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Fake?

Hello, this is a rather strange case. The BBC contribution is not available, and the historicum arcticle (de.WP) mentions John Mills as a financer, not as an author. Does anybody know more about this? --Ziko (talk) 19:16, 28 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nope it is all for real, the article just had a few minor details wrong (mills was replaced by de Gua not Diderot, who in turn replaced de Gua further down the road). Sources are added now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.200.61.15 (talk) 01:35, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. Fixed the BBC link as well, looks like that just the mp3 file had become unavailable.--Kmhkmh (talk) 00:39, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much for your efforts! --Ziko (talk) 12:26, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Quotes about Mills

General

  • Mills, John, F.R.S., author and translator of several works, and among others of Gyllenborg's Natural and Chemical Elements of Agriculture, an ingenious work for its time.
  • John Mills, F.R.S., must hare been a person of considerable eminence, though no record exists of his life except the bare name as above quoted He wrote 'A New and Complete System of Practical Husbandry'...
    • William White (1889) Notes and Queries. p. 456
  • Mills, John (c. 1717-1786x1796), writer on agriculture, is a figure about whom little definite is known, other than through his publications... His first agricultural publication was his translation of Duhamel du Monceau’s Practical Treatise of Husbandry, which he published in 1759. His subsequent works included an Essay on the Management of Bees (1766), a translation from the Latin of G. A. Gyllenberg’s Natural and Chemical Elements of Agriculture (1770), an Essay on the Weather (1770, translated into Dutch in 1772), Essays, Moral, Philosophical, and Political (anonymous, but advertised under his name), and a Treatise on Cattle (1776)’
    • John Goldworth Alger (1836–1907) and Anne P. Baker. "Mills, John (c. 1717-1786x1796), writer on agriculture". in: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 1894/2004
  • ... John Mills (d. 1784 ?), who became well-known in England and France as an authority on agriculture. His chief work, published in five volumes in 1767, was entitled A New System of Practical Husbandry.
  • John Mills 1717 - 1784?
    Encyclopedist on the "Encyclopédie". Mills was originally a writer on agricultural matters from England.

Entry in Bibliotheca Britannica , 1824

  • MILLS, John, F.R.S. — A Practical Treatise of Husbandry; wherein are contained many useful and valuable Experiments and Observations in the New Husbandry, collected during a series of years by die celebrated Duhamel, also the most approved practice of the best English Farmers. Plates. Lond. 1759, 4to. 16s. 6d. — A New and Complete System of Practical Husbandry; containing all that experience has proved to be most useful in Farming, either in the old or new method; with a Comparative View of both, and whatever is beneficial to the Husbandman, or conducive to the ornament and improvement of the Country Gentleman's Estate. cLond. 17G3-5, 5 vols. 8vo. 30s. — An Essay on the Management of Bees; wherein is shewn the method of Rearing diose useful Insects, and that the practice of saving their Lives when their Honey and Wax are taken from them was known to the Ancients, and is in itself simple and easily executed. Lond. 1766, 8vo. 3s. — Natural and Chemical Elements of Agriculture. From the Latin of Gustavus Adolphus Gyllenborg. Lond. 1770, 12ino. 2s. 6d. — An Essay on the Weather; with Remarks on the Shepherd of Banbury's Rules for Judging of its Changes, and Directions for Preserving Lives and Buildings from the fatal effects of Lightning. Lond. 1770, Svo. 2s. — Essays Moral, Philosophical, and Political. Lond. 1772, 8vo. 5s d Anonymous, but advertised in his name. — A Treatise on Cattle; shewing the most approved methods of Breeding, Rearing, and Fitting for Use Horses, Asses, Mules, Homed Cattle, Sheep, Goats, and Swine; with Directions for die proper Treatment of them in their several Disorders. To which is added, A Dissertation on their Contagious Diseases. Carefully collected from the best authorities, and interspersed with Remarks. Lond. 1776, 8vo. 6s.
    MILLS, John, Esq. — The History of the Roman Emperors, from Augustus to Constantine. From die French of Crevier. Lond. 1755, 1761, 10 vols. Svo. To this Work is added, a plan of Ancient Rome, also tfa Description of the same; containing an Account of die principal Buildings, Palaces, &c...
    • Robert Watt (1824) Bibliotheca Britannica: Or a General Index to British and Foreign Literature. p. 670
    • Comment : Here MILLS, John, F.R.S. and MILLS, John, Esq. have separate entries. It seems that in 1766 when Mills was elected at the Royal Society John Mills Esq. became John Mills F.R.S. This is confirmed by the fact, that:
      • multiple sources before 1766 speak of "John Mills Esq." in the context of his agricultural publications, see for example Tobias Smollett (1763).
      • The 1755 review speaks of a John Mills, who possibly "may have lived so long in foreign countries."
      • Royal Society (Great Britain) (1794) even list "John Mills, Esq. Acad. Elect. Palat. et Soc. Oecon. Bern. Soc" as member.
      • There was one "John Mills" member of the Royal Society, see "List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660 – 2007"
It is peculiar that:
  • The Donaldson's biography, 1854 and entry in: Dictionary of National Biography, 1894 don't mention these publications; and
  • Lough (1970) only mention "he only really emerges from the shadows between 1762 and 1776 when he translated from French or Latin or himself compiled a series of works on agriculture"
But none of these sources or other sources mention the existence of another John Mills Esq.

