Chapter XXIX: Introduction: To the Former Edition

Thomas May was the son of Sir Thomas May, of Mayfield, in the county of Sussex, Knight, a gentleman of an ancient and honourable family.[405] He was born in the year 1595, and received his early education in the neighbourhood of his birthplace; thence he was removed to Sidney-Sussex College in Cambridge, and took the degree of B.A. in 1612. On the 6th of August 1615, he was admitted into the society of Gray's-Inn, and soon after became celebrated for his poetical performances.

Lord Clarendon,[406] with whom he was intimately acquainted, says "that his father spent the fortune which he was born to, so that he had only an annuity left him not proportionable to a liberal education; yet, since his fortune could not raise his mind, he brought his mind down to his fortune by a great modesty and humility in his nature, which was not affected, but very well became an imperfection in his speech, which was a great mortification to him, and kept him from entering upon any discourse but in the company of his very friends. His parts of nature and art were very good, as appears by his translation of Lucan (none of the easiest work of that kind), and more by his Supplement to Lucan which, being entirely his own, for the learning, the wit and the language, may be well looked upon as one of the best epic poems in the English language. He writ some other commendable pieces of the reign of some of our kings. He was cherished by many persons of honour, and very acceptable in all places; yet (to show that pride and envy have their influences upon the narrowest minds, and which have the greatest semblance of humility) though he had received much countenance, and a very considerable donative from the king, upon his majesty's refusing to give him a small pension,[407] which he had designed and promised to another very ingenious person, whose qualities he thought inferior to his own, he fell from his duty and all his former friends, and prostituted himself to the vile office[408] of celebrating the infamous acts of those who were in rebellion against the king; which he did so meanly, that he seemed to all men to have lost his wits when he left his honesty, and shortly after died miserable and neglected, and deserves to be forgotten."

He died suddenly on the night of the 13th of November 1650, after having drank his cheerful bottle as usual. The cause of his death is said to have arisen from the tying of his nightcap too close under his chin, which occasioned a suffocation when he turned himself about.

He was buried, by appointment of the Parliament, in a splendid manner, in the south aisle of Westminster Abbey, where a monument to his memory was erected, with a Latin inscription thereon, composed by Marchemont Needham, which remained there until the Restoration, when it was destroyed, and his body dug up, and buried in a large pit belonging to St Margaret's Church, with many others who had been interred in the abbey during the Interregnum.

He was the author of the following dramatic pieces--

1. "The Tragedy of Antigone the Theban princesse." 8º. 1631.

2. "The Heire: a Comedy: acted by the Company of the Revels, 1620." 4º. 1633.

3. "The Tragedy of Julia Agrippina, Empress of Rome." 12º. 1639. 12º. 1654.

4. "The Tragedy of Cleopatra, Queen of Ægypt." 12º. 1639. 12º. 1654.

5. "The Old Couple: a Comedy." 4º. 1658.

He also wrote "The reign of king Henry the Second," and "The victorious reign of Edward the Third,"[409] both in English verse; and translated, besides Lucan, the "Georgics" of Virgil, the "Epigrams" of Martial, the "Icon Animorum" by Barclay, and the verses in the "Argenis" of the same author. He likewise was the author of "The History of the Parliament of England, which began November 3, 1640, with a short and necessary view of some precedent years." Folio. 1647.[410]

The following inscription[411] was made upon him by one of the Cavalier party, which he had abused--

Adsta, Viator, et Poetam legas
Lucani interpretem,
Quem ita feliciter Anglicanum fecerat,
Ut Mayus simul et Lucanus videretur,
Et sane credas Metempsuchosin:
Nam uterque ingratus Principis sui Proditor;
Hic Neronis Tyranni, ille Caroli Regum optimi,
At fata planè diversa;
Lucanum enim ante obitum poenitentem legis,
Mayus vero repentina morte occubuit,
Ne forsan poeniteret.
Parliamentia Rebellis tam pertinax adstipulator,
Ut Musarum, quas olim religiose coluerat,
Sacrilegus Hostis evaserit:
Attamen fingendi artem non penitus amisit,
Nam gesta eorum scripsit et typis mandavit
In prosâ mendax Poeta.
Inter tot Heroas Poetarum, Nobiliumque,
Quod tam indigni sepeliantur Cineres,
Videntur fiere Marmora.
Nec tamen mirere cum hic Rebelles posuisse,
Qui tot sacras Ædes, et Dei delubra,
Equis fecere Stabula.

[A MS. note in one of the former editions says: "This comedy is full of most palpable imitations of Shakespeare and others, but it is very pleasingly, and even elegantly, written in many parts."]

FOOTNOTES:

[405] "Thomas May, father of the poet, purchased Mayfield Place, in
Sussex (formerly an archiepiscopal palace, and afterwards the seat of
the Greshams), of Henry Neville, of Billingbere, Berks, in 1597. He
was knighted at Greenwich, July 3, 1603, and died 1616. He was father
to Thomas May, the celebrated poet and historian, by whom Mayfield was
aliened from the family in 1617: his mother, Joan May, and cousin,
Richard May, of Islington, gent. joining with him in the conveyance to
John Baker, Esq., whose descendants have ever since enjoyed
it."--Nichols's "Leicestershire," iii. 156, note.--_Gilchrist._]

[406] Life, edit. 1759, p. 35.]

[407] Some writers suppose he was disgusted that Sir William Davenant
was appointed to succeed Ben Jonson as poet laureate, in the year
1637.]

