KEII 



the centre of a castle or fort, to which 

 the besieged retreated, and made their 

 last efforts of defence. 



Of this description is the keep of Wind- 

 sor Castle. 



KEEPER of the great seal, is a lord by 

 virtue of his office, and styled the Lord 

 Keeper of the Great Seal of England. He 

 is one of the King's Privy Council, through 

 whose hands pass all charters, commis- 

 sions, and grants of the King under the 

 great seal ; without which, all such in- 

 struments by law are of no force, the 

 King in this being a corporation, whose 

 acts are evidenced by his seal. This Lord 

 Keeper, by tiie statue of 5 Elizabeth, cap. 

 18, has the same place, authority, pre- 

 eminence, 8cc. as the Lord Chancellor of 

 England for the time being. He is con- 

 stituted by the delivery of the great seal 

 to him, taking his oath. 



KEEPEII of tlie privy seal, is a lord by 

 virtue of his office, through whose hands 

 pass all charters signed by the King be- 

 fore they come to the great seal. He is 

 of the King's Privy Council, and was an- 

 ciently called Clerk of the Privy Seal. 



KEEPING, in painting, signifies the 

 representation of objects in the same man- 

 ner that they appear to the eye at dif- 

 ferent distances from it, which is only to 

 be done with accuracy by attending to 

 the rules of perspective. 



KELP, an impure alkali, obtained in the 

 north of Scotland, from different kinds of 

 fuci, or sea-weed. The sea-weeds being- 

 dried, are put in pits dug in the sand, or 

 on the surface, surrounded with loose 

 stone, forming what is called a kiln, fresh 

 quantities being added, and the whole 

 being frequently stirred until it become 

 semi-fluid, which, when cold, forms hard 

 masses. 



KELP, a fixed salt, or particular species 

 of a potash, procured by burning the 

 weed called kali. 



KERMES, in natural history, a species 

 of the Coccus, which see. 



KERMES imneral, in chemistry, an anti- 

 monial compound of great celebrity as a 

 medicine about the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century ; in the new chemi- 

 cal, arrangement it is denominated hydro- 

 sulphuret of antimony. 



The substance is prepared in the fol- 

 lowing manner: sixteen parts of sul- 

 phuret of antimony, eight parts of potash, 

 and one of sulphur, are triturated to- 

 gether in a mortar, melted in a crucible, 

 and the mass poured into an iron vessel. 

 When cold it is pounded, and boiled in a 

 sufficient quantity of water, and the solu- 

 tion is filtered while Jjwt. On cooljng, it 



deposits the kermes abundantly in the. 

 state of a yellow powder, which is edul- 

 corated with a sufficient quantity of water, 

 and dried. The true kermes consists of 

 Sulphuretted hydrogen . . . 20.30 



Sulphur 415 



Protoxide of antimony . . . 72.76 

 Water, and loss 2.79 



100.00 



KETCH, a vessel equipped with two 

 masts, viz. the main-mast and the mizen- 

 mast, and usually from 100 to 250 tons 

 burthen. Ketches are principally used 

 as yachts for conveying princes of the 

 blood, ambassadors, or other great per- 

 sonages, from one place to another. 

 Ketches are likewise used as bomb-ves- 

 sels, and are therefore furnished with all 

 the apparatus necessary for a vigorous 

 bombardment. 



KETCHES, bomb, are built remarkably 

 strong, as being fitted with a greateV 

 number of riders than any other vessel of 

 war ; and indeed this reinforcement 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. 



KEY, a well known instrument for 

 opening and shutting the locks of doors, 

 chests, &c. See LOCK. 



KEY, or key uote t in music, a certain 

 fundamental note or tone, to which the 

 whole of a movement has a certain rela- 

 tion or bearing, to which all its modula^ 

 tions 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 transpositions. 



KEYSC/CMI organ, those moveable, pro- 

 jecting levers in the front of an organ, so 

 placed as to conveniently receive the fin- 

 gers of the performer, and which, by a 

 connected movement with the valves or 

 pallets, admit or exclude the wind from 

 the pipes. When a single key of an or- 

 gan is pressed down, as many sounds are 

 heard as all the stops which are then out 

 furnish to that key ; in other words, all 

 those pipes are heard which are permitted 

 by those stops and that key to receive 

 the wind. 



KEY stone of an arch or vault, that 

 placed at the top or vertex of an arch, to 

 bind the two sweeps together. Tliis, in 

 the Tuscan and Doric orders, is only a 

 plain stone, projecting a little; in ths 



