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The Works of William Mason

... In Four Volumes
Mason, William (1725-1797)

collapse sectionI. 
VOL. I.
  
TO ROBERT EARL OF HOLDERNESSE, BARON D'ARCY, MENIL AND CONYERS, LORD WARDEN OF HIS MAJESTY'S CINQUE PORTS, AND GOVERNOR OF DOVER CASTLE.
  
MUSÆUS:
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ODES.
 I. 
ODE I. TO MEMORY.
 II. 
ODE II. TO A WATER-NYMPH.
 III. 
ODE III. ON LEAVING ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, 1746.
 IV. 
ODE IV. ON EXPECTING TO RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE, 1747.
 V. 
ODE V. FOR MUSIC.
 VI. 
ODE VI. TO INDEPENDENCY.
 VII. 
ODE VII. TO A FRIEND.
 VIII. 
ODE VIII. ON THE FATE OF TYRANNY.
 IX. 
ODE IX. TO AN ÆOLUS'S HARP
 X. 
ODE X. FOR MUSIC. IRREGULAR.
 XI. 
ODE XI.
 XII. 
ODE XII. TO THE NAVAL OFFICERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
 XIII. 
ODE XIII.
 XIV. 
ODE XIV. TO THE HON. WILLIAM PITT.
 XV. 
ODE XV. SECULAR.
 XVI. 
ODE XVI. PALINODIA.
  
ODE ON WISDOM;
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ELEGIES.
 I. 
ELEGY I. TO A YOUNG NOBLEMAN
 II. 
ELEGY II. ADDRESSED TO MISS PELHAM ON THE DEATH OF HER FATHER.
 III. 
ELEGY III. WRITTEN IN THE GARDEN OF A FRIEND.
 IV. 
ELEGY IV. TO THE REV. MR. HURD.
 V. 
ELEGY V. ON THE DEATH OF A LADY.
 VI. 
ELEGY VI. WRITTEN IN A CHURCH-YARD IN SOUTH WALES, 1787.
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SONNETS.
 I. 
SONNET I. SENT TO A YOUNG LADY WITH DODSLEY'S MISCELLANIES.
 II. 
SONNET II. PRESENTED TO A FRIEND ON THE MORNING OF HIS MARRIAGE.
 III. 
SONNET III. AUGUST, 1773.
 IV. 
SONNET IV. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND THE BISHOP OF LICHFIELD AND COVENTRY, PREFIXED TO THE DRAMATIC POEM OF CARACTACUS, WHEN ALTERED FOR STAGE REPRESENTATION.
 V. 
SONNET V. TO A VERY YOUNG PAINTER.
 VI. 
SONNET VI. TO GEORGE BUSSY VILLIERS EARL OF JERSEY, &c. &c. AND GEORGE SIMON HARCOURT EARL HARCOURT, &c. &c.
 VII. 
SONNET VII. FEBRUARY 23, 1795. ANNIVERSARY.
 VIII. 
SONNET VIII. FEBRUARY 23, 1796. ANNIVERSARY.
 IX. 
SONNET IX. TO THE BISHOP OF WORCESTER, SENT TO HIM WITH THE PRECEDING SONNET.
 X. 
SONNET X. FEBRUARY 23, 1797. ANNIVERSARY.
 XI. 
SONNET XI. OCCASIONED BY A LATE ATTACK ON THE PRESENT TASTE OF ENGLISH GARDENS.
 XII. 
SONNET XII. TO A GRAVEL WALK, RELATIVE TO THE PRECEDING SUBJECT.
 XIII. 
SONNET XIII. OCCASIONED BY A DIDACTIC POEM ON THE PROGRESS OF CIVIL SOCIETY.
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EPITAPHS AND INSCRIPTIONS.
 I. 
EPITAPH I. ON MRS. MASON,
 II. 
EPITAPH II. ON MISS DRUMMOND,
 III. 
EPITAPH III. ON JOHN DEALTRY, M. D.
 IV. 
EPITAPH IV. ON MRS. TATTON,
 V. 
EPITAPH V. ON MR. GRAY,
 VI. 
EPITAPH VI. ON THOMAS FOUNTAYNE, ESQ.
 VII. 
EPITAPH VII. ON LAUNCELOT BROWNE, ESQ.
 VIII. 
EPITAPH VIII. ON MRS. ANN E. MORRITT,
 IX. 
INSCRIPTION IX. ON A TRIPOD TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM WHITEHEAD, ESQ. P. L.
 X. 
INSCRIPTION X. UNDER A PICTURE OF THE EDITOR OF SHAKSPEARE'S MANUSCRIPTS, 1796.
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MISCELLANIES.
  
THE BIRTH OF FASHION: AN EPISTOLARY TALE.
  
IL BELLICOSO.
  
IL PACIFICO.
  
AN EPISTOLARY ADDRESS TO THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, SENT FROM LONDON IN THE YEAR 1746.
  
