KING’S COUNTY (66), an inland Irish county on the left bank of the Shannon, between Tipperary and West Meath; is mostly flat, a quarter of it bogland and a quarter under crops; the chief towns are Tullamore (5), the county town, on the Grand Canal, and Birr or Parsonstown (4), where Lord Rosse’s great telescope is.

KINGSLEY, CHARLES, canon of Westminster and chaplain to the Queen, born at Holne Vicarage, near Dartmoor; studied at Cambridge; became rector of Eversley, in Hampshire, in 1844; was the author in 1848 of a drama, entitled “The Saint’s Tragedy,” with St. Elizabeth of Hungary for heroine, which was followed successively by “Alton Locke” (1849), and “Yeast” (1851), chiefly in a Socialistic interest; “Hypatia,” a brilliant book in the interest of early Christianity in Alexandria and “Westward Ho!” a narrative of the rivalry of England with Spain in the days of Elizabeth, and besides other works, including “Two Years Ago,” “Water Babies,” and “Hereward the Wake,” he was the author of the popular ballads of “The Three Fishers,” “The Starlings,” and “The Sands of Dee”; his writings had a great influence on his contemporaries, particularly on young men; Professor Saintsbury writes an appreciative estimate of Kingsley (1819-1875).

KINGSLEY, HENRY, younger brother of the preceding; after a brief experience of life in Australia he returned home to start on the career of letters in rivalry with his brother, and distinguished himself by exhibitions of similar literary ability, as a novelist especially, as well as kindred sympathies; his principal novels were “Geoffrey Hamlyn,” one of the best novels on Australian life; “Ravenshoe,” his masterpiece, and “The Hillyars and the Burtons” (1830-1876).

KINGSTON, 1, capital (13) of Frontenac County, Ontario, on the NE. shore of the Lake, 150 m.  E. of Toronto, an important commercial town with shipbuilding and engineering works; is the seat of Queen’s University, military and medical colleges, and an observatory. 2, Capital (47) of Jamaica, on a great bay on the S. coast, on the edge of a sugar-growing district; exports sugar, tobacco, and dye-woods, and imports cotton, flour, and rice. 3, a town (21) on the Hudson, N.Y., has great blue stone-flag quarries, and cement-works, breweries, and tanneries.

KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES (27), in Surrey, 10 m.  SW. of London, has a fine church and other buildings, and malting industry.

KINGSTON, W. H. G., popular boys’ story-writer, born in London, spent his youth in Oporto, was interested in philosophic schemes, and helped to arrange the Anglo-Portuguese commercial treaty; he wrote 120 tales, of which the “Three Midshipmen” series is the best, and died at Willesden (1814-1880).

KINGSTOWN, seaport of Dublin, 7 m.  SE.; was till 1817 but a fishing village; has a harbour designed by Rennie, which cost L525,000; was originally Dunleary, and changed into Kingstown on George IV.’s visit in 1821.