657 
K E M 
Thy head and hair are (leek ; 
And then thou kemb'Jl the fuzzes on thy cheek. Drydeit. 
KF.M'BELA, a town of Sweden, in the government 
of Ulea : five miles fouth of Ulea. 
KEM'BERG, a town of the duchy of Stiria: feven 
miles north-ealt of Pruck. 
KEM'BERG, a town of Saxony: fix miles fouth of 
Wittenberg, and fifteen eaft-fouth-eaft of Deffau. 
KEM'BOW, Kenboyv, or Kimboyv, adv. In a crofs 
paflion. Urry. 
KEMBS, a town of France, in the department of the 
Upper Rhine: feven miles north of Huningue. 
KEM'ELPACH, a town of Auftria, on the eaft fide of 
the Ips: three miles fouth of Ips. 
KE'MER, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the govern¬ 
ment of Trebifond: twelve miles eaft-north-eaft of P.izeh. 
KEM'ERET, a town of Germany, in the principality 
of Anhalt Zerbft : five miles weft of Zerbft. 
KEM'GUR, a town ofHindooftan, in Bahar: twenty- 
feven miles north-north-eaft of Durbunga. 
KE'MI, a town of Ruflia, in the government of Olo- 
netz, at the mouth of the river Kem, on the welt of the 
White Sea : 191 miles north of Petrovadlk. Lat. 64. 55. 
N. Ion. 28. 38. E. 
KE'MI, or Kiemi, a river of Sweden, which flows 
from two or three lakes in the north-eaft part of Eaft 
Bothnia, on the borders of Ruflia, and runs into the gulf 
of Bothnia. Lat. 65.45. N. Ion. 24. 24. E. 
KE'MI, a feaport town of Sweden, in Ealt Bothnia, 
fituated on the right bank of the river Kemi, about three 
miles from its mouth ; it gives name to a diftrift called 
Harad: ten miles ealt of Tornea. Lat. 66. 49. N. Ion. 24. 
27. E. 
KEMIJAN', a town of I-Iindooftan, in Bahar: thirty- 
one miles fouth-fouth-weft of Patna. 
KEMITRASK', a town of Sweden, in Eaft Bothnia, 
at the northern extremity of a confiderable lake formed 
in the river Kemi: ninety miles north-eaft of Kemi. Lat. 
66. 42. N. Ion. 27. 14. E. 
KEM'LIK, or Ghi'o, a tOYvn of Afiatic Turkey, on 
the bay of the Sea of Marmora. This Yvas formerly a 
ftrong fortrefs; it was taken by the Turks in 1334: twenty 
miles weft of Ifnik. 
KEM'MATEN, a town of Auftria: eleven miles fouth- 
welt of Lintz, and twenty-four weft of Steyr. 
KEMMOO', a town of Africa, and capital of the king¬ 
dom of Kaarta. Lat. 14. 20. N. Ion. 7. 46. W. 
KEM'NAT, a town of Bavaria: twenty-fix miles north 
of Amberg, and fifteen eaft-fouth-eaft of Bayreuth. Lat. 
49. 53. N. Ion.11.55. E. 
KEM'NITZ, a river of Silefia, w-hich runs into the 
Bober four miles fouth of Lahn, in the principality of 
jauer. 
KEM'NITZ, a town of Silefia, in the principality of 
Jauer, on a river of the fame name : fix miles weft of 
Hirfchberg. 
KEM'PACH, a town of the county of Tyrol: fix 
miles north-weft of Schwas. 
KEM'PEN, a town of the duchy of Warfaw: twenty- 
fix miles fouth of Siradia. 
KEM'PEN, a town of France, in the department of 
Roer, late belonging to the electorate of Cologne. It 
contained a college and three convents, with fome linen 
manufactures : fifteen miles north-eaft of Ruremond, and 
feventeen north-weft of Duffeldorp. 
KEM'PENTORP, a town of Pomerania : four miles 
weft-north-weft of Jacobthagen. 
KEMP'FER A,yi in botany. See Kjempferia. 
KEM'PIS (Thomas a), rendered famous by’the popu¬ 
larity of his devotional trafts, was born at a village in the 
diocele of Cologne, whence he derived his furname, about 
the year 1380. When he was thirteen years of age, he 
was fent to a feminafy in high repute at Deventer, where 
he was admitted on a foundation for the charitable inftruc- 
Vol, XI. No. 784. 