Donaldson's biography, 1854

  • John Mills, F.R.S., must have been a person of very considerable eminence, though no record exists of his life, except the bare name as above quoted. He was member of Royal Agricultural Societies of France and of Berne, and shows a comprehensive knowledge of the cultivation and use of the ground; he wrote " A new and complete system of practical husbandry, containing all that experience has proved to be most useful in farming, either in the old or new method, with a comparative view of both, and whatever is beneficial to the husbandman, or conducive 'to the ornament and improvement of the country gentleman's estate;" London, I "63-5, 5 vols., 8vo., price 30s. A treatise on cattle, showing the most approved methods of breeding, rearing, and fitting for use horses, asses, mules, horned cattle, sheep, goats, and swine, with directions for the proper treatment of them in their several diseases. To which is added a dissertation on their contageous diseases, carefully collected from the best authorities, and interspersed with remarks." London, 1776, 8vo., price 6s. "An essay on the management of bees; wherein is shown the method of rearing these useful insects, and that the practice of saving their lives when their honey and wax are taken from them was known to the ancients, and is in itself simple and easily executed;" London, 1766, Svo., price 5s. "An essay on the weather, with remarks on the shepherd of Banbury's rules forjudging of its changes, and directions for preserving lives and buildings from the fatal effects of lightning;" London, 1770, 8vo., price 2s.
Mills translated "Duhamel's husbandry;" London, 1759, 4to., price 16s. 6d. And also "Natural and chemical elements of agriculture, from the Latin of Gustavus Adolphus Gyllenborg;" London, 1770, 12 mo., price 2s. 6d. He was the reputed author of some essays, moral, philosophical, and political.
The five volumes of a new and complete system of husbandry, by Mills, is the first publication on agriculture that presents all the branches of the art within the compass of one work. Worlidge began the attempt, but failed in the comprehension that is required. The first volume of Mills treats "soils" in the different kinds, clays, sands, and loams; manures, animal and vegetable, and composts; of the improvement of moors, and boggy lands and all uncultivated lands; the culture of grain and pulse; the sowing and change of crops; the culture of wheat, and rye, oats, barley, maize, or Indian corn, millet, panic, rice, buckwheat; culture of pulse, viz., beans, peas, vetches, lentils, and lupines.
Volume II. contains the horse-hoing husbandry of grain and pulse; the distempers of corn.
Volume III. treats the enemies of corn; preservation of grain, turnips, potatoes, cabbages, clover, sainfoin, lucern, cytisus, burnet, natural grasses; enclosing, and the situation of farms and farm houses.
Volume IV. contains " Gardening, and the culture of hops and olive"."
Volume V. treats " The making and managing o fermented liquors," and concludes with hemp, flax, madder, woad, weld, or dyer's weed, and a long appendix to each volume.
Mills leads all the previous authors in the arrangement of his work, which undoubtedly carried away the palm of agricultural writing at the time of its appearance. He joins extensively with Evelyn and Duhamel, and does ample justice to the system of cultivation proposed by Jethro Tull. Turnips and potatoes were in general use, and the Rotherham plough is figured in the work, as are also thirteen of the natural grasses.
Potatoes are entered in this work for the first time as a vegetable in the field cultivation, being about 150 years after the use of the plant was known as an esculent root. Mills quotes the authority of Miller in proof of its value and extensive utility.
This author conveys his meaning and intelligence in the true style of writing—cool and plausible, and with becoming diffidence on all scientific disquisitions. No dogmatism mars the placid tenor of his story.
The treatise on cattle is an octavo volume of 491 pages, and treats horses, asses, mules, horned cattle, sheep, goats, and swine, with the cures of their disorders, which have a dissertation on their nature. The matter is more descriptive than that of Bradley, but not so practical in the application, though much merit is attached to the knowledge it shows of the origin and progress of the different animals.
Mills was a great stickler for small farms, almost cottier allotments; he did not see that any single bodily labour can effect but very little unless in combination, and that extensive projects employ most labour, and produce the largest results. A thick mist long clouded the human vision on that and similar points, and is not yet dispelled.

