did tutoring from 1530 to 1540; came under the influence of George Wishart, and avowed the Reformed faith; took refuge from persecution in St. Andrews Castle in 1547; was there summoned to lead on the movement; on the surrender of the castle was taken prisoner, and made a slave in a French galley for 19 months; liberated in 1549 at the intercession of Edward VI., came and assisted the Protestant cause in England; was offered preferments in the Church, but declined them; fled in 1553 to France, from the persecution of Bloody Mary; ministered at Frankfort and Geneva to the English refugees; returned to Scotland in 1555, but having married, went back next year to Geneva; was in absence, in 1557, condemned to be burned; published in 1558 his “First Blast against the Monstrous Regiment of Women”; returned to Scotland for good in 1559, and became minister in Edinburgh; saw in 1560 the jurisdiction of the Pope abolished in Scotland; had successive interviews with Queen Mary after her arrival at Leith in 1561; was tried for high-treason before the Privy Council, but acquitted in 1563; began his “History of the Reformation in Scotland” in 1566; preached in 1567 at James VI.'s coronation in Stirling; was in 1571 struck by apoplexy; died in Edinburgh on the 24th November 1572, aged 67, the Regent Morton pronouncing an éloge at his grave, “There lies one who never feared the face of man.” Knox is pronounced by Carlyle to have been the one Scotchman to whom, “of all others, his country and the world owe a debt”; “In the history of Scotland,” he says, “I can find properly but one epoch; we may say it contains nothing of world interest at all but this Reformation by Knox.... It is as yet a country without a soul ... the people now begin to live ... Scottish literature and thought, Scottish industry, James Watt, David Hume, Walter Scott (little as he dreamt of debt in that quarter), and Robert Burns, I find Knox and the Reformation acting on the heart's core of every one of these persons and phenomena; I find that without the Reformation they would not have been; or,” he adds, “the Puritanism of England and of New England either”; and he sums up his message thus: “Let men know that they are men, created by God, responsible to God; who work in any meanest moment of time what will last through eternity. This great message,” he adds, “Knox delivered with a man's voice and strength, and found a people to believe him.”
Kobdo, a town in Mongolia, the entrepôt of Russian dealers in connection with the Altai mines.
Koch, Robert, an eminent bacteriologist, born at Klansthal, in Hanover; famous for his researches in bacteriology; discovered sundry bacilli, among others the cholera bacillus and the phthisis bacillus, and a specific against it; b. 1843.
Kock, Charles Paul de, popular French novelist and dramatist, born near Paris, and educated for a mercantile career, but turned to writing and produced a series of works, not of first merit, but illustrating contemporary French middle-class life (1794-1871).
Koheleth (the preacher, originally gatherer), the Hebrew name for the book of Ecclesiastes, and a personification of wisdom.
Kola, a small town, the most northerly in Russia, on a peninsula of the same name, with a capacious harbour.
Kolin, a Bohemian town on the Elbe, 40 m. SE. of Prague, where Frederick the Great was defeated by Marshal Daun in 1757.
Kölliker, an eminent embryologist, born at Zurich; professor of Anatomy at Würzburg; b. 1817.
Köln, the German name for Cologne (q. v.).
König, Friedrich, German mechanician, born in Eisleben; bred a printer, and invented the steam-press, or printing by machinery (1774-1833).
Königgrätz (16), a Bohemian town 60 m. E. of Prague; was the scene of a terrible battle called Sa'dowa, in Austria, where the Germans defeated the Austrians in 1866.
Königsberg (161), the capital of E. Prussia, on the Pregel, with several manufactures and an extensive trade; has a famous university, and is the birthplace of Kant, where also he lived and died.
Korân (i. e. book to be read), the Bible of the Mohammedans, accepted among them as “the standard of all law and all practice; thing to be gone upon in speculation and life; it is read through in the mosques daily, and some of their doctors have read it 70,000 times, and hard reading it is”; it contains the teaching of Mahomet, collected by his disciples after his death, and arranged the longest chapters first and the shortest, which were the earliest, last; a confused book.
Kordofan (280), an Egyptian Soudanese province on the W. bank of the Nile; an undulating dry country, furnishing crops of millet, and exporting gums, hides, and ivory; was lost in the Mahdist revolt of 1883, but recovered by Lord Kitchener's expedition in 1898; El Obeid (30), the capital is 230 m. SW. of Khartoum.
Koreish, the chief tribe among the Arabs in Mahomet's time, and to which his family belonged.
Körner, Karl Theodor, a German soldier poet, often called the German Tyrtæus, born in Dresden; famous for his patriotic songs and their influence on German patriots; fell in a skirmish with the French at Mecklenburg (1791-1813).
Kosciusko, Thaddeus, Polish general and patriot, born in Lithuania, of noble parentage, bred to arms; first saw service in the American War on the side of the colonists, and returning to Poland, twice over did valiant service against Russia, but at length he was taken prisoner at the battle of Maciejowice in 1794; he was subsequently set at liberty by the Emperor Paul, when he removed to America, but soon returned to settle in Switzerland, where he died by a fall of his horse over a precipice; he was buried at Cracow beside John Sobieski (1746-1817).
Kossuth, Louis, Hungarian patriot, born near Zemplen; studied for his father's profession, the law, but giving that up for politics, became editor of several Liberal papers in succession; elected member of the Diet at Pesth in 1847, he next year demanded autonomy for Hungary, and set himself to drive out the Hapsburgs and establish a republic; he raised a large army and large funds, but Russia aided Austria, and the struggle, though hopeful at first, proved in vain, defeated at Temesvar and escaping to Turkey, he came to England in 1851, was enthusiastically received, and lived there for many years; ultimately he resided in Turin, studied science, and died there (1802 or 1806-1894).
Kotzebue, German dramatist, born at Weimar; went to St. Petersburg, obtained favour at court and a government appointment; was banished to Siberia, but regained the favour of Paul, and was recalled; on Paul's death he returned to Germany, but went back to Russia from fear of Napoleon, whom he had violently attacked; he had a facile pen, and wrote no fewer than 200 dramatic pieces; his strictures on the German university students greatly exasperated them, and one of them attacked him in his house at Mannheim and stabbed him to death (1761-1819).
Koumiss, an intoxicating beverage among the Kalmucks, made by fermentation from mare's milk.
Kovalevsky, Alexander, Russian embryologist, professor at St. Petersburg; studied and wrote on the Ascidians; b. 1840.
Krakatao, a volcanic island in the narrow Strait of Sunda, between Java and Sumatra; was the scene of a terrific eruption in 1883, causing a tidal wave that swept round the globe, and raising quantities of dust that made the sunsets in Britain even more than usually red for three years.
Kraken, a huge fabulous sea-monster, reported as at one time seen in the Norwegian seas; it would rise to the surface, and as it plunged down drag ships and every floating or swimming thing along with it.
Krapotkin, Prince Peter, a Russian Nihilist, born in Moscow; became a member of the International (q. v.); was arrested in Russia and imprisoned, but escaped, as also in France, but released, and settled in England; has written extensively on Socialistic subjects; b. 1842.
Krause, Karl Christian Friedrich, German philosopher, born at Eisenberg; studied under Fichte and Schelling, and was himself lecturer successively in Jena, Dresden, Berlin, Göttingen, and Münich, where he died; of the school of Kant, his work has suffered through the pedantry of his style; he wrote “The Ideal of Humanity,” and many philosophical treatises (1781-1832).
Krefeld (105), in Rhenish Prussia, 12 m. NW. of Düsseldorf; important manufacturing town; noted for its silk and velvet factories founded by Protestant refugees; has also machinery and chemical works.
Kremlin, gigantic pile of buildings in Moscow of all styles of architecture;, including palaces, cathedrals, museums, government offices; founded by Ivan III. in 1485.
Kreuzer, a German coin, worth one-third or one-fifth of an English penny.
Kriegsspiel, a military game played on large-scale maps with metal blocks for troops, and designed to represent as fully as possible the conditions of warfare; was invented by a Prussian lieutenant in 1824.
Krilof, Ivan Andreevich, the great Russian fabulist, born at Moscow, son of a soldier; began his literary career writing dramas and editing magazines; was some time secretary to the governor of Livonia, and for years lived an idle roving life; at 40 his fables in the Moscow Spectator brought him fame in 1805; next year he was appointed to a Government post at St. Petersburg, and in 1821 to a post in the Imperial Public Library; he was an eccentric, much-loved man, and the humour and sympathy of his writings have won for him the title of the La Fontaine of Russia (1768-1844).
