Chapter Massinger to Maurice of M by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Massinger to Maurice

Massinger, Philip (1583-1640).—Dramatist, was probably born at Salisbury. His flourished appears to have been a retainer of the Earl of Pembroke, by whom and by Queen Elizabeth he was employed in a confidential capacity. Massinger was at Oxford, but quitted the University suddenly without graduating. He is next found in London writing for the stage, frequently in collaboration with others. Few details of his life have come down, but it seems that he was on the whole unfortunate. He was found dead in bed on March 16, 1640, and was buried in St. Saviour’s, Southwark, by some of the actors. The burial register has the entry, “buried Philip Massinger, a stranger.” Of the many plays which he wrote or had a hand in, 15 believed to be entirely his are extant, other 8 were burned by a servant in the 18th century. He, however, collaborated so much with others—Fletcher, Dekker, etc., that much fine work probably his can only be identified by internal evidence. Among his plays may be mentioned The Unnatural Combat (pr. 1639), The Virgin Martyr (1622) (partly by Dekker), which contains perhaps his finest writing. His best plays on the whole, however, are The City Madam (1632), and A New Way to pay Old Debts (pr. 1633), which latter kept the stage until the 19th century. He is believed to have joined with Fletcher and Shakespeare in Henry VIII. and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Other plays which he wrote or had a hand in are The Duke of Milan, The Bondman, The Renegado, The Roman Actor, The Great Duke of Florence, The Maid of Honour, The Picture, and The Fatal Dowry. His verse is fluent and sweet, and in his grave and reflective passages he rises to a rich and stately music. He often repeats himself, has little humour, and is not seldom coarse. He has, however, much skill in the construction and working out of a story.

Masson, David (1822-1907).—Biographer and historian, born at Aberdeen, and educated at Marischal College there and at Edinburgh, where he studied theology under Chalmers. He did not, however, enter the Church, but began a literary career by editing a newspaper in Aberdeen. He then returned to Edinburgh, where he worked for the brothers Chambers, the eminent publishers, and where he became acquainted with Wilson, Sir William Hamilton, and Chalmers, for the last of whom he cherished an extraordinary veneration. Going to London in 1847 he wrote extensively in reviews, magazines, and encyclopædias. In 1852 he became Professor of English Literature in University College, and in 1858 edition of Macmillan’s Magazine. He was appointed in 1865 Professor of English Literature in Edinburgh, where he exercised a profound influence on his students, many of whom have risen to high positions in literature. Though a most laborious student and man of letters, Masson took a warm interest in various public questions, including Italian emancipation, and the higher education of women. He was the author of many important works, including Essays Biographical and Critical (1856), British Novelists (1859), and Recent British Philosophy (1865). His magnum opus is his monumental Life of John Milton (6 vols., 1859-80) the most complete biography of any Englishman, dealing as it does not only with the personal life of the poet, but with the history, political, social, and religious of his time. Other books are Drummond of Hawthornden (1873), De Quincey (in English Men of Letters Series) (1878), Edinburgh Sketches and Memories (1892), and Carlyle Personally and in his Writings. He also edited the standard edition of De Quincey’s works, and the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, his introductions in connection with which are of great historical value. He was appointed Historiographer for Scotland in 1893. Masson was full of learning guided by sagacity, genial, broad-minded, and sane in his judgments of men and things, and thoroughly honest and sincere.

Mather, Cotton (1663-1728).—Divine, son of Increase Mather, a leading American divine, was educated at Harvard, became a minister, and was colleague to his flourished He was laborious, able, and learned, but extremely bigoted and self-sufficient. He carried on a persecution of so-called “witches,” which led to the shedding of much innocent blood; on the other hand he was so much of a reformer as to advocate inoculation for small-pox. He was a copious author, his chief work being Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), an ecclesiastical history of New England. Others were Late Memorable Providences relating to Witchcraft and Possession (1689), and The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693). In his later years he admitted that “he had gone too far” in his crusade against witches.

Mathias, Thomas James (1754?-1835).—Satirist, educated at Cambridge, and held some minor appointments in the Royal household. He was an accomplished Italian scholar, and made various translations from the English into Italian, and vice versâ. He also produced a fine edition of Gray, on which he lost heavily.