during the whole or part of Mary’s reign, he returned to England when Elizabeth came to the throne and at once began to serve the new queen as a diplomatist. He was employed on a mission to Germany, and in conducting negotiations in Scotland, where he had several interviews with Mary Queen of Scots. He was knighted in 1591, and after other diplomatic missions in various parts of Europe he died early in 1603. Many of Sir Henry’s letters on public matters are in the Record Office, London, and in the British Museum. His first wife, Catherine (c. 1530–1583), daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke (1504–1576), tutor to Edward VI., was a lady of talent.
Another celebrated member of this family was Sir Robert Killigrew (c. 1579–1633), who was knighted by James I. in the same year (1603) as his father, Sir William Killigrew. Sir William was an officer in Queen Elizabeth’s household and a member of parliament; he died in November 1622. Sir Robert was a member of all the parliaments between 1603 and his death, but he came more into prominence owing to his alleged connexion with the death of Sir Thomas Overbury. A man of some scientific knowledge, he had been in the habit of supplying powders to Robert Carr, earl of Somerset, but it is not certain that the fatal powder came from the hands of Killigrew. He died early in 1633, leaving five sons, three of whom attained some reputation (see below).
KILLIGREW, THOMAS (1612–1683), English dramatist and wit, son of Sir Robert Killigrew, was born in Lothbury, London, on the 7th of February 1612. Pepys says that as a boy he satisfied his love of the stage by volunteering at the Red Bull to take the part of a devil, thus seeing the play for nothing.
In 1633 he became page to Charles I., and was faithfully attached
to the royal house throughout his life. In 1635 he was in
France, and has left an account (printed in the European Magazine,
1803) of the exorcizing of an evil spirit from some nuns at
Loudun. In 1641 he published two tragi-comedies, The Prisoners
and Claracilla, both of which had probably been produced
before 1636. In 1647 he followed Prince Charles into exile.
His wit, easy morals and accommodating temper recommended
him to Charles, who sent him to Venice in 1651 as his representative.
Early in the following year he was recalled at the
request of the Venetian ambassador in Paris. At the Restoration
he became groom of the bedchamber to Charles II., and
later chamberlain to the queen. He received in 1660, with
Sir William Davenant, a patent to erect a new playhouse, the
performances in which were to be independent of the censorship
of the master of the revels. This infringement of his prerogative
caused a dispute with Sir Henry Herbert, then holder of the
office, but Killigrew settled the matter by generous concessions.
He acted independently of Davenant, his company being known
as the King’s Servants. They played at the Red Bull, until in
1663 he built for them the original Theatre Royal in Drury
Lane. Pepys writes in 1664 that Killigrew intended to have
four opera seasons of six weeks each during the year, and with
this end in view paid several visits to Rome to secure singers
and scene decorators. In 1664 his plays were published as
Comedies and Tragedies. Written by Thomas Killigrew. They
are Claracilla; The Princess, or Love at First Sight; The
Parson’s Wedding; The Pilgrim; Cicilia and Clorinda, or Love
in Arms; Thomaso, or the Wanderer; and Bellamira, her
Dream, or Love of Shadows. The Parson’s Wedding (acted
c. 1640, reprinted in the various editions of Dodsley’s Old
Plays and in the Ancient British Drama) is an unsavoury play,
which displays nevertheless considerable wit, and some of its
jokes were appropriated by Congreve. It was revived after
the Restoration in 1664 and 1672 or 1673, all the parts being
in both cases taken by women. Killigrew succeeded Sir Henry
Herbert as master of the revels in 1673. He died at Whitehall
on the 19th of March 1683. He was twice married, first to
Cecilia Crofts, maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, and
secondly to Charlotte de Hesse, by whom he had a son Thomas
(1657–1719), who was the author of a successful little piece,
Chit-Chat, played at Drury Lane on the 14th of February 1719,
with Mrs Oldfield in the part of Florinda.