[408] He was appointed to the post of Historiographer by the
Parliament.]

[409] This poem was dedicated to Charles I. in 1635; hence it appears
that he wrote it by command of the king. "Those defects," he says,
"whatsoever they be, can be imputed only to insufficiency, for neither
was there argument wanting nor yet endeavour, since I had the actions
of a great king to require my skill, and the command of a greater king
to oblige my care."--_Collier._]

[410] Thomas May has a complimentary poem prefixed to Pilkinton's
"Tournament of Tottenham," &c. 4º. 1631.--_Gilchrist._]

[411] The subsequent lines are found in "Wit's Recreations," 1641--

"TO MR. THOMAS MAY.

"Thou son of Mercury, whose fluent tongue
Made Lucan finish his Pharsalian song,
Thy fame is equal, better is thy fate,
Thou hast got Charles his love, he Nero's hate."

Of course this was before (as Lord Clarendon expresses it) "he fell
from his duty."--_Collier._

THE NAMES OF THE ACTORS.

THE KING.
VIRRO, _an old rich count._
POLYMETES, _an old lord_.
EUGENIO, _his son_.
LEOCOTHOE, _his daughter_.
ROSCIO, _his man_.
EUPHUES, _another lord_.
PHILOCLES, _his son_.
CLERIMONT, _a gentleman, friend to Philocles_.
FRANKLIN, _an old rich gentleman_.
LUCE,[412] _his daughter_.
FRANCISCO, _a young man_.
ALPHONSO.
SHALLOW, _a foolish gentleman_.
NICANOR, _a courtier_.
MATHO, _a lawyer_.
PSECTAS,[413] _a waiting gentlewoman_.
_A Parson._
_A Sumner._
_A Constable and Watch._
_Servants._

_Scene, Sicily._

TO MY HONOURED FRIEND

MASTER THOMAS MAY,

UPON HIS COMEDY, THE HEIR.

The Heir being born, was in his tender age
Rock'd in the cradle of a private stage,
Where, lifted up by many a willing hand,
The child did from the first day fairly stand;
Since having gather'd strength, he dares prefer
His steps into the public theatre--
The world: where he despairs not but to find
A doom from men more able, not less kind.
I but his usher am; yet, if my word
May pass, I dare be bound he will afford
Things must deserve a welcome, if well known,
Such as best writers would have wish'd their own.
You shall observe his words in order meet,
And, softly stealing on with equal feet,
Slide into even numbers with such grace,
As each word had been moulded for that place.
You shall perceive an amorous passion, spun
Into so smooth a web as, had the Sun,
When he pursu'd the swiftly-flying maid,
Courted her in such language, she had stay'd:
A love so well express'd must be the same
The author felt himself from his fair flame.
The whole plot doth alike itself disclose
Through the five acts, as doth a lock, that goes
With letters; for, till every one be known,
The lock's as fast as if you had found none;
And, where his sportive Muse doth draw a thread
Of mirth, chaste matrons may not blush to read.
Thus have I thought it fitter to reveal
My want of art (dear friend) than to conceal
My love. It did appear I did not mean
So to commend thy well-wrought comic scene,
As men might judge my aim rather to be
To gain praise to myself than give it thee;
Though I can give thee none but what thou hast
Deserv'd, and what must my faint breath outlast.
Yet was this garment (though I skill-less be
To take thy measure) only made for thee;
And, if it prove too scant, 'tis 'cause the stuff
Nature allow'd me was not large enough.

THOMAS CAREW.[414]

FOOTNOTES:

[412] The author calls her _Luce_ throughout, which the modern editor
changed to Lucy. As a matter of taste, _Lucy_ may be preferable to
_Luce;_ but the author ought to be allowed to judge for himself, and
sometimes the measure of the lines has been spoiled by the needless
alteration.--_Collier._

[413] _i.e., Vituperator_, which answers to her character. Former
editions read _Psecas_.--_Pegge._

[414] "Carew was the younger brother of a good family, and of
excellent parts, and had spent many years of his youth in France and
Italy; and, returning from travel, followed the court, which the
modesty of that time disposed men to do sometime, before they
pretended to be of it; and he was very much esteemed by the most
eminent persons in the court, and well looked upon by the king
himself, some years before he could obtain to be sewer to the king;
and when the king conferred that place upon him, it was not without
the regret even of the whole Scotch nation, which united themselves in
recommending another gentleman to it; and of so great value were those
relations held in that age, when majesty was beheld with the reverence
it ought to be. He was a person of a pleasant and facetious wit, and
made many poems, especially in the amorous way, which, for the
sharpness of the fancy, and the elegancy of the language in which that
fancy was spread, were at least equal, if not superior, to any of that
time; but his glory was, that after fifty years of his life, spent
with less severity or exactness than it ought to have been, he died
with the greatest remorse for that license, and with the greatest
manifestation of Christianity, that his best friends could
desire."--"Life of Clarendon," edit. 1759, i. 36. He died in the year
1639. [But see Hazlitt's edit. of Carew, Introductory Memoir.]

PROLOGUS.

Judicious friends, if what shall here be seen
May taste your sense, or ope your tickled spleen,
Our author has his wish: he does not mean
To rub your galls with a satiric scene;
Nor toil your brains, to find the fustian sense
Of those poor lines that cannot recompense
The pains of study: Comedy's soft strain
Should not perplex, but recreate the brain;
His strain is such, he hopes it, but refers
That to the test of your judicious ears.

THE HEIR.