a sixpenny 4to pamphlet [1759?]. In these publications he maintained that Oriuna was the guardian-goddess of Carausius, against Stukeley, who maintained that she was his wife (Stukeley, Palæographia Brit. No. iii. 1752; Medallic Hist. of Carausius, 1757–9). ‘Oriuna’ was really a misreading of the word ‘Fortuna,’ which accompanies the figure of Fortune on a coin of Carausius. Kennedy also published ‘Numismata selectiora,’ a plate, engraved by Perry, of coins of Carausius and Allectus in Kennedy's collection, with a quarto leaf of explanation (Lit. Anecd. ii. 283).
[Authorities cited above.]
KENNEDY, JOHN (1698–1782), divine, born in 1698, was in November 1732 presented to the rectory of All Saints, Bradley, near Ashbourne in Derbyshire, and died there 4 Feb. 1782. He is described on the tombstone in the churchyard as ‘a good and learned man,’ but seems to have been of a quarrelsome disposition, and engaged in much literary controversy. His works, which display ingenuity in misapplying learning, are:
- ‘A New Method of Stating and Explaining the Scriptures Chronologically upon Mosaic Astronomical Principles, Mediums, and Data, as laid down in the Pentateuch,’ London, 1751.
- ‘Examination of the Reverend Mr. Jackson's Chronological Antiquities, in which the errors and defects of that Elaborate Performance are demonstrated in a Letter to the Author,’ 1753.
- ‘A Complete System of Astronomical Chronology unfolding the Scriptures,’ 1762, with a dedication to George III, which, although signed by Kennedy, was the composition of Dr. Johnson. This work was severely handled in the ‘Critical Review’ for May 1763.
- ‘Some Important and Uncertain Points in Chronology,’ addressed to the Rev. Dr. Blair, prebendary of Westminster, in 1773.
- ‘Explanation and Proof of the Complete System of Astronomical Chronology unfolding the Scriptures, in which the Truth and Reality of the Original Luni-Solar Radix is clearly and fully ascertained,’ 1775, a series of letters addressed to his friend James Ferguson (1710–1776) [q. v.] the astronomer.
[Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. Croker; Cox's Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, iii. 29; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. viii. 545, ix. 67.]
KENNEDY, JOHN (1789–1833), Scottish poet, born in Kilmarnock in 1789, was the son of a prosperous handloom weaver. After a sound elementary education under a teacher named Thomson, whom he addresses in a poem, he began work with his father. While at his loom, however, during the day, he had his book conveniently placed for study, and his evenings were occupied with literature or in attending such meetings as those of an ‘essay club,’ to the members of which he inscribes his clever and witty, if somewhat irregular, ‘Thoughts on Horace.’ From 1807 to 1815 he was in the royal Ayrshire militia, serving both in Great Britain and Ireland. Settling again in Kilmarnock he was in frequent collision with the authorities through the vehemence of his political criticisms. At length he qualified himself as a teacher. After a short engagement in Kilmarnock, he was appointed schoolmaster at Chapel Green, near Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, settling there in July 1820 with his young wife, Janet Houston, whom he had married in June. He speedily made a favourable impression as a teacher; while, socially, his frankness of utterance both provoked keen opposition and secured for him much esteem. He died in 1833, leaving a widow and three daughters from a family of six.
Kennedy published in 1826 ‘Fancy's Tour with the Genius of Cruelty, and other Poems.’ In the leading piece he studies ‘what man has made of man,’ drawing upon sacred and profane history from the time of Cain to that of Claverhouse, and producing a series of bold and striking pictures. Several of the other poems are noteworthy: that on Horace for its reminiscences and its critical opinions, while that entitled ‘Andra the Bard’ is practically a defence of Lowland Scotch as a literary instrument. All display native good sense and satirical force rather than poetical grace. Similar characteristics appear in Kennedy's prose romance, ‘Geordie Chalmers, or the Law in Glenbuckie,’ published immediately after his death in 1833. Manifestly based on personal experience, this book is valuable as a vivid, if somewhat caustic, delineation of Scottish rural life as it was early in the century.
[Information from Mrs. Henderson, Kilsyth, Kennedy's eldest daughter, and the Rev. P. Anton, Kilsyth; Contemporaries of Burns.]
KENNEDY, JOHN (1769–1855), cotton-spinner and inventor, third son of Robert Kennedy, was born at Knocknalling, Kirkcudbrightshire, on 4 July 1769. He was educated at the village school of Dalry, and he also had the advantage of an occasional tutor during the winter months. He lost his father early, and at the age of fourteen was sent by his mother to Chowbent, Lancashire, and apprenticed to William Cannan, the son of a
