m m a y. 
whom king Charles I. granted the ifland in fee, with power 
to exait twopence per ton from every (hip that paffes, for 
the maintenance of a lighthoufe. In the middle of it 
there is a frefh-water fpring, and a fmall lake. The foil 
produces pafturage foronebundred (beep and twenty black 
cattle. On the welt fide the fteep rocks render it inaccef- 
fible ; but to the ea(t there are four landing-places and 
good riding. It was here that the French fquadron, hav¬ 
ing the chevalier de St. George on-board, anchored in the 
year 1703, when the vigilance of fir George Byng obliged 
him to relipquilh his defign,and bear away for Dunkirk. 
The (hores all round the illand abound with fifii, and the 
dill's with water-fowl. Ency. Brit. 
MAY, or Mayo, one of the Cape de Verd iflands. 
It is but fmall, being no more than twenty-one miles in 
circumference; its form oval, with a variety of fliarp rocks 
and points projeding into the fea above a mile. LaCroix, 
Davity, and Linfchoten, defcribe it with dangerous (hoals 
and fand-banks r ound the coalt; notwithftanding which, 
Dampier affirms that he has coafted it almolt in a circle, 
and yet could never difcover any thing dangerous befides 
the promontories, which render it hazardous to fall in at 
night too clofe with the land. The north-eaft end of the 
ifland, as obferved by fir George Staunton, was extremely 
low, little above the level of the fea, with a covering of 
white (and, not' always eafily difcoverable in the night. 
The land rifes, gradually, till it arrives at a volcanic moun¬ 
tain, to the fouth-weft of which is irregular ground; and 
foon follows a high diforderly peak, much more lofty than 
the volcanic cone. The (bore, according to Dampier, is 
clear, with fandy bays between the promontories, which 
afford good anchorage. On the well fide of the ifland, 
where (hips drop anchor, there is a large fandy bay, and a 
fand-bank forty paces wide, running near three miles 
along fliore, within which is a large falt-pond, contained 
between the rifing (bore and theoppofite fand-bank. The 
whole falt-pond is full two miles in length, and half a mile 
in breadth, but feldom filled with water. It is the north 
end which chiefly produces fait, that being never dry, 
though the water evaporates, and the falts form themfelves 
for the whole dry feafon, that is, from November to the 
month of May. Formerly, the Englilh drove lb great a 
trade in this commodity, that a man-of-war was continu¬ 
ally Rationed for the protection of the (hips employed in 
this article; but this guardlhip has been laid afide for a 
number of years. The ifland of May is a dry foil, confid¬ 
ing chiefly of fand, or a loofe crumbling done, without 
rivulets, fprings, or any natural moidure, except the dews 
of the night, and the (bowers in the wet i'eafon, which run 
off as fad as they fall. In the whole ifland there is but 
one'fpring, and that in the very centre, running off in a 
fmall dream through a valley confined by the hills. 
Hence it is that we may account for the barrennefs of the 
ifland, and why it produces no large trees, which can nei¬ 
ther fix their roots in fo loofe, nor draw the neceffary nou- 
rilhment in fo dry, a foil. The fand-bank that forms the 
falt-pond, produces a fpecies of filk-cotton, that grows on 
a tender ffirub, about four feet high, in pods of the fizeof 
a (mall cucumberor bean. In May are three fmall towns, 
in which all the inhabitants of the ifland are contained. 
The chief fruits are figs, water-melons, a few citrons and 
oranges, ali of them bad in their kinds; and pompions, 
which ferve the natives for their ordinary diet; together 
with calavanas, or a fpecies of bean, of Which they are 
fond. The fea is plentifully docked with a variety of fiffi, 
mullets, dolphins, bonettoes, (flappers, filver-fiffi, por- 
puffes, and a fmall fpecies of whale, that commonly vitit 
the road every day in queft of their prey, during the fea¬ 
fon that the green turtle lay their eggs. The number of 
inhabitants is eflimated at 7000. Lat. 1 5. 10. N. Ion. 23. 