K E M 
tion of the children of perfons in mean circumftances, - 
Yvhich was the condition of his parents. Here he conti¬ 
nued feven years, making commendable proficiency in the 
elementary branches of learning and knowledge, and dif- 
guiflied himfelf by the exemplarinefs of his manners, tire 
ardour of his piety, and the attachment which he difco- 
vered for the contemplative life. In t.he year 1399, he ob¬ 
tained letters of recommendation to the monaftery of 
Mount St. Agnes, in the vicinity of Zwol, which had been, 
recently eftablillied for canons regular of St. Auguftir.e, 
and of which an elder brother of his was at that time 
prior. After a probation of more than fix years, he re¬ 
ceived the habit of the orderin 1406 ; and in the year 142^ 
he was ordained prieft. He fpent the remainder of his 
long life chiefly in the aftiduous practice of the prefcribed 
duties of the cloifter, in copying the Bible and other re¬ 
ligious books, and in compofing fermons, devotional trea- 
tiles, and lives of holy men. Such, however, was the ef- 
timation in which he Yvas held, that at different periods 
he was obliged by the unanimous voice of the monaftery, 
though not without great reluctance on his part, to fill 
the honourable and confidential polls of fubprior, Iteward, 
and fuperior, of his order. But in every ftation he was' 
the fame character ; particularly eminent for his piety, hu¬ 
mility, meeknefs, benevolence, diligent fttuly of the fcrip- 
tures, aufterity of life, readinefs to alford advice and con- 
lolation, perfuafive eloquence in bis difcourfes and exhor¬ 
tations, and extraordinary zeal and fervour in prayer. H& 
died in 1471, when he had entered on the ninety-lecorui 
year of his age. His Yvorks, Yvhich are chiefly practical 
and devotional, are written in a pleafing, animated, and 
impreflive, ltyle, not unmixed with what we lhould call en- 
thufiaftic flights in fentiment and language : but it mult in’ 
juftice be acknowledged, that he is lefs frequently charge¬ 
able with thefe extravagances than the generality ofl 
contemplative and myltical writers. The moll complete 
of the numerous editions of them which have appeared at 
different places, are thofe publilhed at Antwerp, in 1600 
and 1615, in three vols. 8vo. by Sommalius, a Jefuit. Many 
of them have been tranllated into a variety of languages, 
particularly the celebrated treatife De Imitatio'ae Chrijii 
which has been perhaps more frequently printed than any 
other book, excepting the fcriptures. There are verfions 
of it, not only in almoft every language l’poken in Europe, 
but all'o in the Arabic and Turkilh languages. The belt 
Englilh tranllation of it is that by Dr. George Stanhope, 
which was firft printed in 1696, and has fince undergone 
numerous impreflions. It is not^ however, a decided point 
among the learned, that Thomas a Kempis was the author 
of this performance. Various writers have contended, 
and that very forcibly, that it is the production of John 
Gerfen, or Gefien, a benediCline abbot, who lived at an 
earlier period than Thomas a Kempis. This queltion was 
warmly agitated during more than fixty years, between 
the canons regular of the congregation of St. Genevieve, 
and the benediCtines of the congregation of St. Mauri 
and, though in itfelf certainly of little or no confe- 
quence, was for a time rendered famous by the different 
judgments which learned men formed concerning it, the 
curious enquiries to which it gave rife, and the learning 
and eloquence employed in difcufling it. Thofe of our 
readers who may have any curiofity to fee what has been 
written upon the fubject, may find a fummary of what lias 
been advanced on both tides in Dupin, v\ho has given a 
hiftory of the dilpure in a long differtation. His decifion 
is, that it ftill remains uncertain who was the author ofl 
this book. Caves Hijl. Lit. 
KEMPS, a town of Virginia: twenty miles eaft of Weft 
Point. 
KEMP'STON, a town of England, in Bed ford fliire, 
with about one thoufitnd inhabitants : two miles fouth- 
weft of Bedford. 
KEMPS'VILLE, a poft-totvn of America, in Prince- 
Anne-county, Virginia; 243 miles from Waftiington. 
SE ' KEMP'TENs, 
