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796 KENT KENTUCKY mentaries on American Law " (4 vols. 8vo, 1826-'30). This work has since passed through many editions, and has acquired a world-wide celebrity. It has assumed in the United States the position long filled in England by Black- stone's " Commentaries on the Laws of Eng- land." It embraces not merely the jurispru- dence of the federal Union, but the municipal law, written and unwritten, of the several states. Vast and comprehensive in plan, elab- orate and minute in research, the beauties of its style and its historical learning commend it to the general reader, while it has been proved to be the best guide to the law student, and a valuable aid to the practical lawyer. The last years of Chancellor Kent's life were passed in tranquil pursuits, in enlarging and correct- ing his " Commentaries," in giving opinions on legal subjects, in advising and deciding on controversies submitted to him, and performing all the duties of an active and patriotic citizen. In 1836 he wrote and published, at the request of the common council of the city, a compen- dious treatise on the charter of New York and the powers of the municipal officers. His son WILLIAM, born in 1802, was prominent as a lawyer and judge in New York, and in 1846-7 was professor of law in Harvard nniversitv. He died at Fishkill, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1861. KENT, William, an English artist, born in Yorkshire about 1685, died April 12, 1748. He was apprenticed to a coach painter, but found patrons who enabled him to study in Rome, where in 1716 he met the earl of Burlington, with whom he returned to England, and whose guest he remained during the rest of his life. He was much employed as an artist, but neither as a painter nor sculptor rose above mediocrity. He became, however, the founder of modern landscape gardening in England, by laying out Kensington gardens in accordance with prin- ciples of perspective and light and shade, thus putting an end to the bad taste which had up to that time disfigured English pleasure grounds. As an architect he is said to have designed the admirable structures, Holkham house and the temple of Venus at Stowe. KJENTON, a N. county of Kentucky, separated from Ohio by the Ohio river, and bounded E. by Licking river ; area, 140 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 86,096, of whom 1,65V were colored. The surface is very uneven, but the soil is fer- tile. Much of it is laid out in market gardens, whose products are sold in Cincinnati. The Kentucky Central and the Louisville and Cin- cinnati railroads pass through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 33,564 bushels of wheat, 30,870 of rye, 374,165 of Indian corn, 69,489 of oats, 80,545 of potatoes, 360,983 Ibs. of tobacco, 16,538 of wool, 226,128 of butter, and 3,875 tons of hay. There were 2,847 horses, 2,698 milch cows, 2,558 other cattle, 5.598 sheep, and 13,838 swine ; 2 manufactories of agricultural implements, 7 of brick, 5 of car- riages, 9 of cooperage, 2 of cordage and twine, 1 of glass ware, 4 of iron forged and cast, 3 of marble and stone work, 5 of saddlery and har- ness, 2 of sash, doors, and blinds, 5 of tin, cop- per, and sheet-iron ware, 9 of tobacco and snuff, 1 of wire work, 4 distilleries, 4 breweries, 1 saw mill, and 2 flour mills. Capitals, Indepen- dence and Covington. KENTON, Simon, an American pioneer, born in Fauquier co., Va., April 3, 1755, died in Logan co., O., April 29, 1836. At the age of 16 he had an affray with a young man arising out of a love affair ; and believing he had killed his adversary, he fled beyond the Alleghanies and became a companion of Boone and the other early pioneers of Kentucky. For a time ho acted as a spy of Gov. Dumnore, and sub- sequently participated in the warfare waged against the British and the Indians west of the Alleghanies, showing remarkable courage, saga- city, and endurance. In 1782, learning that his rival was living, he returned to his native place, and soon after removed with his father's family to Kentucky. He was frequently en- gaged in Indian warfare, until the expedition under Wayne in 1793-'4 restored tranquillity to the western frontier. As the country began to fill up with settlers, his lands, to which, in consequence of his ignorance of or indifference to legal forms, he had never secured perfect titles, were taken from him, and by repeated lawsuits he was reduced to penury. He never- theless took up arms in the war of 1812, and fought with the Kentucky troops at the battle of the Thames. In 1824 he appeared in Frank- fort in tattered garments to petition the legis- lature of Kentucky to release the claim of the state upon some mountain land owned by him. His appearance at first excited ridicule, but upon being recognized he was treated with much distinction ; his lands were released, and a pension of $240 was procured for him from congress. He died near the spot where, 58 years previous, he had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Indians. KENTUCKY, an interior state of the Ameri- can Union, and the second admitted under the federal constitution, between lat. 86 30' and 39 6' N., and Ion. 82 2' and 89 40' W. It is bounded N. W. and N. by the Ohio river, which separates it from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; E. by West Virginia and Virginia, from which it is separated by the Big Sandy river and the Cumberland mountains ; S. by Tennessee, along a conventional line mostly on the parallel of 36 35' N. ; and W. by the Mississippi, sepa- rating it from Missouri; greatest length E. and W. 350m., greatest breadth 178 m. ; area, 37,680 sq. m., being 1'28 per cent, of the whole surface of the United States (excluding Alaska). The state is divided into 116 counties, viz.: Adair, Allen, Anderson, Ballard, Barren, Bath, Bell, Boone, Bourbon, Boyd, Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt, Breckenridge, Bullitt, Butler, Cald- well, Calloway, Campbell, Carroll, Carter, Casey, Christian, Clarke, Clay, Clinton, Crit- tenden, Cumberland, Daviess, Edmonson, El- liott, Estill, Fayette, Fleming, Floyd, Franklin,