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KEN, THOMAS (1637-1711). —Religious writer, s. of an attorney, was b. at Little Berkhampstead, ed. at Winchester and Oxf., and entering the Church received the living of Brightstone, Isle of Wight, where he composed his Morning, Evening, and Midnight Hymns, perhaps the most widely known of English hymns. These he was accustomed to sing daily to the lute. After holding other benefices he became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and a Chaplain to Charles II. He was one of the "Seven Bishops" sent to the Tower by James II. Refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary, he was deprived, and spent his later years in comparative poverty, though he found an asylum at Longleat with Lord Weymouth. Izaak Walton was his brother-in-law. K. wrote a manual of prayers for Winchester School, and other devotional works.
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