518 M A S 
Works of St. Auguftine, entitled “ A Letter from an.Ec- 
clefiaftic to R. P. See." meaning John Baptift Langlois, a 
Jefuit, by way of reply to fome ftricfures which he had 
published on that edition, under the adorned character of 
a German abbot; and in 1708, he publifired alarger trea- 
tife, addrefled to the bilhop of Bayeux, in anfwer to his 
cenfure of feveral propofitions feledted from the writings 
of the Benediftine profefl'ors at Caen. He is faid, alfo, to 
have afforded confiderable afiiftance to the writers of the 
Hexaples, in feveral volumes, 4to. who fupported the Jan- 
fenift fide of the controverfy occafioned by the bull Uni- 
genitus. Five of his Latin letters to D. Bernard Pez, a 
German Benediffine, are inferted'in the thirteenth volume 
of the Amoenitates Litterarise, of Selhorn. Dupin. Moreri. 
MASSU 1 VFBA, a town of Congo : ten miles north of 
Bombi. 
MASSU'RA, a town of Kindooftan, in Bahar: forty- 
five miles fouth-fouth-weft of Bahar. 
MASS'Y. SeeMassr. 
MASSY'LA.an inland part of Mauritania. When the 
inhabitants, called MaJJyli, went on horfeback, they never 
ufed faddles or bridles, but only flicks. Some fuppofe 
them to be the fame as the Mafsefylii, though others fay 
half the country belonged only to this laft-mentioned 
people. 
MAST, f. [mtept, Sax.] The fruit of the oak and 
beech. It has in this fenfe no plural termination.—Trees 
that bear majl, and nuts, are more lading than thofe that 
bear fruits; as oaks and beeches laft longer than apples 
and pears. Bacon's Nat. Hijl. 
The oaks bear majl, the briars fcarlet hips; 
The bounteous houfewife, nature, on each bulh 
Lays her full mefs before you. Shakefp. Timon of Athens. 
MAST, f in (hip-building, a large pole, or long piece 
of round timber, raifed in velfels, to which are attached 
the yards, fails, and rigging, in order to their receiv¬ 
ing the wind neceflary for navigation. The word is 
nearly the fame in French, High-Dutch, Flemilh, Saxon, 
and Englilh ; the Italians ufe the word albero , and the 
Spaniards maftil. 
Malls are long fir-trees, or feveral fir-trees coaked or 
douelled and bolted together,and cylindrically rounded a 
great part of their length, and, arching fideways, are fimi- 
lar to truncated cones. Their number depends upon the 
fize and nature of the velfel; fome having three; lome two, 
luch are brigs and fnows ; others only one mall, fuch are 
cutters, Hoops, and final! trading-veflels. A mad, w'ith 
regard to its length, is either formed of one Angle piece, 
which is called a pole-majl , or compofed of feveral pieces 
joined together, each of which retains the name of mart 
feparately. The lowed: of thefe is accordingly named the 
lower majl ; the next in height is the top-majl, which is 
ereited at the head of the former; and the higheft (ufually) 
is the top-gallant-majl, which is prolonged from the upper 
end of the top-malt; but fometimes to the head of the 
top-gallant-mail is fixed a fmall one, called a royal-majl. 
To thefe feveral mafts are confined their refpedlive yards 
and fails, and confequently the rigging for their fupport. 
An attempt has been lately made to introduce four or 
more malts in veffels ; but, upon a very liberal trial, it 
•was found not to anfwer the purpofes intended ; for, when 
the number of mafts is multiplied, the yards muft be 
fhorter.ed, or they would entangle each other in working.- 
By this, too, the fails would be narrowed, and would re¬ 
ceive too fmall a portion of wind for the force required. 
If, on the contrary, there is not a fufficient number of 
mafts, the yards would be unmanageable, from their length. 
Experience, therefore, has proved, that, in large velfels, 
two lower-mafts and a bowfprit, in fmaller velfels, two 
lower mafts and a bowfprit, and in the fmalleft, one malt 
and a bowfprit, are the molt advantageous number for 
nautical purpofes. A fliip, properly lo called, having 
three mafts, that which is placed at the middle of the 
lhip’s length is called the main-majl ; that which is placed 
M A S 
in the fore part, the fore-majl ; and that which is fa- 
wards the (tern is termed the mizen majl by all the na¬ 
tions of Europe, except the French, who alone call the 
fore-maft mifaine. See Ship building. 