Entry in: Dictionary of National Biography, 1894

  • MILLS, JOHN (d. 1784?), writer on agriculture, was in Paris in 1743 for the purpose of bringing out, in concert with Sellius, a German historian, a French edition of Ephraim Chambers's ‘Cyclopædia;’ but Lebreton, the printer commissioned by him to manage the undertaking, cheated him out of the subscription money, assaulted him, and ultimately obtained a license in his own name. This was the origin of the famous ‘Encyclopédie.’ Mills, unable to obtain redress, returned to England, and Sellius died at Charenton Lunatic Asylum in 1787. In 1763 Mills continued, completed, and dedicated to the Earl of Bute ‘Memoirs of the Court of Augustus,’ by Thomas Blackwell the younger [q. v.] Finding his true vocation as a writer on agriculture, he translated in 1762 Duhamel du Monceau's ‘Practical Treatise of Husbandry.’ In 1766 he published an ‘Essay on the Management of Bees;’ in 1770 a translation from the Latin of G. A. Gyllenberg's ‘Natural and Chemical Elements of Agriculture;’ in 1772 an ‘Essay on the Weather’ (translated into Dutch in 1772), and ‘Essays, Moral, Philosophical, and Political’ (anonymous, but advertised under his name); and in 1776 a ‘Treatise on Cattle.’ His chief work, ‘A New System of Practical Husbandry,’ in 5 vols., appeared in 1767. It was the earliest complete treatise on all branches of agriculture, and contains the first mention of the potato as grown in fields. It combines the results of the experience and observations of such writers as Evelyn, Duhamel, John Worlidge, and Jethro Tull, and is highly commended by Donaldson, who gives an of its contents. Mills was a warm advocate of small farms. In 1766 he was elected a F.R.S., and he was the first foreign associate of the French Agricultural Society, on whose list his name, with London as his residence, appears from 1767 to 1784, in which year he probably died. One John Mills died at Glanton, Northumberland, 8 Nov. 1786 (Gent. Mag. 1786, pt. ii. p. 1002).
    [J. Donaldson's Agricultural Biography, 1854, p. 51 *; Mémoires Secrets de la République de Lettres, v. 340; Brit. Mus. Cat.]

