feathers longest. (Vigors.) Mr. Swainson gives India as I curved; the upper margins folding over the lower. Nostrils the Locality. membranaceous; the aperture round, protected by feathers. Wings as in Galbula, but longer; the third and fifth quills equal. (Sw.) Example, Lamprotila platyrhyncha. Example, Tanysiptera Dea; Alcedo Dea, Linn., Ispida Ternatana, Briss. Description.-Above intense black-azure, white beneath; head and wing-coverts cærulean; tail-feathers white margined with cærulean, the two middle ones cærulean, with their apices club-shaped and white. (Vigors.) Tanysiptera Dea. Lamprotila platyrhyncha. Galbula. Generic Character.-Plumage metallic. Bill very long, perfectly straight, greatly compressed; the culmen sharp; the tip not bent. Wings short. Tail lengthened, gradu Alcyone.-Bill as in Alcedo; but the feet with only three ated. Toes in pairs, or with the Hallux wanting. Nostrils toes. Australia. Swainson.) Example, Alcyone Australis. Description.-Body above, sides of the head and neck, shining mazarine blue; beneath rufous; chin and throat whitish; wings blackish; inner fore-toe wanting. (Swainson, Zool. Ill., 1st series, where it is figured and described as Alcedo azurea.) Locality, New Holland. Habits.-Lewin, who has figured this Kingfisher in his 'Birds of New Holland,' states that it inhabits heads of rivers, visiting dead trees, from the branches of which it darts on its prey in the water beneath, and is sometimes completely immersed by the velocity of its descent. with a few strong bristles. (Sw.) Habits.-Mr. Swainson remarks (Classification of Birds, vol. ii.) that the habits of the Jacamars and those of the Puff-birds and Hermit-Birds are similar, although the flight of the latter is weaker. The Jacamars,' he says, generally sit on low naked branches in the forest paths, from whence they dart upon butterflies, spearing them with Galbula paradisea, their long bill: their haunts, indeed, may frequently be nown by the ground being strewed with the beautiful wings of their victims, the body of which they alone devour.' Mr. Swainson further observes that in all the groups of this family previously noticed the bill is invariably compressed on the sides, and generally of considerable length; but in Galbula grandis a change from this structure is first discovered, and we see a bill considerably broad and depressed; that character, in short, which is in unison with the next family, according to Mr. Swainson's arrangement, viz. the Trogonidæ. Example, Galbula paradisea; Swallow-tailed Kingfisher, Edw., Paradise Jacamar, Lath. Description.-Size of a lark; colour golden green; throat, neck, and lesser wing-coverts white; head violaceous brown. Bill and feet, the latter of which are feathered to the toes, black; two intermediate tail-feathers longest. Locality, Surinam. KING'S COUNTY, an inland county of the province of Leinster, in Ireland, bounded on the north by the county of West Meath, on the east by the county of Kildare, on the south by Queen's County and the county of Tipperary, and on the west by the river Shannon, which separates it from the counties of Galway and Roscommon. From the boundary of Kildare, near Edenderry, on the east, to the Shannon at Shannon Bridge, on the west, it extends 32 Irish or 41 statute miles; and from the boundary of Tipperary, near Moneygale, on the south, to the boundary of West Meath, near Clara, on the north, 31 Irish or 39 statute miles. According to the map published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge it contains 456,960 statute acres, or 714 square statute miles. The area has elsewhere been estimated at 528,166 statute acres, of which 394,569 are cultivated land, 133,349 are unprofitable, chiefly bog, and 248 are under water. The population in 1831 was 144,225. The outline of the county is very irregular, extending east and west from Kildare to the Shannon, and thence stretching southward between that river and the range of the Slieve Bloom Mountains. A series of low limestone hills, running in a north-easterly direction from the northern extremity of the Slieve Bloom range, by Geashil, divides the northern portion of the county into two districts of unequal area, of which the one discharges its waters east ward to the Barrow; and the other, which is of about double the extent of the former, westward into the Shannon. This range of eminences terminates in the north-eastern part of the county, in the conical hill of Croghan, which rises 500 feet above the surrounding country, and forms the most prominent object within a circuit of twenty miles in diameter. From the northern and eastern declivities of Croghan Hill the ground slopes towards the basin of the Boyne, one branch of which, the Yellow River, has its source in the small lake of Loch Rushnel, situated in a