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Mason, William

(Kingston-upon-Hull 1725-1797 Aston) : Dichter, Reverend

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Index of Names : Occident / Literature : Occident : Great Britain

Chronology Entries (5)

# Year Text Linked Data
1 1767 William Mason veröffentlicht die ersten Verse von The English garden [ID D26938].
Adolf Reichwein : Überall kam das schlichte Naturgefühl wieder zum Durchbruch. In England setzte damit der Kampf gegen William Chambers ein. Mason wirft Chambers die übertriebene Häufung der Bilder vor und bezeichnet sein schmückendes Beiwerk als 'affektiert'. Der einfache Landschaftsgarten erlangt nach dem chinesischen Zwischenspiel wieder Geltung.
  • Document: Reichwein, Adolf. China und Europa : geistige und künstlerische Beziehungen im 18. Jahrhundert. Mit 26 Abbildungen. Berlin : Oesterheld & Co., 1923). Diss. Univ. Marburg, 1923.
    =
    Reichwein, Adolf. China and Europe : intellectual and artistic contacts in the 18th century. Transl. by J.C. Powell. (London : Routledge & Paul, 1968). S. 134. (Reich, Publication)
  • Person: Chambers, William (1)
2 1772-1779 Mason, William. The English garden : a poem [ID D26953].
Note H. Page 165.
The respect Mr. Gray had for the Art of Gardening, appears in his letter to Mr. How, to which I have before referred my readers, (see Note B. p. 102) but which I shall here insert at large, because I have since been informed that a Poem on the same subject has been lately published in France, and is there highly esteemed, in which the Author, like the rest of his countrymen, ascribe the origin of our Gardens to the Chinese. “He (Count Algarotti) is highly civil to our nation, but there is one point in which he does not do us justice ; I am the more solicitous about it, because it relates to the only taste we can call our own ; the only proof of our original talent in matter of pleasure, I mean our skill in Gardening, or rather laying out grounds : and this is no small honour to us, since neither France nor Italy have ever had the least notion of it, nor yet do at all comprehend it when they see it. That the Chinese have this beautiful art in high perfection seems very probable from the Jesuit's Letters, and more from Chambers's little discourse published some years ago ; but it is very certain we copied nothing from them, nor had any thing but Nature for our model. It is not forty years since the Art was born among us, and as sure we then had no information on this head from China at all.” (See Memoirs of Mr. Gray, Section v. Letter VIII).
In the last smaller Edition of Mr. Walpole's Anecdotes of painting, the reader will also find a very entertaining and important addition made to his history of Gardening on this very subject (see vol. IV p. 283) which puts the matter out of all doubt. Yet it is to be observed, that Mr. Gray and Mr. Walpole differ in their ideas of Chinese perfection in this Art : But had Mr. Gray lived to see what he calls Chambers's 'little discours' enlarged into a 'dissertation on oriental Gardening', by Sir William Chambers, Knight, it is more than probable he would have come over to his friend's sentiments ; certain it is he would never have agreed with the French, in calling this species of Gardening 'Le gout Anglo-Chinois'.
  • Document: Mason, William. The English garden : a poem. Book 1-4. Book 1 : London : R. Horsfield, 1772. Book 2, 4 : York : Printed by A. Ward and sold by J. Dodsley, 1777, 1781. Book 3 : London : Printed by H. Goldney for J. Dodsley, 1779. = Mason, William. The English garden : a poem. In four books. A new ed., corrected. To which are added, A commentary and notes, by W[illiam] Burgh. (Dublin : Printed by P. Byrne, 1786).
    http://ia700200.us.archive.org/9/items/englishgardenpoe00masoiala/englishgardenpoe00masoiala.pdf. (MasW2, Publication)
  • Person: Gray, Thomas
  • Person: Walpole, Horace
3 1773 Mason, William. An heroic epistle [ID D27198].
"Knight of the Polar Star! by Fortune plac'd
To shine the Cynosure of British taste ;
Whose orb collects, in one refulgent view,
The scatter’d glories of Chinese Virth ;
And spread their lustre in so broad a blaze,
That Kings themselves are dazzled while they gaze..."

