568 



KESWICK KILDARE. 



In the latter part of the fourteenth century, the 

 manufacture of woollen cloth was introduced at 

 Kendal by emigrants from the Low Countries ; and 

 laws were enacted by parliament for the regulation 

 of this branch of industry, in the reigns of Richard 

 II. and Henry IV. The green druggets made in 

 this place, formed, for several centuries, the com- 

 mon wear of the lower classes, and became cele- 

 brated under the denomination of' Kendal green." 

 Before the introduction of these manufactures, the 

 wool of this country was exported to the Nether- 

 lands. At present, the principal articles of manu- 

 facture are, cottons, linseys, druggets, coarse wool- 

 lens, worsted stockings, hats, bonnets, and serges. 

 In the neighbourhood are numerous corn and 

 paper-mills, together with several of various de- 

 scriptions for the preparation of cloth. Below the 

 town are mills where gunpowder is manufactured. 

 The sawing and polishing of marble which is 

 brought from the adjacent mountainous neighbour- 

 hood furnishes employment for many of the in- 

 habitants. The manufacture of combs of all de- 

 scriptions, and spinning of wool, are also among 

 the sources of commercial industry pertaining to 

 this town. The neighbourhood abounds with 

 limestone, of which many of the houses are built. 

 Population of Kendal in 1841, 10,225. 



KESWICK; a town in Cumberland, situated in 

 a valley, near the lower end of Derwentwater, 293 

 miles from London. The parish-church of Crosth- 

 waite stands about three-quarters of a mile north- 

 west of the town, and the lofty mountain of Skid- 

 daw is about three miles distant. The woollen 

 manufacture, and the manufacture of black lead 

 pencils, are the chief occupations of the inhabi- 

 tants. From the beauty of the surrounding 

 scenery, lauded and patronized by Wordsworth, 

 Southey, Coleridge, De Quincey, and Wilson, 

 Keswick forms a common stage to numberless 

 tourists, and abounds in excellent inns and 

 lodging-houses. Population of the town in 1841. 

 2442. 



KIEFFER, M., professor of Turkish at the 

 college of France, and vice-president of the Asiatic 

 Society, was born at Strasburgh in 1767, where he 

 studied under Oberlin, Schweighauser, and Dahler. 

 He was at first intended for the church, but the 

 study of the oriental languages, a knowledge of 

 which was required to qualify him for the sacred 

 functions, so captivated him, that he resolved to 

 devote himself wholly to them. A residence of ! 

 some years at Paris confirmed him in his resolution, I 

 and enabled him to carry it into effect. Admitted, 

 in 1794, into the bureau of the ministry for for- 

 eign affairs, be was sent, two years after, to Con- : 

 stantinople, as secretary and interpreter to the 

 embassy, of which general Aubert du Bayet was ! 

 the head. In 1798, when a rupture took place 1 

 between France and the Porte, M. Kieffer, along 

 with the Charge des Affaires, was sent to the : 

 Castle of the Seven Towers, where his time was 

 devoted to study, and the enjoyment of the society 

 of M. Ruffin, whose instructions, combined with 

 the unwearied perseverance of M. Kieffer himself, 

 enabled the latter to acquire that profound know- 

 ledge of the Turkish language, which has since 

 been so honourably displayed in the translation of ! 

 the New Testament, published at the expense of i 

 the London Bible Society. As a proper reward 

 for his services, he was appointed professor of 

 Turkish in the college of France, and in 1815 he 

 received the decoration of the Legion of Honour. 



But it was not merely as a literary man that M. 

 Kieffer distinguished himself, and we should have 

 a very imperfect idea of his vast and useful acti- 

 | vity to view him merely as an orientalist. M. 

 i Kieffer found time to engage in many useful asso- 

 ciations for the promotion of public morals and 

 education, and to advance the interests of religion, 

 in its tolerant sense. He was appointed chief agent 

 | for theLondon Bible Society in France, and a member 

 of many other religious and philanthropic societies. 

 To diffuse the Holy Scriptures throughout France, 

 and to recommend their perusal, was bis chief study. 

 In one year he distributed in this way 160,000 

 copies of the Bible, which in almost every instance 

 was accompanied with a letter in his own hand ; 

 he also corrected the proof sheets of every new 

 edition. His death took place in 1832. Modest 

 and kind in his intercourse with the world, he left 

 behind him the regrets of all good men. 



KILDARE; a county of Ireland, in the pro- 

 vince of Leinster, comprising, according to the 

 ordnance survey, an area of 392,435 acres, of 

 which 66,447 are unprofitable mountain and bog. 

 The eastern poriion of the bog of Allen, including 

 Lullymore, Timahoe, Mouds, and Clane bogs, and 

 covering an area of about 36,480 acres, lies wholly 

 within this county : some of this district may be 

 said to be exhausted for the purposes of fuel, but 

 the residue, which is a complete peat, averages 

 twenty-five feet in depth, and lies for the most 

 part 250 feet above sea-level, having a fall towards 

 the different neighbouring rivers, whereby the 

 drainage and reclamation of the whole appears 

 practicable, and not, comparatively, expensive. 

 The other parts of the county are dry, rich, and 

 productive in corn, which finds a ready and good 

 market in Dublin, being conveyed thither by the 

 royal and grand canals. In the centre of the 

 county is a spacious verdant plain, called the Cur. 

 ragh of Kildare : this is now the Newmarket of 

 Ireland, and the soil of this beautiful course, a dry 

 loam reclining upon gravel, affords a turf more 

 elastic and better adapted for running than that of 

 the great race-course of England. Its area ig 

 about 5000 acres. The name of Kildare is said 

 to be derived from Chille-dair, a forest of oaks, 

 which occupied this county, and in the centre of 

 which was the Curragh, or plain. On its borders 

 St Bridgid, a vestal virgin, converted to Christi- 

 anity in the sixth century, is said to have kept 

 watch over the sacred fire, in her cell, the ruins of 

 which are still shown. Few counties in the island 

 are better watered by fine rivers, and none, Dublin 

 excepted, possess the singular advantage of two 

 noble lines of inland navigation communicating 

 with the metropolis. The northern baronies are 

 watered by the Blackwater, the Boyne, and the 

 Liffey rivers; while the Barrow, the Liffey, and 

 the Grees amply supply the southern parts. The 

 grand canal passes directly through the bogs of 

 Allen and Clair, and crosses the river Liffey by an 

 aqueduct; the royal canal passes across the nor- 

 thern baronies into the county of Westmeath. 

 Salmon and trout are taken in all these rivers, and 

 the fishery of the Boyne has always been estimated 

 highly. 



Kildare is almost entirely an agricultural county, 

 the produce being disposed of in the metropolis. 

 Vast quantities of turf are also carried, by means 

 of canals, to the Dublin market. Some attempts 

 have been made to establish the cotton manufac- 

 ture, and large mills were built near Clane, Li-ix- 



