April 12. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



279 



round its head, and the staff of the flag terminates j 

 in a cross like the head of a processional cross. 

 The device, I have reason to think, was the badge 

 of the knights of the order of Saint John of Jeru- ] 

 salem, who had a preceptory in this neighbourhood i 

 during the thirteenth century. In the history of i 

 these knights, first of Jerusalem, then of Rhodes, j 

 and afterwards of Malta, I find it stated, tliat in I 

 the year 1130 Pope Innocent II. commanded that { 

 the standard of tlie knights (at that time settled at 

 Jerusalem) should be " gules, a full cross argent." 

 Will any of your correspondents be so kind as 

 to inform me if the device on the corbel was the 

 badge of the knights of the order of St. Jolin of 

 Jerusalem? and if so, at what tiuie tliey first 

 assumed it ? S. S. S. 



General Pardons. — Has any example of a ge- 

 neral pardon under the great seal been ever printed 

 at length? particularly any of those granted after 

 the restoration of Charles II.? J. G. N. 



" Too wise to err." — You will oblige many of 

 your readers if you will inform them from whence 

 the words 



" Too wise to err, too good to be unkind," 

 are quoted. T. W. A. 



SRfpIic^. 



TUOMAS MAT. 



(Vol. iii., p. 1G7.) 



Thomas May, famous amongst the busy charac- 

 ters of his age, both as a politician and a poet, 

 was the eldest son of Sir Thos. May, Knt., of 

 Mayfield, in Sussex, where he was born in 1593. 

 At the usual jieriod of life, he was admitted a 

 fellow-commoner of Sidney Sussex College, Cam- 

 bridge ; and having taken the degree of B.A. he 

 entered himself at Gray's Inn, with the intention 

 of studying the law, which, however, it is uncer- 

 tain whether he ever pursued as a profession. 

 Whilst lie was a student of the law, he made the 

 acquaintance of Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of 

 Clarendon ; and became the intimate associate of 

 Ben Jonson, Selden, Cotton, Sir K. Digby, Thos. 

 Carew*, "and some others of eminent faculties in 

 their several ways." 



" His parts of nature and art," writes Clarendon f, in 

 describing bis character, " were very good, a* appears 

 by his translation of Lucan (none of the easiest work 

 of that kind), and more by his Supplement to Lucan, 

 wliich l)eing entirely liis own, for the learning, the wit, 

 and the language, may be well looked upon as one of 

 the best epic poeras in the English language." 



• The Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, tfc, Oxf. 

 1827. 

 f The same. 



As an elegant writer, indeed, of Latin verse, he is 

 justly numbered amongst the most successful of 

 the accomplished poets of our nation — Ben Jonson, 

 Cowley, IMilton, Marvell, Crashaw, Addison, Gray, 

 Smart", T. Warton, Sir W. Jones, &c — who have 

 devoted their leisure to this species of composition. 

 Clarendon goes on to say that May was " born 

 to a fi)rtune, if his father had not spent it ; so that 

 he had only an annuity left him, not proportion-' 

 able to a liberal education :" 



" Yet since," continues this illustrious authority, 

 "his fortune could not raise his mind, he brought his 

 mind down to his fortune, by a great modesty and' 

 humility in Ids nature, which was not affected, but 

 very well became an imperfection in his speech, 

 which was a great raortificalion to him, and kept him 

 from entering upon any discourse but in the company 

 of Ids very friends," of whom he had not a few, for " he 

 was cherished by many persons of honour, and very 

 acceptal)le in all places." 



From Charles I., no mean judge of poetry, and 

 a liberal patron of the Muses, May received much 

 encouragement, and many substantial marks of 

 favour m the shape of donatives ; and it was at 

 tlie express command of this monarch that he 

 wrote his historical poem entitled The Victorioits 

 lieigne of Edward III. From disgust, however, 

 at the appointment of D'Avenant to the Laureate- 

 ship, on the death of Jonson in 1637, — a post to 

 which, according to what he consideredto be his 

 own superior deserts*, he was himself justly en- 

 titled,— " May fell from his duty, and aUhis former 

 friends," and became an active agent in promot- 

 ing the designs of the so-called popular leaders. 

 Through the interest of Cromwell, he was nomi- 

 nated Secretary to the Parliament, in which capa- 

 city he wrote a History of its transactions, a work 

 which was published in 1647. This performance, 

 which is highly commended by Granger, rendered 

 its author extremely obnoxious to the royal party, 

 who exercised all their powers of pen to disparage 

 both the book and its compiler. He is represented 

 by Clarendon, for instance, " as prostituting him- 

 self to the vile ofllice of celebrating the infiimous 

 acts of those who were in rebellion against the 

 kins ; which he did so meanly, that he seemed to 

 all Inen to have lost his wits, when he left his 

 honesty." Anthony a Wood's account t of these 

 matters, and of IMay himself, is that 



" He was graciously countenanced by K. Charles I. 

 and his royal consort ;' but he, finding not that prefer- 

 ment from either which he expected, grew discon- 

 tented, sided with the Presbyterians, and, upon the 



* Southey calls May " the very able competitor of 

 D'Avenant," and describes him as " a man so honour- 

 ably known by his translation of Lucan, and his Sup- 

 plement to that poet, that it were to be wislied he 

 were remembered for nothing else." — Biog. Sketches. 



•}■ AtheHx Oxon. Bliss's edit. 



