K I R 
KIRK'WALL, the chief or principal town of. the 
Orkney I Hands, Scotland, is leated on the northern co;:(t 
of the Main-land, or Pomona, towards the fouth-eaft tide 
of Kirkwall-bay; and is divided into the Old Town, that 
bends along the bay, and the New,-which Wretches a con- 
fidenqble way to the fouth. Its original name appears, 
from ancient authorities, to have been Kirkiovog, or the 
Kirk on the Bay. The town has only one ftreet, nearly 
a mile long, with many excellent houl'es ranged oil each 
tide, which, for the ilyle of their building, and the man¬ 
ner in which they are finilhed and furnilhed, may bear a 
comparifon with thole of any final! town in the kingdom. 
Several gentlemen of.pr.operty refide here, and alfo a con- 
fiderable.number of (hop-keepers; but the bulk of the 
people is compofed of tradefmen, boatmen, fervants, and 
cay-labourers; and, when the population of the country 
parifh, which makes a fourth of the whole, is conlidered, 
the united parilhes cf Kirkwall and St. Ola, in which are 
two eltablilhed clergymen, contain, the former about two 
thoufand, the latter live hundred, inhabitants. Even in 
very old times it appears to have been a place of no (mail 
confequence; but the nature of its conliitution, and the 
extent of its immunities and privileges, as enjoyed under 
a foreign government, we are in a great meafure unac¬ 
quainted with, for want of.l’uch documents as might lerve 
for our inftruction. Its being a place of much note, 
gives us reafon for believing they mult have been more 
than ordinary; and, whatever they were, they were all, loon 
after the cellion of the iflands by theNorwegians, confirmed 
to it by a charter from the Scottilh fovereign James III. 
crediting it into a royal burgh, which was corroborated 
by two fucceeding monarchs ; and the whole rights and 
advantages it conveyed were at lalt folemnly ratified by 
an net of parliament. The government is in the hands 
of a provolt, four magiftrates, a dean of guild, treafurer, 
and fifteen other members, which together compote a 
council, that meets at Michaelmas every year for the pur- 
pole of alternately electing and being elected, and at other 
times to collect and difpenfe the public funds, and tranf- 
aft the other branches of bufinefs of the community. 
Kirkwall, and the four northern burghs, Wick, Dornoch, 
Tain, and Dingwall, clioofe a burgel's to reprefent them 
in the united parliament. In this town, the Iheriff, the 
admiral, the commiffary, and jultice-of-peace, courts, are 
alfo occafionally convened for the adminiltration of jultice ; 
and, for the cognizance and regulation of eccleiialtical 
matters, the three prefbyteries of which the provincial fy- 
ned is compofed, and alio the fynod itfelf, meet at lealt 
once a-year, or oftener, according to circumfcances. Here 
is alfo a cultom-houfe and poll-office, and a ltore-houfe, 
into which are collected the rents, that are moftly paid in 
kind, of both the bilhopric and earldom, which are ge¬ 
nerally let on leafe to merchants, who. fometimes difpofe 
of them here, fometimes fend them out of the country. 
There are alfofome public buildings. Among thefe may 
be reckoned the town-houfe, fupported on pillars, form¬ 
ing a piazza in front, and in every relpedt a neat and 
commodious building, the fir It ftory of which is divided 
into apartments for a common pril'on, the lecond for an 
afiembjy-hall, with a large room adjoining for the courts 
of juftice ; ’and the higheft is fet apart as a lodge for the 
accommodation of the ancient fraternity of free-mafons. 
To the welt of this, and at no great distance, are the 
ichool-houfes, in which are taught the feveral branches 
of Englilh education, Greek, Latin, and mathematics. 
Thele, however, are trifling, compared with the relics of 
the bifhop's and earl’s palaces ; the caftle, once a place of 
great itrength ; and at their head that venerable pile the 
cathedral of St. Magnus, fo called from Magnus king of 
Norway, the fuppofed founder of the town. It is a large 
Gothic Itruifture : the roof is fupported by twenty-four 
pillars on each fide, and the fpire is built upon four large 
columns. The gates are decorated with a kind of mofaic 
work, of red and white ltones elegantly carved and flow¬ 
ered. But for nothing is the town more celebrated than 
Vox. XI. No. 793. 