Horace Walpole schreibt dazu : "Sir William Chambers, who was far from wanting taste in architecture, fell into the mistake of the French, who suppose that the Chinese had discovered the true style in gardens long before Kent ; and in order to deprive him and England of the honour of originality, the French call our style the Anglo-chinois Garden : whereas, the Chinese wander as far from nature as the French themselves, tho in opposite extremes. Regularity, Uniformity, Formality and Sameness are the characteristics of all French gardens : Irregularity and Extravagance of the Chinese... The imitation of nature in gardens is indisputably English."

Wittkower, Rudolf. Allegorie und der Wandel der Symbole in Antike und Renaissance.(Köln : Dumont, 1984). (DuMont-Taschenbücher ; 142). Er schreibt : Obwohl Chambers' Buch [Dissertation on Oriental gardening] auf dem Kontinent einen gewaltigen Einfluss ausübte, galt es in England als Anachronismus ; es wurde angegriffen und lächerlich gemacht. Gewandt verlieh der Dichter William Mason der Stimmung des Publikums in seiner Satire 'An heroic epistle to Sir William Chambers' Ausdruck. Horace Walpole schrieb über diese Satire : "Ich lachte, bis mir die Tränen kamen, und je öfter ich sie las, desto besser gefiel sie mir."
  • Document: Bald, R.C. Wir William Chambers and the Chinese garden. In : Journal of the history of ideas ; vol. 11, no 3 (1950). (Cham4, Publication)
  • Document: Sir William Chambers und der Englisch-chinesische Garten in Europa. Hrsg. von Thomas Weiss. (Ostfildern-Ruit bei Stuttgart : G. Hatje, 1997). (Kataloge und Schriften der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten Wörlitz, Oranienbaum, Luisium ; Bd. 2). [Internationales Symposium Oranienbaum, 5.-7. Okt. 1995]. S. 17-18. (Cham8, Publication)
  • Document: The vision of China in the English literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ed. by Adrian Hsia. (Hong Kong : Chinese University press, 1998).
    [Enthält] :
    Qian, Zhongshu. China in the English literature of the seventeenth century. In : Quarterly bulletin of Chinese bibliography ; vol. 1 (1940).
    Fan, Cunzhong. The beginnings of the influence of Chinese culture in England. In : Wai guo yu ; no 6 (1982).
    Chen, Shouyi. John Webb : a forgotten page in the early history of sinology in Europe. In : The Chinese social and political review ; vol. 19 (1935-1936).
    Qian, Zhongshu. China in the English literature of the eighteenth century. In : Quarterly bulletin of Chinese bibliography ; vol. 2 (1941).
    Chen, Shouyi. Daniel Defoe, China's severe critic. In : Nankai social and economic quarterly ; vol. 8 (1935).
    Fan, Cunzhong. Chinese fables and anti-Walpole journalism. In : The review of English studies ; vol. 25 (1949).
    Fan, Cunzhong. Dr. Johnson and Chinese culture. In : Quarterly bulletin of Chinese bibliography ; vol. 5 (1945).
    Chen, Shouyi. Oliver Goldsmith and his Chinese letters. In : T'ien hsia monthly ; vol. 8 (1939).
    Chen, Shouyi. Thomas Percy and his Chinese studies. In : The Chinese social and political science review ; vol. 20 (1936-1937).
    Fan, Cunzhong. William Jones's Chinese studies. In : The review of English studies ; vol. 22 (1946).
    Chen, Shouyi. The Chinese garden in eighteenth century England. In : T'ien hsia monthly ; vol. 2 (1936).
    Chen, Shouyi. The Chinese orphan : a Yuan play. In : T'ien hsia monthly ; vol. 4 (1936). [Ji, Junxiang. Zhao shi gu'er].
    Hsia, Adrian. The orphan of the house Zhao in French, English, German, and Hong Kong literature. In : Comparative literature studies ; vol. 25 (1988). [Ji, Junxiang. Zhao shi gu'er]. S. 131. (Hsia8, Publication)
  • Document: Day, Martin S. The influence of Mason's heroic epistle. [William Mason]. http://mlq.dukejournals.org/content/14/3/235.full.pdf. (DayM1, Web)
  • Person: Chambers, William (1)
  • Person: Walpole, Horace
  • Person: Wittkower, Rudolf J.
4 1774 Mason, William. An heroic postscript to the public, occasioned by their favourable reception of a late Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers. (London : Printed for W. Wilson, 1774). = Satirical poems.
Er schreibt : "It was to deride the Corruption of true Taste, that the Heroic Epistle was written. To send us, when possessed of the Models established by Kent, Hamilton and Brown, to the vagaries of the Chinese, was exactly that passion for Pantomine that has been a reproach to our Theatre. To recommend the introduction of bears, monkeys, elephants etc. into our gardens was identically what has been practiced on our Stage ; & whether his Majesty or the Mob would be delighted with such sights at Kew or Drurylane, the idea is barbarous, and never to be admitted into our beautiful real landscpaes."
  • Document: Bald, R.C. Wir William Chambers and the Chinese garden. In : Journal of the history of ideas ; vol. 11, no 3 (1950). (Cham4, Publication)
  • Person: Chambers, William (1)
5 1795 Thomas James Mathias Imperial Epistle from Kien Long was indebted to William Mason's poem and also to the stanzaic Odes to Kien Long by John Wolcot. Earl Macartney's embassy in China from 1792 to 1794 to establish relations with that nation and to prevent mistreatment of British subjects in the Orient had vigorously stimulated interest in things Chinese. Wolcot satirized Macartney and the English king, but Mathias made his epistle a Tory weapon against Whigs. Sheridan is attacked in this poetic letter with particular ferocity, but all the variously shaded Whigs from Fox to Portland pass the Chinese Emperor in fancied review. In a pleasantly imaginative passage, Mathias' Emperor of China clothes Pitt in oriental magnificence :
While thus they pass, my Mandarins should bend,
And to my throne Pitts' palanquin attend ;
Trumpets of Outong-Chu his praise unfold,
And steely crescents gleam in semblance bold ;
With repercussive notes from impulse strong
Air thunders, rolls the drum, and groans the Gong ;
Flambeaux of odorous wood, and lanterns bright
In eastern prodigality of light...

