a monarch or potentate who rules singly and sovereignly. sovereignly over a people.—Camden derives the word from the Saxon cyning, which signifies the same; and that from can “power,” or ken “knowledge,” where- with every monarch is supposed to be invested. The Latin rex, the Scythian raix, the Punic resch, the Spa- nish rey, and French roy, come all, according to Po- stel, from the Hebrew roch, roch, “chief, head.”
Kings were not known amongst the Israelites till the reign of Saul. Before him they were governed at first by elders as in Egypt; then by princes of God’s appointment, as Moses and Joshua; then by judges till the time of Samuel; and last of all by kings. See Judges.
Most of the Grecian states were governed at first by kings, who were chosen by the people to decide differ- ences and execute a power which was limited by laws. They commanded armies, presided over the worship of the Gods, &c. This royalty was generally hereditary; but if the vices of the heir to the crown were odious to the people, or if the oracle had so commanded, he was cut off from the right of succession; yet the kings were supposed to hold their sovereignty by the ap- pointment of Jupiter. The ensign of majesty was the sceptre, which was made of wood adorned with studs of gold, and ornamented at the top with some figure; commonly that of an eagle, as being the bird of Jove.
Rome also was governed at first by kings, who were elected by the people, with the approbation of the senate and concurrence of the augurs. Their power extended to religion, the revenues, the army, and the administration of justice. The monarchical form of government subsisted 244 years in Rome, under seven kings, the last of whom was Tarquinius Superbus. See Rome.
Among the Greeks the king of Persia had ancient- ly the appellation of the great king; the king of France now has that of the most Christian king; and the king of Spain has that of Catholic king. The king of the Romans is a prince chosen by the emperor, as a coad- jutor in the government of the empire.
The kings of England, by the Lateran council, un- der Pope Julius II. had the title of Christianissimus con- ferred on them; and that of defender of the faith was added by pope Leo X. though it had been used by them some time before. The title of grace was first given to our kings about the time of Henry IV. and that of majesty first to Henry VIII. before which time our kings were called grace, bishops, &c.—In all pub- lic instruments and letters, the king styles himself nos “we;” though till the time of king John he spoke in the singular number.
The definition of king above given, is according to the general acceptation of the term. It will not there- fore strictly apply to the sovereign of Britain; and still less of late to that of France, formerly one of the most absolute, now the most degraded, of princes, without power and without consequence. In Britain, a happy mean prevails. The power of the king is indeed subject to great limitations: but they are the limitations of wisdom, and the sources of dignity; being so far from diminishing his honour, that they add a glory to his crown: For while other kings are absolute monarchs over innumerable multitudes of slaves, the king of Britain has the distinguished glo- ry of governing a free people, the least of whom is protected by the laws: he has great prerogatives, and a boundless power in doing good; and is at the same time only restrained from acting inconsistently with his own happiness, and that of his people.
To understand the royal rights and authority in Brit- ain, we must consider the king under six distinct views. 1. With regard to his title. 2. His royal family. 3. His councils. 4. His duties. 5. His prerogative. 6. His revenue.
I. His title. For this, see Hereditary Right, and Succession.
II. His royal family. See Royal Family.
III. His councils. See Council.
IV. His duties. By our constitution, there are certain duties incumbent on the king; in considera- tion of which, his dignity and prerogative are establis- hed by the laws of the land: it being a maxim in the law, that protection and subjection are reciprocal. And these reciprocal duties are what Sir William Black- stone apprehends were meant by the convention in 1688, when they declared that king James had broken the original contract between king and people. But however, as the terms of that original contract were in some measure disputed, being alleged to exist prin- cipally in theory, and to be only deducible by reason and the rules of natural law, in which deduction dif- ferent understandings might very considerably differ; it was, after the revolution, judged proper to declare these duties expressly, and to reduce that contract to a plain certainty. So that, whatever doubts might be formerly raised by weak and scrupulous minds about the existence of such an original contract, they must now entirely cease; especially with regard to every prince who hath reigned since the year 1688.
