Значение слова KINGSLEY в Литературной энциклопедии

KINGSLEY

1) CHARLES (1819-1875).-Novelist and historian, _s._ of a clergyman, was _b._ at Holne Vicarage near Dartmoor, but passed most of his childhood at Barnack in the Fen country, and Clovelly in Devonshire, _ed._ at King's Coll., London, and Camb. Intended for the law, he entered the Church, and became, in 1842, curate, and two years later rector, of Eversley, Hampshire. In the latter year he _pub._ _The Saints' Tragedy_, a drama, of which the heroine is St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Two novels followed, _Yeast_ (1848) and _Alton Locke_ (1850), in which he deals with social questions as affecting the agricultural labouring class, and the town worker respectively. He had become deeply interested in such questions, and threw himself heart and soul, in conjunction with F.D. Maurice and others, into the schemes of social amelioration, which they supported under the name of Christian socialism, contributing many tracts and articles under the signature of "Parson Lot." In 1853 appeared _Hypatia_, in which the conflict of the early Christians with the Greek philosophy of Alexandria is depicted; it was followed in 1855 by _Westward Ho_, perhaps his most popular work; in 1857 by _Two Years Ago_, and in 1866 by _Hereward the Wake_. _At Last_ (1870), gave his impressions of a visit to the West Indies. His taste for natural history found expression in _Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore_ (1855), and other works. _The Water Babies_ is a story for children written to inspire love and reverence of Nature. K. was in 1860 appointed to the Professorship of Modern History at Camb., which he held until 1869. The literary fruit of this was _Roman and Teuton_ (1864). In the same year he was involved in a controversy with J.H. Newman, which resulted in the publication by the latter of his _Apologia_. K., who had in 1869 been made a Canon of Chester, became Canon of Westminster in 1873. Always of a highly nervous temperament, his over-exertion resulted in repeated failures of health, and he _d._ in 1875. Though hot-tempered and combative, he was a man of singularly noble character. His type of religion, cheerful and robust, was described as "muscular Christianity." Strenuous, eager, and keen in feeling, he was not either a profoundly learned, or perhaps very impartial, historian, but all his writings are marked by a bracing and manly atmosphere, intense sympathy, and great descriptive power. 2) KINGSLEY, HENRY (1830-1876).-Novelist, brother of the above, _ed._ at King's Coll., London, and Oxf., which he left without graduating, and betook himself to the Australian gold-diggings, being afterwards in the mounted police. On his return in 1858 he devoted himself industriously to literature, and wrote a number of novels of much more than average merit, including _Geoffrey Hamlyn_ (1859), _The Hillyars and the Burtons_ (1865), _Ravenshoe_ (1861), and _Austin Elliot_ (1863). Of these _Ravenshoe_ is generally regarded as the best. In 1869 he went to Edinburgh to ed. the _Daily Review_, but he soon gave this up, and became war correspondent for his paper during the Franco-German War. 3) KINGSLEY, MARY HENRIETTA (1862-1900).-Traveller, _dau._ of George Henry K. (himself a traveller, and author of _South Sea Bubbles_, a very successful book), and niece of Charles K. (_q.v._). She travelled in West Africa, where she made valuable observations and collections. Her _Travels in West Africa_ is one of the most original and stimulating books of its class. Miss K. had a singular power of viewing the religious rites of savage peoples from their point of view. She was about to undertake another journey, but stopped to nurse Boer prisoners, and _d._ of fever.

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012