(George, Esq; F. R. S.), descended of an ancient and honourable family, was born about the year 1729 or 1730, and received his education at King's College, under the Rev. Mr Woodforde. From thence he went to Geneva, where he resided some years; and during his stay there, became acquainted with Voltaire, with whom he continued to correspond many years after he returned to England. After finishing the tour of Europe, he settled as a student in the Inner Temple, was called to the bar, and sometimes attended Westminster Hall; though he did not meet with encouragement enough to induce his perseverance in his profession, nor indeed does it seem probable that he had sufficient application for it. His first literary performance was "Ancient and Modern Rome," a poem written at Rome in the year 1755, printed in the year 1760, and received with considerable applause. The next year he published "A Short Account of the Ancient History, Present Government, and Laws, of the Republic of Geneva, 8vo." This work was compiled during the author's residence at Geneva; is a very useful one; and is dedicated to Monsieur de Voltaire; to whom he says, "When I reflect, that it was in this Republic, whose government I have attempted to describe, that I was first introduced to your acquaintance; when memory revives the hours of social mirth and refined entertainment which your hospitality and conversation afforded me—I cannot but rejoice in this occasion of expressing my gratitude; proud that, as your friendship distinguished the author of these pages in a foreign country, your name may at home adorn his labour." It was at one time the intention of Voltaire to translate this account into French, though he afterwards relinquished the design.

The next year, 1762, he produced an "Epistle from Lady Jane Gray to Lord Guildford Dudley:" and in 1763, "The Alps," a poem; the subject of which comprehends all that chain of mountains known under the general name of the Alps, extending from Italy to Germany, and from France to Tyrol, by whatever denomination they are particularly distinguished. Of all the poetical works of Mr Keate, this is intitled to the highest praise for truth of description, elegance of versification, and vigour of fancy.

Continuing to employ the press, in 1764 he published "Netley Abbey," which he afterwards, in 1766, enlarged and reprinted: and, in 1765, produced "The Temple Student, an Epistle to a Friend;" humorously rallying his own want of application to the study of the law, his preference of the belles lettres, and his consequent want of success in his profession. The death of Mrs Cibber in 1766, of whose merits as an actress he entertained the highest opinion, gave occasion for a poem to her memory, which celebrates her excellent performances on the stage, and laments the loss the theatre would sustain by her death.

In February 1769, he married Miss Hudson; and about the same time published "Ferney; an Epistle to M. de Voltaire." In this poem, after praising with energy the various beauties of his friend's poetical works, he introduces the following panegyric on Shakespeare:

Yes! jealous wits may still for empire strive, Still keep the flames of critic rage alive: Our Shakespeare yet shall all his rights maintain, And crown the triumphs of Eliza's reign. Above control, above each classic rule, His tutelar Nature, and the world his school, On soaring pinions borne, to him was given That aerial range of Fancy's brightest heav'n; To bid wrapt thought o'er noblest heights aspire, And wake each passion with a muse of fire. Revere his genius. To the dead be just, And spare the laurels that o'erlade the dust. Low sleeps the bard, in cold oblivion laid, Nor asks the chaplet from a rival's head. O'er the drear vault, Ambition's utmost bound, Unheard shall Fame her airy trumpet sound? Unheard alike; nor grief nor transport raise The blast of censure, or the note of praise! As Raphael's own creation grac'd his heart, And sham'd the pomp of ostentatious verse, Shall Shakespeare's honours by himself be paid, And Nature perish ere his pictures fade.

This eulogium on Shakespeare, in an epistle to Voltaire, who had laboured so long and strenuously to detract from the merit of our immortal bard, shews that Mr Keate had not given up his judgment to the sage of Ferney. How the old and envious sophister would relish his friend's conduct, may be easily conceived. His feelings were certainly very different from those of the mayor and burgesses of Stratford; when, in consequence of this panegyric on their townsman, they complimented Mr Keate with a flandish, mounted with silver, made out of the famous Mulberry tree planted by Shakespeare.

In 1773, he published "The Monument in Arcadia," a dramatic poem, built on the picture of Poussin, mentioned by Abbé du Bos in his "Critical Reflections on Poetry and Painting."

In 1779, Mr Keate produced one of his most successful works, intitled "Sketches from Nature;" taken and coloured in a Journey to Margate," 2 vols, 12mo. This performance, allowing it to be, as it really is, an imitation of Sterne's "Sentimental Journey;" yet contains so many pleasing delineations of life, so many strokes of humour, and so much elegance of composition, that few will hesitate to give it the preference to any other of Sterne's imitators.

