ticus Ævi Saxonici," many of the charters printed in which had been discovered by himself. For the Ælfric Society he published, in 1844, "The Poetry of the Codex Vercellensis" (Anglo-Saxon), with an English translation; and in 1846 "The Anglo-Saxon Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn, with a historical introduction and English translation." In 1849 the Camden Society published his edition of Twysden's Considerations upon the Government of England. In the same year appeared two volumes of his valuable work comprising the chief results of his Anglo-Saxon studies and researches, "The Saxons in England: a history of the English Commonwealth till the period of the Conquest." Between the years 1849-55 Mr. Kemble resided in North Germany, pursuing the study of the archæology of the old Teutonic nations, with special reference to their funeral ceremonies and customs. The excavations which he made in 1854 in the heath of Lüneburg brought to light a number of interesting relics and memorials of the Teutonic past, funeral urns, arrow-heads, &c., now lodged in the royal museum at Hanover. During his residence at Hanover he made extracts from the correspondence between Leibnitz, the Electress Sophia, and other notabilities. On his return to England he published them with an introduction and elucidations as "State Papers and Correspondence, illustrative of the social and political state of Europe from the Revolution of 1688 to the accession of the House of Hanover." This work afforded many curious glimpses into the secret history and diplomacy of the time; and in it Leibnitz was exhibited in his less familiar character of courtier and private gentleman. Mr. Kemble was now recognized as at the head of our Teutonic philologists and archæologists. He was contemplating the publication of two new volumes of "The Saxons in England." Already the examiner of plays (an office in which he succeeded his father), he had been honoured by having his name submitted, with one other, for the selection of her majesty, a vacancy having occurred in the principal librarianship of the British museum; when his career was closed by his death at Dublin on the 26th March, 1857. Mr. Kemble was not only a scholar, but a lucid and vigorous writer.—F. E.
KEMBLE, John Philip, an eminent English actor, was born at Prescot in Lancashire, on the 1st of February, 1757. His father, Roger Kemble, was the manager of a provincial company of actors, and a Roman catholic. He intended his eldest son for a learned profession, and carefully educated him—at the English college of Douay among other places. The histrionic tendency, however, was strong within John Philip Kemble, and at nineteen he went upon the stage. His début was made at Wolverhampton in 1776, and in 1778 he figures not only as an actor, but as a dramatist, playing Belisarius in his own tragedy of that name. After an apprenticeship in the provinces, Dublin, and in Scotland, he made his first appearance in London at Drury Lane, on the 30th September, 1783, and in the part of Hamlet. It was the year after the first decided metropolitan triumph of his celebrated sister, Mrs. Siddons.—(See Siddons, Sarah.) With 1788, the date of the death of Smith, who was in possession of the leading tragic parts, John Philip Kemble became the chief actor of his age, and was recognized as the successor of Garrick. In 1790 he became manager of Drury Lane, for which he adapted a number of old dramas, some of them Shakspeare's, and where he abolished various absurd anomalies of costume, legacies of the age of Garrick. In 1801 he resigned the managership of Drury Lane, and paid a visit to the continent, being ciceroned in Paris by Talma. In 1803 he became manager and part-proprietor of Covent Garden, burnt to the ground in 1808. The opening of the new structure (18th September, 1809) was signalized by the first of the famous O.P. riots, which lasted several months, and were terminated by a compromise between Kemble and the malcontents, including a partial return to the "Old Prices," contracted during the warfare into O.P. After a long and successful career as actor and manager, Kemble retired from the stage in 1817. For his farewell performance at Edinburgh (March 29) Sir Walter Scott wrote the valedictory address. His farewell performance in London on the 23rd of June was followed on the 27th by a public dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern, at which Lord Holland took the chair, and an ode by Thomas Campbell was recited. After a stay in the south of France he took up his residence at Lausanne, where he died on the 26th February, 1823. Kemble's form was noble, his voice expressive, his style of acting elaborate and stately. His private character was irreproachable; and this, with his talents and accomplishments, procured him admission into the best society. He was the author of two essays—"Macbeth Reconsidered," 1786, and "Macbeth and King Richard III.," 1817, as well as of "Belisarius," some fugitive pieces, numerous dramatic adaptations, and "Lodoiska," an opera. His fine collection of plays was purchased by the duke of Devonshire. In 1825 his friend Mr. Bowden published Memoirs of the Life of John Philip Kemble, Esq.
