The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland | Page 3

the dedication to
Charles I. our author writes thus; "I should humbly have craved your
Majesty's pardon for my omission of the latter part of King Edward's
reign, but that the sense of mine own defects hath put me in mind of a
most necessary suit, so beg forgiveness for that part which is here
written. Those great actions of Edward III. are the arguments of this
poem, which is here ended, where his fortune began to decline, where
the French by revolts, and private practices regained that which had
been won from them by eminent and famous victories; which times
may afford fitter observations for an acute historian in prose, than

strains of heighth for an heroic poem." The poem thus begins,
The third, and greatest Edward's reign we sing, The high atchievements
of that martial King, Where long successful prowesse did advance, So
many trophies in triumphed France, And first her golden lillies bare;
who o're Pyrennes mountains to that western shore, Where Tagus
tumbles through his yellow sand Into the ocean; stretch'd his
conquering hand.
From the lines quoted, the reader will be able to judge what sort of
versifier our author was, and from this beginning he has no great reason
to expect an entertaining poem, especially as it is of the historical kind;
and he who begins a poem thus insipidly, can never expect his readers
to accompany him to the third page. May likewise translated Lucan's
Pharsalia, which poem he continued down to the death of Julius Cæsar,
both in Latin and English verse.
Dr. Fuller says, that some disgust was given to him at court, which
alienated his affections from it, and determined him, in the civil wars to
adhere to the Parliament.
Mr. Philips in his Theatrum Poetarum, observes, that he stood
candidate with Sir William Davenant for the Laurel, and his ambition
being frustrated, he conceived the most violent aversion to the King
and Queen. Sir William Davenant, besides the acknowledged
superiority of his abilities, had ever distinguished himself for loyalty,
and was patronized and favoured by men of power, especially the
Marquis of Newcastle: a circumstance which we find not to have
happened to May: it is true, they were both the friends of the amiable
Endymion Porter, esq; but we are not informed whether that gentleman
interested himself on either side.
In the year 1647, was published in London in folio, The History of the
Parliament of England, which began November 3, 1640, with a Short
and Necessary View of some precedent Years, written by Thomas May,
Esq; Secretary to the Parliament, and published by their authority. In
1650 he published in 8vo. A Breviary of the History of the Parliament
of England. Besides these works, Mr. Philips tells us, he wrote a

History of Henry IV. in English verse, the Comedy of the Old Wives
Tale, and the History of Orlando Furioso; but the latter, Mr. Langbaine,
who is a higher authority than Philips, assures us was written before
May was able to hold a pen, much less to write a play, being printed in
4to. London, 1594. Mr. Winstanley says, that in his history, he shews
all the spleen of a mal-content, and had he been preferred to the Bays,
as he happened to be disappointed, he would have embraced the Royal
interest with as much zeal, as he did the republican: for a man who
espouses a cause from spite only, can be depended upon by no party,
because he acts not upon any principles of honour or conviction.
Our author died suddenly in the year 1652, and was interred near the
tomb of Camden, on the West side of the North isle of Westminster
Abbey, but his body, with several others, was dug up after the
restoration, and buried in a pit in St. Margaret's church yard[2]. Mr.
May's plays are,
1. Agrippina, Empress of Rome, a Tragedy, printed in 12mo. London,
1639. Our author has followed Suetonius and Tacitus, and has
translated and inserted above 30 lines from Petronius Arbiter; this
circumstance we advance on the authority of Langbaine, whose
extensive reading has furnished him with the means of tracing the plots
of most part of our English plays; we have heard that there is a Tragedy
on this subject, written by Mr. Gray of Cambridge, the author of the
beautiful Elegy in a Country Church Yard; which play Mr. Garrick has
sollicited him to bring upon the stage; to which the author has not yet
consented.
2. Antigone, the Theban Princess, a Tragedy, printed in 8vo. London,
1631, and dedicated to Endymion Porter, Esq; Our author in the
contexture of this Tragedy, has made use of the Antigone of Sophocles,
and the Thebais of Seneca.
3. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, a Tragedy, acted 1626, and