680 MITFORD MITHRIDATES and for several years contributed tales and sketches to the magazines and annuals. Ir- ving's " Sketch Book " first suggested to her the idea of writing sketches of the daily life of the rural population, and her most popular work is "Our Village," the scene of which is the little hamlet of Three Mile Cross, near Reading. These sketches, after being declined by the "New Monthly Magazine," edited by Thomas Campbell, were first published in the " Lady's Magazine " about 1820, and were extended to five volumes or series (1824-'32). Among her other prose works are " Country Stories " and several of the "Edinburgh Tales" published by Mrs. Johnstone in 1845. She also edited
- three volumes of "Stories of American Life
by American Authors," and four of the annual volumes of Finden's " Tableaux." Her dramas, ", Julian" (1823), "Foscari" (1826), "Rienzi" (1828), and "'Charles the First," were per- formed with success, "Rienzi" being the most popular. Her " Charles the First " was pro- hibited by George Colmau, the licenser, for its supposed revolutionary sentiments, but was finally produced at the Coburg theatre in Lon- don. She also wrote several dramas which were never acted, and an opera, " Sadak and Kalasrade," the music of which was written by Packer. In 1838 she received a pension. In 1852 appeared her " Recollections of a Lit- erary Life " (3 vols. 12mo), and in 1854 " Ath- erton and other Tales," and a collected edi- tion of her dramatic works in two volumes. For upward of 40 years she lived in a little cottage in Berkshire. About three years be- fore her death she was injured by the over- turning of her chaise, and the remainder of her life was passed in much physical suffer- ing. See "Life of Mary Russell Mitford," ed- ited by the Rev. A. G. L'Estrange (3 vols., London, 1870). MITFORD, William, an English historian, born in London, Feb. 10, 1744, died in Hampshire, Feb. 8, 1827. He entered Queen's college, Ox- ford, left it without a degree, studied law at the Middle Temple, but soon retired to his an- cestral estate in Hampshire, married, and de- voted himself to literature. By the advice of Gibbon, he wrote a history of Greece (5 vols., 1784-1818), bringing the narrative down to the death of Alexander the Great. He was prevented by age and failing eyesight from carrying on the work, as he had intended, to the period of the Roman conquest. An edition of it by his brother Lord Redesdale, with an introduction, appeared in 1829 (8 vols. 8vo). He also published a treatise on the religions of ancient Greece and Rome, as a supplement to his history; "An Inquiry into the Principles of Harmony in Languages and of the Mecha- nism of Verse, Modern and Ancient" (1774); and "A Treatise on the Military Force, and particularly the Militia, of this Kingdom." He was a member of parliament for 21 years, held several public offices, and was professor of ancient history in the roval academy. MITHRIDATES, or Mithradates, a king of Pon- tus, the sixth of the name, surnamed Eupator and the Great, born about 132 B. C., died in 63. He ascended the throne in 120. He subdued the barbarians between the Euxine and the Caspian, extended his conquests among the tribes beyond the Caucasus, rendered the Tau- ric Chersonese tributary, and on the death of Parysades, king of Bosporus, annexed that country to his dominions. He next expelled the kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia, depen- dent allies of Rome, from their dominions, but the Romans promptly restored them. Ni- comedes the Bithynian was not content with recovering his kingdom, but invaded the do- minions of Mithridates, who, failing to obtain redress from Rome, immediately commenced hostilities against her generals and allies. In 88 he aga.in expelled the Cappadocian and Bithynian sovereigns, defeated the Roman ar- mies that attempted to support them, made himself master of Phrygia and Galatia, over- ran the whole Roman province of Asia, and ordered its Roman citizens to be massacred to the number, it is said, of 80,000. When these things were known at Rome, Sulla was ap- pointed to command the armies sent against Mithridates, who transferred the seat of war to Greece, where his general Archelaus suf- fered two great defeats at Cheeronea and Or- chomenus in 86, while the king was himself defeated in Asia by Fimbria, and was com- pelled to abandon his conquests there, to pay an indemnity of 2,000 talents, and to surrender all his ships to the Romans (84). The events of what is called the second Mithridatic war are not of much interest ; the death of Nico- medes III., king of Bithynia, in 74, was the signal for the outbreak of the third. That monarch had bequeathed his dominions to the Roman people, and Bithynia was pronounced by the senate a Roman province. Mithridates attempted to place a pretended son of the de- ceased king on the throne. Entering Bithynia at the head of an army of over 120,000 foot and 16,000 horse, he vanquished the consul Cotta at Chalcedon, and then proceeded to lay siege to Cyzicus ; but he was compelled by Lucullus to retreat with great loss into Pon- tus. After completely defeating another vast army, Lucullus drove Mithridates from his kingdom. A mutiny of the Roman legions, however, enabled him to recover Pontus. In 66 Lucullus was superseded by Pompey, and the war was resumed. Mithridates was surprised and totally defeated, and with a handful of troops retreated north to Panticapanim (now Kertch, in the Crimea), the capital of Bosporus. Here he was safe from the Romans ; but while he was planning schemes of aggression against Rome, his son Pharnaces rebelled, and was proclaimed king by the soldiers and citizens. Mithridates, on learning this, took refuge in a strong tower, where he sought to end his life by poison ; but this proving ineffectual, he ordered one of his Gallic mercenaries to de-
