Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/296

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
KEE
KEL

ledge of the Italian and German schools, not very general among the English musi- cians of his day, enabled him to enrich his pieces with many gems of foreign art. The popularity, therefore, of Kelly's nume- rous pieces had a very favourable influence on the taste of the public. As a singer, his powers were by no means great ; but his intelligence, experience, and know- ledge of the stage rendered him very useful." He died at Margate, 9th October 1826. His Reminiscences of the King's Theatre and Theatre Royal, Drury-lane, was published posthumously in 1826, in

2 vols. 8V0. 39 =50 338(1807)

Kennedy, Patrick, was born in the County of Wexford early in 1801. In 1823, although a Catholic, he came to Dublin as assistant at the Protestant Training School, Kildare-place. After a few years he estab- lished the small lending-library and book- shop in Anglesea-street (corner of Cope- street), where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a man of considerable ability, and contributed several articles to the pages of the University Magazine. The best of these, Legends of the Irish Celts, Tales of the Duffrey, Banks of the Boro, were afterwards published separately. In the graphic delineation of Irish rural life, as he experienced it when a boy in the County of Wexford, he has seldom been surpass- ed. His works are singularly pure, and he cramped his prospects in trade by declining to lend or deal in works that he considered of an objectionable tendency. For many years the committees of the Hibernian Temperance Association and kindred bodies were held at his house. Mr. Kennedy was widely known and re- spected by the literary world of Dublin. He died 28th March 1873, aged about 72, and was buried at Glasnevin. "^33

Kenney, James, a dramatic author, was born in Ireland in 1 780. The Univer- sity Maga- '.le, vol. 47, which gives a careful resume of his writings, says : " Tragedy, play, comedy, opera, farce, interlude, and melodrama alternately employed his pen, which was seldom idle for forty years, during which long period he produced as many different pieces, the greater number of which are eminently attractive, and still keep the stage with undiminished popu- larity." Love, Law, and Physic; Matri- mony; The World; The Illustrious Straiv- ger — were amongst the best of his works. For these he was well paid, yet he died in poverty ist August 1849, aged about 69, his health having been for a long time broken. He suffered cruelly from a ner- vous affection which gave him such an eccentric appearance that he was more

than once taken for an escaped lunatic. Byron, who evidently had a low estimate of him, wrote thus :

" While Kenoey's World— ah ! where is Kenney's wit ? Tires the sad gallery, lulls the listless pit."

166(47)

Kenrick, Prancis Patrick, Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, was born in Dub- lin, 3rd December 1797. He received a classical education, and after six years of theological study at Rome, was in 1821 ordained a priest. He then went to the United States, and conducted a school in Kentucky. In 1828 he published Xe«ers of Omicron to Omega in defence of his reli- gion. In 1842 he was consecrated Bishop of Philadelphia, and in 1851 was pro- moted Archbishop of Bal timore. The Pope named him Apostolic Delegate to pre- side over the first plenary Council of the United States, convened at Baltimore in May 1852, and in 1 859 conferred on him and his successors the Primacy of the United States. He was the author of numerous theological works, and was latterly engaged upon a revised English translation of the Scriptures. Primate Kenrick died at Bal- timore, 8th July 1863, aged 65. His bro- ther Peter, also an Irishman, was in 1 843 consecrated Archbishop of St. Louis. 37»

K'eogh, John, D.D., a learned divine, born at Clooncleagh, near Limerick, the middle of the 17th century. His family, originally MacEochadhs, lost their pro- perty in the Cromwellian wars. He enter- ed Trinity College in 1669, was a scholar in 1674, and M.A. 1678. Taking orders, he was, by his relative John Hudson, Bishop of Elphin, given a living in that diocese; and was collated and installed prebendary of Termonbarry in 1678. There he continued forty-seven years, until his death, devoting himself to literary pursuits. He is said to have been the author of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin grammars, and other learned works. His biographer in Walker's Magazine (1778) writes : " He also wrote a demonstration of the Trinity in Latin verse ; he has been often heard to say, that it was as plain to him as two and three made five; this performance was shown to Sir Isaac Newton, who seemed to approve mightily of it. He wrote many other books which were destroyed by an accidental fire that happened at his dwell- ing house near Strokestown... Al- though the Doctor had a very numerous issue, not less than twenty-one children, males and females, yet he never would take tythe from a poor man." His numerous writings still remain unpublished. His eldest son, John K'eogh, D.D., was the author of Boianologia Hibemica (Cork,