MAS II AM ABU! AIL. 



MASSfiNA, ANDKK. 



110 



:. ,:L. , r 4 

 rejected all. 



iooed by it* operation., Ma>er*s, when a young man, 

 all of algebra whioai* not arithmetio, a* being what be could 

 net cBCBprahtanhimnlf thoagb he admitted that others might do so. 

 la LU earliest riHtn't-r but one ( DieserUtioo on the Uso of the 

 IT i as si 1 1 Sign in Alg.br*,' London, 1768), which ia in fact a treatise 

 oo the lira i"- of algebra, ft r ejecting an equation in which negative 

 naamilis* oerur, he add* ; " I speak according to the foregoing defi- 

 nition, by whJob tie affimjativenees or acgativenes* of any quantity 

 implie* a relation to another quantity of the same kind, to which it is 

 added, or from which it i* subtracted ; for it may perhaps be very 

 clear and intelligible to those who have formed to themselves some 

 olhcr id** of affirmative and negative quantities different from that 

 above denned.* 



The trtsrr work* of Msifore are' Element* of Plane Trigonometry,' 

 London, 1760 ; Principle* of the Doctrine of Life Annuities,' London, 

 KM; Appendix to Frend* Principles of Algebra,' 1799; tracts on 

 th ' Keeolution of Equations,' 1SOO; various remarks on the tract* 

 pabbebed ia the ' ooriptores Logarithmici,' presently to be noticed ; 



MM ia the ' Philocophioal Transactions;' and political wiitinga, a 



, of which will be found in the ' Gentleman's Magaxine ' for June 

 ItM. The characteristic of all these writings is an extreme prolixity, 

 nnnasinmrl by hi* rej. ction of algibra, aod the consequent multiplication 

 of paiticular case*. In hi* ' Dissertation,' Ac., above noticed, tbe four 

 rules, aod the solution of equation* of the leoond and third degree, 

 occupy 900 Quarto page*. 



Of the reprints which Baron Maserea mad* at hi* own expense, the 

 atoet important ia the ' Scriptore* Logarithmici,' a collection, in six 

 Tnlnate* qaarto, published iu various years from 1791 to 1807, of 

 i lings en tbe autjeot of logarithm*. Here we find the work* of 

 Kepler, Napier, Sneli, Ac., ioteraperaed with original tract* on kiudred 

 eubjeou. The repabiionion of these old writing* has put them in the 

 way of many student* to whom they would otherwise have been iuao- 

 ccaiilili, aod ha* thai tended to promote historical knowledge and to 

 excite inquiry. The ' Seriptore* Optici,' 1828, a reprint of the optical 

 writing* of Jam** Gregory, Descartes, Shooten, Huyghent, Halley, and 

 BVrrow, ha* a merit of tbe same kind : it was begun at an earlier 

 period, but having been delayed by circumstance*, was completed 

 " c superintendence of Mr. Babtnge. Betides these, he also 

 the tract of James Bernoulli on ' Permutation* and Corn- 

 i/ and discovered and printed Colsou's translation of Agneai's 

 . . ,j....i Institution*.' He also reprinted a large number of tract* 

 en sfngliah hutory. '1 be rxpense of Hales'* Latin treatise on ' Fluxion*,' 

 1*00, wa* defrayed by him ; and we understand that more than one 

 other author wa* indebted to him for assistance of the same kind. 



(GtmiUmami Moftttuu, June, Ib24.) 



