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See also:MITFORD, See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
WILLIAM (1744-1827) , See also:English historian, was the See also:elder of the two sons of See also:John Mitford, a See also:barrister, who lived near See also:Beaulieu, at the edge of the New See also:Forest. Here, at Exbury See also:House, his See also:father's See also:property, Mitford was See also:born on the loth of See also:February 1744. He was educated at Cheam School, under the picturesque writer William See also:Gilpin, but at the See also:age of fifteen a severe illness led to his being removed, and after two years of idleness Mitford was sent, in See also:July 1761, as a See also:gentleman commoner to See also:Queen's See also:College, See also:- OXFORD
- OXFORD, EARLS OF
- OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL
- OXFORD, JOHN DE VERE, 13TH EARL OF (1443-1513)
- OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF
- OXFORD, ROBERT DE VERE, 9TH EARL OF (1362-1392)
- OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST
Oxford. In this See also:year his father died, and See also:left him the Exbury property and a considerable See also:fortune. Mitford, therefore, being " very much his own See also:master, was easily led to prefer amusement to study." He left Oxford (where the only sign of assiduity he had shown was to attend the lectures of See also:Blackstone) without a degree, in 1763, and proceeded to the See also:Middle See also:Temple. But when he married See also:Miss Fanny Molloy in 1766, and retired to Exbury for the See also:rest of his See also:life, he made the study of the See also:Greek See also:language and literature his See also:hobby and occupation. After ten years his wife died, and in See also:October 1776 Mitford went abroad. He was encouraged by See also:French scholars whom he met in See also:Paris, See also:Avignon and See also:Nice to give himself systematically to the study of Greek See also:history. But it was See also:Gibbon, with whom he was closely associated when they both were See also:officers in the See also:South See also:Hampshire See also:Militia, who suggested to Mitford the See also:form which his See also:work should take. In 1784 the first of the volumes of his History of See also:Greece appeared, and the fifth and last of these quartos was published in 181o, after which the See also:state of Mitford's eyesight and other See also:physical infirmities, including a loss of memory, forbade his continuation of the enterprise, although he painfully revised successive new See also:editions. While his See also:book was progressing, Mitford was a member of the House of See also:Commons, with intervals, from 1785 to 1818, and he was for many years See also:verderer of the New Forest and a See also:county See also:magistrate; but it does not appear that he ever visited Greece. After a See also:long illness, he died at Exbury on the loth of February 1827. In addition to his History of Greece, he published a few smaller See also:works, the most important of which was an See also:Essay on the See also:Harmony of Language, 1774. The See also:style of Mitford is natural and lucid, but without the See also:rich See also:colour of Gibbon. He affected some oddities both of language and of See also:orthography, for which he was censured and which he endeavoured to revise. But his See also:political opinions were still more severely treated, since Mitford was an impassioned See also:anti-Jacobin, and his partiality for a See also:monarchy led him to beunjust to the Athenians. Hence his History of Greece, after having had no peer in See also:European literature for See also:half a See also:century, faded in See also:interest on the See also:appearance of the work of See also:Grote. See also:Clinton, too, in his See also:Fasti hellenici, charged Mitford with " a See also:general See also:negligence of See also:dates," though admitting that in his philosophical range " he is far See also:superior to any former writer " on Greek history. See also:Byron, who dilated on Mitford's shortcomings, nevertheless declared that he was " perhaps the best of all See also:modern historians altogether." This Mitford certainly is not, but his pre-See also:eminence in the little school of English historians who succeeded See also:Hume and Gibbon it would be easier to maintain.
William Mitford's See also:cousin, the Rev. John Mitford (1781–1859), was editor of the Gentleman's See also:Magazine and of various editions of the English poets. For the See also:Freeman-Mitfords, who were also relatives, See See also:REDESDALE, See also:EARL OF.
End of Article: MITFORD, WILLIAM (1744-1827)
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