MAS 
fufpefted that his quadrant had become lefs exaft in con- 
Sequence of the friction which it had undergone during 
its continual employment for more than fifty years. It 
Was very natural that an a'ltronomer, who always paid the 
fame degree of attention to'his obfervations, and who 
did not perceive in his inftrument any mark of old age, 
fhould not be the firfl to deteft changes in it, very flight 
in themfelves. Other inftruments, more modern, and of 
a different conftruftion, and placed in the hands of at¬ 
tentive aftronomers, occaiioned the fir It fufpicions. It is 
true that the fmall variations which appear to have been 
obferved may be accounted for in fuch a way as to ac¬ 
quit the quadrant at Greenwich of inaccuracy. MefTrs. 
Belief and Oltmanns gave explanations of them not defi¬ 
cient in probability; but the mod certain-method was to 
procure new inftruments. This was what Dr. Mafkelyne 
did. He employed the celebrated Trotighton to make 
a grand and fuperb circle, which he had not thepleafure 
hiinfelf of placing in his obfervatory ; but which has been 
put into the hands of his fucceffor, Mr. Pond, who will 
no doubt make the public acquainted with the faults 
which time had produced in the Greenwich quadnfnf, 
and will inform us what correftions mutt be made in the 
latter obfervations at Greenwich, to render them as va¬ 
luable as the more early obfervations in the fame place. 
Dr. Mafkelyne had good church preferment from his 
college; and his paternal eftates (of which he was the la!t 
male heir) were alfo confiderable. He married, when ra¬ 
ther advanced in life, a young lady of large fortune, the 
fitter and co-heirefs of lady Booth, of Northamtonfhire, by 
whom he had one daughter, whofe education he fuperin- 
tended with the fondelt care. Thefe ladies furvive him ; 
and alfo his lifter Margaret, who was married to the late 
lord Clive. 
Dr. Mafkelyne died on the 9th of February, i8tr, in 
the 79th year of his age. His health had previoufly de¬ 
clined for fome months, and iie contemplated his ap¬ 
proaching dilfolution with pious reflgnation, and with a 
lively hope of being admitted into the prefence of that 
Deity, whofe works he had fo long ftudied and fo ar¬ 
dently admired. His favourite fcience tended the more 
ftrongly to confirm his religious principles; and he died, 
as he had lived, a fincere Chriftian. Eulogy read in the 
National Injlitute by Delambre. Rees's Cyclop, Monthly Magazine. 
MAS'KELYNE’S I'SLANDS, a duller of fmall Blands 
in the South Pacific, lying off the fouth-eaft point of 
Mallicollo Ifland. Lat. 16. 32. N. Ion. 167., 59. E. 
MAS'KER, jf. One who reveis in a mafk ; a mum¬ 
mer.—Let the fcenes abound with light, and let the maf- 
kers that are to come down from the fcene have fome mo¬ 
tions upon the fcene before their coming down. Bacon, 
Tell falfe Edward, 
That Louis of France is fending over ma/hers. 
To revel it with him and his new bride. Shakefpeare. 
MAS'KING, [ The ad of putting on a mafk. 
MASKIN'GIE, a river of Canada, which runs into 
lake Michigan in lat. 47. 25. N. Ion. 86. 50. W. 
MAS'KO, a town of Sweden, in the government of 
Abo : nine miles north-weft of Abo. 
MAS'LACQ, a tow n of France, in the department of the 
Lower Pyrenees : five miles fouth-fouth-eaftof Orthez. 
MASLAWSTA'NO, a town of Poland, in the pala¬ 
tinate of Kiev : thirty-fix miles eaft-fomh-eaft of Biala- 
cerkiev. 
MASLE'MA, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the pro¬ 
vince of Diarbekir: twenty-eight miles north-north-eaft 
of Racca. 
MAS'LIN, adj. [corrupted from mifcellane .] Compofed 
of various kinds ; as majlin bread, made of wheat and rye. 
See Mastun. 
MAS'LINFAR, / [from meler, Fr. to mix, and far, 
Lat. corn.] A kind of food made of wheat and rye 
fteeped in water. Scott . 
.MAS'MUJNSTER.. See Munster. 
