Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/22

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
KAZ
10
KEA

KAZWINI, KAZWIN, CAZWYNY, or CAZOUYNY, Zacharia ben Mohammed ben Mohammed, an eminent Arabian naturalist, born in Persia about 1210. He made himself acquainted with various departments of science. The great work which has won for him the title of the Oriental Pliny, is the "Athar or Atsar albelad, u akhbar al-ebad," a historical and geographical production, abounding in rare and curious information drawn from all sources, but not always either accurate or scientific. He also wrote another compilation, the "Agiaib al-makhlukàt," which appears to have preceded and been the basis of the other. Kazwini died in 1283.—B. H. C.

KEACH, Benjamin, an eminent divine and author, born in Bucks on 29th February, 1640, and died, 18th July, 1704, at Southwark. He was a man of plain education, of vigorous mind, and of extensive scriptural knowledge. While quite a youth he became pastor of the church at Winslow, Bucks, and by his boldness and power as a preacher, he provoked the hostility of the authorities, and soon after the Restoration was imprisoned at Aylesbury. On his release he wrote a book called "The Child's Instructor," maintaining the right of laymen to preach, and denying infant baptism. For this publication he was tried before Chief-justice Hyde, and again imprisoned and put in the pillory. In 1668 he removed to London, where he became pastor of the church over which Dr. Gill afterwards presided. Here he laboured with great acceptance. His congregation numbered a thousand persons, while with his pen he defended his views against Baxter, Flavel, Burkitt, and others. As a controversialist he was remarkably calm and fair. For integrity, charity, and devotedness he was eminent, and gained the respect and affection of all parties. The works by which he is best known are—"A Key to open Scripture Metaphors," 1682; and "An Exposition of the Parables," 1704—both in folio. He was the author of forty-three works in all—eighteen practical, sixteen polemical, and nine poetical.—J. A., L.

KEAN, Charles John, son of Edmund Kean, was born at Waterford in Ireland in 1811, and was educated at Eton. During his father's lifetime he chose the stage as a profession, much against the wishes of the former, and acted chiefly in the provinces during the earlier portion of his theatrical career. Mr. C. Kean was a successful actor, and had numerous admirers; but he had all the disadvantages of voice, manner, and figure under which his father laboured, without any very striking indications of his father's astonishing genius. Although as an actor he did not stand in the foremost rank, his exertions in the restoration of the costume of the Shaksperian drama, and in the introduction of appropriate scenery, merit the highest praise. Perhaps the part sustained by him in the "Corsican Brothers" was the best suited to his talent. He died on the 22nd of January, 1868.—W. C. H.

KEAN, Edmund, was born at London, in Castle Street, Leicester Square, between 1787 and 1790. His father, who bore the same name, is said to have been a stage carpenter; his mother was a Miss Ann Carey, an actress at minor theatres and in booths. During his early years Kean was indebted for such little education as he received to an acquaintance of his mother, Miss Tidswell, also an actress, who began to bring him up to her own profession so soon as he was old enough to understand anything. His mother, observing his aptitude for dramatic performance, then took him under her own charge, and acted with him at booths in various parts of the country. On one occasion they performed before George III. at Windsor, and Master Kean was requested by his majesty to exhibit his powers of recitation, which he did to the great delight of the king and his own profit. This was his first success. Many years passed over Kean's head before a second success came, and they were years of privation and vicissitude. But it did come at last. On the 26th January, 1814, the Drury Lane playbill announced the Merchant of Venice—Shylock; Mr. Kean, "from the Exeter theatre." "I went to see him," says Hazlitt the critic, "the first night of his appearing in Shylock. The boxes were empty, and the pit not half full; the whole presented a dreary, hopeless aspect. I was in considerable apprehension for the result. From the first scene in which Mr. Kean came on, my doubts were at an end." The fortune of the house and the fame of the actor in fact were established. From that night Kean acquired the reputation, which he still enjoys, of having been one of the greatest tragedians which this or any other country ever produced. His success was unfortunately interrupted by a scandal which, after receiving judicial investigation, resulted in his being driven from the boards both at London and Edinburgh. He never recovered from this blow. His habits of dissoluteness grew upon him; he was a lost man. Mr. Kean died at Richmond on the 15th May, 1833. The parts in which he principally shone were Shylock, Othello, Richard III., and Sir Giles Overreach. Those who desire a more copious account of Kean may find it in Procter's Life of the actor, 2 vols., 1835.—W. C. H.

