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KISS, AUGUSTUS. 



KLA.PKA, GENERAL GEORGE. 



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line of which every word was not thoroughly Magyar." In the next 

 year (1844) Kisfaludy died at Siimeg on the 28th of October. 



A complete edition of Alexander Kisfaludy's works was published 

 at Pesth in 1847 in six octavo volumes, under the editorship of Schedel, 

 who also edited the works of his brother. Some of the shorter poems 

 of liis ' Himfy ' have been happily rendered into English by Bowring, 

 and in the second part of the 'Himfy' there are others of greater 

 length which would probably be attractive in an English translation if 

 the easy and natural air of the original could be preserved ; but it may 

 be doubted if his ' Legends ' are sufficiently striking and spirited to be 

 likely to please in an English form. Except in the drama, in which 

 as has been said, they are singularly varied, his metres are apt to be 

 monotonous, and the general style of. Kisfaludy was censured by 

 Kazinczy as careless, an opinion which seems to have drawn down on 

 the critic the wrath of the poet, who on this occasion showed that he 

 indeed belonged to tho " irritable race." 



*KISS, AUGUSTUS, an eminent German sculptor, was born in 

 1802 at Hess in Upper Silesia. Having completed his professional 

 studies under Ranch whose studio he entered in 1824 he for several 

 years executed with much local success statues and groups of the 

 ordinary order of classical subjects ; at first, as is customary among 

 German artists, from the designs of Rauch, Schinkel, and others, and 

 subsequently from his own. It was not till the completion of his 

 colossal group of the ' Amazon attacked by a Tiger ' (the model of 

 which was finished in 1839 it was cast in bronze by a public subscrip- 

 tion some years later) that his fame sprea-l beyond Germany. That 

 work has of late made the name of Kiss well-known in this country, a 

 zinc cast of it, carefully bronzed after the original, having formed one 

 of the most noticeable features of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Kiss 

 has siuce executed a still more vast group of 'St. George and the 

 Dragon,' which at the French Exposition of 1855 occupied as promi- 

 nent a place a? did the ' Amazon' in the English Exhibition. But the 

 'St. George and the Dragon ' met with much severer criticism than its 

 predecessor ; and generally it perhaps would not be too much to say 

 that Kiss is more highly esteemed in Berlin where he is professor of 

 sculpture in the Royal Academy than elsewhere. It is impossible to 

 deny that bis works exhibit considerable knowledge, great elevation 

 of style, immense vigour, and much skill iu modelling, but we should 

 hesitate to admit the presence of the higher exertions of mental 

 power, or refined feeling. He is unquestionably a sculptor of a very 

 high, but not, as has been somewhat rashly affirmed, of the highest 

 order. 



KITTO, JOHN, was born at Plymouth, December 4, 1804. His 

 father had been a respectable builder, but soon after his son's birtli 

 became much reduced in circumstances through the adoption of 

 intemperate habits. At four years old John Kitto was transferred to 

 the care of his maternal grandmother, by whom his intellect was 

 called into activity by the relation of marvellous stories, and by 

 leading him to notice and admire the natural objects around him iu 

 the fields and woods. He early learned to read, and read with avidity 

 all the books he could procure. By the time he was twelve years 

 old, bis father had descended to the rank of a jobbing mason. He 

 was unable to keep his son at school regularly, who, whenever he 

 could be made available, was required to attend his father in his 

 labours. On February 13, 1817, having ascended a ladder with a load 

 of slates, he fell from a height of thirty-five feet. He was taken up 

 senseless, conveyed home, and lay for a fortnight in a state of uncon- 

 sciousness. He recovered, but was himself unaware at first that he 

 was deaf. He wondered at the silence around him, and at length, 

 asking for a book, was answered at first by signs, and next by writing 

 on a slate. He inquired with astonishment, " Why do you not speak?" 

 His attendants wrote again, " You are deaf." No efforts could restore 

 his hearing. He still continued his reading, but in 1818 his grand- 

 mother was obliged to quit Plymouth, and he was left to the care of 

 his father. For nearly a twelvemonth he lived with his parents in 

 a state of great destitution. At length, on November 15, 1819, he 

 was placed in the workhouse, where he was treated with much indul- 

 gence, and began to learn shoemakiug. His deafness occasioned him 

 to write often, and by constant practice he acquired great facility. 

 In August 1820 he commenced a journal, which he continued till 

 January 1822, and he was encouraged to write lectures which were 

 read to the other boys. In 1821 his grandmother died, which event 

 made a great and serious impression on his mind. In November 1821 

 he was apprenticed to a shoemaker; but his master was harsh, he was 

 somewhat awkward, and still passionately devoted to reading. Finding 

 himself uncomfortable, he wrote to some of his friends, and after 

 pleading his cause in writing before the magistrates, he was taken 

 back to the workhouse in May 1822. Early in 1823 he wrote some 

 Hays which were published in Nettleton's ' Plymouth Journal,' and 

 he also wrote some imaginary correspondence. In April 1824, Mr. 

 Grove, a dentist, who had known something of him iu Plymouth, but 

 who was then settled at Exeter, engaged him in order to teach him 

 his art, and he accordingly removed to Exeter, where he succeeded 

 iu attaching Mr. Grove to him as a sincere friend. In 18'25 he pub- 

 lislie'i his first work, a volume entitled ' Essays and Letters, by John 

 Kitto.' It produced Imt little profit, but it contributed to make him 

 known, and excited the intere.it of many of the inhabitants of 

 Plymouth. By their efforts, greatly assisted by Mr. Urove, he was 



100. WV. VOL. III. 



sent to the Missionary College at Islington, there to be taught printing, 

 which it was thought might render him useful ia some of the 

 missionary establishments abroad. He entered that institution iu 

 July 1825, and was despatched to Malta as a printer in June 1827, 

 but his health being unequal to his work, he returned to England in 

 February 1829. In the following May he agreed to accompany Mr. 