5. W. var. of the cotnpafs iz° W. Staunton, vol. i. 
MAY (Thomas), a poet and hidorian, el deft fon of 
fir Thomas May, of Mayfield in Suffex, was born at that 
place about 1595. He was entered a fellow-coinmoner of 
Sidpey-Suffex college, Cambridge, where he took the de¬ 
gree of B. A. Coming to the metropolis, he was ad¬ 
mitted a member of Gray’s Inn ; but it does not appear 
that.lie ever dudied the law profeflionally. He cultivated 
the literary turn which he had acquired by clofe dudy at 
the univerfity; and became acquainted with molt of the 
poets and men of wit who w'ere then in reputation. We 
learn from lord Clarendon, that his rather had fpent the 
family-edate, and that a fcanty annuity was all his inherit¬ 
ance. “ He brought down his mind to his fortune (fays 
that writer) by a great modedy and humility in his nature, 
which was not affefted, but very well became an imperfec¬ 
tion in his fpeech, which was a great mortification to him, 
and kept him from entering into any difcourfe but in the 
company of his very friends.” Some of his fird compofi- 
tions were of the dramatic clafs; and three tragedies and 
two comedies are extant in his name, which feem to have 
obtained applaufe in their time, though they are now for¬ 
gotten. He wrote alfo a tragedy in Latin ; and made fe- 
veral poetical tranflations ; as, Virgil’s Georgies, with an¬ 
notations; felefted Epigrams of Martial; and, what prin¬ 
cipally contributed to his reputation, “ Lucan’s Pharfalia,” 
with a continuation of the poem to the death of Caefar, in 
feven books of his own compolition. This lad he tranf- 
lated into Latin hexameters, and with fo much fuccefs, 
that it has been added to feveral of the bed editions of 
Lucan, and has given him a name among obflical fcholars. 
He likewife tranflated Barclay’s Icon Animorum, and had a 
(hare in the veifion of his Argents Of the original poems 
of May, the principal are, The Keign of Henrv II. and 
The Viftoriotu Reign of Edward III each in feven books; 
to the fird is added, in prole, The Defcription of Henry II. 
with a ffiort Survey of the Changes of his Reign ; and. 
The fingle and comparative Characters of Henry and 
Richard, his Sons. He was in confiderable elleem with 
king Charles I. who ufed to call him his poet. A proof 
of his regard appears in the following dory : On the pre- 
fentation of a grand mafque at court by the gentlemen of 
the Inns of Court in 1633, May being one of the fpedfla.- 
tors, and danding in the way of the hot-headed lord-cham¬ 
berlain Herbert earl of Montgomery, the latter, not know¬ 
ing him, broke bis daff on his (hou lers. His majelty, 
who vvitneffed this indignity, noticed it in fuels a manner, 
that the earl made an apology to the poet, with a conci¬ 
liatory prefent of fifty pounds. The king’s favour, how¬ 
ever, was not bountiful enough to fecure his poet’s at¬ 
tachment. Either difappointment with refpeff to fome 
place for which lie was a candidate, or, according to lord 
Clarendon, the refufal of a fmall penfion, gave him (o 
much difgud, that he quitted the royal party; and, upon 
the breaking out of the civil war, entered into the fervice 
of the parliament. It would not indeed be extraordinary 
if the tranflator of Lucan fliould likewife, without fuch a 
motive, give a preference to a caute which was apparently 
that of liberty. He was appointed fecretary of the parlia¬ 
ment, and the talk, was enjoined him of compoling a nar¬ 
rative of its tranfaddions. This he performed in his “ Hif- 
tory of the Parliament of England, which began Nov. 3, 
1640, with a fnort and neceffary View of fome precedent 
Yeares,” fol. 1649; of which he afterwards publilhed a 
“ Breviary and Continuation,” both in Latin and Englilh. 
This work became famous; and was extremely obnoxious 
to the royal party, who ufed every endeavour to vilify it 
and the author. Clarendon, who fpeaks handfornely of 
May in the preceding part of his charafter, fays, with re¬ 
lation to this performance, “ He proftituted himfelf to the 
vile office of celebrating the infamous adds of thofe who 
were in rebellion againlt the king; which he did fo mean¬ 
ly, that he feemed to all men to have loft his wits when 
he left his honefty.” He has not, however, been with¬ 
out advocates; and Mr. Granger affirms that “there is 
more candour in this hillory than the royaliits were wil¬ 
ling to allow him ; but there is lefs elegance than one 
would expert from the pen of fo polite and clafiical a febo- 
lar.” It was his laft literary labour ; for he died fuddenly 
in the night, in November 1650, without previous illnefs. 
Andrew 