KEANE, John, first Lord, a distinguished military officer, was the second son of Sir John Keane, Bart, of Belmont, in the county of Waterford, and was born in 1781. He entered the army in 1793, and advancing by gradual promotion, he obtained in 1799 a company in the 44th foot, and served successively in Egypt, in the Mediterranean, and in Martinique, where he took part in the siege of Fort Dessaix. In 1812 he attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel; and having joined the British army in the Peninsula, was appointed to the command of a brigade in the third division, and distinguished himself in the battles of Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, and Toulouse. At the peace of 1814 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and sent to the West Indies with a body of troops, destined to co-operate with Admiral Cochrane in the attack on New Orleans, where he was severely wounded. In 1823 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Jamaica, a post which he held until 1830; and during eighteen months of that time he administered the civil government of the island also. In 1833 General Keane succeeded Sir Colin Halket in command of the forces at Bombay; and in 1838, on the resignation of Sir Henry Fane, he was appointed to the chief command of the forces destined to operate against Scinde on the invasion of Dost Mahomed. The army entered Cabul in May, 1839, and on the 21st of July invested the fortress of Ghuznee, which was deemed impregnable, and was garrisoned by three thousand five hundred Affghan soldiers, with an abundant supply of arms, provisions, and stores. But on the 23rd, after a desperate struggle, the gates were blown in and the fortress captured, with the loss of only two hundred of the assailants. In consequence of this brilliant exploit. Dost Mahomed took to flight on the approach of the British army to Cabul, and the war terminated in the submission of the country. General Keane was rewarded with a peerage, together with the thanks of both houses of parliament and of the East India Company, and with a pension of £2000 a year to himself and the two next successors in the title. He died in 1844.—J. T.

KEATE, George, poet and miscellaneous writer, was born about 1730, and received his education at Kingston school. On finishing his studies he travelled, and among other places visited Geneva, where he formed the acquaintance of Voltaire, with whom he continued to correspond after his return to his own country. The fruits of Mr. Keate's local observation and research appeared in 1761 in the form of a volume entitled "A Short Account of the Antient History, Present Government, and Laws of the Republic of Geneva." Upon the completion of his European tour, Keate became a student at the Inner temple, and was in due course called to the bar of that society; but he never followed the profession, devoting himself to literary pursuits. Possibly his private means were such as to enable him to obey his own inclinations in this respect. In 1781 Mr. Keate published two volumes of poems, now forgotten; and he also adapted Voltaire's Semiramis for the English stage, an adaptation which was soon superseded. He wrote one or two works of a miscellaneous kind; namely, "An Account of the Pelew Islands," &c., 1788, 4to; "Sketches from Nature, taken in a journey to Margate," 1778. He died in 1797, a bencher of his inn, and a member of one or two learned societies. After Mr. Keate's death, a supplement was printed to his "Account of the Pelew Islands," from the pen of the Rev. Pearce Hockin, London, 1803, 4to.—W. C. H.

KEATING, Geoffry, D.D., styled the Irish Herodotus, was born in the county of Tipperary, towards the end of the sixteenth century. He was educated for the priesthood at the university of Salamanca, where he took the degree of D.D., and remained engaged in study for twenty-three years. On his return to Ireland he was appointed parish priest of Tybred in his native county, where he soon became noted for his piety and eloquence. Having on one occasion preached against a lady whose relations with Carew, the lord president of Munster, were open to suspicion, an order was issued for his arrest; but