Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/429

 in Wigan churchyard, he had in his lifetime (in 1632 and 1639) bestowed 240l. in trust for the relief of the poor of Wigan.

He also gave his library to the grammar school, besides making other benefactions to the town. His writings include: Letters of his appear in Dr. Thomas Jackson's 'Works,' i, 600, and Joseph Mede's 'Works,' p. 767, and some of his pieces occur in Samuel Hoard's 'God's Love to Mankind,' 1653. He left a folio volume of theology in manuscript in the hands of Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury.
 * 1) 'The New Art of Lying, covered by Jesuits under the vaile of Equivocation, discovered and disproved,' 1624 4to, 1634 12mo.
 * 2) 'Christian Humiliation, or a Treatise of Fasting,' 1625, 1627, 4to.
 * 3) 'Epicure's Fast, or a Short Discourse discovering the Licenciousnesse of the Roman Church in her Religious Fasts,' 1626, 1628, 4to.
 * 4) 'Tribunal of the Conscience,' 1626; 2nd edit. 1627, 4to; 1634, 12mo.
 * 5) 'The Cure of Cares,' 1627, 1628; 3rd edit. 1634.
 * 6) 'Contentment in God's Gifts,' 1630, 1634.



MASON, HENRY JOSEPH MONCK (1778–1858), miscellaneous writer, born at Powerscourt, co. Wicklow, on 15 July 1778, was son of Lieutenant-colonel Henry Monck Mason of Kildare Street, Dublin, by his second wife, Jane, only daughter of, M.D. [q. v.] His uncle [q. v.] and brother [q. v.] are noticed separately. After attending schools at Portarlington and Dublin he entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 7 Oct. 1793, was elected scholar in 1796, and on graduating B.A. in 1798 was awarded the gold medal (college registers). At college he was contemporary with Thomas Moore the poet, and afterwards met him during visits to Kilkenny. In Trinity term 1800 he was called to the Irish bar, but did not seek practice. Under Judges Radcliffe and Keatinge he held the post of examiner to the prerogative court. About 1810 the record commissioners for Ireland entrusted him with the task of preparing a draft catalogue of the manuscripts of Trinity College, Dublin, but the design was soon relinquished; Mason's incomplete and unrevised work was eventually acquired by the college, and deposited in the manuscript room (Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p. 588). In Easter term 1814 he was appointed assistant librarian of King's Inns, and became chief librarian in 1815. During a tour in Cumberland in 1814 Mason made the acquaintance of Robert Southey, and maintained a correspondence with him for twenty years. In conjunction with Bishop Daly, Mason founded, in 1818, the Irish society for ‘promoting the scriptural education and religious instruction of the Irish-speaking population chiefly through the medium of their own language,’ which still exists; and he acted as its secretary for many years, besides writing several tracts in furtherance of its objects. The same year he assisted in organising an association for the improvement of prisons and of prison discipline in Ireland, and in 1819 he wrote a pamphlet on the objects of the association. He likewise visited the prisons with a view to reclaiming first offenders.

In 1851 Mason resigned the librarianship of King's Inns, and gave up his house in Henrietta Street, Dublin, to spend the remainder of his days at a charming residence near Bray, co. Wicklow, known as Dargle Cottage. He died there on 14 April 1858 (Gent. Mag. 1858, pt. i. p. 570), and was buried in the old cemetery of Powerscourt Demesne. In 1816 he married Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Langrishe, bart., by whom he had two sons and four daughters.

At Mason's suggestion the committee of the Irish Society founded in 1844 two Bedell scholarships and a premium in Dublin University for encouraging the study of the Irish language. He took a great interest, moreover, and he was mainly instrumental in the establishment there of a professorship of Irish. On 22 June 1812 he was elected member of the Royal Irish Academy, and subsequently contributed four papers to vol. xiii. of the ‘Transactions,’ all of which were reissued separately for private circulation. In the summer session of 1817 the degrees of LL.B. and LL.D. were conferred on him by Dublin University.

Mason possessed much general knowledge and an extremely good opinion of himself. But he wrote on some subjects with which he was imperfectly acquainted, and his want of tact made him many enemies. He was a good musician; he composed several pretty airs, and was a fair violoncellist.

His most valuable work is an ‘Essay on the Antiquity and Constitution of Parliaments in Ireland,’ 8vo, Dublin, 1820, dedicated to Henry Grattan. It is a concise but learned investigation regarding the nature