Krishna (i. e. the swarthy one), the man-god, or god-man, viewed as the 8th and final incarnation or avatar of Vishnu (q. v.), in whose manifestation the latter first reveals himself as supreme divinity, being, as the Theosophist might say, his Mahatma. See Theosophy.
Krüdener, Madame de, novelist, born at Riga; authoress of an autobiographical novel entitled “Valérie”; lived partly at St. Petersburg and partly at Paris; was a mystic religious enthusiast and political prophetess (1764-1824).
Krüger, S. J. Paul, President of the Transvaal Republic, born at Rastenburg; became member of the Executive Council in 1872; in 1882 was chosen President, and has been three times elected to the same office since; a man of sturdy, stubborn principles, a champion of the rights of the Boers, and a cunning diplomatist; b. 1825.
Krummacher, Frederick, German theologian, author of “Elijah the Tisbite,” a popular work; was an opponent of the Rationalists (1796-1868).
Krupp, Alfred, metal and steel founder, born at Essen, where through his father he became the proprietor of a small foundry which grew in his hands into such dimensions as to surpass every other establishment of the kind in the world; the Bessemer (q. v.) process was early introduced here in the manufacture of steel, which Krupp was the first to employ in the manufacture of guns; the works cover an immense area, and employ 20,000 people, and supply artillery to every Government of Europe (1810-1887).
Kubera or Kuvera, the Hindu Plutus, or god of riches, represented as deformed and mounted on a car drawn by hobgoblins.
Kublai Khan was a great Mongol emperor of the 13th century; built up an empire which included all the continent of Asia (except India, Arabia, and Asia Minor) and Russia, the most extensive that ever existed; he was an enlightened prince, adopted Chinese civilisation, promoted learning, and established Buddhism throughout his domains.
Kuenen, Abraham, a Dutch Biblical critic, born at Haarlem; studied at Leyden, and became professor there; distinguished for his researches on the lines of the so-called higher criticism bearing upon the literary history of the books of the Old Testament, beginning with that of the Pentateuch (1828-1891).
Kuen-Lun, N. of Thibet, a great snow-clad mountain range, 18,000 to 25,000 ft. high; stretches for 700 m., with a breadth of 100 m. It was explored by General Prjevalski, a Russian, 1876-88.
Kulm, a Bohemian village on the left bank of the Elbe, 50 m. NW. of Prague, where the French under Vandamme surrendered to the Russians and Prussians in 1813.
Kunersdorf, a village near Frankfort-on-Oder, where Frederick the Great was defeated by Russians and Austrians in 1759.
Kurdistan (2,250), a stretch of plateau and mountain land in Turkish, Persian, and Russian Trans-Caucasian territory, consisting of grassy plains and lofty ranges through which rivers like the Zabs, Batman-su, and Euphrates force their way; is inhabited by a partly nomad, partly agricultural people of ancient stock, who export wool, gum, and hides; the Kurds retain their old customs and organisation, are subject to their own chiefs, impatient of the rule of the Porte and the Shah; predatory by instinct, but brave and chivalrous; they are Moslems and Nestorians.
Kurile Islands, a chain of 26 islands, being a continuation of the peninsula of Kamchatka, enclosing the sea of Okhotsk; very sparsely inhabited.
Kurrachee (105), the chief port of the Punjab; situated on the delta of the Indus, with an extensive harbour and trade.
Kurtz, Heinrich, German theologian, professor at Dorpat; author, among other works, of a “Handbook of Church History”; b. 1809.
Kuruman, in Bechuanaland, 140 m. NW. of Kimberley; is the place where Livingstone and Moffat laboured.
Kyd, Thomas, Elizabethan dramatist, born in London, and trained a scrivener, but won fame as a writer of tragedies, of which the best was “The Spanish Tragedy” (1557-1595).
Kyoto (298), from 784 to 1868 the capital of Japan, on the Kamo River, inland, 190 m. W. of Yedo; is still the centre of Japanese Buddhism, and is noted for its pottery, bronze-work, crapes, and velvets.
Kyrie Eleison, means “Lord have mercy upon us,” and with Christe Eleison, “Christ have mercy upon us,” occurs in all Greek liturgies, in the Roman Mass, and in the English Prayer Book, where it forms the “lesser litany.”
Kyrle, John, philanthropist, born in Gloucestershire; celebrated by Pope as the “Man of Ross,” from the name of the place in Herefordshire where he lived; was distinguished for his benefactions; has given name to a society founded, among other things, for the betterment of the homes of the people (1637-1724).