On Mills' role in the Encyclopédie

18th century

  • Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Universel des Arts & des Sciences, &c. traduit de l'Anglois d'Ephraim Chambers. Cinq Vol. in-fol. avec figures en taille-douce, proposes par Souscription. A Paris, chez, le Breton , petit-fils á'Honry , rue de la Harpe au S. Esprit. 1745
Voici deux des plus fortes entreprises de Littérature qu'on ait faites depuis long-tems : la première est de M. Chambers, Auteur, de l'Ouvrage que nous annonçons;, & l'autre est de M. Mills, qui travaille eh chef à nous en donner la Traduction. L'un ôt l'autre est: Anglois ; mais M. Mills a pris des liaisons avec la France, qui nous le font regarder comme une conquête faite fur l'Angleterre. Les Ánglois sont aujourd'hui fur 1e pied de perdre beaucoup vis-à-vis de nous.
Le fond de l'Ouvrage est véritablement une Encyclopédie. C'est en même tems un Dictionnaire & un Traité de tout ce que l'esprit humain peut désirer de sçavoir. Comme Dictionnaire, ií présente tout sons la forme alphabétique; comme Traité suivi & raisonné concernant les Sciences, il montre les rapports que les divers objets de nos connoissances peuvent avoir les uns avec les autres...
  • 1745 review in: Mémoires pour l'histoire des sciences et des beaux arts, May 1745, Nr. 2. p. 937-8
  • Translation (incomplete)
    Here are two of the largest enterprises, that have been made in literature since a long time: the first is to Mr. Chambers, Author of the Work that we announce;, and the other is Mr. Mills, who works a head to give us the translation (?). One of the other is: the English, but Mr. Mills made connections with France, we make it look like a conquest made as England (?). The English are today as the first foot to lose a lot vis-à-vis us (??).
    Eventually the Work is truly an encyclopedia. It is at the same time a dictionary & a treaty of everything that the human mind could want to wit. As dictionary, it presents all sounds in alphabetical form, as treaty monitoring & sciences reasoned about (?), it shows the reports that the various objects of our knowledge may have with each other...
  • A l'egard de la traduction elle est l'ouvrage de M. Mills savant anglais qui a ete eleve en France, & a qui les deux langues sont devenues maternelles. Il s'est associe dans son travail plusieurs personnes savantes et zelees pour l'avancement des lettres. C'est le meme M. Mills qui, non content des soins qu'il s'est donnes pour cet ouvrag , a genereusement consacre sa fortune a soutenir les frais considerables de cette enterprise et qui est seul properietaire du privelege
    • Mercure Journal (1745, p. 87) cited in: Lough (1971), p. 20
    • Translation
      In respect of the translation is the work of Mr. Mills, English scholar who was raised in France, and which has the two languages ​​have become mother. He has discuss his work with several learned people and is zealous for the advancement of letters. This is the same Mr. Mills, who not only care that he give for this book(?), has generously devoted his fortune to support the considerable cost of this enterprise and is the one owner of the privilege
Statements by John Mills
  • SOMMAIRE pour le Sieur Jean Mills , Gentil-homme Anglois, Contre le sieur le Breton, Libraire-Imprimeur, à Paris,
La traduction du Dictionnaire universel des Arts & des Sciences, de Chambers, à laquelle le sieur Mills travaille depuis deux ans, sans discontinuation & avec succès, l'avoit engagé à demander un Privilège pour la faire imprimer.
Ce Privilège avoit été obtenu fous le nom du sieur le Breton, le 26 Mars dernier, qui, le 26 Juillet, en avoit passé fa reconnoissance en faveur du sieur Mills , comme l'ayant obtenu pour lui : cette reconnoissance porte différentes conditions.
Le sieur le Breton recevoit les souscriptions, &, quoique le sieur Mills eût fait des avances considérables, il n'avoit encore rien demandé au sieur le Breton fur ces mêmes souscriptions : cela faiíbit cependant: partie de leurs conventions.
Le 7 Août dernier, le sieur Mills écrivit au sieur le Breton, & lui demanda quelques remises de deniers à compte fur ses avances.
