Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/814

 794 KENT Irish, 7,452 of Scotch, 3,603 of French, 3,969 of African, and 2,788 of German descent. It is traversed by the Great Western and Canada Southern railways, and intersected by the river Thames. The surface is generally level, and the soil, especially in the river bottoms, is fer- tile. Wheat, maize, oats, and tobacco are the principal productions. Capital, Chatham. II. An E. county of New Brunswick, Canada, bor- dering on the gulf of St. Lawrence and North- umberland strait; area, 1,720 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 19,101, of whom 10,701 were of French, 3,041 of Scotch, 2,564 of Irish, and 2,486 of English descent. The Richibucto and Cocagne or Cocayne are the principal rivers. The coasts are broken by several good harbors, which afford excellent opportunities for ship building. Nearly half the county is unsettled, and the most valuable production is timber, which is exported in large quantities to Eng- land. Capital, Richibucto. KENT, a maritime county of England, form- ing the S. E. extremity of Great Britain, bor- dering on Essex (from which it is separated by the Thames and its estuary), Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex, the North sea, and the strait of Dover ; area, 1,624 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 847,507. The northern border is skirted by broad marshes ; and the N. E. coast is made very irregular in outline by the estuaries of the Thames and Medway. A large peninsula projects between the two, its northern portion forming the dis- trict called the Isle of Grain. A branch of the Medway, called the Swale, cuts off from the mainland a large tract known as the Isle of Sheppey. The E. end of the county, separated from the rest by the narrow river Stour, forms the Isle of Thanet, terminating in the North Foreland, and having an area of about 40 sq. m. The surface of the county is hilly, the range terminating at many points on the E. and S. E. coast in high chalk cliffs. Else- where (especially in Pegwell bay and at Rom- ney marsh, near the S. end of the county) the shore is low. Both the N. E. and S. E. coasts are rendered dangerous by outlying sand banks, the best known and most dreaded being the celebrated Goodwin Sands, lying off the shore between the Isle of Thanet and the South Foreland, a cape projecting into the strait of Dover. The county has several important ports, the chief of which are Dover, Folke- stone, and Gravesend. The Downs, between the Goodwin Sands and the mainland, fur- nishes the most frequented roadstead of the English coast. Several of the minor coast towns are well known watering places, among them Margate and Ramsgate. The Medway is the principal river having its entire course in the county ; of the smaller streams, the Swale and Stour are important from their positions. Kent is mainly an agricultural county, its allu- vial soil and pleasant climate insuring a large production. Hops are raised to a great ex- tent. Estates are small, and are mostly in- herited equally by all the sons of intestates, under the Saxon law of gavelkind, now nearly peculiar to this county. The chief towns, be- sides the ports already named, are Canterbury, Rochester, Greenwich, Maidstone, and Chat- ham. The authentic history of Kent extends further back than that of almost any other part of England. The Romans made their first landing on the coast of this county, and the region, called by them by the Latinized form (Cantium) of its name, was regarded with special favor and included their earliest set- tlements. Later, the legendary Saxon chiefs Hengist and Horsa are said to have landed in Pegwell bay; and the earliest battles of the Saxon invasion were undoubtedly fought in Kent, which afterward constituted one of the kingdoms of the heptarchy. It was again the scene of important battles at the Norman in- vasion, against which the Kentish men made a desperate and long continued resistance. The insurrections of Wat Tyler and Jack Cade broke out in Kent ; it was the scene of impor- tant events during the wars of the roses ; and a third rebellion, that of Sir Thomas Wyatt, arose here under Queen Mary. The county is very rich in Roman and Saxon antiquities, historic buildings, and ruins; and its eccle- siastical edifices, including Canterbury cathe- dral, Aylesford priory, and others, are of great celebrity and beauty. RENT, Edward Angustns, duke of, fourth son of George III. of England, and father of Queen Victoria, born Nov. 2, 1767, died Jan. 23, 1820. lie joined the army, and was under the com- mand of Sir Charles Grey in the attack on the French West India islands, where he was no- ticed for his bravery; and in compliment to him the name of Fort Royal in Martinique was changed to Fort Edward. Soon afterward he was made governor of Nova Scotia, created duke of Kent and Strathearne, with a seat in the house of lords, and appointed commander- in-chief of the British forces in North Amer- ica, The island of St. John changed its name in his honor to Prince Edward island, which it still retains. In May, 1818, he married the widow of the prince of Leiningen, youngest daughter of the duke of Saxe-Coburg. Alex- andrina Victoria, now queen, was the only child of this union. KENT, James, an American jurist, born in Philippi, Putnam co., N. Y., July 31, 1763, died in New York, Dec. 12, 1847. His grand- father, the Rev. Elisha Kent, whose family was early established at Suffolk, Conn., became in 1740 the Presbyterian clergyman of Philippi. His father, Moss Kent, Esq., was a lawyer, and for some years surrogate of Rensselaer co. James Kent graduated at Yale college in 1781, studied law, was admitted in 1785 as an at- torney, and in 1787 as a counsellor, and com- menced the practice of his profession in Pough- keepsie. He soon became remarkable among his contemporaries for his legal learning and literary attainments. He was elected succes- sively in 1790 and 1792 a member of the legis-