The principal duty of the king is, To govern his people according to law. Nec regibus infinita aut libera potestas, was the constitution of our German ancestors on the continent. And this is not only consonant to the principles of nature, of liberty, of reason, and of society; but has always been esteemed an express part of the common law of England, even when pre- rogative was at the highest. “The king (faith Brac- ton, who wrote under Henry III.) ought not to be subject to man; but to God, and to the law: for the law maketh the king. Let the king therefore render to the law, what the law has invested in him with regard to others; dominion, and power: for he is not truly king, where will and pleasure rules, and not the law.” And again: “The king hath a superior, namely God; and also the law, by which he was made a king.” Thus Bracton; and Fortescue also, having first well distinguished between a monarchy absolutely and despotically regal, which is introduced by conquest and violence, and a political or civil monarchy, which arises from mutual consent (of which last species he affirms the government of England to be), immediately lays it down as a principle, that “the king of England must rule his people according to the decrees of the laws thereof; insomuch that he is bound by an oath at his coronation to the observance and keeping of his own laws.” But to obviate all doubts and difficulties concerning this matter, it is expressly declared by sta- tute 12 and 13 W. III. c. 2. “that the laws of Eng- land are the birthright of the people thereof; and all the kings and queens who shall ascend the throne of this realm ought to administer the government of the same according to the said laws, and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them respectfully according to the same: and therefore all the other laws and statutes of this realm, for securing the established religion, and the rights and liberties of the people thereof, and all other laws and statutes of the same now in force, are by his majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, and by authority of the same, ratified and confirmed accordingly."
And as to the terms of the original contract between king and people, these, it is apprehended, are now couched in the coronation-oath, which by the statute 1 W. & M. st. i. c. 6. is to be administered to every king and queen who shall succeed to the imperial crown of these realms, by one of the archbishops or bishops of the realm, in the presence of all the people; who on their parts do reciprocally take the oath of allegiance to the crown. This coronation-oath is conceived in the following terms:
"The archbishop or bishop shall say, Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of Britain, and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the statutes in parliament agreed, and the laws and customs of the same?—The king or queen shall say, I solemnly promise so to do.
"Archbishop or bishop. Will you to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?—King or queen. I will.
"Archbishop or bishop. Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion established by the law? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them?—King or queen. All this I promise to do.
"After this the king or queen, laying his or her hand upon the holy gospel, shall say, The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep: so help me God. And then shall kiss the book."
This is the form of the coronation-oath, as it is now prescribed by our laws; the principal articles of which appear to be at least as ancient as the Mirror of Justices, and even as the time of Bracton: but the wording of it was changed at the revolution, because (as the statute alleges) the oath itself had been framed in doubtful words and expressions, with relation to ancient laws and constitutions at this time unknown. However, in what form soever it be conceived, this is most indubitably a fundamental and original express contract; though, doubtless, the duty of protection is implied as much incumbent on the sovereign before coronation as after; in the same manner as allegiance to the king becomes the duty of the subject immediately on the descent of the crown, before he has taken the oath of allegiance, or whether he ever takes it at all. This reciprocal duty of the subject will be considered in its proper place. At present we are only to observe, that in the king's part of this original contract are expressed all the duties which a monarch can owe to his people, viz. to govern according to law; to execute judgment in mercy; and to maintain the established religion. And with respect to the latter of these three branches, we may farther remark, that by the act of union, 5 Ann. c. 8. two preceding statutes are recited and confirmed; the one of the parliament of Scotland, the other of the parliament of England: which enact; the former, that every king at his accession shall take and subscribe an oath, to preserve the Protestant religion, and presbyterian church-government in Scotland; the latter, that at his coronation he shall take and subscribe a similar oath, to preserve the settlement of the church of England within England, Ireland, Wales, and Berwick, and the territories thereunto belonging.