Le sieur le Breton , au lieu de répondre comme il le devoit, vint chez le sieur Mills le même jour, plusieurs fois; & enfin après avoir pris le temps de le trouver seul dans son appartement, il y entra sur les neuf heures du soir , & débuta par lui dire qu'il n'avoit point d'argent à lui donner; sur la représentation que lui fit le sieur Mills, que ce n'étoit point là remplir íes engagements , le sieur le Breton, transporté de colere, se répandit en emportements & violences; & non content des termes injurieux qu'il proféra contre le sieur Mills, il lui porta un coup de poing dans l'estomac, & deux coups de canne fur la tête, dont il fut terrassé; & fans des personnes qui accoururent au bruit, il n'est pas douteux que le sieur le Breton n'eût consommé ce qu'il avoit projette, & n'eût accablé de coups le sieur Mills.
Ces coups & ces mauvais traitements ont donné lieu au sieur Mills de former une plainte contre le iìeur le Breton : il s'est pourvu ensuite au Châtelet, où il a demandé que, sur les informations, le sîeur le Breton sût puni comme il le méritoit. Par sentence du Lieutenant-criminel, le sieur le Breton n'a été décrété que d'assigné pour être ouï. Le sieur Mills a interjetté appel en la Cour de cette sentence , à cause de la modicité du décret. Cet appel est pendant à la Tournelle-criminelle , où le sieur Mills espère obtenir la justice qui lui est dûe.
En effet, en envisageant la démarche du sieur le Breton, & en suivant pied-à-pied tout ce qu'il a pratiqué , comme cela est constaté par les informations, ne peut-on pas dire qu'il avoit formé le projet d'assassiner le sieur Mills? Toutes les mesures qu'il prend pour le trouver seul; l'heure indue qu'il choisit pour lui parler; les excès & les violences auxquelles il s'est porté; les coups fur la tête qu'il lui a donnés, & qu'il auroit redoublés s'il n'en eût été empêché; tout annonce un dessein formé, prémédité & réfléchi pour faire son coup en sûreté , & s'en procurer l'impunité. Que deviendroit la sûreté publique, si ces infâmes manœuvres étoient tolérées? Un homme tranquille chez lui ne seroit point à couvert des insultes que les gens mal intentionnés entreprendroient de lui faire; on ne peut donc trop sévèrement réprimer les excès que le sieur le Breton a commis contre le sieur Mills. Un exemple de sévérité, & en même temps de justice, est indispensable & absolument nécessaire, sur-tout dans une ville comme celle de Paris, où il ne se trouve que trop de gens violents, prêts à fe porter à toutes sortes d'extrémités.
(i) En marge de ce Privilège on lit la note suivante : Par Arrêt du Conseil, donné au Camp de Melis , le 28 Août 1745 , ce present Privilège a été annuité; au moyen de quoi il est permis audit le Breton de se pourvoir en la manière accoutumée, pour obtenir, s'il y écheoit, un nouveau Privilège; meme la permissìon de proposer des Souscriptions , & autres clauses & conditions, ainsi qu'elles font stipulées dans le present Arrêt, dont l'original est resti entre les mains de MM. les Syndic & Adjoints; lequel Arrêt est signe Phellyppeaux.
  • Translation (incomplete)
SUMMARY by M. John Mills, English Gentleman, Against M. Breton, Bookseller, Printer in Paris
The translation of Chambers's Universal Dictionary of Arts & Sciences, to which Mr. Mills worked for two years without discontinuation & with success, had promised to request a privilege to be printed.
This privilege had been obtained under the name of M. le Breton, last March, which, on July 26, had passed in his gratitude in favor of Mr. Mills, as having obtained for him the gratitude carries different conditions.
M. Breton received subscriptions, and, although Mr. Mills had made significant advances, there is still nothing had asked the complainant as the Breton these subscriptions: however this faiíbit: part of their agreements. August 7 last, M. Mills wrote to Mr. Breton, and asked him some money remittances to account as his advances.
M. Breton, instead of answering as he ought, Mr. Mills came to the same day, several times, and at last after taking the time to be alone in his apartment, he entered on the nine o'clock , and began by saying he had no money to give him, on the representation made to him by M. Mills, that this was the point where complete IES commitments, M. Breton, transported furious, is spread in infatuation & violence; & not content offensive remarks he uttered against M. Mills, he gave him a punch in the stomach, and two strokes of the cane as the head, which he was floored; & fans people flocked to noise, there is no doubt that Mr. Breton had not consumed what he had projected, and had not overwhelmed shots M. Mills.