KIR 765 
for its excellent harbour, which is broad, fafe, and capa¬ 
cious, with a bottom of clay fo firm, and a depth of wa¬ 
ter fo convenient, as to afford anchorage for fhips of a 
large fize, and in great numbers. Towards the fouth-eaft 
fide, are dill visible the veltiges of a rude temporary fort, 
thrown up on an emergency by Oliver Cromwell; and on 
the oppolite fide another of the fame kind has been evi¬ 
dently marked out for co-operation in either annoying or 
protecting the harbour. Molt of the lands in the parilh 
of St. Ola, which furround Kirkwall, formerly made part 
of the temporally of the bilhopric of Orkney, and were 
feparated at the reformation, or on the profpect of the 
abolition of epifcopacy. As to the trade of this place/ 
the principal articles of exportation are beef, pork, butter, 
tallow, hides, calf-lkins, rabbit-lkins, falt-filh, oil, fea¬ 
thers, linen yarn and coarfe linen cloth, kelp, and, in 
years of fruitfulnefs, corn in considerable quantity. The 
ciiief commodities imported are wood, flax, coal, fugar, 
fpirits, wines, fnufr and tobacco, flour and bifeuit, foap, 
leather, hardware, broadcloth, printed linens, and printed 
cottons. The manufacture of linen yarn was introduced 
here in the year 1747; and, about the year 1730,the ma¬ 
nufacture of kelp. As the price of the latter, was very- 
low for the firlt ten years, the quantity made was but tri¬ 
fling. From the year 1740 to 1760 the price is reported 
to have been forty-five Shillings per ton, and the money 
which it is luppofed to have brought into the country 
during that period near about 2000I. per annum. The 
average price for the fubfequent ten years amounted to 
about four guineas per ton ; and the whole value to the 
place to above 6000I. lterling per annum. Of each ton 
at the market from the year 1770 to 1780, the price role 
ata medium to about five pounds, and thegrofs fum which 
the proprietors in that time received for it was not lels 
than io,oool. per annum. For thirteen years preceding- 
the year 1791, the value of a ton was nearelt to fix pounds, 
and the quantity each year to the fum of 17,000!. flerlrng. 
Thus, in the fpace of fifty years, the proprietors of thefe 
iflands, where the feafons are very deceitful, and the crops 
can by no means be depended upon for fublifting the in¬ 
habitants, have received, in addition to their eftates, the 
enormous fum of 370,0001. iterling. In 1801, the popu¬ 
lation was 2621. Lat. 59. 8. N. ion. 2. 30. W. cf Green¬ 
wich. Barry's Hijl. of the Orkneys. CruttwelL's Gaz. 
KIR LAK, an illand of a triangular form, about 240 
miles in circumference, in the Fiozen Sea. Lat. 71. 30. 
to 72. 15. N. Ion. 121. to 126. E. 
KIR'LING (St.), a town of Aultria : four miles weft 
of Clolter Neuburg. 
KIRMAN'SHA, or Kirmon'cha, a town of Perfia, 
in the province of Irak: 260 miles welt-north-well of II- 
pahan, and 145 north-eaft of Bagdad. Lat. 34. 35. N. 
Ion. 46. 30. E. 
KIR'MIR, a river of Natolia, which runs into the Sa- 
karia three miles from Sevri-hifar. 
KIRN, a town of France, in the department of the Sar- 
re, on the Nahe: feventeen miles weft of Creutznach, and 
thirty-eight weft of Mentz. Lat. 49. 47. N. Ion. 7. 26. E. 
KIRN'BERG, a town of Bavaria, in the territory of 
Rothenburg : three miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Rothsnburg. 
KIRN'BERGER (John Philip), an eminent German 
mulician and compoler, was born in 1721 at Saalfeld in 
Thuringia, a province of Saxony. At the age of eighteen 
he went to Leipfic, where he ftudied under Sebaftian Bach 
till 1741, when he went into Poland, where he was ad¬ 
mitted into the fervice of feveral Polifli princes ; and af¬ 
terwards appointed director of the mulic at a convent. In 
1751 he went to Drefden, where he ftudied the violin un¬ 
der Fickler, and l’ome time after entered into the Service 
of the king of Pruffia as a performer on that inftriiment. 
A.bout the year 1756 he was appointed court-mufician to 
princefs Amelia of Prulfia. The liarpfichord was his belt 
inftrument, and his compositions for that and the organ 
were very numerous, as well as his polemical and theore¬ 
tical writings. Belides. thefe publications, he was editor 
