entitled "Methodus varias lectiones notandi," &c. In 1769 Dr. Kennicott stated that of the five hundred Hebrew MSS. then in Europe, he had himself seen two hundred and fifty; and of the sixteen MSS. of the Samaritan Pentateuch, eight had been collated for him. Of the Hebrew, one hundred and forty had been collated throughout. Subsequently these numbers were increased; and in 1776 he published the first volume of his "Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum, cum variis lectionibus." To the second volume, which appeared in 1780, was prefixed a "General Dissertation on the Hebrew Old Testament," which has been published separately. The celebrated Varias Lectiones of De Rossi is supplementary to that of Kennicott. Notwithstanding the immense amount of labour required for the collation of MSS. and the preparation of his Hebrew bible, Kennicott found time to write other works. Among them are critical remarks on Psalms xlii., xliii., xlviii., and lxxxix.; a "Dissertation on the Samaritan Pentateuch;" a short "Introduction to Hebrew Criticism;" a "Letter to J. D. Michaelis;" and a "Defence of his Hebrew Bible against the Göttingen Ephemerides." This last appeared in 1782, and throws some light on the conflicting opinions entertained of Kennicott's work abroad, and is interesting as being apparently the last production of his pen published during his lifetime. That Kennicott was a most laborious and conscientious editor is undoubted, and his name will always stand high among Old Testament critics.—B. H. C.
KENRICK, William, LL.D., a miscellaneous writer, son of a Hertfordshire staymaker, was born in the early part of the eighteenth century, and is said to have been brought up to the trade of a rule-maker in London. According to some accounts he studied at Leyden, and received there the degree of LL.D. Boswell, however, says that he "obtained it from a Scotch university," and adds, that he "wrote for the booksellers in a great variety of branches." He seems to have begun his literary career by publishing a couple of pamphlets on the immortality of the soul, 1751, which was followed by two performances of much less dignified aim, such as book i. of "The Pasquinade," 1753, an imitation of the Dunciad, in which he attacked his literary brethren with more malignity than power. He published some poems contributed to the Monthly Review, with which he quarrelled, chronicling his quarrel in print; and in 1765 appeared his "Review of Dr. Johnson's new edition of Shakspeare," an assault upon Johnson and his Shakspeare. Johnson treated Kenrick with silent contempt, and thus characterized him with quiet sarcasm to Goldsmith:—"Sir, he is one of the many who have made themselves public without making themselves known." Among the other objects of his attacks were Colman and Garrick, the latter of whom prosecuted him. He wrote some comedies; lectured and published on the sciences, fancying that he had discovered the perpetual motion; and in 1775 founded the London Review—while it lasted a vehicle for his impartial malignity. Two years previously he published his "English Dictionary," which has given him a certain fame, chiefly as an orthoepist. In his later years he indulged to excess in drinking; and having destroyed his constitution, died in 1779.—F. E.