These shots & the abuse led to Mr. Mills to form a complaint against the linker Breton: he then provided to the Chatelet, where he called on the information, the linker Breton was: 'jnf ^ $ atsvt punished as he deserved. Award by Lieutenant-criminal, the-jy Mr. Breton was decreed that assigned to be heard. M. Mills interjetcé appeal the Court of this award, because of the smallness of the decree. This call is for the criminal-Tournelle, where Mr. Mills hopes to get the justice that is due.
Indeed, considering the approach of Mr. Breton, & Length-offs after all he has practiced, as evidenced by the information, may we not say that he had formed the project assassinate Mr. Mills? All the steps it takes to find alone the ungodly hour he chose to speak to him; excess & violence which it is worn, the shots as the head qu'iUui given, and that he would have redoubled if he had been prevented, while announcing a plan formed, premeditated thought & ion to hit safely, and to procure impunity. That would become public safety if those infamous maneuvers were tolerated? A quiet man with him would be no point covered insults that ill-intentioned people entreprendroient of him; therefore can not be too severely punish the excesses that Mr. Breton committed against M. Mills. An example of severity, and at the same time justice is essential & absolutely necessary, especially in a city such as Paris, where it is too violent people, ready to fe wear all sorts of ends .
(I) In addition to this privilege we read the following note: For Stopping the Council gave the Camp Me'lis the a8 August 174J, it was snuff Privilege annuity, through which it is permissible Audit Breton appeal in the usual manner, for if there écheoit a new privilege; mimics permistìanìde propose Subscriptions í "other clauses Gr conditions and qu'ellesfont forth in the Judgment snuff, which is Voriginal resti between hands of MM. the Trustee & Assistants, which is stop sign Phezxppsavx.
Comments by Le Breton
One part
  • Le titre de savant dont Mills se decore, ne lui est pas acquis; il n'est age que de 29 a 30 ans; sa fonction à Paris est d'être un des commis de M. le Chevalier Lambert, Banquier (2). Le traité qu'il a fait avec Sellius, prouve qu'il n'était pas chargé de la traduction, qu'elle n'étoit pas même commencée le 17 février 1745, et qu'il lui étoit libre de ne travailler qu'autant que ses occupations lui permettraient; que les personnes savantes et zélée pour l'avancement des lettres etaient toutes reunies en la personne de Sellius; et on verra ce qui sera dit dans un instant qu'íl n'a point consacre sa fortune a soutenir de frais considerables, mais qu'il en voulait et aux souscripteurs et a la fortune du sieur Le Breton.
La traduction faite par Sellius de la préface et des quatre articles de l'ouvrage de Chambers qui dévoient entrer dans le Prospectus, fut trouvée si défectueuse quant à la traduction, et si peu correcte quant à la diction française, de l'aveu même de Mills, qu'il fut arrêté entre lui et le sieur Le Breton, qu'ils auraient recours à d'autres traducteurs pour le corps de l'Ouvrage. C'était là cependant une occasion favorable au sieur Mills de faire paraître sa science en donnant un echantillon de la traduction a laquelle il travaillait depuis deux ans, comme il a hardiesse de l'avancer dans son memoire, (pp. 5-6)
(2) Jean Francois Lambert, later naturalized (see H. Luthy, La Banque protestante en France de la Revolution de I' Edit de Nantes a la Revolution, Paris, 1959-61, 2 vols, ii, 320).
  • Cited in: John Lough (1971) The Encyclopédie. p. 12 (online)
  • Translation (incomplete)
The title of scholar that Mills claimed, is not acquired, His age is 29 or 30 years old and its function in Paris is to be one of the clerks of the M. le Chevalier Lambert, Banker (2). The treaty he made ​​with Sellius proves that he was not responsible for the translation, it was not even started February 17, 1745, and that he was free to do work that so his occupations allow him that people learned and zealous for the advancement of letters were all brought together in the person of Sellius, and we will see what will be said in a moment he hath not dedicated his fortune to support considerable expense, but he wanted that of subscribers and the fortune of Mr. Le Breton.
