Part 17

MAY, THOMAS (1595-1650), English poet and historian, son of Sir Thomas May of Mayfield, Sussex, was born in 1595. He entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1609, and took his B.A. degree three years later. His father having lost his fortune and sold the family estate, Thomas May, who was hampered by an impediment in his speech, made literature his profession. In 1620 he produced _The Heir_, an ingeniously constructed comedy, and, probably about the same time, _The Old Couple_, which was not printed until 1658. His other dramatic works are classical tragedies on the subjects of Antigone, Cleopatra, and Agrippina. F. G. Fleay has suggested that the more famous anonymous tragedy of _Nero_ (printed 1624, reprints in A. H. Bullen's _Old English Plays_ and the _Mermaid Series_) should also be assigned to May. But his most important work in the department of pure literature was his translation (1627) into heroic couplets of the _Pharsalia_ of Lucan. Its success led May to write a continuation of Lucan's narrative down to the death of Caesar. Charles I. became his patron, and commanded him to write metrical histories of Henry II. and Edward III., which were completed in 1635. When the earl of Pembroke, then lord chamberlain, broke his staff across May's shoulders at a masque, the king took him under his protection as "my poet," and Pembroke made him an apology accompanied with a gift of £50. These marks of the royal favour seem to have led May to expect the posts of poet-laureate and city chronologer when they fell vacant on the death of Ben Jonson in 1637, but he was disappointed, and he forsook the court and attached himself to the party of the Parliament. In 1646 he is styled one of the "secretaries" of the Parliament, and in 1647 he published his best known work, _The History of the Long Parliament_. In this official apology for the moderate or Presbyterian party, he professes to give an impartial statement of facts, unaccompanied by any expression of party or personal opinion. If he refrained from actual invective, he accomplished his purpose, according to Guizot, by "omission, palliation and dissimulation." Accusations of this kind were foreseen by May, who says in his preface that if he gives more information about the Parliament men than their opponents it is that he was more conversant with them and their affairs. In 1650 he followed this with another work written with a more definite bias, a _Breviary of the History of the Parliament of England_, in Latin and English, in which he defended the position of the Independents. He stopped short of the catastrophe of the king's execution, and it seems likely that his subservience to Cromwell was not quite voluntary. In February 1650 he was brought to London from Weymouth under a strong guard for having spread false reports of the Parliament and of Cromwell. He died on the 13th of November in the same year, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, but after the Restoration his remains were exhumed and buried in a pit in the yard of St Margaret's, Westminster. May's change of side made him many bitter enemies, and he is the object of scathing condemnation from many of his contemporaries.

There is a long notice of May in the _Biographia Britannica_. See also W. J. Courthope, _Hist. of Eng. Poetry_, vol. 3; and Guizot, _Études biographiques sur la révolution d'Angleterre_ (pp. 403-426, ed. 1851).

MAY, or MEY(E), WILLIAM (d. 1560), English divine, was the brother of John May, bishop of Carlisle. He was educated at Cambridge, where he was a fellow of Trinity Hall, and in 1537, president of Queen's College. May heartily supported the Reformation, signed the Ten Articles in 1536, and helped in the production of _The Institution of a Christian Man_. He had close connexion with the diocese of Ely, being successively chancellor, vicar-general and prebendary. In 1545 he was made a prebendary of St Paul's, and in the following year dean. His favourable report on the Cambridge colleges saved them from dissolution. He was dispossessed during the reign of Mary, but restored to the deanery on Elizabeth's accession. He died on the day of his election to the archbishopric of York.

MAY, the fifth month of our modern year, the third of the old Roman calendar. The origin of the name is disputed; the derivation from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom the Romans were accustomed to sacrifice on the first day of this month, is usually accepted. The ancient Romans used on May Day to go in procession to the grotto of Egeria. From the 28th of April to the 2nd of May was kept the festival in honour of Flora, goddess of flowers. By the Romans the month was regarded as unlucky for marriages, owing to the celebration on the 9th, 11th and 13th of the Lemuria, the festival of the unhappy dead. This superstition has survived to the present day.