KENT, Edward Augustus, Duke of, father of Queen Victoria, was the fourth son of George III., and was born November 2nd, 1767. In his seventeenth year he was sent to a military academy at Luxemburg, and subsequently spent some time at Hanover and at Geneva. He returned home in 1790, and was immediately sent to join his regiment—the 70th—at Gibraltar. In the autumn of 1791 the prince accompanied it to Quebec, and soon after joined the expedition under Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey, despatched to attack the West India islands belonging to the French, and behaved with great courage at the siege of Fort Royal in Martinique and at the attack upon St. Lucia and Guadaloupe. Prince Edward was raised to the rank of lieutenant-general in 1796, and was made governor of Nova Scotia. In 1799 he was created Duke of Kent and Stratherne and Earl of Dublin, and was soon after appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces in British America. In the following year he was compelled to return home in consequence of ill health, and was appointed to the colonelcy of the Royal Scots. In 1802 he was nominated governor of Gibraltar; but unfortunately his efforts to promote reform in the garrison excited a mutiny, and led to his recall in the following year. Ten years later he received the baton of a field-marshal. In 1816 he quitted England, where he would have been compelled to have kept up a position more conformable to his exalted rank than was consistent with his resources, and he lived on the continent, chiefly at Brussels, till his marriage, which took place in May, 1818, shortly after the lamented death of the Princess Charlotte. Even after this event he persevered in the economical plans which he had laid down for himself, and lived in the simple style of a private gentleman, first at Amorbach in Leiningen and then at Woolbrook cottage, Sidmouth, where he died, 23d January, 1820, after a short illness, the result of a severe cold which brought on inflammation of the lungs. The duke of Kent was the bravest and truest of the sons of George III., and was a most honourable, generous, and noble-hearted man. His wife—
Victoria Maria Louisa, was the youngest daughter of the duke of Saxe Coburg, and was born in 1786. She married first in 1803 Prince Emich Charles of Leiningen, who died in 1814, and to whom she bore a son and a daughter. After a widowhood of four years she married the duke of Kent, to whom she proved a most affectionate and devoted wife, and with whom she enjoyed a brief period of remarkable domestic happiness. After his death she voluntarily abandoned the claim which she had under his will to all his personal property, and yielded up the whole amount to his creditors, which was the more praiseworthy as she had sacrificed an annuity of £5000 on her marriage to the duke. From 1820 to 1825 she had an income of only £6000 a year, and from 1825 to 1831 was compelled to accept of the gift of £3000 a year from her brother, Prince Leopold. On the accession of the duke of Clarence, her daughter the Princess Victoria became the next heir to the throne; an addition of £10,000 a year was made by parliament to the income of the duchess; and she was unanimously appointed guardian of the princess her daughter, and regent in case of the decease of the king. On that occasion the statesmen on both sides of the house vied with each other in their encomiums on the exemplary manner in which her royal highness had discharged her duty in educating the future queen of England. From the period of the Princess Victoria's accession to the throne in 1837, the duchess lived a quiet and happy life, loved and honoured by all classes of the community. She died, 16th March, 1861.—J. T.
KENT, James, the musician, was born in Winchester, on the 13th of March, 1700. His father, a tradesman in good circumstances, placed him at the usual early age as a chorister in the cathedral of his native city, under Vaughan Richardson the organist. He did not long remain in that situation, but became one of the children of the chapel royal, where under the care of Dr. Croft, their master, he laid the foundation of his future excellence. After quitting the king's chapel, he resided for a time at the seat of his patron, the Rev. Sir John Dolben, Bart., in Northamptonshire, through whose interest he was chosen as organist to the church of Finedon in that county, which place he quitted on being appointed organist to Trinity college, Cambridge. He remained in the latter place till about the year 1737, when he removed to the city of his birth, having been selected by the dean and chapter of Winchester to succeed John Bishop as organist of that cathedral. This office he retained till 1774, when he resigned in favour of his pupil, Peter Fussell. He married a daughter of Mr. Freeman, a celebrated theatrical singer in Purcell's time, who after quitting the stage was admitted one of the gentlemen of the royal chapel, and vicar-choral of Westminster abbey; and in May, 1776, died, deeply regretted, at Winchester, in the north aisle of which cathedral his remains are deposited. So unassuming was this excellent man, that it was not until the decline of his life that he could be prevailed on to give his works to the public; and he then printed and published in score his volume of "Twelve Anthems," 1773. Mr. Corfe, the late organist of Salisbury, published a second volume, containing "A Morning and Evening Service and Eight Anthems." A few years previous to his decease Kent presented some of his compositions to Trinity college, and received the thanks of that learned body; the master at the same time informing him that the fellows had voted him a piece of plate, and desiring to know in what form he would wish it to be presented. As a composer of church music Kent followed closely in the style of Dr. Croft; and few persons have succeeded better than he in that due intermixture of harmony and melody which renders this species of music interesting, both to learned and unlearned auditors.—E. F. R.
KENT, James, the American "Blackstone," and author of the celebrated "Commentaries on American Law," was born at Fredericksburg, state of New York, on the 31st of July, 1763.