In 1781, he collected his poetical works in two vols, 12mo, and added several new pieces not before printed. The principal of these was "The Helvetian;" a fragment, written at Geneva in the year 1756. In the preface to this performance he gives the following account of it: "During a long stay I many years since made at Geneva, I visited most of the principal places in Switzerland. The many sublime scenes with which nature hath enriched this romantic country; the tranquillity and content with which every individual enjoys his property; and, above all, that independence of mind which is ever the result of liberty—animated me with such veneration for the first authors of that freedom, whose figures are recorded to posterity either by sculpture or painting in the public parts of the towns thro' those little states, that my enthusiasm betrayed me into a design of writing a poem on this singular revolution; the argument of which I had divided into ten cantos, beginning the work with the oppressions of the House of Austria, and closing it with the battle of Montargent; by which those injured people finally renounced its usurpation, and formed among themselves those various confederacies that ended in the great union and alliance of the present thirteen cantons. When I had settled the whole plan of this work, I occasionally, as I found a disposition in myself, took up any part of the poem which at the moment most invited my thoughts; and enjoying at this time such an intercourse with M. de Voltaire as afforded me a constant access to him, I acquainted him with my intention, shewing him the argument I had drawn out for the conduct of the whole design. He kept it a few days; and, in returning it, told me, that he thought the great object of the piece, the episodes connected with the history, together with the scenery of the country, presented subject matter whereon to form a fine poem; 'but the time (added he) which such an undertaking will require, I would rather counsel you to employ on subjects that might more engage the public attention; for should you devote yourself to the completion of your present design, the Swifts would be much obliged to you, without being able to read you, and the rest of the world care little about the matter.' Feeling the force and justice of the remarks, Mr Keate laid aside his plan, and probably never resumed it. In the same year, 1781, he published "An Epistle to Angelica Kauffman."

A few years after, he became engaged in a long and vexatious law-suit, in consequence of the neglect (to say the least of it) of an architect, who professed himself to be his friend; the particulars of which it is of no importance to detail. At the conclusion of the business, he shewed that his good humour had not forsaken him: And in 1787 he gave to the public the principal circumstances of his case in a performance, intitled, "The Distressed Poet, a farce-comic Poem, in three Cantos," 4to, with some pleasantry, and without any acrimony.

His last work did infinite honour to his head and his heart, as well as to the liberality of the bookseller for whom on the title-page it was said to be published. In the year 1792, the Antelope packet was shipwrecked on the Pelew islands, where the commander, Captain Wilson, and his crew lived some time before they could get off. On his return to England, the Captain was, for some reason or other, refused the command of another ship; and, as we have been informed, he was reduced to a state much the reverse of affluence. These circumstances being communicated to Mr Keate, who was struck with admiration of the manners of the inhabitants of the Pelew islands. (See PALEW ISLANDS, Encyc.) he offered to draw up, for the benefit of Captain Wilson, a narrative of the occurrences which took place during that officer's residence among so singular a people. This he executed in "An Account of the Pelew Islands, situated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean: composed from the Journals and Communications of Captain Henry Wilson and some of his Officers, who in August 1783 were there shipwrecked, in the Antelope, a Packet belonging to the Honourable the East India Company," 4to; a work written with great elegance, compiled with much care, and which, if embellished (as it has been insinuated) with facts better calculated to have found a place in a novel than a genuine narrative, must be ascribed to the misinformation of those who were actors in the scene, and must first have deceived before they obtained credit. We mention this report as it has come to us, without any attempt either to establish or refute it. We shall only add, that if the charge is well founded, Mr Keate (who undertook the talk on the most disinterested principles, and derived no advantage whatever from the work) was too flurried a moralist to have had any hand in the imposition.—The manuscript was offered to Mr Dodley for 300 guineas; but he hesitated to give it for so large a price, when another bookseller undertook to publish the work for the benefit of Mr Wilson; and, we have reason to believe, paid to that gentleman, within the compass of a year, triple the sum for which the manuscript had been offered to Dodley. Such conduct reflects honour on the London trade.

Besides the pieces already mentioned, Mr Keate was the author of many Prologues and Epilogues, spoken at Mr Newcomb's school at Hackney. He adapted his friend Voltaire's "Semiramis" to the stage; but this was superseded in 1777 at Drury Lane, by a worthless translation of an worthless author, one Captain Aylcough; but neither this nor the author are deserving of any further notice.

We shall conclude by observing, that Mr Keate's life passed without any vicissitudes of fortune; he inherited an ample estate, which he did not attempt to increase otherwise than by those attentions which prudence dictated in the management of it. He was hospitable and beneficent, and possessed the good-will of mankind in a very eminent degree. For the last year or two, his health visibly declined; but on the day he died, it appeared to be somewhat mended. His death was sudden, on the 27th of June 1797. He left one daughter, married in 1796 to John Henderson, Esq; of the Adelphi. At the time of his death, Mr Keate Kennicott was a Bercher of the Temple, and a very old member of the Royal and Antiquary Societies, of both of which he had been frequently elected one of the council.