was placed in command of a battery at Annapolis, Md., and subsequently ordered to special ordnance duty as assistant to the chief of bureau. In Sep- tember, 1875, he took command of the " Alert," on board of which, in May, 1876, he sailed for China, by way of the Suez canal.
MASCARENE, Jean Paul, governor of Nova
Scotia, b. in Languedoc. France, 18 Oct., 1685 ;
d. in Boston, Mass., 22 Jan., 1760. He was of a
Huguenot family, and at twelve years of age was
expatriated, and went to Geneva, Switzerland,
where he was educated. He subsequently removed
to England, was naturalized in 1706, and entered
the British army as a lieutenant. He came with
his regiment to Nova Scotia in 1711, rose by de-
grees to colonel, lieutenant-governor, and com-
mander-in-chief, was appointed councillor in 1720,
and for many years was senior member of the
board. About this date he transmitted to the
plantation-office a complete description of the
province, with suggestions for its settlement and
defence. With the governors of Massachusetts
and New Hampshire he negotiated the treaty of
1725 with the Indians. He was acting governor
of Nova Scotia in 1740-'9, and in 1744 beat off
the French under l)u Vivier. Mascarene was
commissioned major-general in 1758.
MASCARENHAS DE CASTELLO BRANCO, José Joaqaim (mas-eah-rain'-yas), Brazilian R. C.
bishop, b. in Rio Janeiro, 23 Aug., 1731 ; d. there,
28 Jan., 1805. He was graduated at the University
of Coimbra in 1754, ordained priest the same year,
and became judge of the inquisition successively
in Evora. Lisbon, and Rio Janeiro. In 1773 he
was appointed assistant bishop of Rio Janeiro, and
consecrated in Lisbon. Before he arrived in South
America his bishop died, and he therefore took
charge of the see at once, on 15 April, 1774. He
forced the clergy of his diocese to pass examina-
tion on moral theology, in spite of the refusal of
many, particularly the Carmelite monks. He also
established lectures for his clergy, and, unless they
showed a certificate of attendance, they were not
admitted to the exercise of their priestly functions.
He established at his own expense in the seminary
of the diocese classes of rhetoric, philosopiay, geog-
raphy, cosmology, and natural history, and found-
ed a school of music. In 1784 he was appointed
by the pope general visitor of the Carmelite con-
vents, and established strict discipline. Bishop
Mascarenhas rendered eminent service to his coun-
try in promoting the public wealth by introducing
coffee-seed from Asia and distributing it in differ-
ent parts of Brazil. He also gave great impulse to
the cultivation of indigo.
MASERES, Francis, British author, b. in Lon-
don, 15 Dec, 1731 : d. in Reigate, Surrey, 19 May,
1824. His father, a London physician, was the son
of a French Huguenot, who "settled in London,
Francis was educated at Kingston-upon-Thames
and at Clare hall, Cambridge, where he was gradu-
ated in 1752. He subsequently studied law, was
admitted to the bar, and appointed attorney-gen-
eral of Canada, which office he held till 1769, resid-
ing in Quebec. On his return to fmgland he was
appointed in August, 1773, to the sinecure place
of cursitor baron of the exchequer, which he filled
with great reputation till his death, and he was
deputy recorder of London for about four years.
He was commonly called Baron Maseres. After
his return to London he recommended conciliatory
measures in dealing with the American colonies.
He was the author of " A Dissertation on the Nega-
tive Sign in Algebra" (1758): "The Elements of
Plane Trigonometry " (1760) ; " An Account of the
Labors of the British and other Protestant Inhabi-
tants of Quebec in order to obtain a House of As-
sembly" (1775); "The Canadian Freeholder" (3
vols., 1779) : " Montesquieu's View of the English
Constitution translated, with Notes" (1781) ; " The
Doctrine of Life Annuities " (1783) ; numerous pa-
pers in the " Philosophical Transactions " ; " Scrip-
tores Logarithmici " (6 vols., 1791-1807); and
"Scriptores Optici" (1823).
MASIAS, Beato Juan, Peruvian monk, b. in
Ribera, Spain, in 1585 ; d. in Lima, 17 Sept.. 1645.
He was born of poor parents, who died when he
was five years old, and he spent the greater part
of his youth as a shepherd. In 1619 he .sailed for
Peru, and in 1622 entered the Dominican convent
of Lima as a novice. He led a life of the most
ascetic character, and was regarded by the people
of Peru as a saint. He was appointed porter of
his convent after his profession, and had charge
of the distribution of alms to the poor and to
strangers. His reputation spread over all Spanish
America, and large sums were sent him from Quito,
Potosi. and Mexico, for distribution among the
poor. Miracles were believed to have been wrought
by him, and when he fell sick of his last illness
there was general consternation not only in Lima,
but in Mexico. He was beatified by Gregory XVI.
MASON, Caroline Atherton, poet, b. in
Marblehead, Mass., 27 July, 1823. Her father was
Calvin Briggs, a physician. She was educated at
the Bradford, Mass., academy, and began writing
when quite young. One of her early poems, “Do
they miss me at Home?” which first appeared in
a Salem, Mass., newspaper, obtained immediate
and widespread popularity, being set to music and
sold in this country and in England. Several of
her other poems have been similarly honored, notably
“The King's Quest.” She has contributed
largely to the hymnology of the Unitarian church,
and her poetry generally is strong in the didactic
element. She has published “Utterance, a
Collection of Home Poems” (Boston, 1852), and a
Sunday-school story, “Rose Hamilton” (1859).
She resides at present (1888) in Fitchburg, Mass.,
and continues her contributions to the press.
MASON, Charles, astronomer, b. in England in 1730; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in February, 1787. He served for several years as assistant to the astronomers royal at the Greenwich observatory, and was associated with Jeremiah Dixon in the observation of the transit of Venus on 6 June, 1761, at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1763 both gentlemen were commissioned to survey the boundary-line between Pennsylvania and Maryland by the respective proprietors of these colonies. They arrived in Philadelphia in November, 1763, and began their work, which was continued along the parallel of latitude 39° 43' 26-3" N.. 244 miles west from the Delaware river, beginning at the northeast corner of Maryland, until they reached a point within thirty-six miles of the entire distance to be determined, when they were compelled to suspend operations in consequence of opposition by the Indians. At the end of every fifth mile a stone was planted, graven with the arms of the Penn family on one side and those of Lord Baltimore on the other. The intermediate miles were marked with smaller stones having a P on one side and an M on the other. All of these stones were sent out from England. Mason and Dixon returned to Philadelphia and were discharged in December, 1767. This line, known as " Mason and Dixon's line," became famous in the history of the United States as marking the northern limit, with the exception of portions of Delaware and Virginia, of the
