Значение слова MITFORD в Литературной энциклопедии

MITFORD

1) MARY RUSSELL (1787-1855).-Poetess and novelist, _b._ at Alresford, Hants, _dau._ of a physician, without practice, selfish and extravagant, who ran through three fortunes, his own, his wife's, and his daughter's, and then lived on the industry of the last. After a vol. of poems which attracted little notice, she produced her powerful tragedy, _Julian_. In 1812, what ultimately became the first vol. of _Our Village_ appeared in the _Lady's Magazine_. To this four additional vols. were added, the last in 1832. In this work Miss M. may be said to have created a new branch of literature. Her novel, _Belford Regis_ (1835), is somewhat on the same lines. She added two dramas, _Rienzi_ (1828), and _Foscari_, _Atherton and other Tales_ (1852), and _Recollections of a Literary Life_, and _d._ at her cottage at Swallowfield, much beloved for her benevolent and simple character, as well as valued for her intellectual powers.2) MITFORD, WILLIAM (1744-1827).-Historian, _e.s._ of John M. of Exbury, Hants, descended from an old Northumbrian family, was _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Cheam School and Oxf. He studied law, but on succeeding to the family estates devoted himself to study and literature, and to his duties as an officer of the militia. His first _pub._ was an _Essay on the Harmony of Language_ (1774). His great work, _The History of Greece_, is said to have been undertaken at the suggestion of Gibbon, who was a fellow-officer in the South Hants Militia. This work, the successive vols. of which appeared at considerable intervals between 1784 and 1810, was long a standard one, though it is now largely superseded by the histories of Thirwall and Grote. M. wrote with strong prejudices against democracy, and in defence of tyrants, but his style is forcible and agreeable, and he brought learning and research to bear on his subject. He sat for many years in Parliament.

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012