John Monck Mason

John Monck Mason(1726–1809) was an Irish politician and literary scholar.

John Monck Mason

Life

Born inDublin,he was eldest son of Robert Mason of Mason-Brook,County Galway,by Sarah, eldest daughter of George Monck ofSt. Stephen's Green,Dublin. On 12 August 1741 he enteredTrinity College, Dublin,and graduated B.A. in 1746, M.A. in 1761. In 1752 he wascalled to the Irish bar.

Mason sat in theIrish House of Commonsas member forBlessington,County Wicklow,in 1761 and 1769, and forSt. Canice,County Kilkenny,in 1776, 1783, 1790, and 1798. In parliament he was a frequent speaker. He introduced in 1761 a bill to enableRoman Catholicsto invest money in mortgages on land, which was carried, but then rejected by the English privy council. In the next session a similar bill, strongly opposed by the government, was rejected by 138 to 53.

The government made a bid for Mason's support by appointing him in August 1771 a commissioner of barracks and public works, Dublin, and in 1772 a commissioner of revenue, an office which he held until 1793; and Mason deserted the opposition. Again he introduced his mortgage measure in 1772, once more unsuccessfully. WhenLord Harcourt's government, in 1773, wished to do something for the Catholics, Mason andSir Hercules Langrishewere asked to bring in the same bill, together with another permitting Catholics to take leases for lives of lands; but both were suddenly dropped.

During the free trade agitation of 1779 Mason made himself very unpopular: in November of that year he explained to the Speaker that to attend the House would be a danger to his life. He was made a privy councillor, and in the last Irish parliament he voted for theUnion with Great Britain.

Mason sold Mason-Brook toDenis Daly.He died in Dublin in 1809.

Works

In 1779 Mason published in London an edition of theDramatick WorksofPhilip Massinger(4 vols.) which theDictionary of National Biographyfound no improvement on that ofThomas Coxeter(1761); the memoir byThomas Davieswas however praised at the time.He then worked on an edition of Shakespeare; but claimed that his changes were anticipated inIsaac Reed's edition of 1785, and publishedComments on the last Edition of Shakespeare's Plays,London, 1785, with an appendix ofAdditional Comments.Another edition, asComments on the several Editions of Shakespeare's Plays, extended to those of Malone and Steevens,appeared at Dublin in 1807.George Steevensinserted many of Mason's notes in his own editions of Shakespeare.

Mason also publishedComments on the Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher; with an Appendix containing some further Observations on Shakespeare,London, 1798, dedicated to George Steevens; andAn Oration commemorative of the late Major-General Hamilton,1804.

Family

In 1766 Mason married Catherine, second daughter of Henry Mitchell ofGlasnevin,but left no issue.Her brother wasHugh Henry Mitchell,MP forBallyshannonand forEnniskillen.

Notes

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Lee, Sidney,ed. (1893). "Mason, John Monck".Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co.