John Monck Mason

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

John Monck Mason

Life

Born in

called to the Irish bar.[1]

Mason sat in the

Roman Catholics
to 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. When

Sir Hercules Langrishe were asked to bring in the same bill, together with another permitting Catholics to take leases for lives of lands; but both were suddenly dropped.[1]

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 the Union with Great Britain.[1]

Mason sold Mason-Brook to

Denis Daly. He died in Dublin in 1809.[1]

Works

In 1779 Mason published in London an edition of the Dramatick Works of Philip Massinger (4 vols.) which the Dictionary of National Biography found no improvement on that of Thomas Coxeter (1761); the memoir by Thomas Davies was however praised at the time.[2] He then worked on an edition of Shakespeare; but claimed that his changes were anticipated in Isaac Reed's edition of 1785, and published Comments on the last Edition of Shakespeare's Plays, London, 1785, with an appendix of Additional Comments. Another edition, as Comments on the several Editions of Shakespeare's Plays, extended to those of Malone and Steevens, appeared at Dublin in 1807. George Steevens inserted many of Mason's notes in his own editions of Shakespeare.[1]

Mason also published Comments on the Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher; with an Appendix containing some further Observations on Shakespeare, London, 1798, dedicated to George Steevens; and An Oration commemorative of the late Major-General Hamilton, 1804.[1]

Family

In 1766 Mason married Catherine, second daughter of Henry Mitchell of Glasnevin, but left no issue.[1] Her brother was Hugh Henry Mitchell, MP for Ballyshannon and for Enniskillen.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Mason, John Monck" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7266. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ISBN 978-1-903688-71-7
    . Retrieved 12 April 2024.
Attribution

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

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Blessington
1761–1768
With: Charles Ussher
 Succeeded by
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Blessington
1769–1776
With: George Smyth 1769–1771
Charles Dunbar
1771–1776 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for St Canice
1776–1800
With: John Hamilton 1776–1781
Dominick Trant 1781–1783
Hon. Richard Annesley 1783–1790
Marcus Beresford 1790–1794
Sylvester Douglas 1794–1796
William Elliot
1796–1800 		Union with Great Britain
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