Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/255

MASON MASQUE 243 ed to New York. In 1822 he had transferred his connection from the Associate Reformed to the Presbyterian church. A collection of his works was edited by his son, the Rev. Ebenezer Mason (4 vols., New York, 1832). II. Erskine, an American clergyman, son of the preceding, born in New York, April 16, 1805, died there, May 14, 1851. He graduated at Dickinson col- lege in 1823, and became pastor of a Presby- terian church at Schenectady in 1827, and of the Bleecker street church in New York in 1830. From 1836 to 1842 he was professor of ecclesiastical history in the Union theological seminary, New York. He published several occasional sermons, and a collection of his dis- courses appeared after his death, under the title of "A Pastor's Legacy," with a sketch of his life by the Rev. William Adams, D. D. (New York, 1853). MASON, Lowell, an American composer, born in Medfield, Mass., Jan. 8, 1792, died in Orange, N. J., Aug. 11, 1872. From childhood lie man- ifested great fondness for music, and at a very early age he began teaching it. In 1812 he re- moved to Savannah, Ga., where he gave in- struction and led choirs and musical associa- tions. In 1821 his " Boston Handel and Haydn Collection of Church Music" was published; and its success led him to remove to Boston, where in 1827 he commenced the instruction of classes in vocal music. About 1828 he be- came a champion of the Pestalozzian method of teaching music. Juvenile classes were now established and taught gratuitously by Mr. Ma- son, who was soon compelled by the extent of his labors to associate Mr. G. J. Webb with him. He published 15 or 16 juvenile collec- tions of music, 7 or 8 glee books, mostly in connection with Mr. Webb, and more than 20 sacred and church music books. His latest work, " The Song Garden," appeared in 1866. In all these books are many pieces of his own composition, and many more adapted by him from the compositions of other authors. In conjunction with Professors Park and Phelps, he compiled a " Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship " (New York, 1858). MASON, William, an English poet, born in Hull in 1725, died in York in April, 1797. He was the son of a clergyman, graduated at the university of Cambridge in 1745, and became a fellow in 1747. Having taken orders, he became rector of Asten in Yorkshire, and chaplain to the king. He was opposed to the American war and a member of the Yorkshire association for obtaining a reform of parlia- ment ; but the horrors of the French revolu- tion are said to have changed his opinions. He was for years precentor and resident canon of York. His principal works are: " Carac- tacus" (London, 1759), and "Elfrida" (1752), dramatic poems; "The English Garden," a descriptive poem (1785) ; and " Essays on Eng- lish Church Music " (York, 1795). He was an intimate associate of Gray, and published an edition of his poems with a memoir. A com- plete edition of Mason's poems was published in York in 1771. MASON AND DIXON'S LINE, the parallel of lat. 39 43' 26-3" N., which separates Penn- sylvania from Maryland, drawn by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two distinguished English mathematicians and astronomers. As the northern limit (with the exception of small portions of Delaware and Virginia) of the original slave states, it was prominently mentioned in the controversies concerning slavery. It begins at the N. E. corner of Maryland, and runs due W. The years from 1681 to 1768 were marked with constant dis- sension and conflict between the rival proprie- taries of Pennsylvania and Maryland and their partisans, on the subject of their common boundary; and the vicinity of this line was the theatre of riot, invasion, and bloodshed. Mason and Dixon arrived in Philadelphia on Nov. 15, 1763, and commenced their work in December, which was continued to a point 244 m. from the Delaware river, and within 36 m. of the whole distance to be run, where they were compelled to suspend operations in consequence of opposition by the Indians. They returned to Philadelphia, and were dis- charged on Dec. 26, 1767. At the end of every fifth mile a stone was planted, graven with the arms of the Penn family on one side, and of Lord Baltimore on the other. The intermediate miles were marked with smaller stones having a P on one side and an M on the other. The stones were all sent from England. In November, 1782, Col. Alexander McClean of Pennsylvania and Joseph Neville of Virginia ran the remaining part of the line, which was tested and corrected by astronomical observations, and permanently marked, in 1784. In 1849 the former surveys were revised, and found correct in all important points. MASORA. See BIBLE, vol. ii., p. 610. MASOYIA, or Maze via, during the earlier cen- turies of independent Poland, a duchy or prin- cipality on both sides of the middle Vistula, inhabited by the Mazurs, a Polish tribe. In the Russian kingdom of Poland as -established in 1815, it formed a palatinate with Warsaw as its capital. It is now mainly embraced in the government of Warsaw. MASQUE, a species of dramatic entertain- ment, comprehending scenic effects and dan- cing. It was much cultivated in Europe du- ring the 16th and 17th centuries, and reached its highest perfection in England in the reign of James I. Originating in the pageants, shows, and religious processions of the middle ages, the actors in which wore masks, and in the early miracle and moral plays, it gradu- ally became a recognized form of the spoken drama, and the only one in which females, generally ladies of rank, took part. In the reign of James I. Ben Jonson and the leading dramatic authors, with the exception of Shake- speare, wrote masques for the court. Milton's "Comus" and "Arcades" are exquisite speci-