KEMBLE, STEPHEN. 



KEMPIS, THOMAS A. 



Too 



no record bat the tettimouy of Macklin. The father. Room KEMBLE, 

 wu bora on the 1st of March 1721, in the city of Hereford. He was 

 mn actor, and the manager of a company that performed in the prin- 

 cipal town* of Wale* and the west of England. He married in 17.'-! 

 Sarah Ward, born September 2nd, 17S5, at Clonmel in Ireland. She 

 also wai an aotrea*. They had 12 children, of whom Mra, Siddoni and 

 John Ketubla wen the two eldest [SlDDONS, MBS. SABAB; KIMHI.K, 

 Joii.x 1'niLir.] Charles Kemble was the llth child and youngeat eon. 

 Roger Kemble died in 1808, and Mn. Sarah Kemble in 1806. 



STBTBU KEMBLI (George Stephen Kemble), the third of the 

 children, wai born on the 3rd of May 1758, at Kington in Hereford- 

 hire. ' He wai intended for the medical profession, and wu placed 

 with a lorgeon at Coventry, but gave the preference to the stage. 

 After a coune of practice in the country he made hii first appearance 

 in London, at Covent Garden, on tho 24th of September 1783. In 

 the aame year he married Mia Satchell, a favourite actress. After 

 acting for some time at Coreut Qarden ho wai engaged at the Hay- 

 market. He became afterward! the manager of a company that per- 

 formed at Edinburgh and Glasgow, and subsequently of another that 

 acted at Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland, Lancaster, and Whitehaven. 

 He wai a good actor, but became o bulky in person aa to be almost 

 unfit for any character but Falstaff, which he performed frequently, 

 both in London and the country. His last performance was in the 

 character of Sir Christopher Curry, in the farce of ' Inkle and Yarico,' 

 a few daya after which he was attacked by inflammation of the bowcU, 

 and died on the 6th of June Is22, at the Grove, near Durham. 

 FRANCIS KJUIBLJE, the fourth child of Roger Kemble, was born on 

 the 88th of December 1759, in the city of Hereford. She also became 

 an actress, and performed in London ; but having become the wife of 

 Mr. Francis Twiaa, quitted the stage. She died in 1812, at Bath. 



ELIZABETH KEMBI.E, the fifth child of Roger Kemble, was born on 

 the -nd of April 1701, at Warrington in Lancashire. She was appren- 

 ticed to a mantua-maker, but left that occupation for the stage. After 

 some practice in the country, she made her first appearance in London 

 at Drury Lane Theatre, on the 22nd of February 1783, as Portia in 

 ' The Merchant of Venice.' After repeating Portia she repaired to 

 York, where she had previously accepted an engagement. In face, 

 figure, and voice she bore a striking resemblance to Mr. Siddons. On 

 the 21st of June 1785 she was married to Charles Edward Whitlock, 

 an actor and joint manager of a theatrical company in the north of 

 England known ag Austin and Whitlock' a company, of which MM. 

 Whitlock became the principal actress. The circuit of this campany 

 embraced Newcastle, Durham, Lancaster, and Whitehaven. Cooke 

 and Munden were members of it before they appeared in London. In 

 1792 Mrs. Whitlock accompanied her husband to America, where she 

 became almost as great a favourite as Mrs. Siddons wu in England. 

 She performed mostly at Philadelphia and Charleston, and frequently 

 before General Washington. Having acquired an independence, Mr. 

 and Mrs. Whitlock returned to England about 1807, and quitted the 

 stage. Mr. Wbitlock died about 1820. Mrs. Whitlock was much 

 admired in society for the liveliness of her conversation. She died on 

 the 27th of February 1836. 



The other children of Uoger Kemble died young, except a daughter, 

 Anne, born in 1764, who was alive iu 1831. 



KKMBLE, JOHN MITCHELL, well known as one of the chief 

 Anglo-Saxon scholars of his age, and also distinguished in historical 

 literature generally, is a member of the celebrated dramatic family of 

 the Kembles, being the son of Charles Kemble, and was born in 1807. 

 He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the 

 degree of U.A. in 1830, and that of M.A. a year or two later. From 

 the very first his studies were directed towards the Anglo-Saxon 

 language and literature ; and in 1833 ho signalised his acquirements 

 in thin department by tho publication of ' The Anglo-Saxon Poems of 

 Beowulf, the Traveller's Song, and the Battle of Finnesburgh, edited, 

 together with a glossary and an historical preface.' The work reached 

 a second edition in 183", when an additional volume, containing ' A 

 Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Poem of Beowulf, with a glossary and 

 notes,' was appended to the first The more important of Kemblo's 

 subsequent works are, tho ' Codex Diplomatics .Evi Saxonici, opera 

 Johanuu M. Kemble,' voL i. 1839, voL ii. 1840; 'The Anglo-Saxon 

 Charters ; ' the ' Vercelli Codex : Poetry of the Codex Vercellensis, 

 Anglo-Saxon and Latin, with an English translation,' published in 

 1843 as one of the works of the vElfric Society ; the ' Dialogue of 

 Salomon and Saturnius, with an Historical Introduction and English 

 Translation,' published in 1848 by the same society; an edition of 

 Twysden's 'Considerations upon the Government of England,' pub- 

 lished in 1849 by the Camden Society; and lastly, 'The Saxons in 

 England, a History of the English Commonwealth till the period of 

 the Norman Conquest,' published in 2 vols. in 1849. This last work 

 comprehends the main results of Mr. Kemble's Anglo-Saxon and 

 historical studies. For a good many years Mr. Kemble was editor of 

 the ' British and Foreign Quarterly Review,' a periodical of the highest 

 class, which exercised considerable political and literary influence, but 

 ceased to exist about the year 1845. He still holds the office of 

 Examiner of Plays under the Lord Chamberlain, his acting assistant 

 in this office being Mr. Donne. Mr. Kemble is a Fellow of various 

 learned societies, including the Academies of Sciences of Berlin and 

 Munich, and the Historical Societies of Stockholm and Copenhagen. 



