to show if King was living at that time, or if he was identical with the Charles King ‘of Westminster Hall,’ printer and publisher, who issued the ‘Tracts against Popery’ of Michael Geddes [q. v.] in 1715, and the ‘General Treatise of Mortality’ of Richard Fiddes [q. v.] in 1724.
[Information kindly supplied by W. A. S. Hewins, esq., of Oxford; Tindal's Continuation of Rapin, vi. 83; Boyer's Quadriennium Annæ Postremum, vol. v.; W. Lee's Defoe, i. 215; Daily Courant, 3 Jan. 1734; Hist. Reg. (Chron. Diary), Ap. 1721; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. viii. 298; Willis's Current Notes, 1856, p. 38; M'Culloch's Literature of Pol. Econ., and his edition of Adam Smith's Works, xxiv. n., xxxv. n.; Macpherson's Annals, iii. 30; Roscher, i. 279; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
KING, CHARLES (1687–1748), musical composer, the son of Charles and Mary King, was born at Bury St. Edmunds in 1687, and was baptised in St. Mary's Church in that town 5 June 1693. He became a chorister of St. Paul's Cathedral, under Dr. Blow and Jeremiah Clark, and was subsequently appointed supernumerary singer in the same choir at an annual salary of 14l. On 12 July 1707 he proceeded to the degree of Mus. Bac. at Oxford, and in the same year married Clark's sister. At Clark's death (1 Dec. 1707) King received the appointments of almoner and ‘master of the children’ of St. Paul's, and in 1708 was elected, in addition, to the post of organist of St. Benet Finck, Royal Exchange. In 1730 he was nominated a vicar-choral of St. Paul's, and held that office with his organistship until his death on 17 March 1748.
King composed a large number of anthems and church services—a fact which gave rise to Maurice Greene's remark that ‘Mr. King was a very serviceable man.’ The titles of his best-known works are: 1. Anthems—‘Rejoice in the Lord,’ ‘Hear, O Lord,’ ‘O pray for the peace of Jerusalem,’ ‘Wherewithal shall a young man.’ 2. Services in F, C, B flat, and D, which are still occasionally performed. Four of his anthems are to be found in Page's ‘Harmonia Sacra,’ and two in Stevens's ‘Sacred Music.’ Other of his compositions are included in Arnold's ‘Cathedral Music,’ and the Tudway Collection (Harl. MSS. 7341–2). Some services and anthems by King were published separately in 1859 and 1866. Hawkins remarks that ‘King's inferiority was due rather to indolence than want of ability.’
[Georgian Era, iv. 512; Dict. of Mus. 1824; Grove's Dict.; parish registers.]
KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818–1888), author of works on engraved gems, was born on 5 Sept. 1818 at Newport, Monmouthshire, where his father was engaged as a shipping agent in the iron trade. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar, in October 1836, and was elected scholar of his college in 1839, and fellow in 1842. He graduated in 1840 as sixth in class I. of the classical tripos. About 1842 King went to Italy, and there spent several years studying the Italian language and literature and in collecting antique gems, which he procured at moderate prices, especially in Rome and Florence. King afterwards increased his collection by many gems purchased of Eastwood, the London dealer, and acquired specimens at the sale in London of several important cabinets, such as the Mertens-Schaafhausen (Praun), the Hertz, and the Uzielli. The collection, formed between 1845 and 1877, ultimately consisted of 331 engraved stones, more than two-thirds of which were Greek and Roman, the remainder being Sassanian, Gnostic, and Oriental. About 1878, when his eyesight was seriously failing, King sold his collection, and it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New York, to which it was presented in October 1881 by Mr. John Taylor Johnston, the president of that institution. A catalogue has been printed, without change, from King's own manuscript (dated 28 Feb. 1878), with the title, ‘The Johnston Collection of Engraved Gems’ (Metrop. Mus., New York, Handbook No. 9). Three Greek marbles which belonged to King are described by Michaelis in his ‘Ancient Marbles in Great Britain,’ pp. 271–2.
After King's return from Italy his life was chiefly spent at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was in holy orders, but had no cure. About 1866 he was one of her majesty's inspectors of schools (Clergy List, 1866). At Cambridge King passed a very retired existence, engaged in the composition of various works, but taking no part in the educational life of the place. The few friends who knew him well found him a kind-hearted man and a delightful companion, full of curious knowledge and quaint humour (Aldis Wright in Athenæum). He was widely read in the Greek and Roman classics, without having, however, a minute philological knowledge. He had specially studied Pausanias and Pliny's ‘Historia.’ His short-sightedness always rendered reading difficult for him, though he had ‘a microscopic power of discernment’ for objects such as gems. His writings on ancient gems are original, and evince the experience of the practical collector. In England they have stimulated an interest in glyptography, though they are often marred by defects due to insufficient numismatic and archæological training. King died in London,
