Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 2.djvu/17

 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 himfelf on either side.

In the year 1647, was published in London in folio, The Hiitory 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. Mr. May's plays are,

1. Agrippina, Empress of Rome, a Tragedy, printed in 12mo. London, 1639. Our author has

fj Wood's Fafli Oxon. vol. i. p. 205*

B 4 followed