KEMP, GEORGE MICKLE, who designed the Scott Monument at 

 Edinburgh, wu a self-educated artist, the story of whoae early exer- 

 tions and brief career excited great intereit at the time of his death 

 in the year 1844. He wu born nbout the year 1794, and wu the son 

 of a shepherd of Newhall on the Esk. He wai first employed iu 

 tending cattle on the Pentland hills, and it is thought that there he 

 imbibed his attachment for tho beauty of natural scenery. In his 

 tenth, or as some ny his sixth, year, being sent with a mtisoge to 

 Roslin (six miles from his home), he saw the chapel and ruined castle 

 there ; and to this visit he wu afterwards accustomed to attribute tho 

 commencement of a love of architecture through which he wu led, 

 under much endurance, to enter upon many wanderings at home and 

 abroad. 



He was first apprenticed to a country carpenter and millwright at 

 Red Scaur Head, near Eddlestone ; and on the expiration of his time ho 

 removed to Galuhiels, and subsequently visited London and Manches- 

 ter, u a journeyman in his trade, in which he is said to have shown 

 both skill and taste. W hilst at Galuhiels he made excursions to Melrose 

 and Jedburgh abbeys ; and whilst in England, to which he paid two 

 visits, he contrived to see many of the cathedrals. He acquired a gnat 

 love of poetry, and especially of the works of Sir Walter Soott, and 

 occupied himself in assiduous cultivation of his intellectual powers. 

 In the interval of his visits to England he resided for four years in 

 Glasgow, where he carefully studied the cathedral of that town. Thus 

 gaining much admiration of Gothic architecture, in 1824 he started to 

 the Continent, intending to travel over the chief part of Europe. Some 

 embarrassments of a relative induced him to return after a twelve- 

 month ; but in the meantime he had visited the most important 

 cathedrals of France and the Netherlands, supporting himself by his 

 trade, in which, u an English workman in mill-machinery, his labour 

 was highly prized. On his return to Edinburgh he attempted to set 

 up in business, but did not succeed. He then applied himself earnestly 

 to the practice of drawing and perspective,,and about the year 1830 

 he produced three elaborate views of Melrose Abbey, which were pur- 

 chased by Mr. Thomas Hamilton, the architect. Mr. Burn, the architect, 

 then employed him to execute a large model for a palace for the Duke 

 of Bnccleuch, which occupied him two years. In conjunction with 

 an engraver, and afterwards with Messrs. Blackie ft Son of Glasgow, he 

 contemplated a work on the ecclesiastical antiquities of Scotland. 

 Considerable progress was made with the drawings and plates, the 

 materials being collected by Kemp, who traversed great part of Scot- 

 land taking sketches and measurements. The publication was however 

 abandoned for the time, but his labours gave him considerable know- 

 ledge of the architecture of his country. After the death of Sir Walter 

 Seoit a competition was called for of designs for a monument to his 

 memory, when Kemp produced a design which obtained one of the 

 three premiums of 501. which were offered. A second competition 

 followed, when Kemp, under the nom de guerre of " John Morvo," was 

 again successful. Much controversy and vituperation ensued, but one 

 of Kemp's designs was afterwards commenced. He however did not 

 live to see it completed. On the evening of March 5, 1844, he was 

 missing, and on the 8th his body was found in the canal, into which 

 it was conjectured he hod fallen, having had occasion to go along tho 

 towing-path on a dark night. On the 22nd his remains were followed 

 to the grave by about 400 mourners, including the magistracy, the 

 members of the Royal Scottish Academy, aud other public bodies. 

 He was in the fiftieth year of his age. 



Kemp's career of six years after the period of his studies, anil his 

 one art-work, scarcely allow him to claim a place in the number of 

 British architects. An impartial view of the circumstances which led 

 to his fame, would probably show that he had happened to chime with 

 the feeling of the moment, especially through his putting forth a design 

 which professedly embodied details from Melrose Abbey. The Scott 

 Monument is one of the more elaborate of those canopied and pinnacled 

 structures covering a statue, which have since frequently been atteiu]>i I , 

 and in many details, we apprehend, with more success. Had he been 

 employed on the execution of a design which he exhibited in a model 

 in 1840, for the reparation and completion of tho cathedral at Glasgow, 

 he would probably have obtained higher rank in his pursuit. His life 

 however might afford much matter of interest in inquiries, whether 

 with reference to the scope of the artisan's calling, or the education 

 needed for the architect. 



KEMPIS, THOMAS A, born about 1380, at Kempen, near Cologne, 

 studied at Deventer, in a religious congregation or community called 

 "the brothers of common life," and afterwards became a regular 

 canon of tho monastery of Mount St. Agne*, of which his brother 

 John of Kempis, was prior. He there applied himself to transcribing 

 the Bible, the Missole, several works of St. Bernard, and other 

 religious books. He was an excellent copyist, and very fond of that 

 kind of occupation. Ho wu employed fifteen years in transcribing a 

 Bible in 4 vols. foL, which he completed in 1439. He afterwards 

 began a collection of pious and ascetic treatise*, among which were 

 tlie four books 'De Imitations Christ!,' which have been erroneously 

 ascribed to him u his own composition, but which he merely transcribed 

 from older manuscripts. The question of the authorship of the work 

 ' De Imitatione Christ!,' which is a book of real merit, displaying a 

 deep knowledge of the human heart, and of the world, as well u of 

 the inward spirit of Christianity, has boon often debated. It is how 