Kemble, Charles, younger brother of the preceding, was born at Brecknock in Wales, on the 25th November, 1775. He received a good education, and through his brother's influence, a situation in the general post-office. He quitted it for the stage; and after experimenting in the provinces, made his appearance at Drury Lane in 1794. The characters he personated were long of a secondary kind By degrees he took a high rank in his profession, and his range of characters became the widest on record, with the one exception of Garrick. It included comedy and tragedy, though it was in the more dignified section of the former that he chiefly shone. His face and figure were handsome, and his voice a fine one. Charles Kemble quitted the stage in 1840, after receiving the appointment of examiner of plays. During his later years he gave some public Shakspearean readings. He died on the 12th of November, 1854.
* Kemble, Frances Anne, afterwards Butler, better known as Fanny Kemble, eldest daughter of Charles Kemble, was born in London in 1811. She was not intended for the stage; and it was suddenly, and from motives of filial duty, to aid her father struggling with embarrassments as the manager of Covent Garden, that on the 5th of October, 1829, she made her début there as Juliet. Her success was all that could be wished for, and produced the result the hope of which had led her to the stage. After a triumphant career of three years, during which was produced with success a tragedy of her own, "Francis I.," she accompanied her father on a histrionic tour through the United States. Her American experiences have been recorded by herself in her "Journal of a Residence in America," published in 1835, a lively though somewhat egotistical performance. In the United States she married an American gentleman—Mr. Butler. The marriage did not prove a happy one, and was followed by a divorce in 1849. In 1837 she published "The Star of Seville," a drama, and in 1842 a volume of poems. In 1847 she returned to the English stage, making her new début as Lady Teazle at the Theatre Royal, Manchester. But she soon exchanged the boards for public appearances as a reader of Shakspeare's plays. Her "Year of Consolation," published in 1847, is descriptive of Italian life and scenery, mainly as viewed by her during a visit to her sister, Adelaide Kemble, who after attaining distinction as a singer, had married an Italian nobleman and settled in Italy.—F. E.
KEMP, Kenneth, a Scotch chemist, who died at Edinburgh in 1843, at the early age of thirty-six. He was for some years assistant to Dr. Hope in the university of Edinburgh, and was a lecturer on practical chemistry. He was the first in this country who solidified carbonic acid gas, and to him galvanic electricity is indebted for the introduction of amalgamated zinc plates into the galvanic battery.—W. B—d.
KEMPELEN, Wolfgang, Baron von, a Hungarian statesman and mechanician, was born at Presburg on the 23rd of January, 1734, and died at Vienna on the 26th of March, 1804. He held various high offices in connection with the government of Hungary, and occupied his leisure alone with mechanical pursuits. Amongst other curious pieces of mechanism, he made a speaking machine for imitating the human voice. Its principles and construction were described by him in a work published at Vienna in 1791—"Ueber den Mechanismus der menschlichen Sprache." His most famous production was the well-known "Automaton Chess-Player," which was exhibited in various parts of Europe. It consisted of a figure in the Turkish garb as large as life, seated behind a large box, whose top served as a chess-board. The box had two doors and a drawer in front, which were opened successively by Kempelen at the commencement of each exhibition. The drawer contained a set of chessmen, and the doors showed nothing but some brazen mechanism. The box and the figure were mounted on castors, and could be rolled about on the floor of the room; and Kempelen used to complete the display of the internal
