Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kendall, Edward Augustus
KENDALL, EDWARD AUGUSTUS (1776?–1842), miscellaneous writer, was born about 1776. During 1807 and 1808 he travelled through the northern parts of the United States, and in 1809 published at New York a somewhat dull account of his wanderings in three octavo volumes. In 1817 he issued proposals for establishing in London an institution to be called ‘The Patriotic Metropolitan Colonial Institution,’ for the assistance of new settlers in the colonies and for the encouragement of new branches of colonial trade. He also proposed to form new and distinct colonies for the relief of the half-castes of India and mulattos of the West Indies. In conclusion he urges the great benefits to be derived from establishing in England free drawing-schools and schools of chemistry and mathematics. With the object of providing cheap and good literature for the people, Kendall started in London in 1819 ‘The Literary Chronicle and Weekly Review,’ which lasted until 1828. After May 1828 a new series was commenced, and continued to the end of July; the work was then incorporated with the ‘Athenæum.’ There is also an edition entitled ‘The Country Literary Chronicle,’ &c., beginning in 1820 with a part numbered 59. The ‘Literary Chronicle’ was succeeded by another popular miscellany projected by Kendall, called ‘The Olio; or, Museum of Entertainment,’ 11 vols. 8vo, 1828–33. Kendall also wrote some heavy ‘Letters to a Friend on the State of Ireland, the Roman Catholic Question, and the Merits of Constitutional Religious Distinctions,’ 3 pts. 8vo, London, 1826, in which he argued that Ireland enjoyed a vigorous and paternal government, whose duty it was to repress Roman catholicism there, and in Great Britain also. His fame will rest on his pleasing books for children, some of which are still reprinted, especially ‘Keeper's Travels in Search of his Master,’ 1799; ‘The Crested Wren,’ 1799; and ‘Burford Cottage and its Robin Red Breast,’ 1835. Kendall died at Pimlico on 14 Oct. 1842, aged 66 (Gent. Mag. new ser. xviii. 671). His other writings include: 1. ‘The Stories of Senex; or, Little Histories of Little People,’ 12mo, 1800. 2. ‘The Swallow: a Fiction interspersed with Poetry,’ 12mo, 1800. 3. ‘The Pocket Encyclopædia,’ 6 vols. 12mo, 1802. 4. ‘Parental Education; or, Domestic Lessons: a Miscellany intended for Youth,’ 12mo, 1803. 5. ‘An Argument for construing largely the right of an Appellee of Murder to insist on his Wager of Battle, and also for abrogating Writs of Appeal,’ 8vo, 1817; 3rd edit., greatly enlarged, 1818. 6. ‘The English Boy at the Cape: an Anglo-African Story,’ 3 vols. 12mo, 1835. Among his translations from the French may be mentioned ‘The Indian Cottage,’ by Saint Pierre, 12mo, 1791; ‘Beauties of Saint Pierre, selected from his “Studies of Nature,”’ 8vo, 1799; and ‘The Travels of Denon in Egypt,’ 2 vols. 8vo, 1802. Kendall was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
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