Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/378

 1837.  ‘Codex Diplomaticus ævi Saxonici’ contains over 1,400 documents, 6 vols. 8vo, 1839–48, for the English Historical Society.  ‘Vercelli Codex, Poetry of,’ with translation, 8vo, 1843.  ‘Salomon and Saturn,’ 8vo, 1845 (?); this edition was begun by Kemble as early as 1833; he called it all in except twenty copies, one of which is in the British Museum, when he undertook to produce for the Ælfric Society.  ‘The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturn,’ 8vo, 1848.  An edition of ‘Certaine Considerations upon the Government of England,’ by Sir Roger Twysden, from the unpublished manuscript, 4to, 1849, for the Camden Society.  ‘The Saxons in England,’ 2 vols. 8vo, 1849; a new edition by W. de G. Birch, 1876.  ‘Gospel of St. Matthew in Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian,’ 4to, 1856.  Historical introduction to the ‘Knights Hospitallers in England,’ edited by L. B. Larking, 4to, 1857, for the Camden Society.  ‘State Papers and Correspondence illustrative of the … State of Europe from the Revolution to the Accession of the House of Hanover,’ with an historical introduction dated November 1856, and a large number of biographical notices of great interest, 8vo, 1857.  ‘On the Utility of Antiquarian Collections,’ an address delivered in Dublin shortly before his death, 8vo, 1857.  ‘Horæ Ferales,’ including drawings and descriptions of prehistoric antiquities designed by Kemble for the book advertised under this title, translation of Kemble's address delivered at the opening of the Hanover Museum, his address delivered at Dublin 9 Feb. 1857, and other matter, edited by R. G. Latham and A. W. Franks, 4to, 1863.



KEMBLE, JOHN PHILIP (1757–1823), actor, eldest son and second child of [q. v.], was born at Prescott in Lancashire, 1 Feb. 1757. In his childhood he played some parts in his father's company, among them being, 12 Feb. 1767, the Duke of York in Havard's ‘King Charles I,’ his elder sister, Mrs. Siddons, being the Princess Elizabeth, and either Stephano or Alonzo in Dryden's ‘Tempest,’ 16 April 1767. He was sent, 3 Nov. 1767, to a Roman catholic school at Sedgley Park in Staffordshire, with a view to becoming a priest, and left 25 July 1771 for the English College at Douay, where he acquired a fair knowledge of Latin and Greek, being able to declaim with facility in the former tongue. He showed there a surprisingly retentive memory, and in subsequent days laid a wager that after a few days' study he could repeat the contents of a newspaper, including advertisements, without misplacing a word. He studied the lives of the saints, but felt no vocation for the priesthood, and to the disappointment of his father, who refused to aid him in his new schemes, returned to adopt the profession of actor.

By his sister's recommendation he was admitted to Chamberlain's company at Wolverhampton, and on 8 Jan. 1776, as Theodosius in Lee's tragedy of that name, he made there what was practically his début. Bajazet was his second part. In bills of the performances of Chamberlain's company he is advertised to play the part of Tancred ‘after the manner of Mr. Cummins,’ ‘a shewy actor’, whom he afterwards met at York. He was at this time, says Oxberry, slovenly in dress and habit, but worked hard. At Leicester he was hissed nightly. At Cheltenham he gave, for the first recorded time, a lecture on eloquence, the remainder of the entertainment consisting of sleight-of-hand tricks by a Mr. Carlton. Subsequently at Liverpool he produced his tragedy of ‘Belisarius,’ afterwards given at Hull and in York, but never printed nor brought to London. Here, too, he produced, or recited, his poem, variously said to have been called the ‘Palace of Misery’ and the ‘Palace of Mersey.’ He also played in Manchester. Engaged by Tate Wilkinson for the York circuit, he appeared at Wakefield as Captain Plume. On 30 Oct. 1778 he played in Hull for the first time as Macbeth, taking subsequently Archer and other parts. Wilkinson speaks with praise, not wholly unreserved, of his performances, and declares that ‘Belisarius’ was received with ‘candour, credit, and applause.’ In York Kemble appeared, 19 Jan. 1779, as Orestes in the ‘Distrest Mother,’ his second part being Ranger, and the third Edward the Black Prince. A farce of his called ‘The Female Officer,’ supposed to be the same which, under the title of ‘Projects,’ was produced at Drury Lane 18 Feb. 1786, was played at York for the benefit of Mrs. Hunter. Like most of Kemble's dramatic efforts it was never printed, and on neither occasion of performance was it given more than once. In 1780 he published in York a 12mo volume of verse entitled ‘Fugitive Pieces,’ which, so far as he was able, he subsequently bought up and destroyed with the result that copies have realised from ten to fifteen pounds. A reprint in<section end="Kemble, John Philip"/> fac-