the then youthful Handel to the city. Keiser was compelled by pecuniary embarrassments to leave Hamburg for a time, when Handel filled his responsible post at the harpsichord in the orchestra. His marriage in 1709 retrieved his fortune, and he pursued his indefatigable labours at Hamburg until 1722, when he went to Copenhagen in the capacity of kapellmeister to the king, to compose an opera for the celebration of his new patron's birthday. He returned to Hamburg in 1728, where he was engaged as music-director, with the office of canon, at the church of St. Catherine. His one hundred and eighteenth and last opera, "Circe," was brought out in 1734, forty years after he first went to Hamburg. He then retired from his long labours, and spent his remaining years at the residence of his daughter. Besides his immensely numerous operas, Keiser composed several oratorios and many pieces of ecclesiastical music. These voluminous works deserve a better fate than the oblivion into which they have fallen, for they are described by Hasse—who was the composer's pupil—and other credible authorities, as possessing very remarkable merit and originality, that distinguish them from all the productions of the period. The German opera was in its earliest infancy when Keiser began to write, and it owes its establishment as an important feature of national art in no small degree to the exertions of this composer, whose dramatic works were all set to his native language.—G. A. M.
KEITH, George, fifth Earl Marischal, founder of Marischal college, Aberdeen, was born about the middle of the sixteenth century, and succeeded to the family titles and estates on the death of his grandfather in 1581; his father having died in the previous year. He was educated at King's college, Aberdeen, where he distinguished himself by his proficiency in classical studies, and in the knowledge of Hebrew and of antiquities and of history. He subsequently spent some years first in France and then in Geneva under the celebrated Beza, who gave him instruction in history, theology, and eloquence. On his return to his native country he took part in various public proceedings, and in 1589 was sent to Denmark with proposals from King James for the hand of the Princess Anne. He did good service to the country in 1593, by inquiring into the secret transactions of the popish earls with the court of Spain; and in 1609 he was appointed lord high commissioner in the Scottish parliament. His memory has been perpetuated mainly by his enlightened munificence displayed in the establishment of Marischal college. The charter bears the date of 2nd April, 1593. It provided for the maintenance of a principal, three professors or regents, and six bursars; and appointed Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, geometry, geography, chronology, natural history, and astronomy to be taught in the college. Since that time several additional chairs and a great number of bursaries have been established in connection with this seminary, and by an act of parliament passed in 1858, Marischal college and King's college have been incorporated into one university. Earl Marischal died in 1623.—J. T.
KEITH, George, an author who wrote much both for and against quakerism, was a native of Aberdeen, and a fellow-student there of Bishop Burnet. After taking his degree in arts he went over to the sect of the Society of Friends, among whom he became a preacher; and one of his early writings, "A Salutation to the Seed of God arising in Aberdeen," is dated from the tolbooth of that city, the 9th of the tenth month, 1664, where he was "a prisoner for the testimony to the Lord's glorious truth, against an evil, adulterous, and persecuting generation." The severity of the treatment which he experienced only heated his enthusiastic temperament to a higher pitch; and one of his pieces, published in 1668, entitled "Immediate Revelation not ceased, but remaining a standing and perpetual Ordinance in the Church of Christ," bears to have been "writ in the time of my imprisonment in Scotland, where I was shut up ten months." Another of his fanatical productions, published in 1674, bears the curious title of "The Woman-preacher of Samaria, a better preacher, and more sufficiently qualified to preach, than any of the men-preachers of the man-made ministry in these three nations." He was of course an admirer of Robert Barclay, whose initials are attached to one of his writings, in the way of recommendation; and of William Penn, whom he followed to America, and was for some time a citizen of the new settlement of Pennsylvania. But he lived long enough to become as zealous against "the quakers," as he now learned to call them, as he had formerly been on their side. He formed a new sect of his own, and finally took orders in the Church of England, in which he obtained some preferment. He died about 1715.—P. L.
KEITH, George, tenth Earl Marischal, elder brother of Field-marshal James Keith, was born about 1693, and succeeded his father in 1712. He was attainted for his share in the rebellion of 1715, and along with his brother made his escape to the continent. After many hardships and long wanderings, he ultimately found refuge at the court of Prussia, and in 1750 was appointed by Frederick the Great ambassador extraordinary to the court of France. He subsequently held the same office at the court of Madrid, and while there, it is alleged, discovered and revealed to Mr. Pitt in 1769 an important secret which he had discovered, respecting what was termed the family compact of the princes of the house of Bourbon. As a reward for this service he obtained the royal pardon and the reversal of his sentence of forfeiture. After this he spent several years in his native country; but ultimately yielded to the urgent and reiterated entreaties of Frederick and returned to Prussia, where he spent the remainder of his protracted life on the most intimate terms of friendship with the Prussian monarch, as well as with David Hume and other eminent men of letters both in Great Britain and on the continent. The earl died at Potsdam in 1778, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. The title became extinct at his death.—J. T.
KEITH, George Elphinstone Keith, Viscount, a distinguished naval officer, was born in 1746, and was the fifth son of Charles, tenth Lord Elphinstone, and Clementina, only child of the sixth earl of Wigton, and niece and heir-of-line to the last Earl Marischal. He entered the navy at the age of sixteen, became a lieutenant in 1767, and was advanced to the rank of post-captain in 1775. He commanded the Perseus frigate under Lord Howe and Admiral Arbuthnot in the early years of the American war, and distinguished himself greatly at the siege of Charleston. In 1780 he was sent home with despatches, but in the following year he returned to America, where he continued to serve during the remainder of the war. When the war with France broke out in 1793, Captain Elphinstone was appointed to the Robust of 74 guns, in the fleet which Lord Hood commanded in the Mediterranean, and gained great applause by the energy, skill, and courage which he displayed in the siege of Toulon. In 1795 he was sent in command of a small squadron to the Cape of Good Hope, which at that time belonged to the Dutch; and war having commenced between Great Britain and the Batavian republic. Admiral Elphinstone promptly attacked and reduced the settlements at the Cape, and captured a squadron which had been sent out for its defence. On his return home he was advanced to the rank of vice-admiral, and in 1797 was created an Irish peer by the title of Baron Keith of Stonehaven-Marischal. In 1798 he sailed for the Mediterranean as second in command under Earl St. Vincent; and in 1799, when the illness of that great naval officer compelled him to retire. Lord Keith was appointed his successor. His services on this station were numerous and important; but the most brilliant of all his exploits was the famous landing at Aboukir, the success of which was due almost entirely to his promptitude and skill. For this important service he was rewarded with the thanks of both houses of parliament and the freedom of the city of London, and was advanced, 5th December, 1801, to the rank of a peer of the United Kingdom. In 1803 his lordship was appointed commander-in-chief of all his majesty's ships in the North Sea, and was made rear-admiral of the white in 1805. In 1812 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Channel fleet, and in 1814 was elevated to the rank of a viscount. At the conclusion of the war Lord Keith retired into private life, and passed the remaining years of his long and honourable career in the enjoyment of domestic happiness, and the improvement of his extensive estates. He died 10th March, 1823, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. By his first wife he left a daughter, afterwards Viscountess Keith, and wife of the well-known Count Flahault. Lord Keith's second wife was the eldest daughter of Henry Thrale. M.P. for Southwark, and friend of Dr. Samuel Johnson.—J. T.
KEITH, James, field-marshal in the Prussian service, was the younger son of William Keith, ninth Earl Marischal of Scotland, and born in 1696. Ruddiman taught him his rudiments, and his later education was superintended by Bishop Keith. He was sent to Edinburgh to study law, but all his wishes were for
