KEN 
might Teem to give countenance to vice even in his royal 
benefactor ; and lie pofuively refufed her admittance, lo 
that Hie was under the neceflity of leeking accommodation 
elfewhere. The king had the good fenfe not to be offend¬ 
ed with this new proof which he-afforded of religious in¬ 
trepidity ; and not long afterwards Ihowed the refpeft 
which he entertained for his fincerity and confiltency, by 
raifing him to the epifcopal rank. For, upon a vacancy 
taking place in the fee of Bath and Wells, his majelty pre¬ 
cluded all attempts of the doctor’s friends to apply on his 
behalf, by declaring that he fhould fucc.eed, but that it 
lhould be from his own peculiar appointment. Accord¬ 
ingly, the king himfelf gave an order for a conge d'eilre to 
pafs the feals for that purpofe. Within a fortnight after 
our new prelate’s confecration, the king was attacked by 
la is laft illnefs; during which ihe bilhop gave a clofe at¬ 
tendance for three whole days and nights at the royal 
bed-fide, endeavouring, though ineffectually, to awaken 
the king’s confcience to a fenfe of forrow for his part pro¬ 
fligate life. On this occafion he expofed himfelf to cen- 
fure, and not without reafon, for pronouncing abfolution 
over his mnjefty, before he had received from him any de¬ 
claration of his repentance, or purpofe of amendment. 
After bifhop Ken had taken poffefiion of his fee, he was 
unwearied in the dilcharge of his paltora! duties, and ac¬ 
tive in doing good, to the utmoft extent of his ability. In 
the fummer time, it was his frequent practice to go to 
lome great parilh, where he would preach twice, confirm, 
and catechife ; and, when he was at home on Sundays, he 
would have twelve poor men or women to dinner with 
him in his hall. With thefe guells he affably joined in 
cheerful converfation, generally mixing with it fomeufeful 
inflruftion ; and, when they had dined, the remainder of 
the provifion was divided among them to carry home to 
their families. Deploring the condition of the poor, who 
were very numerous at Wells, he was earned in deviling 
expedients for their relief; and among others, projected 
a plan fora workhoufe in that city, which proved the mo¬ 
del for numbers which have been eredled fince his time. 
The inadequacy of his own funds, however, and the want 
of fufficient affiftance from the gentlemen with whom he 
confulted concerning his defign, prevented him from car¬ 
rying it into execution. At his firfl fettling in his dio- 
cefe, he found fo much deplorable ignorance among the 
adult poor, that he had but little hope of their improve¬ 
ment; but he faid that he would try whether he could 
not lay a foundation to make the next generation better. 
With this view he eflablifhed many fchools in all the great 
towns of his diocefe, in which poor children were taught 
to read, and fay their catechifm; and for this purpofe he 
wrote and publifhed his Expofition on the Church Cate¬ 
chifm. By this means he engaged his clergy to be more 
diligent in inftru&ing the lower orders ; and he at the 
fame time furniflied them with the neceffary books for the 
children, and alfo eftablifhed numerous parochial libraries. 
Thefe patriotic and humane exertions foon produced good 
effedls, which were feen and felt in the more regular man¬ 
ners, and the moral and religious improvement of the ob¬ 
jects of them, and deferve to be recorded in honour of the 
bifhop. To fuch, and other benevolent purpofes, after 
fupplying the wants of his neceffitous relations, did Dr. 
Ken devote the income of his fee. His charity indeed 
was fo extenfive, that, not long before the revolution, 
having received from his bifhopric a fine of four thoufand 
pounds, he gave a great part of it for the relief of the 
French Proteftants; and fo little did he take anxious 
thought for the morrow, that, on his fubfequent depriva¬ 
tion, the fale of all his effects, his books excepted, did not 
produce more than feven hundred pounds. 
