Masonic Jottings.—No. 9.

that " in the early German Lodges the developement of the Masonry which was not Operative Masonry was effectively checked by the different G-overments , " needs qualification and correction . 'The Avord " early" should not be understood of

• lodges in times anterior to the Reformation ; and the Avord " progress " should be substituted for the word " developement . " AVITHOUT AND WITHIN . Masonry suffers less by the scurrilousness of those Avithout , than by the ill-judged zeal of some within .

Guild Of Masons At Faversham Abbey.

GUILD OF MASONS AT FAVERSHAM ABBEY .

[ Having completed the extracts from Notes and Queries iu our last number on the " Stewarts and Freemasonry , " Ave now give , further extracts upon the subject of the Guild of Masons at Faversham Abbey , believing that they will prove equally

interesting : —] In the present volume ( p . 124 ) I referred to a MS . formerly belonging to the Surreuden collection . In this is a curious entry as follows ¦ " Maiores de ecclia de Devinton fabricator . " A

foot-note in the History of Davmgton , p . 58 , partially clears this up : — " The words ' Maiores Fabricatores' are very obscure . They may designate either the gentry ofthe neighbourhood , who contributed money towards the Fabric , or Avho had charge of the

Fabric ( see Ducange , in voce ' Fabricator /) or again a sodality of Freemasons employed in the actual building of the church . In a council held at Avignon in the year 1326 , condemning societies who had secret signs and tokens , and AVIIO Avore peculiar robes ( the description seems to point at

the Order of Masons ) , the term 'Major' is expressly used ( Canon xxxviii . ) , ' TJnum sibi eligunt Majorem , cui jurantin omnibus obedire . ' —Gondii . ed , Mansi , fol . Venet . 1782 , xxv . col . 763 .

"Might the neig hbouring mitred Abbey of Faversham , Avhich , as well as the Priory , was under the Benedictine Order , have maintained such a Guild ?" I am inclined to think this question may be safely answered in the affirmative . The abbey

possessed a large portion of the houses in Faversham , a goal , at least three water-mills , and several granges some distance from the toAvn . These , with the various buildings AVtthin the precincts of the abbey , must have required a number of Avorkmen continually employed to keep in repair .

Another reason for supposing certain Avorkmen were regularly engaged by the abbot of Faversham is the fact that the men of the town were continually at variance with him . About a century after the abbey was built , the townsmen com-

Guild Of Masons At Faversham Abbey.

menced a series of aggressions ; the inmates of the abbey then had recourse to laAV , when the townspeople Avere invariably defeated . I mention this to show the feeling that existed from the time of Henry III . to the reformation between the monks and the inhabitants ; of course during all

this quarrelling it would be to the interest of the abbey to employ its OAVU men . I should not have brought forward this theory if I had no other reasons than the foregoing . Ou Sept . 5 , 1510 , a deed of covenant was draAvn up betAveen the abbot and convent of Favershamand

, the mayor , jurats , and commonalty as to repair of churchyard Avail . This Avail divided the cemetery ofthe parish church from the land belonging to the abbey . The folloAving shoAvs the boundaries , and is a copy of that portion of the deed relating to them . —

"For the repairing and makyng of the church - Avalle that is to witte from the corner of the Garden belonging to Julyan Norton WedoAve Avhere as John Peryngton dwellith right down EastAvard to the corner next the litle Chappell set in the North east corner of the saide Church yard and so from

the saide litle Chappell southward as far as the grouude of the saide Abbott and Convent extended . " Further on , this wall , it is stated , is to be repaired "by the workmen and . Masons ofthe saide Abbot and Convent . " Now I believe this

expression points to the guild in question , not perhaps so clearly as one might Avish , but it may easily mean that Avithout stretching . HoAvever the question may be decided later on , 1 have throAvn these jottings together in the hope that something more decisive may be advanced if possible . GEORGE BEDO .

The passage quoted from a deed , Sept . 5 , 1510 , is couched in such modern phraseology , that I am induced to read it by the lights of modern usage . I would venture , therefore , to suggest that the words , " by the Avorkmen and Masons of the saide Abbot and Convent , " mean only , " by Avorkmen

and Masons appointed by the saide , " & c . & c .: it being a usual condition that the chief parties to such an agreement should retain control by this means , and not leave the other party to appoint perhaps inferior hands . >( Majores fabricatores " would meanliterally

, , chief constructors : the word fabricatores , derived from faber , a smith , hardly points to Masons ; though the construction mig ht include Masonry among- the details . A . H .

My communication on this subject has been copied from JVotes and Queries into the local paper at Faversham . An anonymous correspondent , who rightly dubs himself "Terribly Ignor-ant , ' brings some objections against my theory . First of all he says he is ignorant of the existence of