300 



KENT KENTUCKY. 



contains numerous monuments of antiquity, and has 

 In-eii tlif theatre of many important events connected 

 with our national history. Oil the eastern coast the 

 Unmans landed, under Julius Caesar, when he invad- 

 ed Hiituin. 54 B. C. and again the following year; 

 but he made no permanent conquest, and a century 

 elapsed before this part of the island submitted to the 

 power of Rome, when Kent became a part of the 

 province called Britannia Prima. In this county the 

 Saxons, commanded by Hengist and Horsa, obtained 

 their earliest settlements, having been invited hither 

 by the Britons, to aid them in repelling the invasions 

 of the Picts and Scots, but becoming ultimately much 

 more formidable enemies tlian those northern marau- 

 ders. An open war at length took place between the 

 Britons and their former allies, and Hengist, having 

 subdued this county, about 455, assumed the title of 

 king of Kent. Canterbury was the capital of this 

 kingdom, and Ethelbert, who reigned here towards 

 the close of the sixth century, having been converted 

 to Christianity by Augustin, an Italian monk, founded 

 in that city the first bishopric among the Anglo- 

 Saxons, in consequence of which, when other sees 

 were founded, this was made an archbishopric, and 

 the prelates who sat here became primates of all 

 England, which ecclesiastical dignity they still retain. 

 When the kingdoms of the Heptarchy were united 

 under the sovereignty of the West Saxon princes in 

 the ninth century, Kent, from its vicinity to London, 

 and other local advantages, retained much of its 

 former importance ; and William, duke of Nor- 

 mandy, after his victory over the English, near Has- 

 tings, is said to have entered into a convention with 

 the people of Kent, securing unto them their ancient 

 rights and privileges, as the condition of their admit- 

 ting his claim to the crown ; and hence it is suppos- 

 ed the custom of gavelkind has been preserved in 

 this county, while it has been abolished in almost 

 every other part of England. At a subsequent period 

 William appears to have shown his conviction of the 

 maritime importance of Kent, by the institution of 

 the cinqne-ports, a measure which probably had a 

 considerable effect in promoting the naval prosperity 

 of Britain. 



The surface of this county displays much diversity 

 of scenery, the banks of the Thames being low and 

 marshy, while the central and eastern parts consist 

 of a range of chalk hills, terminating in the white 

 cliffs of Dover ; and that portion bordering on Sussex, 

 called the Weald of Kent, is a flat woody tract, of a 

 clayey soil, fruitful, but damp and unhealthy, especi- 

 ally at the southern angle, where its extremity forms 

 the great marsh of Romney. The western districts 

 include hill and dale, arable and pasture land, equal- 

 ling in pleasantness and variety of products the most 

 agreeable and fertile parts of the kingdom. Two 

 chains of hills intersect this county, termed the Upper 

 and the Lower Hills ; the former, situated to the 

 north, are the chalk hills already mentioned, in which 

 are embedded numerous nodules of flint, and fossil- 

 ized organic remains ; the southern or lower range, 

 consists of iron-stone and rag-stone ; and on the 

 west, towards Surrey, a mixture of clay and gravel 

 predominates. Kent is watered by several rivers, the 

 most considerable of which, next to the Thames, is 

 the Medway, formed by four streams, which unite 

 near the confines of Sussex, and passing by Maid- 

 stone and Rochester, this river expands into an 

 estuary, containing several small islands, and joins 

 the Thames at Sheerness. The Stour rises in the 

 Wdd of Kent, flows by Canterbury, and falls into 

 the sea north of Sandwich ; the Rother which has its 

 source in Sussex, forms the boundary between that 

 county and Kent, arid empties itself into the sea at 

 Rye; and the Ravensbourn, the Cray, and the 



Darent mingle their waters with the Thames. Be 

 sides the usual productions of agriculture, Kent af- 

 fords large quantities of hops, by which the breweries 

 of the metropolis are principally supplied. Here also 

 are grown various kinds of fruit, especially cherries 

 and apples, for the London market. Population, in 

 1841, 548,337. 



KENT, EDWARD, duke of, fourth son of George 

 III., king of Great Britain, was born Nov. 2, 1767. 

 He was educated in England, at Gottingen, and 

 Geneva, where he remained until 1790, when he 

 proceeded in a military capacity to GibraJtar. He 

 subsequently went to America, and, in 1796, became 

 lieutenant-general, and returned to England. In 

 1799, he was created duke of Kent and Strathern 

 and earl of Dublin, and the same year revisited 

 America, but returned again in 1800. In 1802, he 

 was made governor of Gibraltar ; but his rigid dis- 

 cipline produced a mutiny, and he was recalled the 

 following year. In 1818, he married the youngest 

 daughter of the duke of Saxe-Coburg, and the widow 

 of the prince of Leiningen. In May, 1819, the 

 duchess^ bore him a daughter, who was called Alex- 

 andrina Victoria, who is now heiress presumptive of 

 the crown. The duke of Kent died Jan. 23, 1820* 

 His widow, with her brother, prince Leopold, the 

 husband of the late princess Charlotte, at present 

 assumes the principal guardianship of the princess, 

 who is likely to become the future sovereign of 

 Great Britain. 



KENT, WILLIAM, an ingenious artist, was born in 

 Yorkshire, in 1685. He was apprenticed to a coach- 

 painter, but, conscious of superior talent, repaired to 

 London, where he was enabled, by some gentlemen, 

 to repair to Rome, and to study painting under cava- 

 lier Luti. In this art, however, he never obtained 

 celebrity: his talent lay chiefly in ornamental archi- 

 tecture, some specimens of which at Holkham.Stowe, 

 and other places, are much admired. He is regarded 

 by Horace Walpole as the inventor of modern gar- 

 dening, which he rendered more natural, graceful, 

 and pleasing. He leaped the sunk fence, says the 

 last-mentioned writer, and saw that all nature was a 

 garden. He broke up the old uniformity of straight 

 lines and corresponding parts, and threw wood, 

 water, and ground, into the beautiful shapes pre- 

 sented by nature. The taste of Pope is supposed to 

 have aided that of the artist. He died at Burlington- 

 house in 1748, aged sixty-three, and was buried at 

 Chiswick. 



KENTUCKY ; one of the United States of Amer- 

 ica, bounded north by the river Ohio, which separates 

 it from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, east by Virginia, 

 south by Virginia and Tennessee, and west by the 

 river Mississippi ; Ion. 81 50' to 89 20' W.; lat. 

 36 30' to 39 P 10' N.j 300 miles long, and from 40 

 to 180 broad ; square miles, 42,000 : population, in 

 1790, 73,677 : in 1800, 220,959 ; in 1810, 406,511; 

 in 1820, 564,317 ; and in 1830, 688,844 ; free white 

 persons, 518,678 ; free coloured persons, 4816 ; and 

 slaves, 165,350. The first permanent settlement in 

 Kentucky was begun by colonel Daniel Boone, in 

 1775. The country formed a part of the state of 

 Virginia until 1790; in 1792, it was admitted into 

 the union as an independent state. Frankfort is the 

 seat of government. Lexington and Louisville are 

 the largest towns. There is a penitentiary at Frank- 

 fort, in which are confined over 100 convicts. At 

 Lexington, there is a lunatic asylum ; at Danville, 

 an asylum for the deaf and dumb ; and at Louisville 

 and Smithland on the Ohio, hospitals for sick and 

 disabled boatmen. The most prominent literary 

 institution is Transylvannia university, at Lexington, 

 which has alx>ut 150 students, besides the students 

 of the law and medical schools, and of the prepara- 



