M A J 
tieen there fully expofed. A curious circuinllanee Is re¬ 
corded by a tomb-ftone in Boxlev church-yard: Thomas 
Broughton, efq. was confined in his family-houfe, of Al- 
lingham, in the reign of Henry VIII. without any means 
of fubfiftence, exceota cat that regularly caught a pigeon, 
and brought it daily to her matter, whofe life was thus 
preferved by this domeftic and airedion.tte animal. 
^ Hatriettham, a little village near Maidftone, has a fair 
on the 5th of July.—Sutton-Valence, four miles and a half 
i'outh-ealt from Maidftone, has a fair on Nov. 20, a free 
■Grammar-fchool, and alio fix alms-houfes. 
° Thornham, two miles and a half north-eaft of Maid¬ 
ftone, had a caftle on the brow of that called Goddard- 
Hill, on which it is faid Roman urns have been found ; 
from whence fome think the caftle was built by the Ro¬ 
mans, as others do by the Saxons, or at leaft that it is as 
old as their time ; but Kilburn fays it was founded in 
king Stephen's reign. 
Leeds on the Len, near Maidftone, had formerly a caf¬ 
tle and an abbey or priory. The caftle (lands about three 
miles and a half fouth-ealt of Maidftone. It was built by 
one Ledian, a Saxon chief, councilor to king Ethelbert II. 
in 857,'and was afterwards deftroyed by the Danes, and 
rebuilt by fir Hugh de Crevecceur in 1071. It was a mod 
magnificent pile of building, all of (tone ; fituated in the 
midft of a beautiful park, and encircled by a large moat 
of running water, fupplied by a ftream that rifes at Len- 
ham. At the entrance to the caftle, are the remains of 
an ancient gateway, which appears to have ftood ever 
fince its fir It foundation. On the third of November, 
1779, his majefty king George III. with his queen, lodged 
here after having reviewed the army encamped at Cox- 
heath. .... 
On a rifing ground, within a mile and a half of Aylef- 
ford, and about four miles from Maidftone, is an anti¬ 
quity, vulgarly called Kettfcotty-houfe, confifting of four 
great ftones, of that kind called Kentifii rag, and then 
deemed the tomb of Catigarn, brother of Vortigern, king 
of the Britons, (lain in battle, and there buried. This 
ancient remain is fituated about a quarter of a mile to the 
right of the great road leading from Rochefter to Maid¬ 
ftone. Two of thefe ftones are fet parallel; a third at the 
weft end, perpendicular to thefe two, and clofing the end ; 
the fourth, which is the largeft, is laid tranfverfely over, 
but neither mortifed, nor parallel to the horizon, but re¬ 
clines towards the weft in an angle of nine degrees. 
Perhaps the eaft end, now opes, was formerly clofed, as at 
about feventy yards to the north-weft lies another large 
(tone, of the fame fort and form. Wilkes'sBritijh Directory , 
vol. iii. 
M A'IDSTONE, a townlhip of America, in Eflex coun¬ 
ty, Vermont, on Connecticut River, containing 152 inha¬ 
bitants.—A townfliip of Upper Canada, between Sand¬ 
wich and Rochefter, upon Lake Erie. 
MA'IDWELL, a village in Lincolnfliire, near Burwell. 
MA'IER (Michael), a diftinguilhed writer among the 
German Rofycrufians in the feventeenth century, was a 
native of Frankfort. Having been educated a chemift, he 
conceived the vifionary idea, that he was deftined to be 
the difeoverer of the grand fecret of tranfmuting bafer 
metals into gold; and facrificed his time, his fortune, and 
his underftanding, in the ruinous purfuit of it. The 
principal works in which he has publifhed reveries on 
this fubject are, Atalanta Fugiens, 1618. and Scplimana Pki- 
lofophica, 1620, both in 4-to. 
MA'IES, a village in Suffolk, near Selmfton. 
MAJES'TAS, a goddefs among the Romans, daughter 
of Honour and Reverence. Ovid . Fajl . v. 25. 
MAJ'ESTATIVE, adj . Majeftical. Bailey . 
MAJES'TIC, or Majes'tical, adj . (from majcjly .] 
