William Mason (12 February 1724 – 7 April 1797) was an English poet, divine, amateur draughtsman, author, editor and gardener.

[2] Summarizing this poem, a threnody, William Lyon Phelps writes: Musaeus was a monody on the death of Pope, and written in imitation of Milton's Lycidas.

There is nothing remarkable about these imitations....[3] Among his other works are the historical tragedies Elfrida (1752) and Caractacus (1759) (both used in translation as libretti for 18th century operas: Elfrida - Paisiello and LeMoyne, Caractacus - Sacchini (as Arvire et Évélina) and a long poem on gardening, The English Garden (three volumes, 1772–82).

[5] James Boswell said that in his Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) he "resolved to adopt and enlarge upon the excellent plan of Mr Mason, in his Memoirs of Gray."

[8][9] Memorial inscriptions for Mason may be found in the church at Aston near Rotherham where he was rector and at Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.