V. His prerogative. See PREROGATIVE.
VI. His revenue. See REVENUE.
Having in the preceding articles chalked out all the principal outlines of this vast title of the law, the supreme executive magistrate, or the king's majesty, considered in his several capacities and points of view; it may not be improper to take a short comparative review of the power of the executive magistrate, or prerogative of the crown, as it stood in former days, and as it stands at present. And we cannot but observe, that most of the laws for ascertaining, limiting, and restraining this prerogative, have been made within the compass of little more than a century past; from the petition of right in 3 Car. I. to the present time. So that the powers of the crown are now to all appearance greatly curtailed and diminished since the reign of king James I. particularly by the abolition of the star-chamber and high-commission courts in the reign of Charles I. and by the disclaiming of martial law, and the power of levying taxes on the subject, by the same prince: by the dilute of forest-laws for a century past: and by the many excellent provisions enacted under Charles II.; especially the abolition of military tenures, purveyance, and pre-emption; the habeas corpus act; and the act to prevent the discontinuance of parliaments for above three years; and since the revolution, by the strong and emphatical words in which our liberties are affected in the bill of rights, and act of settlement; by the act for triennial, since turned into septennial elections; by the exclusion of certain officers from the house of commons; by rendering the seats of the judges permanent, and their salaries independent; and by restraining the king's pardon from obstructing parliamentary impeachments. Besides all this, if we consider how the crown is impoverished and stripped of all its ancient revenues, so that it greatly depends on the liberality of parliament for its necessary support and maintenance, we may perhaps be led to think that the balance is inclined pretty strongly to the popular scale, and that the executive magistrate has neither independence nor power enough left, to form that check upon the lords and commons which the founders of our constitution intended.
But, on the other hand, it is to be considered, that every prince, in the first parliament after his accession, has by long usage a truly royal addition to his hereditary revenue settled upon him for his life; and has never any occasion to apply to parliament for supplies, but upon some public necessity of the whole realm. This restores to him that constitutional independence, which at his first accession seems, it must be owned, to be wanting. And then with regard to power, we may find perhaps that the hands of government are at least sufficiently strengthened; and that a British monarch is now in no danger of being overborne by either the nobility or the people. The instruments of power are not perhaps so open and avowed as they formerly were, and therefore are the less liable to jealous and invidious reflections; but they are not the weaker upon that account. In short, our national debt and taxes (besides the inconveniences before mentioned), have also in their natural consequences thrown such a weight of power into the executive scale of government, as we cannot think was intended by our patriot ancestors; who gloriously struggled for the abolition of the then formidable parts of the prerogative, and by an unaccountable want of foresight established this system in their stead. The entire collection and management of so vast a revenue, being placed in the hands of the crown, have given rise to such a number of new officers, created by and removable at the royal pleasure, that they have extended the influence of government to every corner of the nation. Witness the commissioners, and the multitude of dependents on the customs, in every port of the kingdom; the commissioners of excise, and their numerous subalterns, in every inland district; the post masters and their servants, planted in every town, and upon every public road; the commissioners of the stamps, and their distributors, which are fully as scattered and fully as numerous; the officers of the salt duty, which, though a species of excise, and conducted in the same manner, are yet made a distinct corps from the ordinary managers of that revenue; the surveyors of houses and windows; the receivers of the land-tax; the managers of lotteries; and the commissioners of hackney-coaches; all which are either mediately or immediately appointed by the crown, and removable at pleasure without any reason assigned: these, it requires but little penetration to see, must give that power, on which they depend for subsistence, an influence most amazingly extensive. To this may be added the frequent opportunities of conferring particular obligations, by preference in loans, subscriptions, tickets, remittances, and other money-transactions, which will greatly increase this influence; and that over those persons whose attachment, on account of their wealth, is frequently the most desirable. All this is the natural, though perhaps the unforeseen, consequence of erecting our funds of credit, and to support them, establishing our perpetual taxes: the whole of which is entirely new since the restoration in 1660; and by far the greatest part since the revolution in 1688. And the same may be said with regard to the officers in our numerous army, and, the places which the army has created. All which put together give the executive power so persuasive an energy with respect to the persons themselves, and so prevailing an interest with their friends and families, as will amply make amends for the loss of external prerogative.