In medieval and Tudor England, May Day was a great public holiday. All classes of the people, young and old alike, were up with the dawn, and went "a-Maying" in the woods. Branches of trees and flowers were borne back in triumph to the towns and villages, the centre of the procession being occupied by those who shouldered the maypole, glorious with ribbons and wreaths. The maypole was usually of birch, and set up for the day only; but in London and the larger towns the poles were of durable wood and permanently erected. They were special eyesores to the Puritans. John Stubbes in his _Anatomy of Abuses_ (1583) speaks of them as those "stinckyng idols," about which the people "leape and daunce, as the heathen did." Maypoles were forbidden by the parliament in 1644, but came once more into favour at the Restoration, the last to be erected in London being that set up in 1661. This pole, which was of cedar, 134 ft. high, was set up by twelve British sailors under the personal supervision of James II., then duke of York and lord high admiral, in the Strand on or about the site of the present church of St Mary's-in-the-Strand. Taken down in 1717, it was conveyed to Wanstead Park in Essex, where it was fixed by Sir Isaac Newton as part of the support of a large telescope, presented to the Royal Society by a French astronomer.

For an account of the May Day survivals in rural England see P. H. Ditchfield, _Old English Customs extant at Present Times_ (1897).

MAY, ISLE OF, an island belonging to Fifeshire, Scotland, at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, 5 m. S.E. of Crail and Anstruther. It has a N.W. to S.E. trend, is more than 1 m. long, and measures at its widest about 1/3 m. St Adrian, who had settled here, was martyred by the Danes about the middle of the 9th century. The ruins of the small chapel dedicated to him, which was a favourite place of pilgrimage, still exist. The place where the pilgrims--of whom James IV. was often one--landed is yet known as Pilgrims' Haven, and traces may yet be seen of the various wells of St Andrew, St John, Our Lady, and the Pilgrims, though their waters have become brackish. In 1499 Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, with the "Yellow Carvel" and "Mayflower," captured the English seaman Stephen Bull, and three ships, after a fierce fight which took place between the island and the Bass Rock. In 1636 a coal beacon was lighted on the May and maintained by Alexander Cunningham of Barns. The oil light substituted for it in 1816 was replaced in 1888 by an electric light.

MAYA, an important tribe and stock of American Indians, the dominant race of Yucatan and other states of Mexico and part of Central America at the time of the Spanish conquest. They were then divided into many nations, chief among them being the Maya proper, the Huastecs, the Tzental, the Pokom, the Mame and the Cakchiquel and Quiché. They were spread over Yucatan, Vera Cruz, Tabasco, Campeche, and Chiapas in Mexico, and over the greater part of Guatemala and Salvador. In civilization the Mayan peoples rivalled the Aztecs. Their traditions give as their place of origin the extreme north; thence a migration took place, perhaps at the beginning of the Christian era. They appear to have reached Yucatan as early as the 5th century. From the evidence of the Quiché chronicles, which are said to date back to about A.D. 700, Guatemala was shortly afterwards overrun. Physically the Mayans are a dark-skinned, round-headed, short and sturdy type. Although they were already decadent when the Spaniards arrived they made a fierce resistance. They still form the bulk of the inhabitants of Yucatan. For their culture, ruined cities, &c. see CENTRAL AMERICA and MEXICO.

