the summit of a hill to the north of Kenmare River is the remarkable stone fortress known as Staigue Fort. There are several stone cells in the principal Skellig island, where penance, involving the scaling of dangerous rocks, was done by pilgrims, and where there were formerly monastic remains which have been swept away by the sea. The principal groups of sepulchral stones are those on the summits of the Tomie Mountains, a remarkable stone fort at Cahersiveen, a circle of stones with cromlech in the parish of Tuosist, and others with inscriptions near Dingle. The remote peninsula west of a line from Dingle to Smerwick harbour is full of remains of various dates. The most notable monastic ruins are those of Innisfallen, founded by St Finian, a disciple of St Columba, and the fine remains of Muckross Abbey, founded by the Franciscans, but there are also monastic remains at Ardfert, Castlemaine, Derrynane, Kilcoleman and O’Dorney. Among ruined churches of interest are those of Aghadoe, Kilcrohane, Lough Currane, Derrynane and Muckross. The cathedral of Ardfert, founded probably in 1253, was partly destroyed during the Cromwellian wars, but was restored in 1831. Some interesting portions remain (see Tralee). There is a large number of feudal castles.
KERSAINT, ARMAND GUY SIMON DE COETNEMPREN,
Comte de (1742–1793), French sailor and politician, was born
at Paris on the 29th of July 1742. He came of an old family,
his father, Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint,
being a distinguished naval officer. He entered the navy in
1755, and in 1757, while serving on his father’s ship, was promoted
to the rank of ensign for his bravery in action. By 1782
he was a captain, and in this year took part in an expedition to
Guiana. At that time the officers of the French navy were
divided into two parties—the reds or nobles, and the blues or
roturiers. At the outbreak of the Revolution, Kersaint, in spite
of his high birth, took the side of the latter. He adopted the new
ideas, and in a pamphlet entitled Le Bon Sens attacked feudal
privileges; he also submitted to the Constituent Assembly a
scheme for the reorganization of the navy, but it was not
accepted. On the 4th of January 1791 Kersaint was appointed
administrator of the department of the Seine by the electoral
assembly of Paris. He was also elected as a député suppléant
to the Legislative Assembly, and was called upon to sit in it in
place of a deputy who had resigned. From this time onward his
chief aim was the realization of the navy scheme which he had
vainly submitted to the Constituent Assembly. He soon saw
that this would be impossible unless there were a general reform
of all institutions, and therefore gave his support to the policy
of the advanced party in the Assembly, denouncing the conduct of
Louis XVI., and on the 10th of August 1792 voting in favour
of his deposition. Shortly after, he was sent on a mission to
the armée du Centre, visiting in this way Soissons, Reims, Sedan
and the Ardennes. While thus occupied he was arrested by the
municipality of Sedan; he was set free after a few days’ detention.
He took an active part in one of the last debates of the Legislative
Assembly, in which it was decided to publish a Bulletin
officiel, a report continued by the next Assembly, and known by
the name of the Bulletin de la Convention Nationale. Kersaint
was sent as a deputy to the Convention by the department of
Seine-et-Oise in September 1792, and on the 1st of January 1793
was appointed vice-admiral. He continued to devote himself
to questions concerning the navy and national defence, prepared
a report on the English political system and the navy, and caused
a decree to be passed for the formation of a committee of general
defence, which after many modifications was to become the
famous Committee of Public Safety. He had also had a decree
passed concerning the navy on the 11th of January 1793. He
had, however, entered the ranks of the Girondins, and had voted
in the trial of the king against the death penalty and in favour
of the appeal to the people. He resigned his seat in the Convention
on the 20th of January. After the death of the king his
opposition became more marked; he denounced the September
massacres, but when called upon to justify his attitude confined
himself to attacking Marat, who was at the time all-powerful.