morass at the northern foot of the hills. From Croghan and the Yellow River to the Boyne, which forms the north-eastern boundary of the county, separating it from the barony of Carberry in Kildare, is a tract of well-cultivated country, containing the flourishing market-town of Edenderry, an antient seat of the Cooley or Cowley family, who settled here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. A branch from the Grand Canal is carried to the town, which is situated above half a mile north from the main line. The Marquis of Downshire is the proprietor, and has contributed liberally to the construction of the canal and to the erection of a handsome and commodious market-house. South from the line of the Grand Canal, the district included between the heights of Geashil and the county of Kildare is to a great extent occupied by peatbog, forming a portion of the great bog of Allen. This tract, extending about twelve miles every way, is divided into two principal valleys by the Philipstown and Cushina rivers, which, running from north-west to south-east, discharge themselves, through the Feagile and Little Barrow rivers, into the Great Barrow, which last forms the southern boundary of the district. The Philipstown river, which runs in a very tortuous course between undulating banks, which are generally arable for a distance of half a mile to a mile on each side of the stream, has its source on the eastern side of the bog of Ballycommon, a tract of peat-bog occupying the summit level of the central northern district P. C., No. 817. of the county The highest part of the bog is 286 feet West from the range of Geashil the country slopes to the valley of the Brosna, which, flowing from Loch Ennil in West Meath, traverses the north-western portion of the county in a direction from north of east to south of west; and, after receiving the Clodagh and Frankford rivers from the district between Geashil and the Shannon, flows into that river at Shannon Harbour. The line of the Grand Canal, which joins the Shannon at the same point, is nearly parallel to the course of the Brosna after its junction with the Clodagh. The latter river rises in Loch Annagh, a pool of marsh water on the confines of Queen's County, and receives the drainage of about 4000 acres of bog lying between Geashil and Tullamore. Tullamore, the assize town of the county, is situated on the southern bank of the Grand Canal, on a stream running into the Clodagh. [TULLAMORE.] The demesne of Lord Charleville, comprising 1500 acres, extends from the western outskirts of the town to the junction of the Tullamore and Clodagh rivers, the latter of which forms several beautiful cascades in its descent through a wooded glen in the demesne. The mansion is in the baronial style, on a scale corresponding to the extent of the grounds, and is by much the finest residence in this part of Ireland. Higher up, on the Clodagh at Clonad, is a considerable tract of wood, which, with the extensive plantations of Charleville Forest and the cultivated tract round Tullamore, forms a pleasing contrast to the boggy districts on each side. The bogs on the western side of Tullamore, lying along the southern side of the Grand Canal, occupy an area of 11,588 acres. They are disposed in three principal tracts, separated from one another by low hills of limestone gravel, and bounded on the south by the hill of Cloghan, which separates the bogs immediately bordering VOL. XIII.-2 H on the canal from the more extensive tract lying between | its southern declivity and the range of Slieve Bloom. This latter tract, consisting of five principal fields, extends over 23,986 acres, and by its drainage forms the chief supply of the Frankford or Silver river. This river has its source on the north-western declivity of Slieve Bloom, near the small town of Kinnitty, which, previous to the forfeitures of 1641, was the residence of a branch of the O'Carrol family, petty princes of Ely O'Carrol. About five miles from Kinnitty, lower on the river, is Frankford, a thriving market-town for grain, situated in the district which was antiently possessed by the O'Molloys, the ruins of whose castle of Broghill are still standing in the neighbourhood. The Frankford river, passing under the Grand Canal at the Macartney aqueduct, runs into the Brosna, about three miles below the junction of the latter river with the Clodagh, which also passes under the canal. The valley of the Brosna is the best cultivated portion of the north-western division of the county. The river winds between undulating banks, which form a margin of considerable breadth on each side free from bog, and towards West Meath spread into a well-cultivated open country about the town of Clara, which is situated on the river near the county bounds. Clara is well built, and, prior