MAY 
Maynwaring A prefent of a patent for that office, worth 
about 2000I. a-year in a time of bufinefs. He had a con- 
fiderable (hare in the “ Medley and was author of feveral 
other pieces. The “ Examiner,” his antagonift in politics, 
allowed that he wrote with tolerable fpirit, and in a rnal- 
terly ftyle. Sir Richard Steele dedicated the firli volume 
of the Tatler to him. 
MA'YO, a county of Ireland, in the province of Con¬ 
naught, the third in lize, but one of the leait populous in 
proportion to its extent. It is bounded on the north and 
weft by the Atlantic ocean, on the ealt by Sligo and Rof- 
common, and on the Couth by Galway. Its length from 
north to fouth is 49 Irifli or 62 Englifh miles 5 and its 
breadth 45 Irilh or 57 Englifh miles. It contains 790,600 
acres, or 1235 fquare miles', Irifh ; equal to 1,270,144 acres, 
or 19^4 fquare miles, Englifh. Its population was efti- 
mated, when Dr. Beaufort wrote, at 140,000, occupying 
^,970 houfcs ; but there mult have been (ince that time 
a confiderable increafein this as well as every other coun¬ 
ty. There are 68 parifhes ; but thefe are combined into 
eighteen benefices, having about as many churches, which 
would be a dreadful grievance, if the great mafs of the 
people were not Roman Catholics. The (oil of the county 
of Mayo varies prodigioufiy, from the bleak and rugged 
mountain to the fertile and cheerful plain. The ealtern 
and louthern parts are arable and champaign 5 and, though 
not arrived at a high degree of cultivation, they produce 
a ( fufficiency of corn and flax for home-confumption, and 
fupply other counties with abundance of fat and (tore 
cattle. In the mountainous diltritft of Burrifhoole there 
are fome fruitful grounds along the coalt and in the val¬ 
leys ; but a large extent in the north-well is overfpread 
with an imrnenfe mafs of uninhabited mountains, and 
tracklefs bogs without roads, and very difficult of accefs 
to the few farmers and fifhermen who dwell upon the 
coalt, and to the inhabitants of the Mullet; a peuinfula, 
which is faid to be fertile, pleafant, and well inhabited. 
Among the mountains in the Couth-welt, Croagh-Patrick 
claims the pre-eminence, the conical fummit of which is 
diftinguiffied at a vaft diftance riling 2666 feet above the 
level ot the fea, and being by fome elleemed the higheft 
mountain-in Ireland, hut others confider the Recks in 
Kerry to furpafs it. On the top of Croagh-Patrick is a 
very largeand remarkable cairn. M‘Nephin, though little 
inferior to it in height and fublimity, being 2640 teet high, 
is of a very different character, for it Hands almoft infu- 
lated, and appears rounded on all fides, and at top like a 
huge rath or barrow. There are, in the fiat country that 
borders upon the lakes of Malkand Carrah, many miles of 
rocky ground, which, at a diftance, appear like one im- 
menfe llieet of white ltone ; but, upon a nearer iofpeflion 
of thefe fingular rocks, they are perceived to Hand in pa¬ 
rallel lines, from one to three feet above the furface, like 
fiag-ftones pitched in the ground upon their edges ; and, 
however they may vary in lhape, fize, and diftance, they 
are all calcareous, and have ail the fame direction. Fiffures 
of a great depth are found in fome of the narroweft inter- 
ltices; but, in general, the verdure between them is beau¬ 
tiful, and the palture excellent for (beep. Large caverns 
and lubterraneous waters are alfo frequent in this part of 
the country, efpecially near Cong. At the back of that 
fmall village, a very broad river rufiies at once from be¬ 
neath a gently-doping bank, and, after a rapid courfe of 
about a mile, loles itlelfin Lough Corrib. It is fuppofed 
to be the outlet of a lubterraneous channel, through which 
the fuperfluous waters of Lough M?.(k and Lough Carra 
are dilcharged into Corrib. This rocky part of Mayo 
abounds alio with turlachs, as they are called in Irilh : thefe 
are plains, (ome of them very extenfive, which, having no 
vifible communication with_any brooks or rivers, in the 
winter are covered with water, and become in the bummer 
a rich and firm palture,the waters rifingand retiring through 
rocky clefts in the bottoms. There are many fine lakes 
in this county. Lough Conn, at the foot of M'Nephin, 
MAY 579 
is nine miles long ; Lough Mafk is longer by two mile6, 
and confiderably broader. There are (ome fine harbours, 
and many illands, the molt remarkable of which are no¬ 
ticed in diltincft articles. The only members of parlia¬ 
ment returned from this county are the two knights of ths 
fhire. 