His friends tried in vain to obtain his appointment as minister
of the marine; and he failed to obtain even a post as officer. He
was arrested on the 23rd of September at Ville d’Avray, near
Paris, and taken before the Revolutionary Tribunal, where he
was accused of having conspired for the restoration of the
monarchy, and of having insulted national representation by
resigning his position in the legislature. He was executed on
the 4th of December 1793.
His brother, Guy Pierre (1747–1822), also served in the navy, and took part in the American war of independence. He did not accept the principles of the Revolution, but emigrated. He was restored to his rank in the navy in 1803, and died in 1822, after having been préfet maritime of Antwerp, and prefect of the department of Meurthe.
See Kersaint’s own works, Le Bon Sens (1789); the Rubicon (1789); Considérations sur la force publique et l’institution des gardes nationales (1789); Lettre à Mirabeau (1791); Moyens présentés à l’Assemblée nationale pour rétablir la paix et l’ordre dans les colonies; also E. Chevalier, Histoire de la Marine française sous la première République; E. Charavay, L’Assemblée électorale de Paris en 1790 et 1791 (Paris, 1890); and Agénor Bardoux, La Duchesse de Duras (Paris, 1898), the beginning of which deals with Kersaint, whose daughter married Amédée de Duras. (R. A.*)
KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, CONSTANTINE BRUNO,
Baron, (1817–1891), Belgian historian, was born at Saint-Michel-les-Bruges
in 1817. He was a member of the Catholic
Constitutional party and sat in the Chamber as member for
Eecloo. In 1870 he was appointed a member of the cabinet
of Anethan as minister of the interior. But his official career
was short. The cabinet appointed as governor of Lille one
Decker, who had been entangled in the financial speculations
of Langand-Dumonceau by which the whole clerical party had
been discredited, and which provoked riots. The cabinet was
forced to resign, and Kervyn de Lettenhove devoted himself
entirely to literature and history. He had already become known
as the author of a book on Froissart (Brussels, 1855), which was
crowned by the French Academy. He edited a series of chronicles—Chroniques
relatives à l’histoire de la Belgique sous la
domination des ducs de Bourgogne (Brussels, 1870–1873), and
Rélations politiques des Pays Bas et de l’Angleterre sous le regne
de Philippe II. (Brussels, 1882–1892). He wrote a history of
Les Hugenots et les Gueux (Bruges, 1883–1885) in the spirit of a
violent Roman Catholic partisan, but with much industry and
learning. He died at Saint-Michel-les-Bruges in 1891.
See Notices biographiques et bibliographiques de l’académie de Belgique for 1887.
KESHUB CHUNDER SEN (Keshava Chandra Sena) (1838–1884),
Indian religious reformer, was born of a high-caste family
at Calcutta in 1838. He was educated at one of the Calcutta
colleges, where he became proficient in English literature and
history. For a short time he was a clerk in the Bank of Bengal,
but resigned his post to devote himself exclusively to literature
and philosophy. At that time Sir William Hamilton, Hugh
Blair, Victor Cousin, J. H. Newman and R. W. Emerson were
among his favourite authors. Their works made the deepest
impression on him, for, as he expressed it, “Philosophy first
taught me insight and reflection, and turned my eyes inward
from the things of the external world, so that I began to reflect
on my position, character and destiny.” Like many other
educated Hindus, Keshub Chunder Sen had gradually dissociated
himself from the popular forms of the native religion, without
abandoning what he believed to be its spirit. As early as 1857
he joined the Brahma Samaj, a religious association aiming at
the reformation of Hinduism. Keshub Chunder Sen threw himself
with enthusiasm into the work of this society and in 1862
himself undertook the ministry of one of its branches. In the
same year he helped to found the Albert College and started the
Indian Mirror, a weekly journal in which social and moral subjects
were discussed. In 1863 he wrote The Brahma Samaj
Vindicated. He also travelled about the country lecturing and
preaching. The steady development of his reforming zeal led
to a split in the society, which broke into two sections, Chunder
Sen putting himself at the head of the reform movement, which
took the name “Brahma Samaj of India,” and tried to propagate