Bibliography (2)

# Year Bibliographical Data Type / Abbreviation Linked Data
1 1772-1779 Mason, William. The English garden : a poem. Book 1-4. Book 1 : London : R. Horsfield, 1772. Book 2, 4 : York : Printed by A. Ward and sold by J. Dodsley, 1777, 1781. Book 3 : London : Printed by H. Goldney for J. Dodsley, 1779. = Mason, William. The English garden : a poem. In four books. A new ed., corrected. To which are added, A commentary and notes, by W[illiam] Burgh. (Dublin : Printed by P. Byrne, 1786).
http://ia700200.us.archive.org/9/items/englishgardenpoe00masoiala/englishgardenpoe00masoiala.pdf. 		Publication / MasW2
2 1773 Mason, William. An heroic epistle. (London : Printed for J. Almon, 1773).
http://ia700309.us.archive.org/24/items/heroicepistletos00maso/heroicepistletos00maso.pdf. 		Publication / MasW3

Secondary Literature (2)

# Year Bibliographical Data Type / Abbreviation Linked Data
1 1775 Ki'en Long : a Chinese imperial eclogue. Translated from a curious oriental manuscript. And inscribed by the translator to the author of an heroic epistle to Sir William Chambers, Knight. (London : Printed for J. Almon, 1775). [A satire occasioned by the poem by William Mason]. Publication / Kien1
2 2011 Day, Martin S. The influence of Mason's heroic epistle. [William Mason]. http://mlq.dukejournals.org/content/14/3/235.full.pdf. Web / DayM1