KEN 



England. He was likewife the author of feveral dramatic 

 performances, and other mifccHaneous pieces. He was, in 

 1774, the editor of «< The Poetical Works of Mr. Robert 

 Lloyd," in two vols. Svo. He died in the month of June 

 ■I7'^7. Encyc. Brit. 



' P.NSINGTON, in Geography, a pleafant and populous 

 in the hundred of Oifulllon, Kiigland, is about one 

 d a half W. of Hyde-park Corner, and conlillcd, in 

 ; -^^j of 143^ houfes, which were occupied by 85J6 in- 

 ha''>itants. U'liis place is chiefly noted for its royal palace, 

 which was firit appropriated to the crown by king Wil- 

 liam HI. who built a houfe here ; but that and the gardens 

 have been much altered and improved by fucceeding 

 monarchs. The gardens are of confiderable extent, and 

 are laid out i:i grave! UT.iks, plantations, Sec. This is a 

 favourite place of refort and exercife for the inhabitants of 

 I.oi'dcn, i>articularly during the fine weather in fummcr. 

 They are nearly four miles in circumference, and are fe- 

 parated, on the ealtern fide, from Hyde-park by a low 

 wall. Through thefe gardens flows a fmall ilreamj which 

 is made to fill :•. canal within the inclofure, and another much 

 larger, called the Serpentine river, in Hyde-park. The 

 palace is a large irregular edifice, built at vavijus periods, 

 without harmony of delign or beauty of architeAure. Its 

 ftate rooms coniill of a fuit of 12 apartments, winch con- 

 tain fcveral valuable and curious paintings by urtills <.f emi- 

 nence. The names of fomq of thefe are publifiied in 

 . Lyfons's Environs of London ; and more fully in " The 

 Ambulator," i2mo. 1810. Befides fcveral elegant villas 

 in this pariili, is a fine ancient manfion called Holland Houfe, 

 the feat and property of lord Holland, for a view and account 

 of which, fee Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain, 

 Vol. ii. 



Kessixgtox. a townfhip of America, in Rockingham 

 county, New Hampfhire, about fix miles S. of Exeter, and 

 eight N. of Newbury port. It was incorporated in 1737, and 

 contains 776 inhabitants. 



KENT, a maritime county of England, forms the 

 fouth-eaftern extremity of this illand, and is bounded on the 

 weft by Surry, on the north by the German ocean and the 

 river Thames, which feparates it from EfTex, on the eail 

 by the Downs and the llrp.its of Dover, and on the fouth 

 by SufTex, and part of the fame ftraits. The medium 

 length of the dilbicl:, thus encompafTed, from eail to well, 

 is 66 miles, and its breadth about 26, whillf the circumfer- 

 ence is nearly 174 miles Its area, according to Boys's 

 Agricultural V^iew, is about 832,000 acres. 



Kent is primarily divided into five large diflric^s, called 

 Laths, viz. Sutton at Houe, A}lesford, Scray, Sliipway, 

 and St. Augulin .. Thefe are fubdivided into bailiwicks, 

 hundreds, and liberties. The whole county contains fourteen 

 b'iiliwicks, fixty-three hundreds, fifteen franchifes or liber- 

 ties, the two cities of Canterbury and Rochefter, and thirty- 

 four market towns, though in fome of thefe the market is 

 difcontinued. The number of houl'es, according to the re- 

 turns under the population act of iSco, amounted to 

 52,9.98; that of inhabitants to 307,624; of whom 151,374 

 were ma'cE, and 556,250 females. For local purpofes, the 

 county is nearly equally divided into Eail and Well Kent, 

 the former contains the laths of Sutton at Hone, Ayles- 

 ford, and the fouthern part of Scray ; the latter the northern 

 part of the l.ith of Scray, and tliofe of Shipway and St. 

 Auguftine. In each of thefe great dillricts, a court of 

 fefiion is held four times every year; twice originally and 

 twice by adjournment : thofe for the caftern divifion at Can- 

 terbury, for the weftern at Maidftone. The juftices, though 

 appoii)ted for the whtjlc county, generally confine their at- 

 tention to that diftricl in which they refide. The county 



Vou. XIX. 



