Thomas May - The 1640s: May and Parliament

The 1640s: May and Parliament

In 1640 May published a Latin adaptation and translation of his Continuation of Lucan, the Supplementum Lucani. Befitting a major work of neo-Latin poetry it was published in Leiden, one of the centres of continental humanist scholarship, and received dedications from a number of Dutch intellectuals including Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn and Nicolaus Heinsius. Letters from Heinsius's father Daniel to Patrick Young, the Royal Librarian, and John Selden indicate that May wrote the translation while in the Netherlands (on what business is unclear). It retained the Continuation’s dedication to Charles I, although it has plausibly been argued that it expresses greater hostility to Caesar and monarchy than the original.