M A S 475 
MASONED, a fmall ifland of Denmark, near the fouth 
coaft of Zealand. Lat. 54. 59. N. Ion. xi. 54, E- 
MA'SO, otTomaso Finiguerra, a native of Florence^ 
is by the Italian writers accounted the firfl; inventor of 
the art of making prints from engravings on metal. He 
is commonly thought to have flouritfted about the middle 
6 f the fifteenth century; but a document has been pro¬ 
duced by Marini in his notes to Baldinucci's Lives of 
Painters, which proves that he was dead in 1424. He 
was a goldftnith by trade; and the account given of his 
invention is, that, it being his practice to make an earthen 
mould of ail that he engraved on filver for inlaying, of 
what was called working in niello, he found, on pouring 
melted fulphur into the mould, that, when rubbed with 
oi! and lamp-black, it gave upon paper the outline of what 
had been engraved. What ufe was made by him of this 
difcovery, by what fteps it was perfected, and whether iu 
was carried into Germany from Italy, or was likewife ori¬ 
ginal in that country, are matters of great doubt and con- 
troverfy. And indeed nothing of Fi.niguerra’s engraving 
or printing remains to teftify this faff, unlefs a print in 
the Cracherodean Colleftion marked T. F. F. vthicii has 
by fome perfons been fuppofed to Stand for Thomafo Fini¬ 
guerra fecit , might be believed to be his performance ; bue 
Mr. Cracherode has, by a note in the margin, attributed 
this print, notwithftanding thefe initials, to Andrea Man¬ 
tegna. See the article Mantegna, p. 302. and Landfeejfs 
Leffures on Engraving, p. 249, 50. 
MA'SON, f. [mafon, Fr. machio, low Lat.] A builder 
with Hone. — Many find a reafon very wittily before the' 
thing be true ; that the materials being left rough, are 
more manageable in the ma/on's hand than if they had been 
fmooth. Wottoa, 
MA'SON, a county of Kentuchy, on the fouth fide of 
the Ohio, with 11,405 inhabitants, including 1600 flaves. 
MA'SON (John), a refpeftable Englifti non-conformilt 
divine and ufeful praftical writer, was the foil of a diftent- 
ing minilter, and born at Dunmow in Eflex, in the year 
1705-6. He ‘purfued his academical ftudies under the 
tuition of the reverend and learned John Jennings, who 
opened a feminary for the education of young perfons to 
the miniftry at Kibworth in Lercefterfliire, which he re¬ 
moved to Hinckley in 1722. Mr. Mafion’s firfl fituation, 
after he had completed his academical courfe, was that of 
chaplain and private tutor in the family of governor 
Feaks, at his feat near Hatfield. In 1729—30, he accepted 
of an invitation to become paftor to a congregation at 
Dorking in Surry; with whom he continued feventeen 
years, diligently difcharging the duties of his function, 
anil highly efteemed both as a preacher and "a friend. In 
1740 he firft became known to the public as an author, 
by printing a fermon, entitled, “ Subjection to the Higher 
Powers;” which was followed, three years afterwards, by 
an anonymous treatife, entitled, “ A plain and ipodeft 
)Plea, orafoberand rational Appeal to Infidels, occafioned 
by fome of their late Productions,” See. 8vo.. This little 
piece met with a very favourable reception, and procured 
the author the degree of M. A. from the univerfity of 
Edinburgh. I-n 1745, h e publifhed his excellent treatife 
on “ Self Knowledge,” 8vo. which is one of the mod va¬ 
luable works, on praftical religion in the Englifli language. 
It is probable that not lefs than a hundred thoufand copies 
of this work have been circulated in our own country; 
and it has been tranflated into almoft all the European 
tongues. In the year 1746, Mr. Mafon removed to Chef- 
hunt in Hertfordfhire, where he fpent the remainder of 
liis days as a ufeful preacher; and continued to benefit, 
not only the village in which he lived, by his public dif- 
courfes and private exhortations, but to enlighten and 
improve the public by his writings. He died in Febru¬ 
ary 1763, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. His mod 
important publications are, x. The Lord’s-day Evening 
Enrsrtainment, 4 vols* 2. The Student and Paftor; or, 
Direftions how to attain Eminence and Ufefulnefs in thole 
xefpectiye Characters. 3. Chriftian Morals, 2 vols. 4. 
Jriftacu 