MAYAGUEZ, the third largest city of Porto Rico, a seaport, and the seat of government of the department of Mayaguez, on the west coast, at the mouth of Rio Yaguez, about 72 m. W. by S. of San Juan. Pop. of the city (1899), 15,187, including 1381 negroes and 4711 of mixed races; (1910), 16,591; of the municipal district, 35,700 (1899), of whom 2687 were negroes and 9933 were of mixed races. Mayaguez is connected by the American railroad of Porto Rico with San Juan and Ponce, and it is served regularly by steamboats from San Juan, Ponce and New York, although its harbour is not accessible to vessels drawing more than 16 ft. of water. It is situated at the foot of Las Mesas mountains and commands picturesque views. The climate is healthy and good water is obtained from the mountain region. From the shipping district along the water-front a thoroughfare leads to the main portion of the city, about 1 m. distant. There are four public squares, in one of which is a statue of Columbus. Prominent among the public buildings are the City Hall (containing a public library), San Antonio Hospital, Roman Catholic churches, a Presbyterian church, the court-house and a theatre. The United States has an agricultural experiment station here, and the Insular Reform School is 1 m. south of the city. Coffee, sugar-cane and tropical fruits are grown in the surrounding country; and the business of the city consists chiefly in their export and the import of flour. Among the manufactures are sugar, tobacco and chocolate. Mayaguez was founded about the middle of the 18th century on the site of a hamlet which was first settled about 1680. It was incorporated as a town in 1836, and became a city in 1873. In 1841 it was nearly all destroyed by fire.

MAYAVARAM, a town of British India, in the Tanjore district of Madras, on the Cauvery river; junction on the South Indian railway, 174 m. S.W. of Madras. Pop. (1901), 24,276. It possesses a speciality of fine cotton and silk cloth, known as Kornad from the suburb in which the weavers live. During October and November the town is the scene of a great pilgrimage to the holy waters of the Cauvery.

MAYBOLE, a burgh of barony and police burgh of Ayrshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901), 5892. It is situated 9 m. S. of Ayr and 50¼ m. S.W. of Glasgow by the Glasgow & South-Western railway. It is an ancient place, having received a charter from Duncan II. in 1193. In 1516 it was made a burgh of regality, but for generations it remained under the subjection of the Kennedys, afterwards earls of Cassillis and marquesses of Ailsa, the most powerful family in Ayrshire. Of old Maybole was the capital of the district of Carrick, and for long its characteristic feature was the family mansions of the barons of Carrick. The castle of the earls of Cassillis still remains. The public buildings include the town-hall, the Ashgrove and the Lumsden fresh-air fortnightly homes, and the Maybole combination poorhouse. The leading manufactures are of boots and shoes and agricultural implements. Two miles to the south-west are the ruins of Crossraguel (Cross of St Regulus) Abbey, founded about 1240. KIRKOSWALD, where Burns spent his seventeenth year, learning land-surveying, lies a little farther west. In the parish churchyard lie "Tam o' Shanter" (Douglas Graham) and "Souter Johnnie" (John Davidson). Four miles to the west of Maybole on the coast is Culzean Castle, the chief seat of the marquess of Ailsa, dating from 1777; it stands on a basaltic cliff, beneath which are the Coves of Culzean, once the retreat of outlaws and a resort of the fairies. Farther south are the ruins of Turnberry Castle, where Robert Bruce is said to have been born. A few miles to the north of Culzean are the ruins of Dunure Castle, an ancient stronghold of the Kennedys.

MAYEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the northern declivity of the Eifel range, 16 m. W. from Coblenz, on the railway Andernach-Gerolstein. Pop. (1905), 13,435. It is still partly surrounded by medieval walls, and the ruins of a castle rise above the town. There are some small industries, embracing textile manufactures, oil mills and tanneries, and a trade in wine, while near the town are extensive quarries of basalt. Having been a Roman settlement, Mayen became a town in 1291. In 1689 it was destroyed by the French.

