280 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 76. 



turn of the times, became a debauchee ad omnia ; en- 

 tertained ill principles as to religion, spoke often very 

 slightly of the Trinity, kept beastly and atheistical 

 company, of whom Thos. Challoner, the regicide, was 

 one, and endeavoured to his power to asperse and in- 

 validate the king and his cause.^' 



His acquaintance with Challoner is also alluded 

 to by Aubrey, who says*, " that his translation of 

 Lucan's excellent poem made him in love with 

 the repubiique." Aubrey adds, he was — 



" A handsome man, debauched, and lodged in the 

 little square by Cannon liow, as you go through the 

 alley." 



Clarendon concludes his notice of May by ob- 

 serving that — 



" Shortly after the publication of his parliamentary 

 history he died, miserable and neglected, and deserves 

 to be forgotten." 



The fact i,s, he was found dead in his ted in 

 Nov. 1650; but that he was "neglected" is not 

 altogether correct. At any rate, he was honoured 

 with a public funeral, a marble monument, and a 

 laudatory epitaph in Westminster Abbey, — siiort- 

 lived dignities ! for, at the Restoration, the me- 

 morial of his fame was torn down, whilst his body 

 was exhumed, and, after being treated with much 

 ignominy, hurled into a large pit in St. Margaret's 

 churchyard adjoining. — Besides the works above 

 noticed, May also wrote The Description of 

 Henri/ II., in verse, with A Short Survey of the 

 Changes of his Reign, and The Single and Com- 

 parative Character of Henry and Richard his Sons, 

 in prose. Nor was that ofLucan his only trans- 

 lation, for he rendered into English verse VirgiVs 

 Geoj-gics and Selected Epigrams of Martial. He 

 was also the author of five dramas, two of 

 which are given lin Dodsley's- Old Plays. A now 

 forgotten critic, Henry Headley, B.A., of Norwich, 

 observes concerning his historical poems, that 

 May — 



" Has caught no, small portion of the energy and de- 

 clamatory spirit which characterises the Roman poet, 

 whom, as he translated, he insensibly made his model. 

 His battle -pieces," our critic continues, " highly merit 

 being brought forward to notice ; they possess the re- 

 quisites, in a remarkable degree, for interesting the 

 feelings of an Englishman. While in accuracy they 

 vie with a gazette, they are managed with such dex- 

 terity, as to busy the mind with unceasing agitation, 

 with scenes highly diversified and impassioned by 

 striking character, minute incident, and alarming 

 situation." f 



In. confirmation of the general propriety and 

 justness of these remarks, I would refer to the 



* In MSS. Ashmol., as quoted in Biog. Britann., 

 from which, and Chalmers's Biog. Diet., the dates, and 

 such of the facts above given, not otherwise autheoti- 

 cated, are princijialh/ derived, 

 i ■]■ Biographical Sketc/ies, Lond., 12mo.: 1787. 



description of "The Den of the Vices" (!!•"• b. i.), 

 and to the accounts of " The Death of llosamond" 

 (H. II. b. v.), "The Battle of Cressy" (E. iii. 

 b. iii.), and " The Capture of Mortimer" (E.iii. 

 b. i.). These pieces can only be thus vindicated, 

 being much too long for extracting : but I think 

 a republication of the entire poems would be an 

 acceptable boon to the public. Cowgili-. 



Although May's version of Cato's soliloquy is 

 immeasurably below Addison's, I am inclined to 

 agree with J. H. L., that, on comparing them, it is 

 more than probable, Addison had May's descrip- 

 tion of Cato's death in his mind at the same time 

 he penned the ju«tly celebrated soliloquy in the 

 5th Act of his Cato. E. B. Price. 



Cow Cross. 



Thoma.'i May, the Author of the Supplement to 

 Lucan (Vol. iii., p. 167.), was the secretary and his- 

 torian of the Long Parliament. He was born at 

 Maytield in 1595 ; took the degree of B. A. at Syd- 

 ney-Susse.x College, Cambridge, and afterwards en- 

 tered Gray's Inn, but devoted himself to literature. 

 He translated Virgil's Georgics, Selected Epigrams 

 of Martial, and in 1627 Lucan's Pharsalia; to the 

 latter, in 1630, he siqiplied an English continuation 

 of his own in seven books, intituled, A Continuation 

 of the Subject of Lucan s Historical Poem till the 

 Death of Julius Ccesar. It was dedicated to 

 Charles. He afterwards published at Leyden a 

 Latin translation of the seven additional books ; 

 this was ailded to the Amsterdam and otiier 

 editions of Lucan, and has established ]\Iay's fame 

 as a classic scholar. Andrew Marvel!, who saw 

 onlv an apology for the doings of the tyrannical 

 parliament in the continuation of Lucan's poem, 

 calls May — 



" Most servile wit, and mercenary pen, 

 Polydore, Lucan, Allan, Vandal, Guth. 

 Malignant poet and historian both, 

 Go seek the novice statesmen and obtrude 

 On them some Roman cast similitude." 

 He died suddenly in the night of 13th Nov., 

 1650, his death being attributed by Marvell to a 

 little too much indulgence in wine. 

 " As one pot drunk into the packet-boat, 



Tom May was hurry'd hence, and did not know't." 

 W. DuRRAST Cooper. 

 81. Guilford Street. 



[We are also indebted to Bal-lioi-ensis and other 

 correspondents for general replies tothis Query ; and to 

 W. S. (Richmond) for a reference to Baron Maseres' 

 account of him prefixed to his edition of May's History 

 of the Long Parliament.^ 



DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM. 



(Vol. iii., pp. 224. 249.) 



P. C. -S. S. believes that a reference to almost 

 any Peerage or work on British geneah)gy, would 