But though this profusion of offices should have no effect on individuals, there is still another newly acquired branch of power; and that is, not the influence only, but the force of a disciplined army: paid indeed ultimately by the people, but immediately by the crown; raised by the crown, officered by the crown, commanded by the crown. They are kept on foot, it is true, only from year to year, and that by the power of parliament: but during that year, they must by the nature of our constitution, if raised at all, be at the absolute disposal of the crown. And there need but few words to demonstrate how great a trust is thereby reposed in the prince by his people: A trust that is more than equivalent to a thousand little troublesome prerogatives.
Add to all this, that besides the civil list, the immense revenue of almost seven millions sterling, which is annually paid to the creditors of the public, or carried to the sinking fund, is first deposited in the royal exchequer, and thence issued out to the respective offices of payment. This revenue the people can never refuse to raise, because it is made perpetual by act of parliament; which also, when well considered, will appear to be a trust of great delicacy and high importance.
Upon the whole, therefore, it seems clear, that whatever may have become of the nominal, the real power of the crown has not been too far weakened by any transactions in the last century. Much is indeed given up; but much is also acquired. The stern commands of prerogative have yielded to the milder voice of influence: the slavish and exploded doctrine of non-resistance has given way to a military establishment by law; and to the dilute of parliaments has succeeded a parliamentary trust of an immense perpetual revenue. When, indeed, by the free operation of the sinking fund, our national debts shall be lessened; when the posture of foreign affairs, and the universal introduction of a well planned and national militia, will suffer our formidable army to be thinned and regulated; and when (in consequence of all) our taxes shall be gradually reduced; this adventitious power of the crown will slowly and imperceptibly diminish, as it slowly and imperceptibly rose. But till that shall happen, it will be our especial duty, as good subjects and good Englishmen, to reverence the crown, and yet guard against corrupt and servile influences from those who are intrusted with its authority; to be loyal, yet free; obedient, and yet independent; and above every thing, to hope that we may long, very long, continue to be governed by a sovereign, who, in all those public acts that have personally proceeded from himself, hath manifested the highest veneration for the free constitution of Britain; hath already in more than one instance remarkably strengthened its outworks; and will therefore never harbour a thought, or adopt a persuasion, in any the remotest degree detrimental to public liberty.
King at Arms, or of Arms, is an officer of great antiquity, and anciently of great authority, whose business is to direct the heralds, preside at their chapters, and have the jurisdiction of armory.
In England there are three kings of arms, viz. garter, clarenceux, and norroy.
Garter, principal King at Arms, was instituted by Henry V. His business is to attend the knights of the garter at their assemblies, to marshal the solemnities at the funerals of the highest nobility, and to carry the garter to kings and princes beyond the sea; on which occasion he used to be joined in commission with some principal peer of the kingdom. See Garter. Clarenceux King at Arms, is so called from the duke of Clarence, to whom he first belonged. His office is to marshal and dispose the funerals of all the inferior nobility, as baronets, knights, esquires, and gentlemen, on the south side of the Trent. See Clarenceux.
Norroy King at Arms, is to do the same on the north side of the river Trent.
These two last are also called provincial heralds; in regard they divide the kingdom between them into provinces. By charter, they have power to visit noblemen's families, to set down their pedigrees, distinguish their arms, appoint persons their arms, and with gar- ter to direct the other heralds.
Anciently the kings at arms were created and solemnly crowned by the kings of England themselves; but of later days, the earl marshal has a special commission at every creation to perform the king.
Lyon King at Arms, for Scotland, is the second king at arms for Great Britain; he is invested and crowned with great solemnity. To him belongs the publishing king's proclamations, marshalling funerals, reversing arms, &c. See Lyon.
