writer, by impersonations in his plays of The Hunchback and The Wife. He was also the author of several novels. He appeared at the principal theatres throughout the United Kingdom, his visit to Cork in 1834 being made the occasion of an ovation from his fellow-townsmen. Amongst indications of his warmth of heart may be mentioned the fact that on this last occasion he sought out his old nurse, and insisted on her occupying the best seat in the boxes during his engagement. In 1836 he visited America; some time after his return, ill-health obliged him to give up the stage, and he appeared as a lecturer on oratory and the drama. In his later years his mind received a theological bias; he wrote on religious subjects, and ultimately became a Baptist preacher. He died at Torquay, on 1st December 1862, aged 78. From 1849 he had been in the receipt of a pension on the Civil List of £200 a year. Besides numerous minor writings, his works in Allibone's list number twenty-six. A posthumous play, Alexina, or True unto Death, in two acts, was produced in 1866. Allan Cunningham writes of Knowles: "The poetry of his dialogue is the poetry of passion; it is kindled up in him by the collision of events, and seems less proper to the man than to the scene; his language is to the purpose; it is but little ornamented. His dramas are full of impressive groupings, domestic incidents, the bustle of business, the activity of life; he subdues subject, scene, and language to the purpose and aim of his play. In this he differs from many writers, and differs for the better. His strength lies in homebred affections: his Virginius, his Beggar's Daughter, and his Wife of Mantua, all bear evidence of this, and contain scenes of perfect truth and reality, such as no modern dramatist surpasses—he touches the heart and is safe." 16 40 116(40)
Knox, Alexander, a man of great learning and piety, a voluminous writer on religious questions, was born in Londonderry the middle of the 18th century. He was the author of Essays on the Political Circumstances of Ireland (Dublin, 1798), in denunciation of the United Irishmen and their principles. Their drift may be gathered from a portion of the concluding paragraph: "Let me entreat the sober, moderate, intelligent part of the community . . . to ask their own understandings, to consult their own feelings, whether the sovereignty of the public will or the will of the people is not a principle in every point of view ruinous and detestable. Whether it is not a monster in politics, which even poetic fiction is inadequate to describe, a blind and shapeless thing, which adds to the mutability of Proteus, the hands of Briareus and the heads of the hydra." Private Secretary to Castlereagh, he strenuously supported and advanced the passage of the Act of Union, but no less strenuously and consistently advocated the admission of Catholics and dissenters to complete equality of political rights. After the Union he for a short time represented his native city in Parliament, but most of his life, apart from official duties, was given up to religious meditation, and correspondence, especially with Bishop Jebb. The editor of his Remains says: "His least digested thoughts are precious. . . With every qualification for a distinguished career in public life, . . . his choice was made for a more immediate service of God, in the cultivation of revealed truth, for the dissemination of which he was eminently fitted, not more by the powers of his pen than by the unrivalled charm of his conversation. . . . The whole tenor of Mr. Knox's writings is evidence that, for the ground of man's hope and trust, he looked to Christ as 'all in all.' " He died in 1831. Thirty Years' Correspondence between John Jebb, Bishop of Limerick, and Alexander Knox, appeared in 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1834, and his Remains, in 4 vols, 8vo. London, 1834-1837—yet we have no particulars concerning his life. 72 206 206†
Knox, William, politician and author, was born in Ireland in 1732. In 1756 he received an appointment in the American colonies, and after his return in 1761 recommended the creation of a colonial aristocracy and colonial representation in the British Parliament. He was soon afterwards appointed agent for Georgia and East Florida, a post which he forfeited by writing in favour of the Stamp Act. His principal political work, the Present State of the Nation, published in 1768, drew forth a reply from Burke. He held the office of Under-Secretary of State for twelve years succeeding 1770. Through the Revolutionary War his pen was untiring in support of the American loyalists, and at the conclusion of peace he submitted a plan for making New Brunswick a refuge for such of them as desired to leave the United States. He secured a pension of £1,200 for losses incurred by himself and his wife in the War of Independence. In 1789 he published the valuable Extra-Official State Papers. Mr. Knox died at Great Ealing, 25th August 1810, aged about 78. 37*
Kyan, Esmonde, a distinguished leader in the Insurrection of 1798, was a gentleman of some property, who resided at
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