KETCH KEY WEST, 



309 



(See Frederic 11.) Near the village are considerable 

 coal liiiiics. 



KETCH; a vessel equipped with two masts, viz., 

 t!ie main-mast and the mizzeii-mast, and usually from 

 100 to 250 tons burden. Ketches are principally 

 used as yachts for conveying princes of the blood, 

 ambassadors, or other great personages, from one 

 place to another. Ketches are likewise used as 

 bomb-vessels, and are therefore furnished with all 

 the apparatus necessary for a vigorous bombard- 

 ment. Bomb-ketches are built remarkably strong, 

 s being filled with a greater number of riders than 

 any oilier vessel of war; and, indeed, this reinforce- 

 ment is absolutely necessary to sustain the violent 

 shock produced by the discharge of their mortars, 

 which would otherwise, in a very short time, shatter 

 them to pieces. 



KETCHUP, or CATSUP, Mr Todd defines as " a 

 kind of Indian pickles imitated by pickled mush- 

 rooms." Doctor Kitchiner, in his Apicius redivivus, 

 devotes ten pages to different varieties of receipts for 

 this sauce. There we may become acquainted with 

 the composition and virtues of numerous catsups, 

 whether they be walnut, mushroom, quintessence of 

 mushroom, quintessence of oysters, cockle, muscle, 

 tomato, white cucumber, or pudding. "Mushroom 

 gravy," says the doctor, " approaches the flavour of 

 meat gra v y more than any other vegetable j uice, and is 

 the best substitute for it in meagre soups and extem- 

 pore gravies." Again, " What is commonly called 

 catsup is generally an injudicious composition of so 

 many different tastes, that the flavour of the mush- 

 room is overpowered by a farrago of garlic, shallot, 

 anchovy, mustard, horseradish, lemon-peel, beer, wine 

 and spices. Ready-made catsup is little better than 

 a decoction of spice, and salt and water, with the 

 grosser part of the mushrooms beaten up into a 

 pulp." 



KEW is situated on the Thames, about seven miles 

 from London, and one and a half mile from Rich- 

 mond. Kew palace was improved by Kent, and 

 contains some pictures ; but the gardens are the 

 principal object of attraction. They are not very 

 large, nor is their situation advantageous, as it is low, 

 and commands no prospects ; but they contain the 

 finest collection of plants in the world, and are de- 

 corated with various ornamental buildings, most of 

 which were erected by Sir W. Chambers, about 1760. 

 The first building which appears is the orangery, or 

 green-house, 145 feet long. Near it, in a grove, is 

 the temple of the sun, of the Corinthian order. There 

 is also a physic garden, and, contiguous to it, the 

 flower garden, of which the principal entrance forms 

 one end. The two sides are enclosed with high trees, 

 and the other end is occupied by an aviary of vast 

 depth. From the flower garden, a short winding 

 walk lends to the menagerie, the centre of which is 

 occupied by a large basin of water, stocked with curi- 

 ous water-fowl, and enclosed by a range of cages for 

 exotic birds. The gardens also contain the temple 

 of Bellona, the temple of the god Pan, the temple of 

 Eoltis, the temple of Solitude, the house of Confucius, 

 a Chinese octagon, painted with historical subjects 

 relating to Confucius, and the Christian missions in 

 Ciiina, near which is the engine that supplies the 

 lake and basins in the garden with water, contrived 

 by Mr Smeaton (two horses raise upwards of 3600 

 hogsheads of water in twelve hours), the temple of 

 victory, the great pagoda, (designed as an imitation 

 of the Chinese Taa.) The base is a regular octagon, 

 forty-nine feet in diameter ; and the superstructure is 

 likewise a regular octagon, often stories, measuring, 

 from the base to the top of the fleurou, 163 feet. -Th 

 walls are composed of very hard bricks ; the outside 

 of graystocks, laid with such care, that there is not 



the least crack or fracture in the whole structure, 

 notwithstanding its great height. The staircase is 

 in the centre of the building, and from the top is a 

 very extensive view, in some directions upwards of 

 forty miles, over a rich and variegated country. 

 There are also the mosque, besides a Gothic building, 

 representing a cathedral, and the gallery of antiques, 

 the temple of Arethusa, and a bridge from one of 

 Palladio's designs. The ruin, which forms a passage 

 for carriages over one of the principal walks,"is built 

 in imitation of a Roman antiquity. These gardens are 

 opened every Sunday, from midsummer to the end of 

 autumn. Population of the parish of Kew in 1841, 923. 

 KEY; an instrument for shutting or opening a lock. 

 The following represents an ancient Roman key, 

 found at Pompeii. 



KEY, or KEY NOTE, in music ; a certain funda 

 mental note or tone, to which the whole of a move 

 ment has a certain relation or bearing, to which al! 

 its modulations are referred and accommodated, and 

 in which it both begins and ends. There are but 

 two species of keys; one of the major, and one of the 

 minor mode, all the keys in which we employ sharps 

 or flats, being deduced from the natural keys of C 

 major and A minor, of which they are mere transposi- 

 tions. 



KEYS of an organ ; movable projecting levers in 

 the front of an organ, so placed as to conveniently 

 receive the fingers of the performer, and which, by a 

 connected movement with the valves or pallets, admit 

 or exclude the wind from the pipes. See Organ. 



Keys, are also certain sunken rocks lying near the 

 surface of the water, particularly in the West Indies, 

 from the Spanish cayo (an islet, rock). 



KEY-STONE of an arch or vault ; that placed at 

 the top or vertex of an arch, to bind the two sweeps 

 together. This, in the Tuscan and Doric orders, is 

 only a plain stone, projecting a little ; in the Ionic, 

 it is cut and waved somewhat like consoles ; and in 

 the Corinthian and Composite orders, it is a console, 

 enriched with sculpture. 



KEY WEST ; a small island, sometimes called 

 Thompson's island, belonging to the United States of 

 America, situated within the reef extending from the 

 Tortugas islands to cape Florida, in lat. 24 25' N. ; 

 sixty miles from cape Sable, the nearest mainland 

 of Florida, and seventy miles from the northern shore 

 of Cuba. It is four and a half miles long, and has an 

 area of about 2000 acres. It has a good soil, which has 

 been yet but little cultivated, and the climate has in 

 general proved extremely healthy. It has, however, 

 in certain seasons, been subject to desolating fevers, 

 which have been attributed to accidental causes. 

 The first settlement upon it was made about the year 

 1820, after the cession of Florida to the United States. 

 It has now about 100 buildings, some of which are 

 large and commodious, and 300 inhabitants. It has 

 a good harbour, easy of access, and of sufficient water 

 for vessels of the largest size. It is advantageously 

 situated for commerce, and it is already the seat of a 

 considerable trade with the island of Cuba. The 

 commerce between the Atlantic coast and the islands 

 of Cuba and Jamaica, and the ports on the gulf of 

 Mexico, all passes near the island. It is a military 

 post of the United States, and is frequently visited 

 by the ships of war on the West India station. It is 

 the seat of the territorial court of the southern dis- 

 trict of Florida, which has frequent jurisdiction of 

 cases of wreckers. It has a marshal and attorney 