King (Dr John), a learned English bishop in the 17th century, died at Westminster-school, and afterward at Christ church Oxford. He was appointed chaplain to queen Elizabeth. In 1605 he was made dean of Christ-church, and was for several years vice-chancellor of Oxford. In 1611 he was advanced to the bishopric of London. Besides his Lectures upon Jonah, delivered at York, he published several sermons. King James I. used to style him the king of preachers; and lord chief justice Coke often declared, that he was the best speaker in the star-chamber in his time. He was so constant in preaching after he was a bishop, that, unless he was hindered by want of health, he omitted no Sunday whereon he did not visit some pulpit in London or near it. Soon after his death, the Papists reported, that he died a member of their church. But the falsity of this story was sufficiently exposed by his son Mr Henry King, in a sermon at St Paul's cross soon after; by bishop Godwin in the Appendix to his Commentarius de praefiliis Angliae, printed in 1622; and by Mr John Gee, in his book, intitled, The foot out of the snare.
King (Dr Henry), bishop of Chichester, eldest son of the former, was born in 1591, and educated at Oxford. He became an eminent preacher, and chaplain to king James I. and Charles I. In 1638 he was made dean of Rochester; and in 1641 was advanced to the see of Chichester. Upon the breaking out of the civil wars, and the dissolution of episcopacy, he was treated with great severity by the friends to the parliament; but recovered his bishopric at the restoration. This worthy prelate, who had a most amiable character, died in 1669; and was interred at his cathedral of Chichester, where a monument was erected to his memory. He published, 1. The psalms of David turned into metre. 2. Poems, elegies, paradoxes, and fonnets. 3. Several sermons, and other works.
King (Dr William), a facetious English writer in the beginning of the 18th century, was well descended, being allied to the noble families of Clarendon and Rochester. He was elected a student of Christ-church from Westminster-school in 1681, aged 18. He afterward entered upon the law line, and took the degree of doctor of civil law. He soon acquired a considerable reputation as a civilian, and was in great practice. He attended the earl of Pembroke, lord lieutenant of Ireland, into that kingdom, where he was appointed judge-advocate, sole commissioner of the prizes, keeper of the records, vicar-general to the lord primate of Ireland; was countenanced by persons of the highest rank, and might have made a fortune. But so far was he from heaping up riches, that he returned to England with no other treasure than a few merry poems and humorous essays, and retired to his students place at Christ-church. He died on Christmas-day in 1712, and was interred in the Cloisters of Westminster abbey. His writings are pretty numerous. The principal are, 1. Animadversions on a pretended account of Denmark, wrote by Mr Moleworth, afterwards lord Moleworth. The writing of these procured Dr King the place of secretary to princess Anne of Denmark. 2. Dialogues of the dead. 3. The art of love, in imitation of Ovid De arte amandi. 4. A volume of poems. 5. Useful transactions. 6. An historical account of the heathen gods and heroes. 7. Several translations.—As to the character of Dr King, he naturally hated business, especially that of an advocate; but made an excellent judge when appointed one of the court of delegates. His chief pleasure consisted in trifles; and he was never happier than when he thought he was hid from the world. Yet he loved company, provided they were such as tallied with his humour. He would say a great many ill-natured things, but never do one. He was made up of tenderness and pity, and tears would fall from him on the smallest occasion. His education had been strict, and he was naturally of a religious disposition.