MAYENNE, CHARLES OF LORRAINE, DUKE OF (1554-1611), second son of Francis of Lorraine, second duke of Guise, was born on the 26th of March 1554. He was absent from France at the time of the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, but took part in the siege of La Rochelle in the following year, when he was created duke and peer of France. He went with Henry of Valois, duke of Anjou (afterwards Henry III.), on his election as king of Poland, but soon returned to France to become the energetic supporter and lieutenant of his brother, the 3rd duke of Guise. In 1577 he gained conspicuous successes over the Huguenot forces in Poitou. As governor of Burgundy he raised his province in the cause of the League in 1585. The assassination of his brothers at Blois on the 23rd and 24th of December 1588 left him at the head of the Catholic party. The Venetian ambassador, Mocenigo, states that Mayenne had warned Henry III. that there was a plot afoot to seize his person and to send him by force to Paris. At the time of the murder he was at Lyons, where he received a letter from the king saying that he had acted on his warning, and ordering him to retire to his government. Mayenne professed obedience, but immediately made preparations for marching on Paris. After a vain attempt to recover the persons of those of his relatives who had been arrested at Blois he proceeded to recruit troops in his government of Burgundy and in Champagne. Paris was devoted to the house of Guise and had been roused to fury by the news of the murder. When Mayenne entered the city in February 1589 he found it dominated by representatives of the sixteen quarters of Paris, all fanatics of the League. He formed a council general to direct the affairs of the city and to maintain relations with the other towns faithful to the League. To this council each quarter sent four representatives, and Mayenne added representatives of the various trades and professions of Paris in order to counterbalance this revolutionary element. He constituted himself "lieutenant-general of the state and crown of France," taking his oath before the parlement of Paris. In April he advanced on Tours. Henry III. in his extremity sought an alliance with Henry of Navarre, and the allied forces drove the leaguers back, and had laid siege to Paris, when the murder of Henry III. by a Dominican fanatic changed the face of affairs and gave new strength to the Catholic party.

Mayenne was urged to claim the crown for himself, but he was faithful to the official programme of the League and proclaimed Charles, cardinal of Bourbon, at that time a prisoner in the hands of Henry IV., as Charles X. Henry IV. retired to Dieppe, followed by Mayenne, who joined his forces with those of his cousin Charles, duke of Aumale, and Charles de Cossé, comte de Brissac, and engaged the royal forces in a succession of fights in the neighbourhood of Arques (September 1589). He was defeated and out-marched by Henry IV., who moved on Paris, but retreated before Mayenne's forces. In 1590 Mayenne received additions to his army from the Spanish Netherlands, and took the field again, only to suffer complete defeat at Ivry (March 14, 1590). He then escaped to Mantes, and in September collected a fresh army at Meaux, and with the assistance of Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, sent by Philip II., raised the siege of Paris, which was about to surrender to Henry IV. Mayenne feared with reason the designs of Philip II., and his difficulties were increased by the death of Charles X., the "king of the league." The extreme section of the party, represented by the Sixteen, urged him to proceed to the election of a Catholic king and to accept the help and the claims of their Spanish allies. But Mayenne, who had not the popular gifts of his brother, the duke of Guise, had no sympathy with the demagogues, and himself inclined to the moderate side of his party, which began to urge reconciliation with Henry IV. He maintained the ancient forms of the constitution against the revolutionary policy of the Sixteen, who during his absence from Paris took the law into their own hands and in November 1591 executed one of the leaders of the more moderate party, Barnabé Brisson, president of the parlement. He returned to Paris and executed four of the chief malcontents. The power of the Sixteen diminished from that time, but with it the strength of the League.[1]

Mayenne entered into negotiations with Henry IV. while he was still appearing to consider with Philip II. the succession to the French crown of the Infanta Elizabeth, granddaughter, through her mother Elizabeth of Valois, of Henry II. He demanded that Henry IV. should accomplish his conversion to Catholicism before he was recognized by the leaguers. He also desired the continuation to himself of the high offices which had accumulated in his family and the reservation of their provinces to his relatives among the leaguers. In 1593 he summoned the States General to Paris and placed before them the claims of the Infanta, but they protested against foreign intervention. Mayenne signed a truce at La Villette on the 31st of July 1593. The internal dissensions of the league continued to increase, and the principal chiefs submitted. Mayenne finally made his peace only in October 1595. Henry IV. allowed him the possession of Chalon-sur-Saône, of Seurre and Soissons for three years, made him governor of the Isle of France and paid a large indemnity. Mayenne died at Soissons on the 3rd of October 1611.