to the opening of the Grand Canal, was the chief manufacturing town of the county: the linen and cotton manufactures are now the principal branches of trade carried on in it. Below Clara, on the Brosna, are the village of Ballycumber and the town of Ferbane, the latter very pleasingly situated on the wooded banks of the river near its junction with the Shannon. The district included between the Brosna and the county of West Meath, with the exception of the arable margin of the river, is almost wholly occupied by bogs. These are of greatest extent towards the Shannon, covering an area of 17,800 acres along the banks of that river. The Blackwater stream drains this tract, and gives its name to the principal field of bog, which covers 12,105 acres. A margin of arable and borders the Shannon also, and elevated tracts of limestone gravel extend from it into the interior of this part of the county, separating the several bogs. The remainder of the bogs of this district, extending from the field drained by the Blackwater to the north of Clara, cover 11,055 acres. The most eastern of the four tracts comprised in this division is the bog of Kilmaleady, now generally known as the 'moving bog,' which in the year 1821 burst its bounds and flowed nearly a mile and a half down an adjoining valley. east to south-west, through a distance of 15 miles along the Queen's County border of this county, lying principally within the latter. A narrow pass, called the Gap of Glandine, is the only point of communication throughout this line available for purposes of general traffic. It lies near the northern extremity of the range, on the road from Frankford to Mountrath in Queen's County. A continuation of the Devil's Bit range forms the more southerly part of the boundary-line bordering on Tipperary. Through the interval between these ranges is carried the line of communication between Roscrea and Birr. These mountains, although of no great altitude, present a varied and picturesque outline, and abound with scenes of much natural beauty. That part of the river Shannon which borders on this county is included within the division of the Middle Shannon, on which the Grand Canal Company have a jurisdiction, extending from the north end of the canal at Athlone to the north end of Loch Derg below Portumna Bridge, a total distance of 39 miles. The navigation is partly by the river and partly by lateral cuts. There are three such, with locks on that part of the Middle Shannon bordering King's County, viz. at Meelick, Banagher, and Shannon Bridge. Five steam-boats employed by the Ireland Navigation Company in connection with the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company ply on this part of the river. The largest of these steam-boats is of 282 tons burthen. The number of boats plying on the same part of the river in 1829 was 342, having a gross tonnage of 9252 tons; and in 1835 was 467, having a gross tonnage of 15,482 tons. Various improvements have been recommended by the commissioners of the Shannon Navigation, which are likely to be soon put in execution. These contemplated improvements include new bridges at Shannon Bridge and Banagher, and a foot-bridge near Meelick. [SHANNON.] The Little Brosna is navigable for small boats to a distance of about two miles from its junction with the Shannon, and it is proposed to make it navigable as far as Birr. Climate. Notwithstanding the great extent of wet ground on the surface of King's County, the climate is neither damp nor unwholesome. This is partly accounted for by the antiseptic quality of the peat-bog, and partly by the fact of the county lying comparatively high and open. The Queen's County side of the Slieve Bloom range is however much more favourably situated for sun and shelter than that declivity of the chain which spreads into the south-western district of this county. The remaining portion of the county, included between Geology. The floetz limestone of the central plain the western declivities of the Slieve Bloom Mountains, Tip- spreads over the entire area of the county, with the excep perary, and the Shannon, has a general slope towards the tion of the portions occupied by the protruded masses of the Little Brosna, which forms the boundary between King's Slieve Bloom chain and the hill of Croghan. The range County and Tipperary. This division of the county, with of Slieve Bloom consists of a nucleus of clay-slate, supportthe exception of that part immediately bordering on the ing flanks of sandstone in which the clay-slate is enveloped Shannon, lies south of the boggy region, and is little en- on all the declivities. The clay-slate is generally of a cumbered either with rough land or morass. The portion quartzy and flinty character, approaching to fine-grained which slopes immediately to the