was in Ireland, O'Kelly was presented to him in Dublin. His majesty, when Prince of Wales, had subscribed for fifty copies of his second volume of poems. He travelled over the south and west of Ireland selling his books. In July 1808 he wrote the well-known 'Doneraile Litany,' which is his best production. It is a string of curses on the town and people of Doneraile, co. Cork, where he had been robbed of his watch and chain in the locality. On Lady Doneraile replacing his property, he wrote 'The Palinode,' revoking all the former curses. He met Sir Walter Scott at Limerick in the summer of 1825 (Lockhart, Life of Walter Scott, 1 vol. Edinburgh, 1845, p. 602). O'Kelly died about 1835.
His works, which are all in verse of a very pedestrian order, are:
- 'Killarney: a Descriptive Poem,' 8vo, Dublin, 1791. O'Kelly complained that Michael McCarthy's 'Lacus Delectabilis,' 1816, was almost entirely taken from his poem.
- 'The Eudoxologist, or an Ethicographical Survey of the Western Parts of Ireland: a Poem,' &c., 8vo, Dublin, 1812 (containing the 'Doneraile Litany').
- 'The Aonian Kaleidoscope,' 8vo, Cork, 1824.
- 'The Hippocrene,' 8vo, Dublin, 1831 (with portrait).
There was another Patrick O'Kelly who published, in 1842, a 'General History of the Rebellion of 1798,' and translated works by Abbé McGeoghegan and W. D. O'Kelly on Ireland.
[Brit. Mus. Cat.; O'Donoghue's Poets of Ireland; Croker's Popular Songs of Ireland; Watty Cox's Irish Magazine, September 1810.]
O'KELLY, RALPH (d, 1361), archbishop of Cashel. [See Kelly.]
OKELY, FRANCIS (1719?–1794), minister of the Unitas Fratrum, was born at Bedford about 1710. He was educated at the Charterhouse school and at St. John's College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1739. About 1740 he took part with Jacob Rogers, an Anglican clergyman, in an evangelical mission at Bedford. On the advice of Benjamin Ingham [q. v.], this movement was connected in 1742 with the Moravian mission. Okely was ordained deacon by a bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. On seeking priest's orders in the Anglican church, recognition of his deacon's order was refused; the act of parliament recognising the Unitas Fratrum as 'an ancient protestant episcopal church' was not passed till 6 June 1749. Okely adhered to the Unitas Fratrum. In March 1744he was with John Gambold [q. v.] at the of the brethren at Herrnhaag. In 1745 a regular congregation was formed at Bedford, and a chapel erected in 1751. Later another chapel was built in the neighbouring village of Riseley. Okely was the first regular minister (1755) of the Moravian chapel at Dukinfield, Cheshire, but left after two years to conduct a mission in Yorkshire. In March 1758 he accompanied John Wesley from Manchester to Bolton and Liverpool. About 1766, having again been settled at Bedford, he removed to Northampton, where a chapel was built for him. Here he ministered to a congregation of the Unitas Fratrum till his death.
Early in life Okely had been greatly influenced by Law's 'Serious Call,' 1728. He made the acquaintance of the author a few months before Law died, 9 April 1761, and this led him to study the works of Jacob Behmen (Boehme), to which he had first been introduced in his earlier acquaintance with John Byrom [q. v.] In a curious list of sympathisers with mysticism drawn up in November 1775 by Richard Mather [q. v.], it is mentioned that Okely 'professes great love to the mystics.' He devoted his later years to translating works of this type in prose and verse, with commendatory prefaces and notes of some value.
He died, while on a visit at Bedford, on 9 May 1794, leaving a high character for piety and benevolence.
He published:
- 'Twenty-one Discourses … upon the Augsburgh Confession … the Brethren's Confession of Faith,' &c., 1754, 8vo (translated from the German).
- 'Psalmorum aliquot Davidis Metaphrasis Græca Joannis Serrani,' &c., 1770, 12mo (with other Greek sacred verse, and a Latin version by Okely).
- 'The Nature … of the New Creature … by Johanna Eleonora de Merlau,' &c. 1772, 12mo (translated from the German).
- 'Dawnings of the Everlasting Gospel-Light, glimmering out of a Private Heart's Epistolary Correspondence,' &c., Northampton, 1775, 8vo.
- 'A Seasonable and Salutary Word,' &c. (collection of mystical pieces; not seen).
- 'Seasonably Alarming and … Exhilarating Truths,' &c.' 1778, 8vo (metrical version of passages from Law).
- 'Memoirs of … Jacob Behmen,' &c. 1780, 12mo (translated from several German writers).
- 'The Divine Visions of John Engelbrocht,' &c. 1781, 8vo, 2 vols.
- 'A Display of God's Wonders … upon … John Engelbrecht,' 1781, &c.
- 'A Faithful Narrative of God's … Dealings with Hiel [Henderdrik Jansen],' &c. 1781, 8vo.
- 'The Indispensable Necessity of Faith,' &c. 1781, 12mo (sermon at Eydon, Northamptonshire).
- 'The Disjointed Watch … a Similitude … in Metre,' &c.
