Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/353

 KELLY. 349 till it was translated into English by Dermot O'Connor, and published in London in 1723:—a better edition ap peared in 1738, with plates of the arms of the principal Irish families; and an appendix, (not in the former,) re specting the ancient names of places. Keating died about the middle of the seventeenth century, or, as some think, much earlier, about 1625. He wrote some pieces of a religious cast, and two poems; one, an “Elegy on the death of the Lord Decies;” the other, a burlesque on his servant Simon, whom he compares with the ancient heroes. HUGH KELLY, A DRAMatic and miscellaneous author of some celebrity, was born on the banks of the Lake of Killarney, in 1739. He served his apprenticeship to a stay-maker, at the ex piration of which he set out for London, in 1760, in order to procure a livelihood by his business. This unfortunately he found very difficult, and was soon reduced to absolute want. In this forlorn situation, a stranger and friendless, he used to pass many of his hours at a public house in Russell-street, Covent Garden, much resorted to by the young players. Having an uncommon share of good humour and address, he soon attracted the attention of a club, who held their meetings there, and became so well acquainted with their characters, that he gave a humorous description of them in one of the daily papers, and the likenesses were so well executed as to draw their attention and excite their curiosity to discover the author. Their suspicions soon fixed on Mr. Kelly, and from that time he became distinguished among them. An attorney, one of the members of this society, com miserating Mr. Kelly's situation, invited him to his house, and employed him in copying and transcribing, an occu pation which he prosecuted with so much assiduity, that he earned about three guineas a week. From his accidental acquaintance with some booksellers, he, in 1762, became