chaplain to the English factory at St. Petersburg. During his residence in Russia he was appointed medallist to the empress; and he devoted much time to the study of the history and liturgical rites of the Greek church. He became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 10 Jan. 1771, and on 21 Feb. in the same year was elected a fellow of the Royal Society (Thomson, Hist. of the Royal Society, Append. iv. p. liv). He was incorporated M.A. at Oxford, on 19 March 1771, as a member of Christ Church, and four days later took the degrees of B.D. and D.D. in that university. He was presented to the rectory of Wormley, Hertfordshire, by Sir Abraham Hume, bart., in July 1783; and in the summer of 1786 he purchased the chapelry of Spring Gardens, Somerset. He also purchased, though at what date is not stated, Dr. John Warner's chapel in Long Acre, London (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. ii. 416). He died at his house in Edward Street, London, after a few hours' illness, on 3 Nov. 1787, and was buried in the churchyard of Wormley.
He married, first, Ann Magdalene, daughter of Michael Combrune, by whom he had one daughter, Anna Henrietta; and secondly, in August 1776, at Greenwich, Jane, daughter of John Hyde, esq., of Blackheath (she died in August 1789).
He was the author of: 1. Verses in the Cambridge University collection on the death of Frederick, prince of Wales, 1752. 2. ‘The Rites and Ceremonies of the Greek Church in Russia; containing an Account of its Doctrine, Worship, and Discipline,’ London, 1772, 4to, dedicated to the king. A learned work, illustrated with copper-plate engravings. 3. ‘A Letter to the Bishop of Durham, containing some Observations on the Climate of Russia, and the Northern Countries, with a View of the Flying Mountains at Zarsko Sello, near St. Petersburg,’ 1778. Printed in the ‘Westminster Magazine,’ 1780, viii. 65. 4. ‘Observations on the Barberini Vase,’ 1786; in ‘Archæologia,’ viii. 307. 5. ‘Catalogue of a small Library at St. Petersburg,’ London, 1786, 8vo. 6. ‘Nummi Familiarum et Imperatorum Romanorum’ [London? 1787?], 4to, consisting of 102 plates, without letterpress.
There is a neat print of him by Fourdrinier. Another portrait of him, painted by Falconet, was engraved by Gabriel Smith.
[Addit. MS. 5874, f. 45; Gent. Mag. vol. lvii. pt. ii. p. 1030, vol. lix. pt. ii. p. 916; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 623, 624, 760, ix. 6, 169; Cat. of Oxford Graduates, 1851, p. 385; Graduati Cantabr. 1823, p. 275; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 1274.]
KING, MATTHEW PETER (1773–1823), musical composer, born in 1773, studied musical composition under Charles Frederick Horn. He lived mainly in London, where he died in January 1823.
King wrote the music to a number of dramatic pieces, most of which were produced at the Lyceum Theatre. These include: ‘Matrimony,’ comic opera, words by James Kenney [q. v.], 1804; ‘The Invisible Girl,’ and ‘The Weathercock,’ 1806; ‘False Alarms,’ comic opera, music by King and Braham, words by J. Kenney, 1807; ‘One o'Clock, or the Wood Demon,’ comic opera, music by King and Kenney, words by M. G. Lewis, 1807; ‘Ella Rosenberg,’ melodrama, by J. Kenney, 1807; ‘Up all Night, or The Smugglers' Cave,’ comic opera, words by S. J. Arnold, 1809; ‘Plots, or the North Tower,’ melodramatic opera, words by S. J. Arnold, 1810; ‘Oh! this Love,’ comic opera, words by J. Kenney, 1810; ‘The Americans,’ music by King and Braham, 1811; ‘Timour the Tartar,’ romantic melodrama, by M. G. Lewis, 1811; ‘Turn him out,’ musical farce, words by J. Kenney, 1812; ‘The Fisherman's Hut,’ music by King and Davy, 1819.
King composed a number of glees, ballads, and pianoforte pieces, as well as an oratorio, ‘The Intercession,’ which was produced at Covent Garden in 1817. In this, Eve's lamentation, ‘Must I leave thee, Paradise?’ became very popular.
He was the author of ‘Thorough Bass made easy to every Capacity,’ London, 1796; ‘A General Treatise on Music, particularly on Harmony or Thorough Bass,’ a work of considerable repute, London, 1800, new edit. 1809; ‘Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Singing at First Sight,’ London, 1806; and he edited ‘The Harmonist, a Collection of Glees and Madrigals from the Classic Poets,’ London, 1814.
His son, C. M. King, published some songs in 1826.
[Grove's Dict. of Music, ii. 57; Brown's Dict. of Music, p. 359; Brit. Mus. Catalogues.]
KING, OLIVER (d. 1503), bishop of Bath and Wells, a native of London, became scholar of Eton in 1449 (Harwood, Alumni Eton. p. 107), and was elected fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is said to have been secretary to Edward, prince of Wales, son of Henry VI, and in 1476 was appointed by Edward IV his chief secretary in French for life, being described as a ‘master of the seven liberal arts’ and a licentiate of laws. In 1480 he was made a canon of Windsor, resigning in that year a prebend at Hereford.