King (Dr William), archbishop of Dublin in the 18th century, was descended from an ancient family in the north of Scotland, but born in the county of Antrim in the north of Ireland. In 1674 he went into priest orders. In 1679 he was promoted by his patron, Dr Parker, archbishop of Dublin, to the chancellorship of St Patrick. In 1677 Peter Manby, dean of Londonderry, having published at London, in 4to, a pamphlet intitled Considerations which obliged Peter Manby dean of Londonderry to embrace the Catholic religion, our author immediately wrote an answer. Mr Manby, encouraged by the court, and assisted by the most learned champions of the church of Rome, published a reply under this title, A reformed catechism, in two dialogues concerning the English reformation, &c. in reply to Mr King's answer, &c. Our author soon rejoined in A vindication of the answer. Mr Manby dropped the controversy; but dispersed a loose sheet of paper, artfully written, with this title, A letter to a friend, shewing the vanity of this opinion, that every man's sense and reason are to guide him in matters of faith. This Dr King retorted in A vindication of the Christian religion and reformation, against the attempts of a letter, &c. In 1680 he was twice confined in the tower by order of king James II. and the same year commenced doctor of divinity. In 1690, upon king James's retreat to France after the battle at the Boyne, he was advanced to the see of Derry. In 1692 he published at London in 4to, The state of the Protestants of Ireland under the late king James's government, &c. A history (says bishop Burnet), as truly as it is finely written." He had by him at his death attested vouchers of every particular fact alleged in this book, which are now in the hands of his relations. However, it was soon attacked by Mr Charles Leffly. In 1693 our author finding the great number of Protestant dissenters, in his diocese of Kerry, increased by a vast addition of colonies from Scotland, in order to persuade them to conformity to the established church, published A discourse concerning the inventions of men in the worship of God. Mr Joseph Boyse, a dissenting minister, wrote an answer. The bishop answered Mr Boyse. The latter replied. The bishop rejoined. In 1702 he published at Dublin, in 4to, his celebrated treatise De origine malii. Mr Edmund Law, M.A., fellow of Christ's college in Cambridge, afterward published a complete translation of this, with very valuable notes, in 4to. In the second edition he has inserted, by way of notes, a large collection of the author's papers on the same subject, which he had received from his relations after the publication of the former edition. Our author in this excellent treatise has many curious observations. He affirms and proves that there is more moral good in the earth than moral evil. A sermon by our author, preached at Dublin in 1709, was published under the title of Divine predestination and foreknowledge consistent with the freedom of man's will. This was attacked by Anthony Collins, Esq.; in a pamphlet intitled, "A vindication of the divine attributes; or some remarks on the archbishop of Dublin's sermon intitled, Divine predestination, &c." He published likewise, A discourse concerning the consecration of churches; shewing what is meant by dedicating them, with the grounds of that office. He died in 1720.
King (Dr William), late principal of St Mary's hall, Oxford, son of the reverend Peregrine King, was born at Stepney in Middlesex, in the year 1685. He was made doctor of laws in 1715, was secretary to the duke of Ormond, and earl of Arran, as chancellor of the university; and was made principal of St Mary's hall on the death of Dr Hudson in 1719. When he stood candidate for member of parliament for the university, he resigned his office of secretary, but enjoyed his other preferment, and it was all he did enjoy to the time of his death. Dr Clark, who opposed him, carried the election; and after this disappointment, he in the year 1727 went over to Ireland, where he is said to have written an epic poem, called The Tope, which was a political satire, printed and given away to his friends, but never sold. On the dedication of Dr Radcliffe's library in 1749, he spoke a Latin oration in the theatre at Oxford, which was received with the highest acclamations; but it was otherwise when printed, he being attacked in several pamphlets on account of it. Again, at the memorable contested election in Oxfordshire 1755, his attachment to the old interest drew on him the resentment of the new, and he was libelled in newspapers and pamphlets, against which he defended himself in an Apology, and warmly retaliated on his adversaries. He wrote several other things, and died in 1762. He was a polite scholar, an excellent orator, an elegant and easy writer, and esteemed by the first men of his time for his learning and wit.
King (Peter), lord high chancellor of Great Britain, was descended of a good family of that name in Somersetshire, and son to an eminent grocer and salter in the city of Exeter in Devonshire. He was born at Exeter in 1669, and bred up for some years to his father's business; but his inclination to learning was so strong, that he laid out all the money he could spare in books, and devoted every moment of his leisure hours to study; so that he became an excellent scholar before the world suspected any such thing; and gave the public a proof of his skill in church history, in his Inquiry into the constitution, discipline, unity, and worship, of the primitive church, that flourished within the first 300 years after Christ, London, 1691, in 8vo. This was written with a view to promote the scheme of a comprehension of the dissenters. He afterwards published the second part of the Inquiry into the constitution, &c.; and having desired, in his preface, to be shown, either publicly or privately, any mistakes he might have made, that request was first complied with by Mr Edmund Elys; between whom and our author there passed several letters upon the subject, in 1692, which were published by Mr Elys in 1694, 8vo, under the title of Letters on several subjects. But the most formal and elaborate answer to the Inquiry appeared afterwards, in a work intitled, Original draught of the primitive church.
