Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/101

 K I N K I 89 read them twice, although it is fair to say that this may partially arise from the fact that the story is so vividly told that it is not forgotten, and therefore needs no second reading. But the descriptions of South American scenery in Westward Ho, of the Egyptian desert in Hypatia, of the North Devon scenery in Two Years Ago, are among the most brilliant pieces of word-painting in English prose writing, and the American scenery is even more vividly and more truthfully described when he had seen it only by the eye of his imagination than in his work At Last, which was written after he had visited the tropics. As a poet he wrote but little, but that little he wrote with singular facility, and there are passages in the Saint s Tragedy, and many isolated lyrics, which ought to take their place in all future standard collections of English literature. Andromeda is a very successful attempt at naturalizing the hexameter as a form of English verse, and reproduces with great skill the sonorous roll of the Greek original In person Charles Kingsley was tall and spare, sinewy rather than powerful, and of a restless excitable tempera ment. His complexion was swarthy, his hair dark, and his eye bright and piercing. His temper was hot, kept under rigid control, his disposition tender, gentle, and loving as that of a woman, with flashing scorn and indig nation against all that was ignoble and impure ; he was a good husband, father, and friend. Kingsley s life Las been written by his widow, in two vol umes, entitled Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life, and presents a very touching and beautiful picture of her husband, but perhaps hardly does justice to his humour, his wit, his overflowing vitality and boyish fun. The following is a list of Kingsley s writings: Saint s Tragedy, a drama, 1848 ; Alton Locke, a novel, 1849 ; Yeast, a novel, 1849 ; Twenty -Jive Village Sermons, 1849; Phaeton, or Loose Thoughts for Loose Thinkers, 1852; Sermons on National Subjects, Istseries, 1852; Jlypatia, a novel, 1853 ; Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore, 1854 ; Sermons on National Subjects, 2d series, 1854; Alexandria und her School*, 1854 ; Westward Ho ! a novel, 1855 ; Sermons for the Times, 1855 ; The Heroes, Greek fairy tales, 1856; Two Years Ago, a novel, 1857 ; Andromeda and other Poems, 1858 ; The Good News of God, sermons, 1859 ; Miscellanies, 1859; Limits of Exact Science applied to History (Inaugural Lectures), 1860 ; Town and Country Sermons, 1861 ; Sermons on the Pentateuch, 1863 ; Water- babies, 1863 ; The Roman and the Teuton, 1864 ; David and other Sermons, 1866 ; Hcreward the Wake, a novel, 1866 ; The Ancient Regime (Lectures at the Royal Institution), 1867 ; Water of Life and other Sermons, 1867 ; The Hermits, 1869 ; Madam How and Lady Why, 1869 ; At Last, 1871 ; Town Geology, 1872 ; Discipline and other Sermons, 1872 ; Prose Idylls, 1873 ; Plays and Puritans, 1873 ; Health and Education, 1874 ; Westminster Sermons, 1874 ; Lectures delivered in America, 1875. He was a large contributor to periodical literature ; many of his essays are included in Prose Idylls and other works in the above list. But no collection has been made of some of his more characteristic writings in the Christian Socialist and Politics for the People, many of them signed by the pseudonym he then assumed, &quot; Parson Lot.&quot; (C. K. P.) KINGSTON, the chief city of Ulster county, New York, United States, is situated on the west bank of the Hudson, about 90 miles north of New York. Its harbour is formed by the navigable portion of Rondout Creek. Among the chief buildings are the city hall, the music-hall, the almshouses, and the county buildings. Kingston is a very busy shipping centre, with 4 miles of wharfage, and steam and other shipping representing a considerable aggregate tonnage. As the centre of the blue stone region, Kingston ships an immense quantity of that mineral ; and, possessing the largest cement factory in the country, its out-turn of that material together with bricks, ice, lime, timber, and other goods swells the amount of its exports to upwards of a quarter of a million tons per annum. The manufactures of the town include salt, tobacco, glue, carriages, beer, boats, and bricks. The population in 1880 was 18,342. Kingston city was incorporated in 1872. The first settlement on the spot was made about 1665. At Kingston was framed the first Constitution of New York State, in 1777. In September 1777 the British under Sir Henry Clinton, scattered the State legislature which had met at Kingston, and in October burned the village. KINGSTON, the chief city of Frontenac county, Ontario, Canada, is situated at the north-eastern extremity of Lake Ontario, at the point where the St Lawrence issues from it, and at the mouth of the Cataraqui Creek, about ICO miles east of Toronto by the Grand Trunk Railway. Of the many fine buildings the chief are the city-hall, the market, the custom-house, the court-house and jail, the post-office, and the university. Among the charities are a hospital, an orphanage, a combined hospital and orphanage, a house of industry, and a house of refuge. The peniten tiary and the lunatic asylum are at a little distance from the city. Kingston is the seat of Queen s university and college, and of a medical college affiliated to the university. The Roman Catholic Regiopolis college has been closed since 1869. The royal military college of the Dominion is at Kingston. The harbour is deep, spacious, and sheltered, and brisk trade is carried on. As a naval station Kingston occupies an important position. It commands the entrance to the Rideau Canal, and is strongly fortified. Shipbuilding, iron-founding, and the manufacture of locomotives, steam- engines, and machinery, leather, soap and candles, boots and shoes, cotton, and wooden goods are carried on by the inhabitants. Kingston is the seat of an Anglican and of a Roman Catholic bishop. The population in 1881 was 14,093. Kingston occupies the site of the old French fort Frontenac. It received its present name after it was taken by the British in 1762. For three years (1841-44) it was the capital of Canada. KINGSTON, the capital of Jamaica. See JAMAICA. KIN GSTON-ON-TH AMES, a municipal borough and market-town of England, county of Surrey, extends for about a mile and a half along the right bank of the Thames, and is distant from London about 20 miles by the river and 12 miles by rail and road. The ancient wooden bridge over the river, which was in existence as early as 1224, was superseded by a structure of stone in 1827. The town is irregularly built, but its suburbs con tain many fine houses and villas embosomed in trees, and of late years it lias been rapidly increasing. Public walks and gardens have been constructed along the river. The parish church of All Saints, chiefly Perpendicular in style, contains several brasses of the 15th century; the gram mar school, rebuilt in 1878, was originally founded as a chantry by Edward Lovekyn in 1305, and converted into a school by Queen Elizabeth. Near the parish church stood until 1779 the chapel of St Mary, where, it is alleged, the Saxon kings were crowned. The ancient stone said to have been used as a throne at these coronations was removed to the market-place in 1850. A town hall in the Italian style was erected in 1840, the former building having been a very ancient structure. There are several foundation schools and a large number of charities. The growth of the town lias been owing chiefly to the in creasing number of London business men who have made it their residence, its proximity to Richmond park and Hampton Court no doubt aiding its popularity. There are large market gardens in the neighbourhood, and the town possesses oil-mills, flour-mills, breweries, and brick and tile works. A little distance up the river are the works of several London water companies. An annual cattle fair is held in November, and county assizes are held at Lent. The population of the municipal borough in 1881 was 19,875. Kingston doubtless derived its name from the fact that at an early period it was a royal demesne. On digging the foundation for the new bridge a large number of important Roman remains were discovered, and on this account many believe that it was at this spot that C.Bsar crossed the Thames when in pursuit of Cassivelaunus. In 838 it was the seat of a witenagemot convened XIV. 12