MASH AM, ABIGAIL, the favourite of Queen Anne, noted in the 

 history of the time for her political intrigue*, wa* the daughter of 

 yiaauss HOI, a Levant sBcrehant of London, who married the sister of 

 Mr. Jennings, tbe father of the Duohees of Marlborough. Upon the 

 bankruptcy of her lather she became the attendant of a baronet'* 

 lady, whence ah* removed into tbe service of her relative, then Lady 

 Churchill, who procured her the place of waiting-maid to the Princess 

 Anne, one retained her situation after the princes* ascended the 

 throne, aod by her assiduity, complaisance, and cunning, acquired a 

 great degree of influence over her. The high-church principles in 

 which she bad been educated contributed to increase her credit with 



n, who we* secretly attached to the Tory party, though 

 ia the beginning of her reign, to favour the Whigs. Tlie 

 mernace of Mis* Hill with Mr. Mashain (son of Sir Francis Masbam 

 of Otce in K***x), in 1707, oonssioocd an open quarrel with the Duehess 

 of Marlborougb, who wa* in ooneequenoe of it deprived of her majesty's 

 wabdeace. Barley, afterward* earl of Oxford, connected himself with 

 the new favourite ; a change of minUtry was the result of their 

 iatrigo**, aad in 1711 Mr. Masham wa. raised to the peerage. He and 

 hi* wife appear to have been actively engaged in the secret proceedings 

 of the TOTMS in favour of the exiled bouse of Stuart, a* well as in 

 ever* low scheme for advancing their own pecuniary interest*. Lady 

 M*bem lived a long time o retirement after the death of the queen, 

 end died bcneif at aa advanced age, December 6, 1784. 



MAlUULYMa; NK?IL, wa* lorn in London, October 6, 1782; 

 wa* educated at Westmlnetcr, and afterward* at Catherine Hall and 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, ia which university he took the degree of 

 B A. with distinction in 1764. In 1766 be took order*, but be bad 

 previously been led to turn his attention to astronomy by the solar 

 eclipse of 1748. and by becoming acquainted with Bradley, whom he 

 aatsted ia tho formation of hi* table* of refraction. In 1761 he went 

 to Si, Helena to observe tbe transit of Venn*, and to detect, if possible, 

 the parallax of tbe fixed stars. In this voyage, and in one undertaken 

 to Barbsdote io 1 704 to try the merit* of Harrison* new chronometers, 

 he soquind u.at knowledge of tbe want* of nautical astronomy which 

 AwwerdeUd to the formation of tbe Nautical Almanac.' In 1 765 

 ho we* appointed to saooesd Mr. Bliss * astronomer-royal, and from 

 this time, with the exception of hi* voyage to Scotland in 1772 to 

 detemuoe the mean density of toe earth by observing the effect of the 

 aVMCrtota aebchaUioB upon the plumb-line, bis life was one unvaried 

 ff'*'"*"" to the practical improvement of astronomical observation. 

 IU died February . Hll. 



t of modern astronomical obscrra- 



i died February , Hll. 

 Dcbuabre date* tho < 



tion, iu its moat perfect form, from Maskelyne, who was the first who 

 gave what i* now called a aUudard catalogue (1790) of stare; that is, 

 a number of stars observed with such frequency and accuracy that 

 their places serve a* standard points of the heavens. The ' Nautical 

 Almanac ' was first suggested by him, and it was published under hU 

 superintendence from its first publication in 1767 to the end of hi* life, 

 during which time it received the highest encomiums from all foreign 

 authorities. His SchehalUen experiment on the effect of a mountain 

 mas* on the plumb-line was of considerable importance, and it* accuracy 

 was fully verified by the subsequent experiments of Baron Zach. UM 

 observations in Greenwich Observatory were oonuned in a groat 

 degree to thirty-six principal stars, and to the regular observation of 

 the sun aud moon. Tho latter, and the exclusive adoption of the 

 princiual stars, give a greater value (other things being equally favour- 

 abl<) to the determinations deduced from hi* observation* than to 

 those obtained from Bradloy'a. 



Dr. Moakelyue, as arbitrator on the part of the government of the 

 merit* of tlie chronometers which were submitted by their mnk 

 competitors for the prize, had more tban one public accusation of 

 partiality to bear. The now celebrated Harrison wan one of hU 

 oppuguer*, and Mr. Mudge, jun., on the part of his father, an 

 The only publication (aa far a* we know) which he ever made out of 

 his official capacity, with the exception of paper* in the 'Philosophical 

 Transactions,' was a reply to a pamphlet by the latter, Lou.lou, 1792. 

 lie o .He I Mayer'a lunar tabl *, and was the mean* of 50001. being 

 awarded to the widow of the author. 