His acquaintance with Mr Locke, to whom he was related, and who left him half his library at his death, was of great advantage to him: by his advice, after he had studied some time in Holland, he applied himself to the study of the law; in which profession his learning and diligence made him soon taken notice of. In the two last parliaments during the reign of King William, and in five parliaments during the reign of Queen Anne, he served as burgess for Beer-Alton in Devonshire. In 1702, he published at London, in 8vo, without his name, his History of the apostle's creed, with critical observations on its several articles; which is highly esteemed. In 1708, he was chosen recorder of the city of London; and in 1710, was one of the members of the house of commons at the trial of Dr Sacheverell. In 1714, he was appointed lord chief justice of the common-pleas; and the April following, was made one of the privy-council. In 1715, he was created a peer, by the title of Lord King, baron of Ockham in Surrey, and appointed lord high chancellor of Great Britain; in which post he continued till 1733, when he resigned; and in 1734 died at Ockham in Surrey.
King's Bench. See Bench (King's). King's Bird. See Paradisea. King's Filler. See Alcedo. Books of Kings, two canonical books of the Old Testament, so called, because they contain the history of the kings of Israel and Judah from the beginning of the reign of Solomon down to the Babylonish captivity, for the space of near 600 years. The first book of kings contains the latter part of the life of David, and his death; the flourishing state of the Israelites under Solomon, his building and dedicating the temple of Jerusalem, his shameful defection from the true religion, and the sudden decay of the Jewish nation after his death, when it was divided into two kingdoms; the rest of the book is taken up in relating the acts of four kings of Judah and eight of Israel. The second book, which is a continuation of the same history, is a relation of the memorable acts of 16 kings of Judah, and 12 of Israel, and the end of both kingdoms, by the carrying of the 10 tribes captive into Assyria by Salmanasar, and the other two into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.
It is probable that these books were composed by Lara, who extracted them out of the public records, which were kept of what passed in that nation.
King's-County, a county of the province of Leinster in Ireland, taking its name from king Philip of Spain, husband to queen Mary. It is bounded on the north by West Meath; on the south by Tipperary and Queen's-county, from which it is divided by the Barrow; and part of Tipperary and Galway on the west, from which it is separated by the Shannon. It is a fine fruitful country, containing 257,510 Irish plantation acres, 56 parishes, 11 baronies, and two boroughs, and returns six members to parliament. It is about 47 miles long and 17 broad, and the chief town is Philipstown.
King's Evil, or Scrophula. See Medicine Index.
KING-TETCHING, a famous village belonging to the district of Jao-tcheou-fou, a city of China in the province of Kiang-si. This village, in which are collected the best workmen in porcelain, is as populous as the largest cities of China. It is reckoned to contain a million of inhabitants, who consume every day more than ten thousand loads of rice. It extends a league and a half along the banks of a beautiful river, and is not a collection of straggling houses intermixed with spots of ground; on the contrary, the people complain that the buildings are too crowded, and that the long streets which they form are too narrow; those who pass through them imagine themselves transported into the midst of a fair, where nothing is heard around but the noise of porters calling out to make way. Provisions are dear here, because everything consumed is brought from remote places; even wood, so necessary for their furnaces, is actually transported from the distance of an hundred leagues. This village, notwithstanding the high price of provisions, is an asylum for a great number of poor families, who could not subsist anywhere else. Children and invalids find employment here, and even the blind gain a livelihood by pounding colours. The river in this place forms a kind of harbour about a league in circumference: two or three rows of barks placed in a line sometimes border the whole extent of this vast basin.