KEN 



town is Maidftone, where the aflizes are held, and the 

 kniglits of the (hire are elecled. Kent returns eighteecn 

 members to parliament ; viz. two fjr the county, and two 

 each for Canterbury, Ruchelter, Maidftone. Queenborougli, 

 Dciver, Sandwich,' Romuey, and Hillie.' The four lad are 

 reckoned among the Cinque Ports. The ecclefiatlical jurif- 

 didion is divided between the archbilhopric of Cautt-rbury 

 and the bifl\opric of Rochefter; the former having eleven 

 deaneries, containing 281 parifties ; the latter four deancriei-, 

 containing 132 pariflies. 



Ancinit Hijlory. — This di(lri£t is peculiarly intercfting to 

 the antiquary, not only from the numerous veftiges of caf- 

 ties, abbeys, and old churches ft ill remaining, but from its 

 proximity to the continent. Many authors contend, that 

 it formerly joined the main land, by means of an ifthmus ; 

 and adduce plaulible arguments in fuppoit of fuch hypothe- 

 fis." Strabo, CxI'ar, Ptolemy, and fomo otr.er ancient wri- 

 ters, call this diftrid Cantium ; which word the Saxons ai- 

 te.-cd to Caut-guar-Cantd. In the Domefday Survey it is 

 written Chenth. All the tranfadions relating to C;T;far's in- 

 vafion of Britain occurred in this county ; for on this coall 

 he made two defcents, the I ft, fifty. five years before the birth 

 of Chriil, and tiie 2d, in the follmving'year. At this Um<: 

 Kent was g;)verned by four Britifti kings ; who coUedt-d 

 not only their own fubjeds, but a vaft concourfe of arm.ed 

 men from the neighbouring ttates, to oppofe and repel the 

 invading Romans. Their efforts and bravery were unavailing, 

 and tiie foreign warriors ultimately compelled the Britons 

 to pay an annual tribute. In the year A.D. 43. a third de- 

 fcent was n.ade on this couft by Aulus Plautius, who, being 

 afterwards joined by Claudius, efFeded a conqueft over the 

 Britons. Kent was now included in that divifion of Britain 

 called Britannia-Prima ; and was governed by Roman laws 

 and Roman ofncers. Several permanent ftations and tempo- 

 rary encampments were eftabliflied in this county ; and mili- 

 tary roads v.cre formed. Among the latter was the Watling 

 ftreet, which extended from Dover, Dubris, to London, 

 Londinium. On its courfe were the other Roman ftations 

 of Durovernum, at Canterbury, Durolevum, Durobrivis, 

 at Rochefter, Vagniacae and Noviomagus. Two other vi- 

 cinal roads, at leall, were formed in tliis county ; one from 

 Durovernum to Regulbium, or Reculver, and the other 

 from the firft place to Rutupinm, or Richborough. An- 

 otiier road, called Stone-way, extended from Canterbury to 

 Limne, the Roman Portus Lemanis. 



The firIt defcent of our Saxon anceftors was made in 

 this county, A.D. 449, when Hcngift and Horfa, with about 

 1500 m.en', landed at Ebbsfleet, in the Ifle of Thanct. After 

 fome battles with the Pids and Scots, Hengift was invcfted 

 with the fovereignty of Kent ; but wifliing to engrofs the 

 whole ifland, he was involved in a war with the Britons, and 

 feveral battles were fought within this county and on its con- 

 fines. The Saxons, however, prevailed, and Kent continued 

 a diftind kingdom for many reigns. In this county Chrifti- 

 anity was firft eftabliflied in Britain. See St. Augustine, 

 and Turner's Hiftory of the Anglo-Saxons, 2 vols. 4to. 



The prefent fiounfliing condition of Kent has partly ori- 

 ginated from the peculiar cuftom by which the defcent of 

 landed property is' here regulated, and which is compre- 

 hended under the term gavcl-hiud. The cuftoms are of very 

 remote date, and prevailed tliro-ghout England till the Nor- 

 ma 1 conqueft. It is evident that at that period the eldcft 

 fon did not inherit to the cxchifion of his bre-thrcn : the 

 right of fole fuccefiion, in preference to the divifible pradice 

 of inheritance, was then introduced by the Conqueror, as a 

 fpecimen of the arbitrary dominion he intended to cftiiblifli. 

 The men of Kent fuccefsfuUy rcfifted the incroachment, and 

 retained their ancient culloms: wliile the other parts of *tl}C 

 4 Y nation 



