suppose that it must have been of a mean and clumsy structure. At the outer gate were the porter's lodge and the almnery, or aumbry, where poor and impotent people were relieved by its occupants, or, rather, by the charity of those benevolent persons, who made the inhabitants of this dwelling their trustees for the disposal of alms. The oratory, or chapel, belonging to this almnery, whither the persons who had received relief resorted to perform their devotions, is yet standing. Mr. Southouse says that "in the Sacristie stood the Abby Church but it is so totally demolished that there is not so much as a stone or under pinning left to inform posterity whereabouts it stood." And that in his time the refectory or hall, called also the fraytour, where the monks used to dine and sup, remained entire, and that on the north door was this inscription in old English characters, "Jhesus Christ have mercy upon us." By the record of a mayor of Faversham, it is evident that it possessed the privilege of Sanctuary. It is there entered that "on the Wednesday after the feast of St. Alphage, 2, Henry 4, William Clerk, hosier, fled to the church of St. Saviour of Faversham for sanctuary, and desired the coroner. On which William Ledys, Mayor and Coroner of the Lord the King in hac parte, went to the aforesaid place, and before him, the aforesaid Clerk, acknowledged himself to be a felon of the Lord the King, and confessed that on Sunday, on the feast of St. Stephen in the year abovesaid, he feloniously stole from Agnes Thornton of Newcastle-on-Tyne one pair of beads, value two shillings, and desired that, according to the law and custom of England, he might be delivered from the church. On which, being led to the doors of the church, he abjured the Kingdom of England before the said Coroner, who assigned him the port of Dovor for his passage out of it." The abbey possessed the Franchise of Sepulture, and the power of granting Letters of Fraternity. The abbot, as lord of the manor, had great authority in the civil jurisdiction of the town; he had the profits arising from the market, which, in the survey of the manor in Domes-dai-boc, were valued at four pounds a year, as well as the income of the Fair, which for that reason used to be kept within the precincts of the abbey. Robert of Gloucester tells us that "the Abbey of Fevershame was founded in the yere of our Lorde, m. cxlix, and that in the yere of our Lorde, m. cliv. deyed Kyng Stephene, and was buryed att Fevershame in Kent, vii miles from Canterburye, in mynstre of Frenshe Monks, that Molde, Kyng Stephene's Queene, had founded newe in the worship of the Croys." Mr. Lewis in his History of the Abbey, states that "Robert Fale, by his last will, bequeaths his body to be buried in the Monastery of Faversham, in the Chapel of Pietie-Roode there." Our annalist, John Stow, tells us that, "at the dissolution of the abbey, the King's body, for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffin'd, was cast into the river." If such were the case, it is probable that the ashes of his queen Maude, and son Eustace, who are said to have been buried in the same tomb with him, suffered a similar indignity for the like reason. As the abbots held the estate belonging to this abbey, in chief and per baroniam, we find they were at first called to parliament. Mr. Selden relates that they were called to twelve, and, not improbable, in the other reigns that intervened betwixt the time of this abbey's foundation and the time of Edward I. He also observes, that about the end of the second Edward's reign was the beginning of the omission of such persons who though spiritual and regulars, held not in chief. And thereupon some of them who held in chief, from ancient time, and per baroniam, were excluded either by discharge or the like omission. Of this, it seems, the abbot of Faversham was one instance, who was never called to parliament after the 18th of Edward 2, Anno. Dom. 1325. John Shepy, alias Castlelocke, was the last abbot of this monastery. He was one of the divines who were convoked to a meeting in the Chapter House of the cathedral of St. Paul's A.D. 1533, to give his opinion of the king's marriage with his brother's wife Catherine. He, from some cause, was not there, but his proxy the abbot of Hyde in Hampshire was one of the affirmants, that," to marry a wife known by the brother, departing without issue, was prohibited by the divine law, and indispensable by the pope." In the year 1539, about four years after the dissolution of the lesser religious houses, an Act was passed for the dissolution of the greater ones, which had lands above the value of £200. per annum. Among the latter was this abbey, the revenue of which was valued at £286. 12s. 6d. By the Act it is declared, "That divers and sundry Abbots of divers Monasteries, Abbathies, &c., of their own free and voluntary minds, without constraint or compulsion of any manner of person, since the 4th day of February, in the year of the reign of King Henry VIII. and that by their sufficient writings of record under their convent and common seals, have severally given all their Monasteries, Abbathies, &c. to the king, his heirs, and successors for ever." Among these was the abbot of this abbey, who, in the month of July, in the 30th year of king Henry, by an instrument or writing in Latin prepared for that purpose, surrendered into the hands of Richard Layton, one of the masters of Chancery, all the manor, lordships, messuages, gardens, curtlages, tosts, land, tenements, &c. belonging to the abbey. This instrument was sealed with the seal of the abbey, and signed in the margin by the abbot and the eight monks who were all that belonged to the abbey at that time. Sittingbourne. EPITAPH IN BOUGHTON CHURCH. I now that lye within thys marble stone My terme of Life an hundred and one. yeares My stature high, my bodye longe and strong, THE BUTTERFLY AND THE BEE. TO A YOUNG LADY, A Butterfly of self conceit, Her body of a crimson hue, All newly spread with down; It chanced a Bee of pamper'd taste, From flower to flower the insect flew, And fondly sipp'd the fragrant dew, The object of his toil. When thus, with waving pinions bright, His notice to arrest, The butterfly, so airy, light, Her little friend addrest. 'Tis strange that we should thus embrace All nature's pride and care, Nor any of thy honey race An equal portion share; "Where'er I trim my graceful flight, Whatever course pursue, My purple pinions view." If DISSUASIONS FROM DESPONDENCY. you are distressed in mind-live; serenity and joy may yet dawn upon your soul. If misfortunes assail you by the faults of others-live; you have nothing wherewith to blame yourself. If misfortunes have arisen from your own misconduct-live, and be wiser in future. If your character be unjustly attacked-live; that you may see the assertion disproved.. If you are indigent and helpless-live; the face of things, like the renewing seasons, may yet happily change. If another have injured you-live; the crime will bring its own punishment. If you have injured another-live, to recompense good for evil. If your success be not equal to your merit-live, in the happy consciousness of having deserved it. If you have been negligent and useless in society-live, and make amends. If you have spiteful enemies-live, and disappoint their malevolence. If you hope for immortality-live, and prepare to enjoy it. Sittingbourne. PATIENTIA. |