It has been lately propofed to make mafts of wrought- 
iron, upon the following principle : A cylinder of iron, 
half an inch thick, and the fame height and diameter as 
a fir-malt, will not be fo heavy, will be confiderably 
ftronger, much more durable, lefs liable to be injured by 
(hot, and be eafily repaired even at fea. It will weigh 
only 12 tons, and, at45l. per ton, will not coll more than 
540I. while its ftrengtb will be nearly 50 per cent, above 
that of a fir-mall, that weighs 23 tons, and cofts nearly 
1200I. This malt is made to ltrike nearly as low as the 
deck, to eafe the (hip in a heavy fea. Ships furnilhed 
with fir-mafts are, in fuch circumftances, obliged to cut 
them away. Ships furnilhed vrith iron mafts will not, 
like others, be expofed to the rilk of receiving damage 
from lightning; the iron malt of itfelf being an excellent 
conductor. By ufing an iron bolt from the heel of the 
malt, through the keelfon and keel, the eledftric matter 
will be conducted through the bottom of the fliip into the 
water, without injury to the fliip. Bowfprits and yards 
may alfo be made of wrought-iron, atthe fame proportion 
of ftrength and expenfe as the mall. 
MAST BA'Y, a bay on the north coaft of Jamaica, 
ealt of Montego-bay. 
MAST I'SLAND, a fmall illand in the Indian Sea, 
near the coal! of Africa. Laf. 11.48. S. 
MAS'TA, a fmall illand in the Adriatic. Lat. 44. 7. N. 
Ion. 15. 23. E. 
MASTA'I, a town of Japan, on the fouth coaft of Ni- 
phon : ten miles fouth-well of Meaco. Lat. 34. 46. N. 
Ion. 134. 30. E. 
MASTA'SA, a town of Fez: forty miles weft-north- 
weft of Velez de Gomera. 
MASTASS'IN LA'KE, a lake of North America, at 
the head of Rupert’s River, which falls into James’s Bay. 
This lake is about two hundred miles in circumference, 
of a very irregular form, and much interfered by pro¬ 
jections of land. 
MAS'TED, adj. Furnilhed with mafts. 
MAS'TER,/. (j meejler , Dut. maijlre, Fr. magijler, Lat.} 
One who has fervants: oppofed to man, or Jervant: 
My lord Baflfanio gave his ring away 
Unto the judge that begg’d it; 
The boy, his clerk, begg’d mine; 
And neither man nor mafer would take aught 
But the two rings. Shakejpeare's Merchant ojVenice. 
But now I was the lord 
Of this fair manfion, majler of my fervants, 
Queen o’er myfelf; and even now, but now, 
This houfe, thefe fervants, and this fame myfelf, 
Are yours, my lord. Shakejpeare's Merchant of Venice. 
A director 5 a governor.—If thou be made the majler of 
a feaft, be among them as one of the reft. Ecclus. xxxii. 1. 
O thou, my friend, my genius, come along, 
Thou majler of the poet, and the fong. Pope. 
Owner; proprietor; with the idea of governing.—An 
orator, who had undertaken to make a panegyric on Alex¬ 
ander the Great, and who had employed the ftrongelt 
figures of his rhetoric in the praife of Bucephalus, would 
do quite the contrary to that which was expeited from 
him ; becaufe it would be believed, that he rather took 
the liorfe for his fubjeef than the majler. Dry den s Dujrefnoy. 
—A lord ; a ruler.—Wifdom and virtue are the propse 
qualifications in the majler of a houfe. Guardian. 
There Casfar, grac’d with both Minervas (hone ; 
Ctefar, the world’s great majler , and his own. Pope. 
P'dlTelTor.—The duke of Savoy may make himfelf majler of 
the French dominions on the other fide of the Rhone.— 
AddiJ'on. —Commander of a trading'-lhip.—An unhappy 
majler is he that is made cunning by many fliip wrecks i 
a mi- 