The translation by Sellius the preface and four items from the work of Chambers who were to enter the Prospectus, was found so defective as to the translation, and so little about the correct French diction, even according to Mills, he was agreed upo by him and Mr. Le Breton, they would use other translators for the body of the Work. It was however a good opportunity to M. Mills to publish his knowledge by giving a sample of the translation which he worked for two years as he boldness of the move in his memory, (pp. 5-6)
(2) Jean Francois Lambert, later naturalized (see H. Luthy, La Banque protestante en France de la Revolution de I' Edit de Nantes a la Revolution (Protestant Bank of France of the Revolution I Edict of Nantes Revolution), Paris, 1959-1961, 2 vols, ii, 320).
Another part
  • L’identité du traducteur est difficile à déterminer, mais selon toute vraisemblance, il s’agirait d’un travail « défectueux » de Sellius, retouché, remanié par Mills ou un ami français de Le Breton. Voici quelques lignes tirées d’un précieux document transcrit par Tatsuo Henmi aux Archives Nationales de Paris :
« Le sieur Mills a promis d’abord de faire venir d’Angleterre deux exemplaires du Dictionnaire de Chambers ; il n’a point tenu parole : ces deux exemplaires ne sont pas encore arrivés ; et il a fallu emprunter à Paris deux exemplaires, pour commencer la traduction d’une partie de la Préface, et de quatre articles du Dictionnaire de Chambers, pour les insérer dans le <Prospectus>, qui devait être donné au Public, pour donner une idée de l’Ouvrage, et annoncer les souscriptions [...].» La traduction faite par Sellius de la Préface, et des quatre articles de l’ouvrage de Chambers, qui devaient entrer dans le <Prospectus>, fut trouvée si défectueuse quant à la traduction, et si peu correcte quant à la diction française, de l’aveu même de Mills, qu’il fut arrêté entre lui et le sieur Le Breton, qu’ils auraient recours à d’autres traducteurs pour le corps de l’Ouvrage. [...]» Ce préliminaire de l’Ouvrage fut cependant mis en état, après que la traduction de Sellius eut été totalement refaite par le sieur Mills, et revue pour la diction par un ami du sieur Le Breton. Il fut imprimé sous le nom de <Prospectus>, sur le même papier et avec les mêmes caractères qui devaient servir au corps de l’Ouvrage. Ce < Prospectus> fait aux frais du sieur Le Breton seul, a été reçu du Public avec satisfaction, et a été suivi de plusieurs Souscriptions »
(André-François Le Breton, Mémoire pour André-François Lebreton contre le Sieur Jean Mills, gentilhomme anglais, in-4 éd, 1745. [AN AD/VIII/8])
  • Translation (incomplete)
The identity of the translator is difficult to determine, but in all likelihood, it would be a "defective" work Sellius, retouched, reworked by Mills or a French friend of Le Breton. Here are a few lines from a valuable document transcribed by Tatsuo Henmi the National Archives in Paris:
"M. Mills promised to first make two copies of the Chambers Dictionary come from England, he has not kept his word: these two copies are not yet arrived, and he had to borrow two copies Paris to begin the translation of part of the Preface, and four sections of Chambers Dictionary, for inclusion in the <Prospectus>, which was be given to the audience, to give an idea of the Work and advertise subscriptions [...]. "Translation made ​​by Sellius of the Preface, and the four items of the work of Chambers, who should enter the <Prospectus> was found so defective as to the translation, and so little about the correct French diction, by the admission of Mills, he was arrested between him and Mr. Le Breton, they would use other translators for the body of the Work. [...] "This draft of the Work, however, was perfected, after the translation of Sellius had been gutted and rebuilt by Mr. Mills, and review for diction by a friend of Mr. Le Breton. It was printed under the name <Prospectus> on the same paper with the same characters that were to serve the body of the Work. This <Prospectus> done at the expense of Mr. Le Breton alone, was received with satisfaction the audience and was followed by several Subscriptions "
(André-François Le Breton, Mémoire pour André-François Lebreton contre le Sieur Jean Mills, gentilhomme anglais, (Note on André-François Lebreton against the Sieur Jean Mills, an English gentleman) , 4to ed, 1745. [AN AD/VIII/8]).