Auguft; having dignity 5 grand; imperial; regal; great 
of appearance; 
Get the ftart of the majejlic world, 
And bear the palm alone. Shakefpeare's Julius C<cjar, 
Vol. XIV. No. 963. 
M A J 153 
Stalely ; pompous ; fplendid.—It was no mean thing 
which he piu'pofed ; to perform a work fo majejical and 
ftately was tip fmall charge. Hooker. —Sublime; elevated; 
lofty.—All muft be grave, majejical, and fublfme. Dry- 
den. 
MAJES'TICALLY, adv. With dignity 5 with gran¬ 
deur : 
From Italy a wand’ring ray 
Of moving light illuminates the day; 
Northward fhe bends, majeftically bright. 
And here fhe fixes her imperial light. Granville. 
MAJ'ESTY,yi {pnajejass, Lat.] Dignity; grandeur; 
greatnefsof appearance; an appearan&e awful and falemn, 
—Great without pride, in fober majejy. Pope. 
Amidft thick clouds doth Heav’n’s all-ruling Sire 
Chufe to refide, his glory unobfeur’d. 
And with the majejly ofdarknefs round 
Covers his throne. Milton's Paradife Loft. 
Power; fovereignty.—To the only wife God be glory and 
majejly. Jude, 25.—He gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father 
majejly. Dan. v. 18. —Dignity; elevation of manner; 
The firft in loftinefs of thought furpafs’d, 
The next in majejly. Dryden. 
The title of kings and queens.—He, who had been al¬ 
ways believed a creature of the queen, vifited her majejly 
but once in fix weeks. Clarendon. 
I have a garden opens to the fea. 
From whence I can your majejly convey 
To fome nigh friend. Wallers 
The word feems compofed of the two Latin words, ma¬ 
jor greater, and flatus Hate. The emperor of Germany 
was called Sacred Majejy, Imperial Majejly, Cajarean Majefiy, 
and, as king of Hungary, Apoflolic Majejy. The king of 
Spain is termed MoJ Catholic Majejy ; and the king of Por¬ 
tugal, MoJ Faithful Majejy. The king of France ufed to 
be called MoJ Chrijian Majejly ; he was afterwards called 
fimply. King of the French. Bonaparte affumes the title of 
Emperor of the French. With relpefl to other kings, the 
name of the kingdom is added ; as Britannic Majefty , Pruf¬ 
fian Majejy, See. 
Pafquier obferves, that our forefathers ufed this qua¬ 
lity very fparingly ; and that thefrequent ufeof the word, 
which now obtains, had not its beginning before the reign 
of Henry II. of France. He inftances leveral letters of 
St. Gregory, who, writing to king Theodoret and Theo- 
doric, only compliments them with Excellency. Till the 
time of Charles V. the king of Spain had no title but 
that of Highnefs; Louis XI. was the firft in France who 
aiTumed this title ; and before our king Henry VIII, the 
kings of England were only addrefled under the titles of 
Grace, which began in the time of Henry IV. and Ex¬ 
cellent Grace, under Henry VI. and Highnefs. See King, 
vol. xi. p. 732. At the peace of Munfter, there was a 
great conteft between the minifters of the German em¬ 
peror and thofe of France ; the firft would not allow the 
title of Serenity to the king of France, and the latter 
would not give that of Majefty to the emperor. At laft it 
was agreed, that, whenever the French king fliould write 
with his own hand to the emperor, he fiiould give him the 
title of Imperial Majefty; and reciprocally, when the em¬ 
peror (hould write to the king, he (hould give him that of 
Royal Majefty. 
Under the Roman republic, the title Majefty, Majejas, 
belonged to the whole body of the people, and to the 
principal magiftrates; fo that to diminifli or wound the 
majefty of the commonwealth was to be wanting in re- 
fpeift to the (late or its minifters. But, the power afterwards 
pafling into the hands of a fingle perfon, the appellation 
of Majefty was transferred to the emperor, and the impe¬ 
rial family. Pliny compliments Trajan on his being con¬ 
tented with the title of Greatnefs; and fpeaks very invi- 
diouliy of thofe who atfeded that of Majelly. And yet 
■R r Majefty 