Mayo was formerly a biffiop’s fee, which is now united 
to Tuam. It gives title of earl to the family of Bourke. 
The county takes its name from an ancient city, built in 
664; the ruins of the cathedral, and fome traces of the 
ftone walls which encompaffed the city,yet remain on the 
plains of Mayo. It was a univerfity, founded for the edu¬ 
cation of fuch of the Saxon youths as were converted to 
the Chriltiau faith ; it was fituated a little to the fouth of 
Lough Conn; and is to this day frequently called Mayo of 
the Saxons, being celebrated for giving education to Anred 
the Great, king of England. As this town has gone to 
decay, Caliiebar is reckoned the chief town. 
MA'YO, a village, or fmall town, of Ireland, in the 
above county: nine miles louth-eaft of Caltlebar. 
MA'YO, a province of new Mexico, bounded on the 
north by the province of Hiaqui, on the ealt by New Bifi- 
cay, on the louth by Cinaloa, and on the welt by the gulf 
of California. 1 
MA'YO, a riyer of New Mexico, which gives name to 
a .province. It runs into the gulf of California in lat.'27. 
40. N. 
MA'YO, a town of South America, in the government 
of Caraccas : thirty-five miles w ell of Caraccas. 
MA'YO. See Mat, p. 572. 
MAYOBAM'BA, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of 
Truxillo: 150 miles north-eaft of Truxillo. Lat. 6.58.S. 
MAYOM'B A, or Jam'bq, a town of Africa, in Loango, 
on the coaft. Lat. 3.45. S. ion. 10.24. E. 
MAYOM'BO, a town of Congo: eight miles fouth- 
fourh-weft of Bombi. 
M A'YON, or Albay. See Manilla, p. 285. 
MA'YOR, f. [major, Lat.] The chief magillrate of a 
corporation, who, in London and York, is called Lord 
Mayor; 
Wou’dft thou not rather chufe a fmall renown ; 
To be the mayor of fome poor paltry town ? Drydtn, 
When the king once heard it; out of anger, 
He fent command to the lord mayor llrait 
To flop the rumour. Shakejpeare's Henry VIII. 
According to fome etymologilis, the word mayor, an¬ 
ciently written meyr , comes from the Britilh mint, to keep ; 
or from the old Englifh maier, power; and not from the 
Latin major. King Richard I. changed the bailiffs of 
London and York into mayors; and from that example 
king John made the bailiff of King’s Lynn a mayor, anno 
1204: Norwich obtained not this title for its chief ma- 
giftrate till the feventh year of Henry V. anno 1419 > 
lince which there are few towns of note but have had 51 
mayor appointed for government. 
Mayors of corporations are jultices of peace pro tempore, 
and are mentioned in feveral llatutes ; but no perlon is to 
bear any office of magiltracy concerning the government 
of any town, corporation, &c. who hath not received tilt 
facrament according to the church of England within one 
year before his election, and who (hall not take the oaths 
of (upremacy, &c. 
If any perfon intrudes into the office of mayor, a quo 
warranto lies again!! him, upon which he fnall not only he 
oulted, but fined. And no mayor, or perfon holding an 
annual office in a corporation for one year, is to be elected 
into the fame office for the next ; in this cafe, perfons ob- 
llructing the choice of a fucceffor are fubjeeff to iool. pe¬ 
nalty. Where the mayor of a corporation is not chofen 
on the day appointed by charter, the next officer in place 
Ihall the day after hold a court, and eleft one ; and, if there 
be a default or omiffion that way, the electors may be com¬ 
pelled to cfaoofe a mayor, by a writ of mandamus out o£ 
3 the 
