KENT is a maritime county of England, forming the south-east angle of that kingdom. It is bounded on the north by the Thames and the German ocean ; on the cast, and part of its south side, by the straits of Dover and the British Channel ; on the remaider of its south side by the county of Sussex ; and on the west by the county of Sorry. Its form is nearly quadrilateral, or rattier that of a trape zium. From Deptford, to the extreme point of the North Foreland, it measures about 63 miles, or about 129 minutes of longitude ; and on the east side, from the North Fore land to Dungeness Point, it measures nearly 40 miles, be tween the latitudes of 50° 54' and 51° 23 20" north. The circumference of its coast, if all the sinuosities be mea sured, is about I65 miles. Its area has been variously computed : Some raise it as high as 1,200 000 acres ; while, according to others, it contains only 832,000. Mr. Boys' estimate is probably nearer the truth ; he makes its area 893,600 acres.
Kent is divided into five large portions, called Lathes ; these are subdivided into 63 hundreds, 15 liberties, 414 parishes, 2 cities, and 24 market towns. The two cities are Canterbury and Rochester. The principal towns are Deptford, Woolwich, Gravesend, Sheerness, Margate, Ramsgate, Faversham, Deal, Sandwich, Dover, Folkstone, Hythe, Chatham, Maidstone, &c. This county sends 18 members to the House of Commons, viz. two for the shire, two for Canterbury, two for Rochester, two for Maidstone, two for Queensborough, two for Dover, two for Sandwich, two for Hythe, and two for Romney. There are fifteen deaneries in it ; eleven of which are under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Canterbury, and four under the juris diction of the bishop of Rochester. In order to facilitate the civil jurisdiction of the county, it is divided into two districts, East and West Kent. The former contains the lathes of Sutton-at-Hone and Aylesford, and the lower part of the lathe of Scray ; and the latter contains the upper part of the lathe of Scray, and the lathes of St. Augustine and Shepey. In each of these districts a court of sessions is held twice a year.
The county of Kent is, in size, inferior only to Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Devonshire, and Northumberland. Its gene
ral aspect is very striking and pleasing; and in some parts, especially near :Nlaidstone, Tunbridge, and Sittingbournc, the scenery is uncommonly fine. The surface of the coun try, generally speaking, is much varied. The whole of it,,with the exception of the marshes and the wealds, may justly be regarded as a cluster of small hills. Among these there are two chains higher than the rest, called the upper and lower, which run through the middle of Kent, in gene ral about eight miles distant from one another, in a direc tion from west to east. The northern chain is composed principally of chalk and flints ; the southern, of iron and ragstone.
The principal rivers which intersect or bound this county are, the Thames, Medway, the two Stoures, the Darent, the Cray, and the Ravensbourne. The Thames touches Kent first at Deptford ; below Erith, it receives the Crag and Darent. The •isle of Grain bounds its entrance on the south, being separated from the mainland by a boat chan nel, called the Scrag ; this island is composed of low marsh soil, embanked from the sea. The Medway is more pro perly a Kentish river ; it has four sources, only one, how ever, is in this county : the united streams flow to Tun bridge, near which place the river again divides ; but, again uniting, it flows from Yalding, in a winding course towards 'Maidstone, and thence to Rochester and Chatham. Below Chatham it loses all its beauties, passing through a flat, marshy, and unpicturesque country, but still preserv ing its devious course. It falls into the sea at Sheerness, near the exit of the Thames, The tide flows nearly as high as Maidstone. From Sheerness to Rochester, a distance of nearly 20 miles, it is so deep, and the reaches so con venient, that many of the largest line of battle ships, when out of commission, are moored here. About the middle of the eighteenth century, the Medway was made naviga ble to Tunbridge. The greater and lesser Stowe unite near Ashford ; they separate at Canterbury, and again unite below that city, having formed three small islets : from Canterbury its course is north cast, to the isle of Thanet ; it falls into the sea at Peppeiness.