Shannon, north of the grauwacke. The rock ranges 20° south of east and 15° junction of the little Brosna with that river, is bleak and north of west, and dips 70° towards the south. The strata moory, comprising a considerable portion of the bogs lying are generally from one foot to three in thickness, and in south of Cloghan hill. These are drained by two streams some places afford excellent flags from one to five inches running westward to the Shannon, the more considerable thick, and seven and eight feet square. The surrounding of which has its source in Loch Coura, a small lake south sandstone, which lies conformably on the supporting rock, of Cloghan. On the bank of the Shannon, between these is yellowish-white or grey, composed of granular particles streams, is situated the thriving town of Banagher, com- of quartz, and very compact. It is rarely found of the red manding an important pass into Connaught. The bridge cast which characterizes the sandstone formation farther which here crosses the Shannon is old and narrow, and it south, nor has it much of the conglomerate character. is proposed to erect a new one better fitted for so great a Croghan Hill consists of a protruded mass of trap conglothoroughfare. There are fortifications at both ends of the merate rising about 500 feet above the level of the surbridge, commanding the approaches, and about a quarter of rounding country, with steep declivities towards the south. a mile farther down, on the King's County side, there is a The limestone of the surrounding plain appears tilted up circular redoubt mounting six pieces of cannon. Ba- and supported on the north-western and south-western sides nagher is well situated for trade, and has several thriving of the greenstone tabular masses. Calcareous matter is manufactures. The banks of the Shannon are here richly generally diffused through this rock, which varies from a clothed with meadow, but liable to frequent floods. The pale lavender colour to a greyish-black, consisting, where it valley of the Little Brosna from the Shannon to Birr [BIRR], assumes the former appearance, of an intimate mixture of and thence to the range of Slieve Bloom and the borders compact felspar and carbonate of lime; and where it has the of the county of Tipperary and Queen's County, is an un- latter characteristic tint, of a mixture of hornblende and dulating well inhabited district, containing extensive tracts felspar, containing minute disseminated particles of horn. of pasture, and towards the mountains abounding with varied blende, calcareous-spar, quartz, and iron-pyrites. These, and pleasing scenery. The small towns of Shinrone and the calcareous fragments especially, are often found em Moneygale are situated in this part of the county, the latter bedded in the greenstone in rounded lumps. The rock is within a few miles of Roscrea, on the northern border of consequently very easily decomposed, and forms an uncom Tipperary. The highest elevation of the Slieve Bloom monly rich and friable soil. The hill is almost all under Mountains is 1689 feet. They extend in a line from north-cultivation, and yields the most abundant white and green crops without any manure whatever. Massy strata of greenstone appear also between Croghan Hill and Philipstown, about a quarter of a mile from the latter place, whence it seems probable that the floetz limestone of the vicinity reposes immediately on the trap-rock. Granular limestone occurs at the Seven Churches in the north-west of the county, and has been quarried to the extent of 3000 cubic feet of good grey marble. Banks of rolled-limestone gravel, called eskers, occur frequently throughout the floetz limestone district. Continuous ridges of these gravel-banks surround the principal divisions of the bogs above enumerated. The eskers afford an interesting subject of study to the geologist, as from their structure they appear to have been deposited from water in violent action, and their external configuration affords an index to the direction of the current. Soil, &c.-The bogs, which occupy so large a portion of the county, generally repose on limestone-gravel. The peat, although apparently spongy and easily permeable, is very retentive of water, as shown by the remarkable fact of surface pools existing in the bogs within short distances of each other, on different levels. The soil in general is not naturally fertile, but can be made to yield very good crops in the arable districts by manuring with the lime and bog-stuff which abound throughout the county. The soil of that side of the Slieve Bloom range included in King's County is cold and gritty, with the exception of one portion near the middle of the range, where the limestone reaches high up the declivities of Knocknaman, Castletown, and Cumber hills. This part of the