KEY 
KEY 
Compofite, it is a confole enriched with fculpture, foli¬ 
ages, &c. The name key-ftones, or arch-ftones, is Ibme- 
times alfo given to all the ftones which form the fweep of 
an arch, or vault, anfwering to what the French more dii- 
timflly call voujfoirs. 
Key, in mufic, is a certain fundamental found, or tone, 
to which the whole piece, be it concerto, fonata, cantata, 
&c. is accommodated; and, with which it ufually begins, 
blit always ends. See the article Music. 
Keys alfo imply thofe little levers in the fore part of 
an organ, harpfichord, or piano-forte, by means of which 
wind is given to the pipes, and the jacks or hammers 
llrikc the firings of the inftrument. In large organs there 
are generally three fets of keys; one for the great or full 
organ, one for the choir-organ, and one for the fwell and 
echoes. The long keys uled to be black, and the fhort, 
or flats and (harps, white ; but a contrary practice took 
place about the beginning of the lalt century. 
Keys, a name given to certain rocks lying near the 
furface of the water, particularly in the Welt Indies. 
And to a dry piece of tapering oak, driven into fcarfs to 
let them dole. 
Key, or Quay, a long wharf, ufually built of Hone, 
by the fide of a harbour or river, and having feveral llore- 
houfes for the convenience of lading and difeharging 
merchant-fliips. It is accordingly furnilhed with pods 
and rings, whereby they are fecured ; together with cranes, 
capfterns, and other engines, to lift the goods into or out 
of the vefiels which lie alongfide. The verb cajare, in 
old writers, according to Scaliger, lignifies to keep in or re¬ 
train ; and hence came our term key or quay, the ground 
where they are made being bound in with planks and polls. 
The lawful keys and wharfs for lading or landing 
of goods belonging to the port of London, are Cheller’s 
Key, Brewer’s Key, Galley Key, Wood Dock, Cuftom- 
lioufe Key, Bear Key, Porter’s Key, Sab’s Key, Wiggan’s 
Key, Young’s Key, Ralph’s Key, Dice Key, Smart’s 
Key, Somers’s Key, Hammond’s Key, Lyon’s Key, Bo- 
tolph-wharf, Grant’s Key, Cock’s Key, and Frelh-wharf; 
befides Billiagfgate, for landing of fllh and fruit ; and 
Bridgehoufe in Southwark for corn and other provifion, 
See. but for no other goods or merchandife. Deal boards, 
malls, and timber, may be landed at any place between 
Limehoufe and Wellminfler; the owner firlt paying or 
compounding for the culloms, and declaring at what place 
he will land them. Lex. Mercat. 132. 133. 13 & 14 Car. 
II. c. 11. § 14. 
KEY (Great), a fmall illand in the Eaftern Indian Sea, 
about fifty miles in length and from five to twelve in 
breadth. Lat. 5. 24. S. Ion. 133. 28. E. 
KEY (Little), an illand in the Eaftern Indian Sea, 
about fixty miles in circumference. Lat. 5. 52. S. Ion. 
133. 12. E. 
KEY-HOLE, f. The perforation in the door or lock 
through which the key is put.—Make doors fall upon a 
woman’s wit, and it will out at the cafement; Ihut that, 
and ’twill out at the key-hole. Shakefpeare. 
I keep her in one room; I lock it; 
The key, look here, is in this pocket. 
The key-hole, is that left ? Moll certain. Prior. 
KEY SFMA, an illand of Japan, between Corea and 
the well coait of Niphon. 
KEY WALE'LA, an illand in the Eaftern Indian 
Sea, about forty-five miles in circumference. Lat. 5. 36. 
S. Ion. 138. E. 
h^EY'AGE, f. Money paid for lying at the key, or 
•quay. 
KEY'EL, a town of France, in the department of the 
Forelts : ten miles eaft-north-eall of Echternach. 
KEYLE, or Keel, J. [ciitlus, Lat.] A kind of long¬ 
boat ol great antiquity, mentioned in Hat. 23 Hen. VIII. 
c. 18. Spelman. 
KEY'MEN, a town of Silelia, in the principality of 
Neifle : fix miles north of Neifle. 
