Maxw^ell, William, LL. D., an American educa-
MAY
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tor, celebrated also in the department of jurisprudence, was bom at Norfolk, Va., Feb. 27, 1784; was educated at Yale College, 1802 ; practiced in his native city, and attained great eminence ; assumed the editor's chair in the literary department of the A'. F. Journal of Com- merce in 1827; resumed the practice of jurisprudence, however, in the following year ; was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1830, and of the State Senate from 1831 to 1837, during which time he was made secretary of the Historical Society of Virginia. He next accepted tlie presidency of the Hampden Sidney College in 1838, which he retained until 1844, and then edited the Virginia Historical Reijister from 18-18 to 1853 (G vols, in 3, 12mo). He died January 9, 1857, at Eichmond, Va. He wrote Memoir of the Rev. John II. Rice, D. D. (Phila. 1835, 12mo). See Drake, Diet. A mer. Bioff. s. V.
May, E. H., a Dutch Reformed minister, was born at Lynn, Norfolk, England, Jan. 28, 1795. He received a good preparatory education, and studied for the min- istry at Hoxton College, near London ; was ordained in 1815 over the Independent Church at Bury, Lancashire, and subseciuently preached in Kochford, in tlie south of England, and Croydon, Siu-rey. In 183-4 he came to America, and in 1835 became a member of the Classis of Washington, and pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church in Northumberland ; in 1836, pastor of the Church in Schuylerville ; in 18o9,of the Twenty-first Street Church, New York ; in 1848 accepted the appointment of sec- retary to the Pennsylvania Colonization Society; and in 1849 became secretary of the Pennsylvania Seamen's Friend Society, in which connection he served until near his death, August, 1858. Mr. May was an instruc- tive and evangelical preacher, a man of refined taste and correct judgment, and a frank, open-hearted Christian. See Wilson, Presh. Hist. A Imanac, 1860, p. 203. (J. L. S.)
May, James, D.D., an Episcopal divine and theo- logical educator, -was born in Chester County, Pa., Oct. 1, 1805. He entered Jefferson College, Pa., in 1822 ; graduated with distinction; commenced the study of law, but finally entered the theological seminary at Alex- andria, Va. He was ordained by bishop White in 1827, and first settled in Wilkesbarre, Pa., where he remained two years. In 1836 he became rector of St. Paul's par- ish, Pliiladelphia. While there he was engaged with Dr. Clark, then rector of St. Andrew's Church, Dr.Tyng, then rector of the Church of the Epiphany, and with Dr. Suddards, then and still rector of Grace Church, in the editorial management of the Ejnscopal Recorder. His health failing at this time, he was led to seek re- storation in foreign travel. Two years were thus spent abroad. After his return, he accepted the position of professor of pastoral theology and ecclesiastical history in the Alexandria. Seminary, his alma mater. The out- break of the rebellion in 1801 closing the operations of that school, he removed to Philadelphia, and became professor of ecclesiastical history and systematic theol- ogy in the divinitj' school just organized. He remained there until his death, Dec. 18, 1863. But few men have so thoroughly won the affections of those with whom they were associated. Apparently not an impul- sive man, he was by no means a person of cold and un- impnlsive temper, but full of deep feeling. He has influenced the training of hundreds now in the minis- try, who wiU greatl)^ miss his counsels, and the encour- agement his sympathy and personal attainments gave them. He was remarkable for the unvarying symmetry and depth of his Christian character, and seemed like one inspired by Gospel i)rinciplcs, rather than controlled by them, so perfectly natural and habitual was his man- ifestation of them. See .4/». Ch. Rev. 1864, p. 150.
May, Samuel Joseph, an eminent Unitarian minister and philanthropist, was bom in Boston, J\Iass., in 1797. He graduated at Harvard College in 1817; and, after preaching several years as a Unitarian min- ister at Brooklyn, Conn., became general agent of the
Blassachusetts Anti- slavery Society. Afterwards he assumed a pastorate at South Scituate, Mass. ; from 1842 to 1845 was principal of the Lexington Normal school; and finally, in 1845, settled in the Unitarian ministry at Syracuse, New York. There the remainder of his life was passed, and he was identified with every movement for the moral, intellectual, and social im- provement of the people, and came to be regarded as the leading spirit in every measure of benevolence. In all matters of education he was very active, and to him, as much as to any man in Syracuse, it is due that its public schools are so successfid and maintain so high a character. He resigned the pastorate July 1, 1871. Mr. May devoted his energies especially to the anti- slavery cause for many years. He was one of the first members of the New England Society in 1832, and a member of the Philadelphia Convention of 1833 which formed the Anti-slavery Society. He was author of Recollections ofAmer. Anti-slavery (1869). See Drake, Diet. A mer. Biog. s. v. ; New A mer. Cyclop, 1871, p. 495.
Maya (Sanscrit, Illusioti) is a term applied by the Hindus, in a philosophical or mystical sense, to that power which caused or created the visible phenomena of the universe. The Hindfi, like Berkeley and other European philosophers, assumes that external objects have no absolute existence, but that they are mere im- pressions on the mind. INIaya, in Hindu theology, is, according to some, that mighty goddess the wife or consort of Brahma. See Moor, Hindu Mythology, s. v. ; Wilson, Sanscrit Dictionary, s. v. ; Thomas, Diet. Biog. and Mythol. s. v.