A _Histoire de la vie et de la mort du duc de Mayenne_ appeared at Lyons in 1618. See also J. B. H. Capefigue, _Hist. de la Réforme, de la ligue et du règne de Henri IV._ (8 vols., 1834-1835) and the literature dealing with the house of Guise (q.v.).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The estates of the League in 1593 were the occasion of the famous _Satire Ménippée_, circulated in MS. in that year, but only printed at Tours in 1594. It was the work of a circle of men of letters who belonged to the _politiques_ or party of the centre and ridiculed the League. The authors were Pierre Le Roy, Jean Passerat, Florent Chrestien, Nicolas Rapin and Pierre Pithou. It opened with "La vertu du catholicon," in which a Spanish quack (the cardinal of Plaisance) vaunts the virtues of his drug "catholicon composé," manufactured in the Escurial, while a Lorrainer rival (the cardinal of Pellevé) tries to sell a rival cure. A mock account of the estates, with harangues delivered by Mayenne and the other chiefs of the League, followed. Mayenne's discourse is said to have been written by the jurist Pithou.

MAYENNE, a department of north-western France, three-fourths of which formerly belonged to Lower Maine and the remainder to Anjou, bounded on the N. by Manche and Orne, E. by Sarthe, S. by Maine-et-Loire and W. by Ille-et-Vilaine. Area, 2012 sq. m. Pop. (1906), 305,457. Its ancient geological formations connect it with Brittany. The surface is agreeably undulating; forests are numerous, and the beauty of the cultivated portions is enhanced by the hedgerows and lines of trees by which the farms are divided. The highest point of the department, and indeed of the whole north-west of France, is the Mont des Avaloirs (1368 ft.). Hydrographically Mayenne belongs to the basins of the Loire, the Vilaine and the Sélune, the first mentioned draining by far the larger part of the entire area. The principal stream is the Mayenne, which passes successively from north to south through Mayenne, Laval and Château-Gontier; by means of weirs and sluices it is navigable below Mayenne, but traffic is inconsiderable. The chief affluents are the Jouanne on the left, and on the right the Colmont, the Ernée and the Oudon. A small area in the east of the department drains by the Erve into the Sarthe; the Vilaine rises in the west, and in the north-west two small rivers flow into the Sélune. The climate of Mayenne is generally healthy except in the neighbourhood of the numerous marshes. The temperature is lower and the moisture of the atmosphere greater than in the neighbouring departments; the rainfall (about 32 in. annually) is above the average for France.

Agriculture and stock-raising are prosperous. A large number of horned cattle are reared, and in no other French department are so many horses found within the same area; the breed, that of Craon, is famed for its strength. Craon has also given its name to the most prized breed of pigs in western France. Mayenne produces excellent butter and poultry and a large quantity of honey. The cultivation of the vine is very limited, and the most common beverage is cider. Wheat, oats, barley and buckwheat, in the order named, are the most important crops, and a large quantity of flax and hemp is produced. Game is abundant. The timber grown is chiefly beech, oak, birch, elm and chestnut. The department produces antimony, auriferous quartz and coal. Marble, slate and other stone are quarried. There are several chalybeate springs. The industries include flour-milling, brick and tile making, brewing, cotton and wool spinning, and the production of various textile fabrics (especially ticking) for which Laval and Château-Gontier are the centres, agricultural implement making, wood and marble sawing, tanning and dyeing. The exports include agricultural produce, live-stock, stone and textiles; the chief imports are coal, brandy, wine, furniture and clothing. The department is served by the Western railway. It forms part of the circumscriptions of the IV. army corps, the académie (educational division) of Rennes, and the court of appeal of Angers. It comprises three arrondissements (Laval, Château-Gontier and Mayenne), with 27 cantons and 276 communes. Laval, the capital, is the seat of a bishopric of the province of Tours. The other principal towns are Château-Gontier and Mayenne, which are treated under separate headings. The following places are also of interest: Evron, which has a church of the 12th and 13th centuries; Jublains, with a Roman fort and other Roman remains; Lassay, with a fine château of the 14th and 16th centuries; and Ste Suzanne, which has remains of medieval ramparts and a fortress with a keep of the Romanesque period.