639 
KEYN'SFIAM, a market-town in Somerfetfliire, 116 
miles from London, and a great thoroughfare in the lower 
road between Bath and Briltol. They call it proverbially 
Jmoaky Keynlham, and with equal reafon they might call 
it foggy. It has a fine large church, a (lone bridge of-fif- 
teen arches over the Avon to Gloncellerlhire, and ano¬ 
ther over the river Chew. Its chief trade is malting. 
This place is famous for its abbey, founded by William 
earl of Glouceller,'about the year 1170, and granted by 
Edward VI. to Thomas Bridges, efq. in the year 1553, 
(on the fite whereof is now ahandfome leat of his defcen- 
danls the Chandos family,) as well as for its.having been 
the capital feat of the Cangi, as Camden interprets the name. 
The town is lituated by the fide of a fmall river, that runs 
into the Avon, and extends to the confluence of the two 
llreams. It is built upon a rock, productive of an infi¬ 
nite number of foflils in the lliape of ferpents, coiled up; 
and credulous people formerly believed that they were 
real ferpents, changed into ftones by one Keina, a devout 
Britilh virgin, from whom they likewife denominated the 
town. Here is a charity-fchool; a market on Thurlday; 
and fairs March 24 and Augult 15. Some time of the 
fpring every year, the river here lwarms with millions of 
little eels, icarcely as big as goofe-quills, which the peo¬ 
ple catch on the top of the water with fmall nets, and, by 
an art they have, make them fcour off their (kins, when 
they look very white, and then make them into cakes,, 
which they fry ajid eat. In other counties they are reck¬ 
oned a dainty. 
KEYS, Houfe of. See Isle of Man. 
KEY'SERSHEIM. See Kaysersheim. 
KEY'SERSTUL, a town of Swiflerland, in the county 
of Baden, on the river Rhine, with a wooden bridge to. 
Schaffhaufen : nine miles north-north-eaft of Baden. 
Lat. 47. 37. N. Ion. 8. 15. E. 
KEY'SLER (John George, F. R. S.), a celebrated tra¬ 
veller, was born at Thurnau, in the county of Giecli, in 
1683. He received a good education, for which be was 
much indebted to the care of his mother, a lifter of M. 
Kuiinel, member of his Britannic majefty’s council in 
Hanover. Young Key Her foon manifelied a ltrong at¬ 
tachment to the l’ciences ; and he had the advantage of 
being placed under the tuition of the allied mailers. Af¬ 
ter fome years fpent in laying the grounds of his educa¬ 
tion, he was entered at the univerlity of Halle, where he 
ft tidied jurifprude nee, without neglecting the other branches 
of academical inltruCtion. His dole application deranged 
his health, but it u'as foon reftored upon his return to his 
native place. He had not long remained at home, whea 
he was invited to fuperintend the education of Charles- 
Maximilian and Chriltian-Charies, counts of Giech-Bu- 
chau, with whom he repaired to Halle in 1717, and then 
accompanied them on their travels; an employment highly 
gratifying to him, as it alforded him an opportunity of 
feeing foreign countries. He firft proceeded to Utrecht,- 
where he formed an acquaintance with the celebrated Ro¬ 
land ; who, foon difcerning in his young friend a tails 
and talents capable of producing fomething of importance, 
recommended to his attention the immenie field of Ger¬ 
man antiquities, as yet almoft untouched. Through his 
encouragement, Keyfler formed the relolution of under¬ 
taking fomething fytlematic on the antiquities of Germa¬ 
ny, and the origin of its inhabitants. A fpecimen which 
he publilhed in regard to the Celts was favourably re¬ 
ceived, and afforded a ftrong proof of his diligence and 
erudition. From Utrecht he went with his pupils to the 
principal towns of Germany and the Low Countries, col¬ 
lecting, as they occurred, materials for his intended 
work. Without fuffering his time to be occupied with 
thofe trifles which engage the attention of travellers in 
general, he employed himfelf chiefly in vifiting the moll 
remarkable libraries, and frequenting the fociety of the 
learned, of whom Baudelot and Montfaucon in particular 
fliovved him every mark of elleern and refpecl. About 
this timea Cdtic monument had been.dilcovered at Notre 
Dame 
