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 mines in Cornwall and to try to melt the ore (ib. v. 314). Among Cromwell's ‘Remembrances’ for 1533 is an item ‘To send to Nich. Cracher for the conveyance of Christopher Mount's letters.’ Nicolas Bourbon, the French poet, in a letter to Thomas Soliman, the king's secretary, prefixed to Bourbon's ‘Παιδαγωγειον,’ Lyons, 1536, sends greetings among other friends, including Holbein, ‘D. Nic. Cratzero regio astronomo, viro honestis salibus, facetiisque ac leporibus concreto.’ Payments to Nicolas, the king's astronomer, frequently occur in the accounts of the royal household.

In the preface to Guido Bonatus's treatise on astronomy (Basel, 1550) Kratzer is praised as a mathematician, ‘qui ita bonus & probus est ut majore quam mathematicorum fortuna sit dignus.’ He died soon after 1550. Many of his books came into the hands of Dr. John Dee [q. v.] and Richard Forster. Kratzer left two books in manuscript, copies of which are found in Corpus Christi (clii.) and the Bodleian (MS. 504) Libraries at Oxford. First, ‘Canones Horopti,’ dedicated to Henry VIII, with a concluding note to intimate that the subjects of his Oxford lectures were ‘Astronomiam super sphæram materialem Johannis de Sacro Bosco, compositionem astrolabis, & geographiam Ptolemæi.’ His second work, ‘De Compositione Horologiorum,’ contains ‘(1) Compositio & utilitates quadrantis; (2) De arte metrica sive mensurandi; (3) Compositio cylindri & aliorum instrumentorum mathematicorum; (4) Scripta plurima mathematica per N. Kratz.’ In the Cottonian MSS. is a letter from N. Kracerus to T. Cromwell, dated London, 24 Aug. 1538, and conveying information received from Germany about the Turks.

 KRAUSE, WILLIAM HENRY (1796–1852), Irish divine, was born on 6 July 1796 in the island of St. Croix, West Indies. At an early age he was brought to England, and placed for education in a school at Fulham, from which he was afterwards sent to another at Richmond. In 1814, having made up his mind to enter the army, he obtained a commission in the 51st light infantry, then in the south of France. Next year he was present at the battle of Waterloo. On the termination of the war he was placed on half-pay, and soon afterwards returned to St. Croix, where his father still resided. In 1822, being on a visit at the house of a brother officer in Ireland, he came under deep religious impressions and resolved to take holy orders. It was a long time, however, before he succeeded in receiving ordination. In 1826 he was appointed by the Earl of Farnham ‘moral agent’ on his Irish estates, his duty being to look after the schools and endeavour to promote the religious and moral welfare of the tenantry. While discharging these functions with great zeal, he also entered himself at Trinity College, Dublin, and on 27 Feb. 1838 received the degree of M.A. On 26 March 1838 he was ordained for the curacy of Cavan by the Bishop of Kilmore, and for two years ministered most earnestly there. In 1840 he was appointed incumbent of the Bethesda Chapel, Dublin, and soon became one of the most noted of the evangelical clergy of that city. He died on 27 Feb. 1852. Three volumes of his ‘Sermons’ were published after his death (Dublin, 1859).

 KUERDEN, RICHARD, M.D. (1623–1690?), antiquary. [See .]

KUPER, AUGUSTUS LEOPOLD (1809–1885), admiral, son of William Kuper, D.D., chaplain to Queen Adelaide, was born on 16 Aug. 1809. He entered the navy in April 1823, and after serving on the South American and Mediterranean stations was promoted to be lieutenant on 28 Feb. 1830. During the next seven years he served almost continuously on the home station and the coast of Spain or Portugal, and in July 1837 was appointed first lieutenant of the Alligator, with his father-in-law, Captain Sir James John Gordon Bremer [q. v.] He assisted Bremer in forming the settlement of Port Essington in North Australia, and on 27 July 1839 was promoted by him to the command of the Pelorus. In a violent hurricane at Port Essington the Pelorus was driven on shore, high and dry, and was got off with great difficulty and labour after eighty-six days. On 5 March 1840 Bremer, being then senior officer in India, appointed Kuper acting captain of the Alligator, and in June 1841 moved him to the Calliope, in which he was confirmed by the admiralty with seniority 5 June 1841. In the Alligator, and afterwards in the Calliope, he was actively employed during the first Chinese