range affords fertile and extensive pastures, which are grazed throughout the year with flocks of sheep and young cattle. In the district lying between these mountains and that portion of Tipperary which intervenes between them and the Shannon the soil is generally a light gravel, easily tilled, and tolerably fertile. Farther north on this side of the county it becomes stiff and moory; and throughout a great part of the barony of Garrycastle, which stretches along the entire line of the Shannon, the rock is covered only by a thin stratum of poor clayey moor. The banks of the Shannon however, where they are occasionally overflowed, afford considerable tracts of fine meadow, and the eskers and derries, as the open spots of dry ground in and between the bogs are termed, have generally a rich friable soil. The chief grazing districts in the county lie on the borders of West Meath, where the pastures are cont sidered very favourable to wool-growing. Throughout the central division the soil, where unencumbered with bog, is almost wholly in tillage. In the south-eastern districts bordering on Queen's County and Kildare tillage is not so much attended to, the insulated tracts between the bogs being better calculated for grazing. The best ground in the county is in the north-western division, from Croghan Hill to the boundary of Meath. It is equal to fattening bullocks of any weight, and is consequently little broken up by tillage. Forest-trees flourish here, the ash especially, with peculiar vigour, and the hedge-rows of white thorn are remarkably luxuriant. The average sales of grain for each of the ten years preceding 1836 in the principal market-towns of King's County appear from the following table: te Barrels of Wheat, of 26 stone. 40,000 Ferbane Cloghan Banagher Birr. Edenderry. 300 300 none. 1,000 13,000 The linen manufacture was carried on about the beginning of the present century with considerable activity in the west of the county, but has latterly declined. There is a small manufacture of friezes, stuffs, and serges for home consumption. Distilling, brewing, and the grinding of corn are carried on at Birr and in other parts of the county, but not to any great extent. In 1831 there were 699 weavers, 13 tanners, and 18 brewers in the county. The condition of the working classes is somewhat better in the northern and central districts of King's County than in most of the neighbouring parts of Ireland. Wages vary from 6d. to 10d. per day, on an average of 100 working days each year. The cabins of the labouring peasantry are com monly of a very bad description, particularly in the boggy districts. There is however a good number of comfortable farmers, and the people generally are of industrious and decent habits. The English language is spoken universally. King's County is divided into the baronies of Warrenstown, on the north-east; Coolestown, on the east, containing the town of Edenderry (population in 1831, 1283); Philipstown, Lower, on the north, containing the town of Philipstown (population, 1454); Philipstown, Upper, containing part of the town of Portarlington (total population, 3091); Geashil, in the centre; Kilcoursey, on the northwest, containing the town of Clara (population, 1149); Ballycowen, west of Geashil, containing the town of Tullamore (population, 6342); Ballyboy, south of Ballycowen, con taining the town of Frankford (population, 373); Garrycastle, on the west, containing the towns of Banagher (population, 2636), Shannonbridge (population, 559), and Ferbane (population 501); Eglish, south of Garrycastle; Ballybrit, south of Eglish, containing the towns of Birr or Parsonstown (population, 6594) and Crinkle (population, 531); and Clonlisk, on the south-west, containing the town of Shinrone (population, 1287) and the village of Moneygale (population, 379). Philipstown was incorporated as a borough by charter of the 12th Elizabeth, but the corporation is now extinct; Banagher also, incorporated as a borough by charter of the 4th Charles I., has no longer any traces of a governing body: and these are the only towns in the county which have at any time had corporations. Prior to the Union, King's County was represented in the Irish parliament by two county members, and two for each of the above boroughs. The representation of the Imperial Parliament is now limited to two county members. The constituency in 1836 consisted of 1694 voters. The assizes are held at Tullamore. General quartersessions are held at Tullamore, Birr, and Philipstown, in each of which is a court-house and gaol, that at Tullamore being the county-gaol and the others bridewells. On the 1st January, 1836, the police force of this county consisted of 5 chief constables, 45 constables, 225 sub-constables, and 6 horse, supported at a cost, for the year 1835, of 95487. 