Blair Collection > Practical grammar of the antient Gaelic, or, Language of the Isle of Man, usually called Manks

LIFE OF DE. KELLY.
TT is to be lamented that, in common with many other men
who have raised themselves to distinction by their works,
but little is known of the personal history of Dr. Kelly. This
volume, however, would be very incomplete if it did not contain
some biographical notice of the learned author. The following
brief account of him is drawn up from such materials as are
extant, collected with much zeal and industry by Paul Bridson,
Esq., of Douglas, a member of the Council, and Honorary Secre-
tary of The Manx Society.
John Kelly, the author of the Manx Grammar, was the son
of William Kelly, wine-cooper, and Alice Kewley, his wife. He
was born at Algare, or, as he himself writes it, Aal-caer, in
Baldwin, in the parish of Braddan, Isle of Man, in 1750. After
receiving the first rudiments of his education in the Douglas
Grammar School, under the Rev. Philip Moore, chaplain and
schoolmaster, of Douglas, and afterwards rector of Kirk Bride,
he entered St. Johu^s College, Cambridge. He took Holy Orders
in the year 1776. His first ministerial appointment was to the
charge of the Scotch Episcopal Church in the town of Ayr,