an old Saxon word, which had at first a sense of simplicity and innocence, for it signified a boy: Sax. cnapa, whence a knave child, i.e. a boy, distinguished from a girl, in several old writers; afterwards it was taken for a servant boy, and at length for any servant man. Also it was applied to a minister or officer that bore the shield or weapon of his superior; as field knapa, whom the Latins call armiger, and the French efuyer, 14 Edw. III. c. 3. And it was sometimes of old made use of as a titular addition; as Joannes C. filius Willielmi C. de Derby, knave, &c. 22 Hen. VII. The word is now perverted to the hardest meaning, viz. a false deceitful fellow.

**Knaveship**, in *Scots Law*, one of the names of the small duties payable in thirage to the miller's servants, called *figeals*.

**Knautia**, a genus of plants belonging to the tetrandra clasps, and in the natural method ranking under the 48th order, *Aggregate*. See *Botany Index*.

**Knee**, in *Anatomy*, the articulation of the thigh and leg bones. See *Anatomy*, No. 59.

**Knee**, in a ship, a crooked piece of timber, having two branches or arms, and generally used to connect the beams of a ship with her sides or timbers.

The branches of the knees form an angle of greater or smaller extent, according to the mutual situation of the pieces which they are designed to unite. One branch is securely bolted to one of the deck beams, whilst the other is in the same manner attached to a corresponding timber in the ship's side, as represented by E in the plate of *Midship Frame*.

Besides the great utility of knees in connecting the beams and timbers into one compact frame, they contribute greatly to the strength and solidity of the ship, in the different parts of her frame to which they are bolted; and thereby enable her with greater firmness to resist the effects of a turbulent sea.

In fixing of these pieces, it is occasionally necessary to give an oblique direction to the vertical or side branch, in order to avoid the range of an adjacent gunport, or because the knee may be so shaped as to require this disposition; it being sometimes difficult to procure so great a variety of knees as may be necessary in the construction of a number of ships of war.

In France, the scarcity of these pieces has obliged their shipwrights frequently to form their knees of iron.

Knees are either said to be *lodging* or *hanging*. The former are fixed horizontally in the ship's frame, having one arm bolted to the beam, and the other across two or three timbers, as represented in the Deck, Plate CLXIX. The latter are fixed vertically, as we have described above. See also *Ship-Building*, *Deck*, and *Midship Frame*.

**Knee of the Head**, a large flat piece of timber, fixed edgewise upon the fore part of a ship's stem, and supporting the ornamental figure or image placed under the bowprit. See *Ship-Building*.

The knee of the head, which may properly be defined a continuation of the stem, as being prolonged from the stem forwards, is extremely broad at the upper part, and accordingly composed of several pieces united into one, YY (*Pieces of the Hull*, in *Ship-Building Plates*). It is let into the head, and secured to the ship's bows by strong knees fixed horizontally upon both, and called the cheeks of the head. The heel of it is scarfed to the upper end of the fore foot; and it is fastened to the stem above by a knee, called a *flan- dard*, expressed by & in the plate.

Besides supporting the figure of the head, this piece is otherwise useful, as serving to secure the boom or buntin, by which the fore tack is extended to windward; and by its great breadth, preventing the ship from falling to leeward when close hauled so much as she would otherwise do. It also affords a greater security to the bowprit, by increasing the angle of the bob-stay, so as to make it act more perpendicularly on the bowprit.

The knee of the head is a phrase peculiar to shipwrights; as this piece is always called the cut-water by seamen, if we except a few, who, affecting to be wiser than their brethren, having adopted this expression probably on the presumption that the other is a cant phrase or vulgarism.

**Carling Knees**, in a ship, those timbers which extend from the ship to the hatchway, and bear up the deck on both sides.

**Kneller**, Sir Godfrey, a painter, whose fame is well established in these kingdoms. He was born at Lubeck in 1623; and received his first instructions in the school of Rembrandt, but became afterwards a disciple of Ferdinand Bol. When he had gained as much knowledge as that school afforded him, he travelled to Rome, where he fixed his particular attention on Titian and the Caracci. He afterwards visited Venice, and distinguished himself so effectually in that city by his historical pictures and portraits of the noble families there, that his reputation became considerable in Italy. By the advice of some friends he came at last to England, where it was his good fortune to gain the favour of the duke of Monmouth; by his recommendation, he drew the picture of King Charles II. more than once; who was so taken with his skill in doing it, that he used to come and sit to him at his house in Covent Garden piazza. The death of Sir Peter Lely left him without a competitor in England, and from that time his fortune and fame were thoroughly established. No painter could have more excellent employment, and no painter could be more distinguished by public honour. He was flate painter to Charles II., James II., William III., Queen Anne, and George I.; equally esteemed and respected by them all; the emperor Leopold made him a knight of the Roman empire, and King George I. created him a baronet. Most of the nobility and gentry had their likenesses taken by him, and no painter excelled him in a fine outline, or in the graceful disposition of his figures; his works were celebrated by the best poets in his time. He built himself an elegant house at Whitton near Hampton Court, where he spent the latter part of his life; and died in 1766.

**Knife**, a well known instrument, made for cutting, and adapted in form to the uses for which it is designed.

Knives are said to have been first made in England in 1563, by one Matthews, on Fleet Bridge, London. The importation of all sorts of knives is prohibited.

**Knight (eques)**, among the Romans, a person of the second degree of nobility, following immediately that of the senators. See *Equestrian Order*, and *Equites*.

**Knight**, (or *Cnacht*, Germ.), in feudal history, was originally an appellation or title given by the ancient Germans to their youth after being admitted to the privilege of bearing arms.

The patron for arms among the Germanic states, as described by Dr Stuart *, was carried to extremity. It was amidst scenes of death and peril that the young Society in were educated; it was by valour and feats of prowess that the ambitious signalized their manhood. All the honours