Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/604

 same period belong, among other works, his volume on De Quincey for the 'English Men of Letters' series (1878), and 'Edinburgh Sketches and Memories' (1892), a reprint of magazine articles. During the thirty years of academic life in Edinburgh (1865–95), where more than 5000 students passed through his class-room, he achieved a popularity which remains a pleasant tradition in Scottish university life. From 1867 he interested himself in the movements for the 'higher education' and the medical education of women, and gave annually, under the auspices of the 'Association for the University Education of Women' (1868), a course of lectures on English literature until the admission of women to the Scottish universities. The Masson Hall, a residence for women undergraduates, erected by the committee of this association, and opened on 24 November 1897, bears his name, in recognition of his labours. From 1880 to 1899 he acted as editor of the 'Privy Council Register of Scotland,' in succession to John Hill Burton [q. v.], and contributed historical introductions or digests to each of the thirteen volumes which he supervised; and in 1886 he delivered the Rhind lectures before the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 1893, on the death of William Forbes Skene [q. v.], he was appointed historiographer-royal for Scotland; and on 12 Feb. 1896 the Royal Scottish Academy elected him an honorary member and professor of ancient literature. He was an honorary graduate of the universities of Aberdeen (LL.D.), Dublin (Litt.D.), and Moscow. From 1869 to 1878 he resided at 10 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh (where he was visited by John Stuart Mill and Carlyle); and from 1882 at 58 Great King Street. His closing years were spent at Lockharton Gardens, Edinburgh. He died on the night of Sunday, 6 Oct. 1907, and was buried in the Grange cemetery, Edinburgh.

Masson's long association with Carlyle and his admiration of his friend's genius have to some extent obscured the individuality of his own work; and an alleged physical likeness, more imagined than true to fact, has encouraged the popular notion of discipleship. He was too independent in character to owe much to another, and the trait by which his authority was won — sincerity in workmanship, that 'indisputable air of truth' which is felt in everything he wrote and did — was not derived from, and hardly confirmed by, the intercourse at Chelsea. In his literary work he sometimes sacrificed the claims of art to the importunities of research; yet no sound judgment could deny the accuracy, the sanity of judgment, and the geniality of critical temper, which distinguish his work as historian and essayist. On his large circle of friends and pupils he left a lasting impression of vigorous personality and high purpose. From his prime, but especially in his later years, he was, if not the dictator, the confidant in every important literary and public enterprise, and by his broad-minded patriotism, untainted by the parochialism which he heartily condemned, was accepted by his contemporaries as the representative of what counts for best in Scottish character.

He married, on 27 Aug. 1853, Emily Rosaline, eldest daughter of Charles and Eliza Orme, at whose house in Avenue Road, Regent's Park, he had been one of a group of writers and painters (including Coventry Patmore, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Thomas Woolner, and Holman Hunt), in sympathy with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They had one son, Orme, professor of chemistry in the university of Melbourne and F.R.S., and three daughters. Flora, editor of two posthumous works by her father, Helen (Mrs. Lovell Gulland), and Rosaline, author of several books.

Sir George Reid painted three portraits of Masson: (a) a three-quarter length in oil, presented to him by Lord Rosebery in the name of the subscribers on 23 Nov. 1897, on the occasion of his retirement (now in the possession of Professor Orme Masson); (b) a smaller canvas, in oil, commissioned by Mr. Irvine Smith for his private collection, and now in the possession of Mr. Charles Green, publisher, Edinburgh; (c) a canvas, in oil, presented by the artist to the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, and there preserved. An etching (12½" X 16" ) was made by F. Huth in 1898 from the Irvine Smith canvas; and an etched portrait-sketch by William Hole appears in 'Quasi Cursores,' published in 1884, on the occasion of the tercentenary of the university of Edinburgh. Two portraits (from photographs of Masson in later life) were published in 1911: (a) in the Scottish History Society's edition of Craig's 'De Unione,' and (b) in the posthumous volume of 'Memories of Two Cities.' A marble bust by J. P. Macgillivray, R.S.A., presented by subscription to the university of Edinburgh in 1897, is less successful than the portraits by Reid and Huth.

Masson's published writings comprise: