Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/521

Rh M I R M I R 499 where Addington might have done something for him but for the signature of the peace of Amiens in 1802. At the peace, though in no way amnestied, he returned to Paris, but was promptly expelled by the First Consul, who was then eager to be on good terms with the court of Spain. Disappointed in further efforts to get assistance from England and the United States, he decided to make an attempt on his own responsibility and at his own expense. Aided by two American citizens, Colonel Smith and Mr Ogden, he equipped a small ship, the &quot;Leander,&quot; in 1806, and with the help of the English admiral Sir A. Cochrane made a landing near Caracas, and proclaimed the Colombian republic. He had some success, and would have had more had not a false report of peace between France and England caused the English admiral to withdraw his support. At last in 1810 came his opportunity; the events in Spain which brought about the Peninsular War had divided the authorities in Spanish America, some of whom declared for Joseph Bonaparte, others for Ferdinand VII., while others again held to Charles IV. At this moment Miranda again landed, and had no difficulty in getting a large party together who declared a republic both in Venezuela and New Granada or Colombia. But Miranda s desire that all the South American colonies should rise, and a federal republic be formed, awoke the selfish ness and pride of individual provincial administrations, and thus weakened the cause, which further was believed to be hateful to heaven owing to a great earthquake on March 26, 1812. The count of Monte Verde, the Bourbon governor, had little difficulty in defeating the dispirited forces of Miranda, and on July 26 the general capitulated on condition that he should be deported to the United States. The condition was not observed; Miranda was moved from dungeon to dungeon, and died in 1816 at Cadiz. There are allusions to Miranda s early life in nearly all memoirs of the time, but they are not generally very accurate. For his trial see Buchez et Roux, Histoire Parlcmentaire, xxvii. 26-70. For his later life see Biggs, History of Miranda s Attempt in South America, London, 1809 ; and Veggasi, Revolution de la Columbia. MIRANDOLA. See Pico. MIRKHOND (1433-1498). Mohammed bin Khawand- shah bin Mahmud, commonly called Mirkhwand or Mirk- hawand, more familiar to Europeans under the name of Mirkhond, was born in 1433, the son of a very pious and learned man who, although belonging to an old Bokhara family of Sayyids or direct descendants of the Prophet, lived and died in Balkh. From his early youth he applied himself to historical studies and literature in general. In Herdt, where he spent the greater part of his life, he gained the favour of that famous patron of letters, Mir Allshir (born 1440), who served his old school-fellow the reigning sultan Husain (who as the last of the Timiirides in Persia ascended the throne of Herat in 1468), first as keeper of the seal, afterwards as governor of Jurjdn. At the request of this distinguished statesman and writer a Mirkhond began about 1474, in the quiet convent of Khildsfyah, which his patron had founded in Herdt as a house of retreat for literary men of merit, his great work on universal history, the largest ever written in Persian, and to the present day an inexhaustible mine of information both to Eastern and Western scholars. It is named Rauzat-ussafd fi sirat-ulanbid walmuluk walkhulafd or Garden of Purity on the Biography of Prophets, Kings, and Caliphs. That the author has made no attempt at a critical examination of historical traditions can scarcely be called a peculiar fault of his, since almost all Oriental writers are equally deficient in sound criticism ; more censurable is his 1 Mir Alishir not only excelled as poet both in Chaghatai, in which his epopees gained him the foremost rank among the classic writers in that language, and in Persian, but composed an excellent tadhkirah or biography of contemporary Persian poets. flowery and often bombastic style, but in spite of this draw back, and although, in our own age, the discovery of older works on Asiatic history has diminished to some extent the value of Mirkhond s Rauzat, it still maintains its high position as one of the most marvellous achievements in literature from the pen of one man, and often elucidates, by valuable text-corrections, various readings, and important additions, those sources which have lately come to light. It comprises seven large volumes and a geographical ap pendix ; but internal evidence proves beyond doubt that the seventh volume, the history of the sultan Husain (1438- 1505), together with a short account of some later events down to 1523, cannot have been written by Mirkhond himself, who died in 1498. He may have compiled the preface, but the main portion of this volume is probably the work of his grandson, the equally renowned historian Khwandamir (1475-1534), to whom also a part of the appendix must be ascribed. The following is a summary of the contents of the other six volumes. Vol. i. : Preface on the usefulness of historical studies, history of the creation, the patriarchs, prophets, ar.i rulers of Israel down to Christ, and the Persian kings from the mythical times of the Peshdadians to the Arab conquest and the death of the last Sasanian Yazdajird III. in30 A.II. (651 A.D.). Vol. ii. : Mohammed, Abubekr, Omar, Othman, and Ah. Vol. iii. : The twelve imams and the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs down to 656 A.H. (1258 A.D.). Vol. iv. : The minor dynasties contemporary with and subsequent to the Abbasids, down to 778 A.H. (1376 A.D. ), the date of the over throw of the Kurds by Timur. Vol. v. : The Moghuls down to Timur s time. Vol. vi. : Timur and his successors down to Sultan Husain s accession in 873 A.H. (1468 A.D.). The best accounts of Mirkhond s life are De Sacy s &quot;Notice sur Mirkhond&quot; in his Mtmoires sur diverscs antiquites de la Perse, Paris, 1793 ; Jourdain s &quot;Notice de 1 histoire universelle de Mirkhond&quot; in the Notices et Extraits, vol. ix. , Paris, 1812 (togetherwith a translation of the preface, the history of the Ismailians, the conclusion of the sixth volume, and a portion of the appendix) ; Elliot, History of India, vol. iv. p. 127 sq. ; Morley, Descriptive Catalogue, London, 1854, p. 30 sq. ; Rieu, Cat. of Persian MSS. of the Brit. Mus., vol. i., London, 1879, p. 87 sq. Mirkhond s patron, Mir Ah shir, to whom the Rauzat is dedicated, died three years after him (1501) Besides the lithographed editions of the whole work in folio, Bombay, 1853, and Teheran, 1852-56, and a Turkish version, Constantinople, 1842, the following portions of Mirkhond s history have been published by European Orientalists: Early Kings of Persia, by D. Shea, London, 1832 (Oriental Translation Fund); L Histoire de la dynastic des Sassanides, by S. de Sacy (in the above-mentioned Meinoires); Histoire des Sassanides (terte Person), by Jaubert, Paris, 1843; His- toriapriorum regum Persarum, Pers. and Lat., by Jenish, Vienna, 1782; Mirchondi historia Taheridarum, Pers. and Lat., by Mitscherlik, Giittingen, 1814, 2d ed., Berlin, 1819 ; Histona Samanidarum, Pers. and Lat., by Wilken, Gottingen, 1808 ; Histoire des Samanides, translated by Defrdmery, Paris, 1845; Historia Ghaznevidarum, Pers. and Lat., by Wilken, Berlin, 1832; Geschichte der Sultaneaus dem Oeschlechte tyeh, Pers. and German, by Wilken, Berlin, 1835; followed by Erdmann s Erlautenmg und Erganiung, Kazan, 1836 ; Historia Seldschvckidarum, ed. Vullers, Giessen, 1837, and a German translation by the same; Histoire des Sultans du Kharczm, in Persinn, by Defrdmery, Paris, 1842; History of the Atabeks of Syria and Persia, in Persian, by W. Morley, London, 1848 ; Historia Ohnridarvm, Pers. and Lat., by Mitscherlik, Frankfort, 1818; Hiatoire des Sultans Ghurides, translated into French by Defrdmery, Paris, 1844; Vie de Djenghiz-Khan, in Persian, by Jaubert, Paris, 1841 (see also extracts from the same 6th volume in French translation by Langles in vol. vi. of Notices tt Extraits, Paris, 1799, p. 192 sq., and by Hammer in Sur les origines Russes, St Petersburg, 1825, p. 52 sq.) ; &quot;Ti muVs Expedition against Tuktamish Kha n,&quot; Persian and French, by Charmoy, in Meinoires de I Acad. Imper. de St Pe tersbourg, 1836, pp. 270-321 and 441-471. (H. E.) MIROPOLIE, a town of Russia, situated in the govern ment of Kursk, district of Suja, 83 miles south-west of Kursk and 25 miles from the Sumy railway station. Ii is supposed to have been founded in the 17th century, when it was fortified against the raids of Tartars. The fertility of the soil led to the settlement of large villages close by the fort, and the 10,800 inhabitants of this town are still engaged mostly in agriculture. There is also an extensive manufacture of boots. MIRROR. It is only since the early part of the 16th century that mirrors have become articles of household furniture and decoration. Previous to that time from the 12th to the end of the 15th century pocket mirrors or small hand mirrors carried at the girdle were indispensable adjuncts to ladies toilets. The pocket mirrors consisted of small circular plaques of polished metal fixed in a shallow circular box, covered with a lid. Mirror cases were chiefly made of ivory, carved with relief representations of love