38 8d., of which 48387. 58. 11d. was chargeable against the county. The total number of criminal offenders committed to the county-gaol in the year 1836 was 672 males and 94 females, of whom 254 males and 13 females could read and write at the time of their committal, 272 males and 38 females could read only, and 146 males and 43 females could neither read nor write. The district lunatic asylum for King's County is at Maryborough in Queen's County. There is a county infirmary at Tullamore, fever hospitals at Shinrone and Birr, and dispensaries in all the chief towns and villages. There are barracks at Banagher, Birr, Shannon-harbour, Tullamore, and Philipstown. The county expenses are defrayed by grand-jury presentments. The sum levied in the year 1835 was 21,0607. 19s. 8d., of which 47397. 148. 4d. was for public works, roads, &c.; 11,1797. 168. 6d. was for public buildings, charities, &c.; and 51417. 8s. 10d. for police and the administration of justice. King's County embraces a portion of each of the four archiepiscopal provinces, extending into the dioceses of Clonfert, Ossory, Killaloe, Meath, and Kildare, under which the educational statistics of the county are included. (Statistical Survey of King's County, Dublin, 1801; Transactions of the Geological Society, vol. v.; Brewer's Beauties of Ireland; Parliamentary Reports and Papers.) KING'S EVIL. [SCROFULA.] KING'S LYNN. [LYNN.] History and Antiquities. Although not reduced to shire- | cathedral church. There are numerous remains of feudal ground as one county until the time of Mary, King's castles, chiefly of the Elizabethan æra. Leap Castle, County was partially included in other shires at a very situated on a declivity of Slieve Bloom, in a strong and comearly period. It appears from sundry Pipe Rolls of the manding position, is still inhabited; so also are Cloghan reign of Edward III. that the portion which at present Castle and the castle of Birr. There are no very remarkborders on West Meath was in those days accounted a part able monuments of the earlier æra. of the shire of Meath, and as such was charged with royal service. The manor of Geashil, now forming the central district of the county, was, in the reign of Edward II., in | like manner accounted a part of Kildare, being an antient inheritance of the Fitzgeralds. Offaly also, a part of which now lies within the bounds of King's County, was included in Kildare from the first division of Leinster into counties. But the western and south-western portions of the county, mcluding Ely O'Carrol [BIRR] and MacCoghlan's County, although stated to have formed part of Offaly, and consequently to have been included in the first limits of the county of Kildare, do not appear to have been reduced for practical purposes to the authority of English law until the year 1557, when the act was passed which erected the whole into one county under its present name. Before that period it was generally designated Western Glenmalery, to distinguish it from Eastern Glenmalery, the present Queen's County. [QUEEN'S COUNTY.] The fort of Dangin, an old seat of the O'Connors, the chief family of Offaly, was at the same time made the shire town, and called Philipstown, in compliment to the king consort. The native chieftains for a length of time struggled against the new settlement, until A.D. 1600, when the Lord Deputy Mountjoy, having joined his forces with those of Sir Oliver Lambert, succeeded, after a deplorable destruction of life and property, in finally reducing them. An account of the military operations of which this county was the theatre, during the rebellion of 1641 and the ensuing wars, is given under the heads of the chief towns. [BIRR; TULLAMORE.] The forfeitures consequent on that rebellion and on the subsequent war of the Revolution were very extensive. On the latter occasion the number of acres of profitable land confiscated was 30,459, of a total value at that time of 89,3217. 148. The families of Coghlan, Geoghegan, Carrol, and Grace were the most considerable among those attainted. The ruins of the seven churches of Clonmacnoise, situated on the bank of the Shannon, in the north-western part of this county, form one of the most interesting groups of ecclesiastical remains to be met with in the island. The buildings are of various dates, from, probably, the seventh century to the twelfth. St. Kieran of Clonard founded the abbey A.D. 548. It was subsequently, but at an uncertain date, raised to the rank of a cathedral church, and so continued til! A.D. 1568, when the see of Clonmacnoise was united to that of Meath. Surrounding the abbey is the antient burying-ground, containing about two Irish acres, and occupied with the sites and ruins of various religious houses. The whole is enclosed with a wall, at two of the angles of