MASON"
860
MASORAH
honored with the provostship of Columbia College, and, thim-h ah-eady employed as preacher and prufessor, ac- cepted the position, " and by his talents and energy raised that institution to a higher character than it had ever before possessed." In 1816 failing health admon- ished* him of the magnitude of the work he had under- takeji, and he resigned his connection with the college, and went to Europe. On his return in 1817 he again devoted himself to Gospel labors, but in 1821 exchanged the pulpit for the rostrum, as president of Dickinson College, Pa. In 1822 he transferred his ecclesiastical re- lation to the Presbyterian Church. In 182-1 he resign- ed his position at college, and returned to New York to recuperate his health, but he was never again permitted to assume any official connection. He died Dec. 2G, 1829. Besides the literarj' enterprises already men- tioned. Dr. Mason wrote a number of essays, reviews, orations, and sermons, published at different times. They were collected by his son, the Rev. Ebenezer Ma- son, and published in 4 vols. 8vo, in 1832 (new ed., with many additions, 1849). A memoir, with some of his cor- respondence, was published by his son-in-law, J. Van Vcchten, D.D., in 1856, 2 vols. 8vo. The mind of Dr. Mason was of the most robust order, his theology Cal- vinistic, and his style of eloquence po^verful and irresist- ible as a torrent. When Robert Hall first heard him deliver before the London Missionary Society, in 1802, his celebrated discourse on " Messiah's Throne," he is said to have exclaimed,"! can never preach again!" (Fisk's Pulpit Eloquence, 1857, p. 486, q. v.). " Taken altogeth- er, no American preacher has combined more impressive qualities. His aspect was on a scale of grandeur corre- sponding to the majesty of mind within. Tall, robust, straight, with a head modelled after neither Grecian nor Roman standard, yet symmetrical, combining the dignity of the one and the grace of the other; with an eye that shot fire, especially when under the excite- ment of earnest preaching, yet tender and tearful when the pathetic cord was touched ; with a forehead broad and high, running up each side, and slightly parted in the middle by a graceful pendant of hair; a mouth and chin expressive of firmness and decision. . . . Dr. Mas<iii stood before you the prince of pulpit orators" {N. Y. Ob- server, Nov. 1860). See also Bost. Christ. Disciple, iii, 475 ; Dr. Spring, Power of the Pulpit ; Duyckinck, Ci/- clnp. Amer. Lit. (see Index in vol. i) ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Auth. ii, 1237; Princet. Review, 1856, p. 318. (J.II.AV.)
Mason, Lew ell, doctor of music, a celebrated American composer of music, was born at IMedfield, Mass.. Jan. 8, 1792. When but a child he exhibited ex- traordinary love and capacity for music, and began to teach early in life. In 1812 he removed to Savannah, Ga., and there compiled his first book of Psalmodi/, the celebrated Hiindel and Haydn collection, the success of which eliciting much persuasion of his musical friends in Massachusetts to settle in his native state, he re- moved to Boston in 1827, devoted himself to the musical instruction of children and the introduction of vocal mu- sic into the public schools of New England ; caused the Boston Academy of ]\Iusic to be established, and also " Teachers' Institutes" for tJie training of teachers and leaders of choirs. He visited EurojjC in 1837, and ac- quainted himself with all the improvements in the mu- sical teaching on the Continent. In 1855 the Univer- sity of New York conferred on him the degree of doctor of music, the first ever conferred by an American col- lege. In the later years of his life he gave much atten- tion to congregational singing in churches, and did much to advance the interests of Church music in gen- eral. He died at his residence. Orange, N. J., in May, 1872. His publications of interest to us are Jiirenile Psolmisf. Juvenile Lyre, etc. (Uoston, 1829,>'30, '34, '35, '36, '37, '39, '40, '45, "'46; New York, 1856; Phila. 1843; Lond. 1838): — several sacred and Church music-books: — The Boston IJdndel and Haydn Collection of Chui-c/i Music (1822):— r/se Choir, or Union Collection (1833,
etc.) ; etc. Dr. Mason was the author and compiler of more musical works than any other American, and con- tributed much towards making the Americans a nation of "singing men and singing women." See Allibone, Diet. Brit, and A mer. A uthors, a. v. ; Drake, Diet. A mer. Biog. s. V.
Mason, William, an English divine of some note, son of the vicar of St. Trinity Hall, was born in 1725 ; was educated at St. John's CoUege, Cambridge, and made fellow of Pembroke College in 1747. In 1754 he took holy orders, became rector of Aston, Yorkshire, chaplain to the king, and was for thirty-two years pre- centor and canon residentiary of York. He died in 1797. His published works, both secular and religious, are chiefly in poetrj^, among which are Essays, Histor- ical and Critical, on English Church Music (1795, 12mo). He also published Memoirs of Thomas Gray (1775, 4to). Mason was regarded by his contemporaries as a poet of more than ordinary genius, but the lack of classical cult- ure prevented his rise. There is a tablet to his mem- ory in Poet's Corner, in Westminster Abbej'. His style is, to a great extent, that of an imitator of Gray ; and, not beuig so perfect an artist in language as his master, he has been proportionally less successful. In addition to his poetical reputation, he possessed considerable skill in painting and music, and on the latter sidjject enter- tained opinions not at all consonant with those of musi- cians in general. He wished to reduce Church music to the most dry and mechanical style possible, exclud- ing all such expression as should depend on the powers and taste of the organist (Mason's Compendium of the History of Church Music). See 3femoir of Mason in Johnson and Chalmer's Enylish Poets (1840, 21 vols. 8voj; Chalmer's Biog. Diet. s. v.; Blachcood's Mag. XXX. 482; xxvi, 553; Allibone, Diet. Brit, and Amer. A uthors, s. v.