Upon the accefiion of king James II. our prelate pof- 
feffed, to all appearance, the fame degree of favour at 
court as in the preceding reign; and attempts were made 
to gain him over to the intereft of the popifh party. They 
failed, however, of fuccefs, and had the contrary effeft of 
flimdlating his zeal in defence of the proteflant religion, 
and the eltablifhment of which he. was a member. It is 
K E N 650 
true that he fuftained no partin the celebrated popifh con- 
troverfy of the day; but in the pulpit, where his* popular 
talents fecured to him crowded audiences, he frequently 
took the opportunity to point out apd confute the errors 
of popery. One circumftance which recommended him 
to king James’s favour, was his being a warm advocate for 
the doflrine of paflive obedience and non-refiltance ; but, 
when the king claimed a power of difpenling with the pe¬ 
nal laws, and commanded his declaration of imiulger.ee 
to be read by the clergy, he found it expedient to re¬ 
nounce that principle, and to aft on more conftitutional 
grounds. On this occafion, he was one of the feven bi- 
fliops who openly oppofed the reading of the Declaration, 
fuppreffed thofe copies of it which were fent to them to 
be read in their diocefes, and petitioned Ids majefty not 
to infill on their compliance with a command which was 
illegal, and to which they could not in honour or confid¬ 
ence fubmit. The confequences of this rcfiltance to the 
king’s pleafure were, his imprisonment with his petition¬ 
ing brethren in the Tower, and their acquittal, on a 
charge of treafon, by the verdift of their country. 
Our prelate’s confcience, however, would not permit 
him to transfer his allegiance to another fovereign on the 
abdication of king James. When, therefore, William 
and Mary were leafed on the throne, and the new oath of 
allegiance was required, for refilling it he was deprived of 
his bifhopric. After his deprivation he refided chiefly at 
Long-leat, afea-tof lord vifeount Weymouth, in Wiltfliire, 
occupied in his ftudies, and the compofition of pious 
works, in profe and verfe. The latter afford greater evi¬ 
dence of his devotional fpirit than of his poetical genius, 
and ferved to divert his mind while fuffering under the at¬ 
tacks of a painful diforder. In his retirement, he appears 
to have taken no fliare in any of the difputes or political 
intrigues of his party, and not to have excited any jea- 
loufy in the exifting government. He differed alfo from 
thole of his nonjuring brethren, who were for continuing 
a reparation from the eftablilhed church by private confe- 
crations among themfelves; yet he looked upon his fpiri- 
tual relation to his diocefe to be in full force during the 
life of his firfl fucceffor, Dr. Kidder. Upon his death, 
and the nomination of Dr. Hooper to the diocefe by queen 
Anne, he requefted that gentleman to accept it, and after¬ 
wards fubl'cribed himfelf, “ late bifhop of Bath and Wells;” 
from which time the queen fettled on him a penfion of 
200I. a-year, which he enjoyed as long as he lived. For 
fevera! years he had been afflidled with fevere colicky 
pains, and in 1710 difeovered fymptoms which were as¬ 
cribed to an ulcer in his kidneys. Having fpent the fum¬ 
mer at Briftol, in the hope of receiving benefit from the 
hot well, he removed to a feat belonging to the hon. Mrs. 
Thynne, at Lewefton in Dorfetfhire, where an attack of 
the pally confined him to his chamber for lome months. 
He died on a journey from thence to Bath, at Long-leat, 
March 19, 1711, in the leventy-fourth year of his age. It 
is reported of him, that he had travelled for many years 
with liis fhroud in his portmanteau ; and that he put it 
on as foon as he came to Long-leat, of which he gave no¬ 
tice on the day before his death, in order to prevent his 
body from being ltripped. He publifhed, 1. A Manual 
of Prayers'for the Ufe of the Scholars of Winchefler Col¬ 
lege, 1681, izmo. 2. A11 Expofition of the Church Ca¬ 
techifm, or Practice of Divine Love, compofed for the 
Diocefe of Bath and Wells, 1685, 8vo. -to which were af¬ 
terwards added Diredtions for Prayer, taken out of the 
Church Catechifm. 3. A Pafloral Letter to the Clergy of 
the Diocefe of Bath and Wells, concerning their Behavi¬ 
our during Lent, x688, 4to. Alfo lome fingle Sermons, 
preached on public occafions; and he left behind him nu¬ 
merous poems, which were printed in 1721, in four vo¬ 
lumes 8vo. under the title of “ The Works of the Right 
Reverend, Learned, and Pious, Thomas Ken, D.D. See." 
Wood's Aik. Oison. 
KE'NAH, [Hebrew.] The name of a city. 
KENAMOW', a town of Hindooftan, in Oude: thirty 
miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Caunpour, 
KE'NAN, 