which are antient round towers, said to have been erected by O'Rourk and MacCarthy respectively. The buildings within the precincts are chiefly chapels, erected over family burying-places by the various Irish kings and chieftains, who, although at perpetual war in their lives, were contented to lie here peaceably in death.' They are:Temple-Righ, built by O'Melaughlin, king of Meath; Temple-Connor, built by O'Connor Dunn: Temple-MacDermot, founded by MacDermot, prince of Coolavin; and two others, founded by O'Kelly and MacCarthy More. The place was for many centuries the Iona of Ireland, and still continues to exhibit more numerous remains of antient monuments than any other cemetery in the country. Two monumental crosses, richly carved, stand near the western door of the Temple-MacDermot. One of these, fifteen feet in height, is formed of a single stone. There are the remains of several other religious houses in the immediate vicinity. The entire group occupies a gently swelling bank, rising from the Shannon about midway between Shannon Harbour and Athlone. The place is shut in on the north and east by a vast tract of bog, and has a peculiarly lovely and picturesque appearance. Twenty-eight other religious houses are enumerated in this county, of which the chief were:-Birr; Durrow, founded A.D. 550; Gallen on the Brosna, founded in the fifth century; Monastereoras, near Edenderry, founded by John Bermingham, earl of Louth, in the year 1325; and Seirkeıran, near Birr, founded A.D 402, by St. Kiaran the Elder, and for some time a KING'S YELLOW, the name given to orpiment, or the yellow sulphuret of arsenic, when used as a pigment. [ARSENIC.] KINGS, THE BOOKS OF, the name of two books of the Old Testament. They originally formed only one book in the Hebrew text, and are entitled, that is, 'kings' In the Septuagint they are divided into two books, and are entitled the third and fourth books of reigns' or kingdoms (Basiλev тpírη kai terápтn); since the first and second books of Samuel are called in this translation the first and second books of Kings. These books contain an account of Jewish history from the death of David to that of Solomon (1 Kings, i.-xi.); an account of the division of the kingdom under his successor Rehoboam, and the history of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, to the conquest of the former by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser (1 Kings, xii.—2 Kings, xvii.); and the separate history of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, till they were carried away captive to Babylon by Nebuchad nezzar in the reign of Jehoiachin. (2 Kings, xviii.-xxv.) These books, in common with the books of Chronicles and many others of the Old Testament, are generally ascribed to Ezra; but neither the author nor the time in which they were written can be determined with any degree of cer tainty. It is evident from many passages, and especially from the last chapter of these books, that a portion of them must have been written in the time of the Babylonian captivity; but there are also other passages which must have been written before the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, and while the temple at Jerusalem was still standing. (1 Kings, viii. 8; ix. 13, 21; x. 12; xii. 19; 2 Kings, vill. 22; x. 27; xiv. 7; xvii. 23, 34, 41.) It is therefore probable that these books are only a collection of different documents written by persons present at the events narrated, and that the compiler only wrote such portions as were necessary to connect the different documents, and to form one continuous narrative. There are many great discrepancies between these books and the books of Chronicles, which are mentioned and discussed in the article CHRONICLES. (The Introductions of Eichhorn, Jahn, De Wette, Bertholdt, Augusti, and Horne; Rosenmüller's Scholia.) KINGSCLERE, a village in Hampshire, remarkable for the exhibition of the green sand formation in the midst of the elevated chalk downs, on the line of an anticlinal axis passing east and west. The anticlinal axis passes through the middle of a valley (hence called a valley of elevation') in which the green sand appears; and it might seem on a first view that the discontinuity of the chalk was simply owing to elevation and fracture, but by considering the areas and slopes of the strata, in plans and sections on a true scale, it will immediately appear that a considerable mass of chalk must have been removed by denudation. For the knowledge of this interesting valley of elevation we are indebted to Dr. Buckland. (Geol. Trans., 2nd series, vol. ii) Mr. Lyell has contemplated it in connexion with the more extensive denudation of the Weald of Kent and Sussex. (Principies of Geol., book iv., ch. xxii.) KINGSTON. [JAMAICA] KINGSTON-ON-HULL. [HULL.] |