STANZAS, WRITTEN ON THE BANKS OF THE CAM, 1746.
  
ISIS.
  
PROTOGENES AND APELLES.
  
ODE OF CASIMIR
  
SONG OF HAROLD THE VALIANT.
  
SONG.
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THE ENGLISH GARDEN:
 1. 
BOOK THE FIRST.
 II. 
BOOK THE SECOND.
 III. 
BOOK THE THIRD.
 IV. 
BOOK THE FOURTH.
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RELIGIO CLERICI.
 I. 
PART THE FIRST.
 II. 
PART THE SECOND.
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HYMNS, AND SELECT PSALMS VERSIFIED.
  
HYMN BEFORE MORNING SERVICE.
  
HYMN BEFORE EVENING SERVICE.
  
MORNING HYMN.
  
EVENING HYMN.
  
PSALM I.
  
PSALM VIII.
  
PSALM XV.
  
PART OF PSALM XVIII.
  
PSALM XLIII.
  
PSALM LXVII.
  
PSALM LXX.
  
PSALM XCIII.
  
PSALM C.
  
A COMPRESSED METRICAL VERSION OF PSALM CIX.
  
PSALM CXXI.
  
PSALM CXXVIII.
  
PSALM CXXX.
  
PSALM CXXXVII.
  
PSALM CL
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VOL. II.
  
ELFRIDA;
  
CARACTACUS:
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ARGENTILE AND CURAN:
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ACT I.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
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ACT II.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 III. 
SCENE III.
 IV. 
SCENE IV.
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ACT III.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 III. 
SCENE III.
 IV. 
SCENE IV.
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ACT IV.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 III. 
SCENE III.
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ACT V.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 III. 
SCENE III.
 IV. 
SCENE IV.
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SAPPHO,
  
PRELIMINARY SCENE.
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ACT I.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 III. 
SCENE III.
 IV. 
SCENE IV.
 V. 
SCENE V.
 VI. 
SCENE VI.
 VII. 
SCENE VII.
 VIII. 
SCENE VIII.
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ACT II.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 III. 
SCENE III.
 IV. 
SCENE IV.
 V. 
SCENE V.
 VI. 
SCENE VI.
 VII. 
SCENE VII.
 VIII. 
SCENE VIII.
 IX. 
SCENE IX.
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ACT III.
 I. 
SCENE I.
 II. 
SCENE II.
 III. 
SCENE III.
 IV. 
SCENE IV.
 V. 
SCENE V.
 VI. 
SCENE VI.
 VII. 
SCENE VII.
  
PIGMALION,
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VOL. III.
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THE ART OF PAINTING, OF CHARLES ALPHONSE DU FRESNOY;
  
EPISTLE TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
  
THE ART OF PAINTING,

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125

SONNET V. TO A VERY YOUNG PAINTER.

When Genius first on Attic walls display'd
His imitative powers, four simple hues
Were all that great Apelles deign'd to use:
With these combin'd he to each eye convey'd,
By magic force of colouring light and shade,
His miracles of Grace; while every Muse
Attun'd her lyre, impatient to diffuse
His fame in vivid verse, that scorns to fade:
These then, ingenuous Boy, alone prepare;
From these all Nature's tints arrange with care;
With these produce each shadow, light, and line,
And, while they all thy mix'd attention share,
Chastely to paint, correctly to design,
Deem but one art, and let that art be thine.
 

See Plinii Nat. Hist. Lib. XXXV. Cap. 15, the pigments he enumerates were black, white, yellow, and red, as appears from the following passage, “Quatuor coloribus solis immortalia opera illa fecere; ex albis, Melino; ex silaceis, Attico; ex rubris, Sinopide Pontica; ex nigris, Atramento:” Apelles, Echion, Melanthius, Nicomachus, Clarissimi Pictores; quum tabulæ eorum singulæ oppidorum venirent opibus.

The authority of my late excellent friend Sir Joshua Reynolds fully supports the latter piece of advice, who in his second Discourse to the Pupils of the Royal Academy (see page 54, 8 vo. edition) says, “What therefore I wish to impress upon you is this, that whenever an opportunity offers you may paint your studies instead of drawing them. This will give you such a facility in using colours, that they will arrange themselves under the pencil, even without the attention of the hand that conducts it. If one art excluded the other, this advice could not, with any propriety, be given; but if painting comprises both drawing and colouring, and if by a short struggle of resolute industry the same expedition is attainable in painting, as in drawing on paper, I cannot see what objection can justly be made to the practice, or why that should be done in parts, which may be done altogether.”

Let me add from myself, that I suspect the use of a multiplicity of pigments, and the prohibition of the pencil (hereafter to be the artist's principal instrument) till the port-crayon has been first long and sedulously employed, have frequently been great impediments to the progress of young artists, especially of those who are endowed by nature with an inventive faculty.

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