Killigrew enjoyed a greater reputation as a wit than as a dramatist. Sir John Denham said of him:—
Had Cowley ne’er spoke, Killigrew ne’er writ,
Combined in one, they’d made a matchless wit.
Many stories are related of his bold speeches to Charles I. Pepys (Feb. 12, 1668) records that he was said to hold the title of King’s Fool or Jester, with a cap and bells at the expense of the king’s wardrobe, and that he might therefore revile or jeer anybody, even the greatest, without offence.
His elder brother, Sir William Killigrew (1606–1695), was a court official under Charles I. and Charles II. He attempted to drain the Lincolnshire fens, and was the author of four plays (printed 1665 and 1666) of some merit.
A younger brother, Dr Henry Killigrew (1613–1700), was chaplain and almoner to the duke of York, and master of the Savoy after the Restoration. A juvenile play of his, The Conspiracy, was printed surreptitiously in 1638, and in an authenticated version in 1653 as Pallantus and Eudora. He had two sons, Henry Killigrew (d. 1712), an admiral, and James Killigrew, also a naval officer, who was killed in an encounter with the French in January 1695; and a daughter, Anne (1660–1685), poet and painter, who was maid of honour to the duchess of York, and was the subject of an ode by Dryden, which Samuel Johnson thought the noblest in the language.
A sister, Elizabeth Killigrew, married Francis Boyle, 1st Viscount Shannon, and became a mistress of Charles II.
KILLIN, a village and parish of Perthshire, Scotland, at the south-western extremity of Loch Tay, 4 m. N.E. of Killin
Junction on a branch line of the Callander & Oban railway.
Pop. of parish (1901), 1423. It is situated near the confluence
of the rivers and glens of the Dochart and Lochay, and is a
popular tourist centre, having communication by steamer with
Kenmore at the other end of the lake, and thence by coach to
Aberfeldy, the terminus of a branch of the Highland railway.
It has manufactures of tweeds. In a field near the village
a stone marks the site of what is known as Fingal’s Grove.
An island in the Dochart (which is crossed at Killin by a bridge
of five arches) is the ancient burial-place of the clan Macnab.
Finlarig Castle, a picturesque mass of ivy-clad ruins, was a
stronghold of the Campbells of Glenorchy, and several earls
of Breadalbane were buried in ground adjoining it, where the
modern mausoleum of the family stands. Three miles up the
Lochay, which rises in the hills beyond the forest of Mamlorn
and has a course of 15 m., the river forms a graceful cascade.
The Dochart, issuing from Loch Dochart, flows for 13 m. in a
north-easterly direction and falls into Loch Tay. The ruined
castle on an islet in the loch once belonged to the Campbells
of Lochawe.
KILLIS, a town of N. Syria, in the vilayet of Aleppo, 60 m. N.
of Aleppo city. It is situated in an extremely fertile plain, and
is completely surrounded with olive groves, the produce of
which is reckoned the finest oil of all Syria; and its position
on the carriage-road from Aleppo to Aintab and Birejik gives
it importance. The population (20,000) consists largely of
Circassians, Turkomans and Arabs, the town lying just on the
northern rim of the Arab territory. As Killis lies also very
near the proposed junction of the Bagdad and the Beirut-Aleppo
railways (at Tell Habesh), it is likely to increase in importance.
KILLYBEGS, a seaport and market town of county Donegal, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, on the north coast on Donegal Bay, the terminus of the Donegal railway. Pop. (1901), 607. It derives some importance from its fine landlocked harbour, which, affording accommodation to large vessels, is used as a naval station, and is the centre of an important fishery. There is a large pier for the fishing vessels. The manufacture of carpets occupies a part of the population, employing both male and female labour—the productions being known as Donegal carpets. There are slight remains of a castle and ancient church; and a mineral spring is still used. The town received a charter from James I., and was a parliamentary borough, returning two members, until the Union.
