the East Indies, a Mahometan judge or magistrate; appointed originally by the court of Delhi to administer justice according to their written law; but particularly in matters relative to marriages, the sales of houles, and transgressions of the Koran. He attests or authenticates writings, which under his seal are admitted as the originals in proof.

Keate, George, Esq. F.R.S., an eminent English writer, was born in 1730, and educated at Kingston school, after which he went to Geneva, where he resided for some years, and became acquainted with M. Voltaire. When he made the tour of Europe, he became a student in the Inner Temple, was called to the bar, but did not meet with such encouragement as to induce him to persevere. In the year 1760 he published his Ancient and Modern Rome, a poem which was received with considerable applause, and the following year he gave the world A short Account of the Ancient History, present Government and Laws of the Republic of Geneva, 8vo., dedicated to Voltaire, who once intended to translate it into French, but afterwards abandoned his design.

In 1762 he produced an Epistle from Lady Jane Gray to Lord Guildford Dudley; and next year the Alps, a poem, believed to be the best he ever wrote, for truth of description, vigour of fancy, and beauty of versification. In 1764 appeared Netley Abbey, and in 1765, The Temple Student, an Epistle to a Friend, in which he rallies his own want of application to the study of the law, and his consequent want of success in that profession. In 1766 he published a poem to the memory of Mrs Cibber, of whose talents as an actress he entertained a very high opinion. He married in 1769 Miss Hudson, and about the same period he published Ferney, an Epistle to Voltaire. Having praised with energy the beauties of that philosopher's poetical works, he introduces a grand panegyric on the immortal Shakespeare, whom Voltaire used every effort to depreciate, probably from a spirit of envy. This eulogium made the mayor and burgesses of Stratford present our author with a standish mounted with silver, made out of the famous mulberry tree which Shakespeare had planted.

In 1775 appeared his Monument in Arcadia, a dramatic poem; and in 1779 he published his Sketches from Nature, taken and coloured in a Journey to Margate, justly allowed to be an elegant composition. In the year 1787 came out The Distressed Poet, a satiric poem, in three cantos, occasioned by a long and vexatious law-suit. His last work was perhaps the most honourable of the whole, both to his head and to his heart. Captain Willson of the Antelope packet having suffered shipwreck on the Pelew islands, was refused any farther command, and reduced to distress, which induced the humane Keate to publish an account... of these islands for the benefit of that gentleman, which, it is said, brought him about 900 guineas in the space of a year. This work is written with much elegance, although it is probable the amiable part of the manners of the natives of Pelew is somewhat highly coloured.

The life of this poet was spent without any vicissitudes of fortune; he was possessed of a very ample estate, which he never attempted to increase but by prudence in the management of it. He was a man of beneficence and hospitality, and enjoyed the favour of mankind in a very high degree. His health had been gradually declining towards the close of his life. He died in June 1797, leaving one daughter.