 Grove on an extensive tour to the East, during which he was to 

 instruct Mr. Grove's children. In this journey he visited St. Peters- 

 burg, Astrachan, the Caltnuck Tartars, the Caucasus, Armenia, Persia, 

 and Baghdad. At this latter town he was detained during the plague. 

 Mr. Grove there lost his wife, and Kitto thenca returned to England 

 in June 1833. 



In July of that year, Mr. Woolcombe of Plymouth wrote a letter of 

 introduction for him to Mr. Coates, the secretary of the Society for 

 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, recommending him for employ- 

 ment on the ' Penny Magazine.' On the 18th he waited on Mr. Coates 

 with a letter written by himself, in which he proposed a plan of 

 writing bis travels, either iu the form of weekly numbers, " like the 

 'Penny Magazine,'" or as volumes of the 'Library of Entertaining 

 Knowledge.' Mr. Coates referred him to Mr. Charles Knight, as 

 editor of those works, telling him he thought the society could not 

 undertake the travels in the ' Entertaining Knowledge.' On the 19th 

 he wrote to Mr. Knight, stating his willingness to use his journal for 

 separate papers in the ' Penny Magazine.' On the 20th he called on 

 Mr. Knight : the conversation was carried on by Mr. Kitto speaking, 

 which he did very imperfectly, and Mr. Knight writing. A few 

 letters afterwards passed, specimen articles were sent and approved of, 

 and on the 4th of August he accepted Mr. Knight's proposals for 

 a general engagement at a salary, saying that "the terms offered 

 would be sufficient not only for my present but my prospective 

 wants." He continued for two years in various literary employments. 

 In 1835 Mr. Knight formed the plan of publishing a Pictorial Bible 

 with notes, and asked Mr. Kitto if he would like to furnish a few of 

 them, illustrating particular passages from what he had observed in 

 his travels. He not only eagerly embraced the proposal, but earnestly 

 entreated to be allowed to undertake the responsibilty of the entire 

 work. A specimen was prepared, and eventually it was approved of: the 

 whole was then entrusted to him. The ' Pictorial Bible ' was finished 

 in 1838. During its progress, for about two years and a half, Mr. 

 Kitto received an annual payment of 250t; but upon its completion 

 he was presented with an additional sum, which seemed to him a 

 little fortune. In 1838 he embodied a great portion of bis experience 

 in Persia in two small volumes, ' Uncle Oliver's Travels.' In 1839 

 and 1840 he was engaged hi writing the ' Pictorial History of Pales- 

 tine,' also for Mr. Knight. He was entitled to ask, and he received, 

 for these and subsequent works, payments according to the highest 

 scale of literary remuneration. From 1841 to 1843 he found employ- 

 ment with Mr. Fisher in preparing the letter-press for the ' Gallery 

 of Scripture Engravings,' iu 3 vols. In 1843 he wrote a 'History of 

 Palestine,' published by A. and C. Black of Edinburgh; and ' Thoughts 

 among Flowers,' published by the Religious Tract Society. In 1844 

 the degree of D.D. was bestowed upon him by the University of 

 Giesen in Prussia. 



In 1845 he renewed his connection with Mr. Knight, and prepared 

 'The Pictorial Sunday Book,' and wrote ' Tho Lost Senses Deafness 

 and Blindness ' for ' Knight's Weekly Volume." In this year he com- 

 menced the ' Cyclopzedia of Biblical Literature," published by A. & C. 

 Black. In 1847 he undertook for Mr. Knight a new edition of the 

 ' Pictorial Bible," of which he greatly improved the notes, and which 

 was completed iu four volumes in 1849. For this revised edition he 

 received upwards of 6001. It is right to mention, that although Mr. 

 Kitto in his latter years was uneasy in his circumstances, his difficulties 

 were not caused by inadequate payments by his various publishers ; 

 nor did he sustain any loss whatever by any one of them, as is stated 

 iu his 'Biography.' In 1848 he had commenced on his own account 

 the 'Journal of Sacred Literature,' which was continued periodi- 

 cally under his editorship till 1853, but he says himself that it 

 never produced him any profit. He also engaged in various other 

 works, among the most considerable of which were 'Daily Bible 

 Illustrations," two series, in seven volumes, of which the first series 

 appeared in 1849-51, and the second in 1851-53. In February 1854 

 tie was attacked by a paralytic stroke, from which he never completely 

 recovered. In August he went to Ramsgate without experiencing 

 much benefit. He had received a pension of 100^. a year in 1850 

 "rom her Majesty, and his friends having raised a subscription to a 

 considerable amount to relieve him from embarrasmcnts, he went to 

 Sermany, and settled at Cannstadt in Wiirtemberg. Here he died on 

 November 25, 1854. Ho had married a lady in 1833, by whom ho 

 aad a large family. She was a most effective assistant to him in his 

 iterary labours, and a sedulous promoter of his comforts. Since his 

 death she has published a biography of her late husband, prepared by 

 ;he Rov. J. E. Ryland, founded on materials left by himself either in 

 ;ho form of journals or of letters. 



* KLAPIiA, GENERAL GEORGE, was born April 7, 1820, at 

 Temeswar, in southern Hungary, where his father was burgomaster. 

 !u 1838 hsenteied as a cadet into a regimen* of artilleiy, whence, 

 two years after-wards, he passi-d into a corps of bombardiers. In 1842 

 "e was appointed a Bub-licu^euuut in tlie Hungarian r< giuieul of 



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