MASON, WILLIAM, was born ia 1725. He wa* the son of a 

 clergyman at Hull. He took hi* B.A. degree at Cambridge in 1745, 

 after which he removed from St. John'* College to Pembroke, of which 

 college he was elected Fellow iu 1747. Having taken orders, he was 

 presented to the rectory of Aston in Yorkshire, and became chaplaiu 

 to the king. His political principles placed him in strong opposition 

 to the American war, aud he was a member of thu Yorkshire association 

 for obtaining reform of parliament. The horrors of the French revo- 

 lution however are eaid to hare caused a change ia his opinions, but 

 as he was growing an old man when it broke out, the timidity of age 

 probably worked a* strongly as the reign of terror. He died ia 1797, 

 aged seventy-two, having been for years precentor and cauun-residentiary 

 of York. There is a tablet to his memory iu PoeU' Comer, Westminster 

 Abbey. 



Mason's poems- are now little read. Two tragedies, ' Elfrida ' and 

 ' Caractacus,' a descriptive poam called ' The English Garden,' and 

 some odea, ore bis principal productions ; but he U now perhaps best 

 remembered as Gray's biographer aud friend. His stylo is to a great 

 extent tbat of an imitator ot Gray, and not being so perfect an artist 

 in language as bis master, he has been proportionally less successful. 

 In addition to his poetical reputation he possessed considerable skill in 

 I/aiming and music, anJ in the latter subject entertained opinions not 

 at ail consonant to those of musicians in general. He wished to reduce 

 church music to the most dry aud mechanical style possible, excluding 

 all such expression as should depend on the powers and taste of the 

 organist. (Mason's ' Compendium of the History of Church Music.') 



MASS&NA, ANDRE, Prince of Kssliug, Duko of Hivoli, aud Marshal 

 of France, was born at Nice, May 6, 175$. " Several of the French 

 marshals," says Disraeli, "and the most famous Masaena, for example 

 was a Hebrew; his real name was Mananeh." (' Cooingsby,' ii. 203.) 

 Left on orphan at an early age, his education was greatly neglected. 

 He appear* to have spent some years of hi* youth at sea with a relation 

 who was captain of a trading vessel, but having taken a dislike to a 

 seafaring life, be abandoned it, and iu 1775 entered the army as a 

 private soldier in the regiment Royal Italian, in which one of his 

 uncles was a captain. Alter a diligent discharge of his duties iu that 

 regiment for fourteen year* ho only attained the rank of sergeant, 

 which, when he afterwards became marshal, he declared was the step 

 in his military career which had cost him the moat to gain. Dis- 

 couraged by this slow promotion, he retired to his native city, where 

 he made an advantageous marriage. Events connected with tho 

 French revolution recalled him ii his former profession, and he was 

 appointed by the suffrages of his fellow-soldiers to the rank of adjutant- 

 major of the battalion raised in the department of tho Var, of which 

 regiment he subsequently became colonel He was made general of 

 brigade in August 1793, and general of division a few mouths later. 

 In the Italian campaigns of 17tf4 and 1795 he served under the generals 

 Kellerman and Soberer, and it was chiefly owing to hi* skill as a 

 tactician that the victory was gained in the defile of Saorgio (August 

 1794), and on the Col de San Giaoomo in 17U5. Indeed tbe great 

 BUOoeM of these campaigns has generally been attributed to the ability 

 of the plans which the influence of his talents caused to be adopted. 

 When Bonaparte assumed the command of the army iu Italy ho 

 employed Massc'na actively on all occasions of importance, the brilli- 

 ancy of whosj military conceptions he so justly appreciated that Jie 

 suruamed him the 'favoured child of victory.' The scenes of hi* 

 principal exploits were Moutenotte (9-llth of April, 1796), Millesimo 

 (14th of April), Castiglioce (itu of June 5th of July), Aroola (15- 

 17th of November), and Uivoli (9th of January, 1797). At tlio peace 

 of Campo Forinio, October 17, 17D7, Massdna was sent to France to 

 present to the Directory the ratification of tbe treaty of peace by the 

 Emperor of Austria. In February 1793 he was appointed to the 