19th century

  • Nous croyons devoir présenter ici une petite notice abrégée de l'origine et de la formation de l'Encyclopédie. Si l'on en croit M. Luneau de Boisjermain, dans son fameux procès avec les libraires-imprimeurs de cette grande collection, ce n'est point à MM. Diderot et d'Alembert que l'on est redevable de la première idée d'une Encyclopédie française. On connaissait déjà depuis plusieurs années ^Encyclopédie anglaise d'Ephraïm Chambers; et c'est un anglais, familier avec la langue française, qui, le premier, a voulu traduire Chambers dans notre langue. Voici comment la chose arriva. En 1743, Jean Mills, gentilhomme anglais, entreprit cette traduction, en société avec M. Sellius, natif de Dantzick , et ancien professeur à Halle. Ayant besoin d'un imprimeur, ils s'adressèrent à Lebreton, imprimeur-libraire à Paris. Comme ils étaient étrangers, ils ne connaissaient pas les formalités par lesquelles il fallait alors passer pour mettre un ouvrage sous presse. L'imprimeur se chargea de les remplir toutes , et de solliciter en leur nom un privilège; mais il ne le fit expédier qu'au sien. Mill , instruit de cette supercherie, s'en plaignit amèrement, et avec tant d'éclat, que Lebreton, dans une le connaissance en forme de cession , déclara que le privilège du Dictionnaire de Chambers , quoique scellé au nom de Lebreton , appartenait en toute propriété à Jean Mills. Mais ce titre devint bientôt invalide par un défaut de for* malité à laquelle il aurait dû être soumis , et dont Lebreton ne prévint pas le traducteur en question. Il y eut un arrangement subséquent, par lequel Mills céda à Lebreton une partie de son privilège. Celui-ci proposa à son associé d'annoncer l'Encyclopédie par souscription : Mills y consentit; mais, dans cette annonce, Lebreton omit encore les formalités ordonnées. Le concours des souscripteurs fut considérable. Mills crut pouvoir profiter de ces secours il demanda un à-compte à Lebreton. Il n'obtint de lui qu'un refus accompagné de mauvais traitemens. Cela donna lieu à un procès criminel. Lebreton accusé fut simplement décrété d'assigné pour être ouï au Châtelet. Mills appela au parlement de ce décret, parce qu'il le trouva insuffisant. Pendant ce temps, Lebreton se prévalut du défaut de formalités pour faire révoquer le premier privilège , et il eu Obtint un autre en son nom. Ce qui fut exécuté le 21 janvier 1746, pour Y Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert. Alors Mills fut dépouillé d'un ouvrage dont l'idée...
We think we should introduce here a little short notice of the origin and formation of the Encyclopedia. If we are to believe M. Luneau de Boisjermain, in his famous trial with bookseller-printer of this great collection, it is not in MM. Diderot and d'Alembert that we are indebted for the first idea of ​​a French Encyclopedia. We already knew for several years English Encyclopedia Ephraim Chambers, and it is an English, familiar with the French language, which was the first to wanted to translate Chambers in our language. This is how it happened. In 1743, John Mills, an English gentleman, undertook this translation, in company with Mr. Sellius native of Dantzic, and former professor at Halle. Needing a printer, they approached Lebreton, printer and bookseller in Paris. Since they were strangers, they did not know the procedures by which it was then passed to put a book in press. The printer is instructed to fill them all, and to seek a loan(?) on their behalf, but he did not deliver his promise (?). Mill, learned this trick, complained bitterly, and so brightly that Lebreton, in the form of knowledge transfer, said the privilege of Chambers Dictionary, though sealed for Lebreton, belonged Freehold John Mills. But it soon became invalid as a default for * formality which should have been submitted, which Lebreton not warned the translator in question. There was a subsequent arrangement whereby Mills yielded to Lebreton part of its privilege. He proposed to his partner to announce the Encyclopedia by subscription: Mills consented, but in this ad, Lebreton still omit the formalities ordered. The contest subscribers was considerable. Mills thought he could take advantage of this relief he asked for a to-account Lebreton. He got him a refusal accompanied by bad treatment. This gave rise to a criminal trial. Lebreton accused was simply decreed assigned to be heard at the Chatelet. Mills called the parliament of this decree, because he found insufficient. Meanwhile, Lebreton availed himself of the lack of procedures to revoke the privilege first, and he had Obtained another in his name. Which was executed January 21, 1746, for the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alembert. Mills was then stripped of a book whose idea...
  • Some fifteen years after the publication of Chambers's Cyclopaedia, an Englishman (Mills) and a German (Sellius) went to Lc Breton with a project for its translation into French. The bookseller obtained the requisite privilege from the government, but he obtained it for himself, and not for the projectors. This trick led to a quarrel, and before it was settled the German died and the Englishman returned to his own country. They left the translation behind them duly executed. 1 Le Breton then carried the undertaking to a certain abbe, Gua de Malves. Gua de Malves (b. 1712) seems to have been a man of a busy and ingenious mind. He was the translator of Berkeley's Hylas and Philonous, of Anson's Voyages, and of various English tracts on currency and political economy. It is said that lie first suggested the idea of a cyclopaedia on a fuller plan, but we have no evidence of tins. In any ease, the project made no advance in his Lands. The embarrassed bookseller next applied to Diderot, who was then much in need of work that should bring him bread.
  • ... [Mills] was apparently in Paris in 1743 in order to bring out a French edition of Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia, in collaboration with Sellius, a German historian. However, Lebreton, the printer commissioned by Mills, cheated him out of the subscription money, attacked him, and managed to get a licence in his own name. This incident forms part of the origin of the Encyclopédie. Mills returned to England, and Sellius died at Charenton Lunatic Asylum in 1787...
    • John Goldworth Alger (1836–1907) and Anne P. Baker. "Mills, John (c. 1717-1786x1796), writer on agriculture". in: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 1894/2004

20th century

  • ... [Mills] was swindled by a printer in Paris in 1743; the dates of the publication of his books are, of course, known, and he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1766. He is believed to have lived in London and to have died in or about the vear 1784
    • British Bee Journal. Vol. 72 (1944) p. 177
  • It was this Chambers' Cyclopedia translated into French by John Mills, an English resident in France, that led to the great French Encyclopedic. When the French publishers in a subsequent issue of Chambers' demanded more changes than-the translator would agree to, the editorship was turned over first to Jean Paul de Gua de Malves and then to Denis Diderot.
    • Louis Shores (1950) Basic Reference Books: An Introduction to the Evaluation... p. 54; cited in: Masood Ali Khan (1996) The Principles and Practice of Library Science. p. 256
  • ... Mais, « having met with something more advantageous which engages me to stay in England », il renonça à ce voyage 2. En 1743 on le retrouve à Paris, s'il faut ajouter foi à l'avertissement des Mémoires de Gaudence de Lucques 3. Il y était même déjà en avril 1742 si on peut identifier le « Jean Mills, Gentilhomme Anglois » du factum dirigé contre Le Breton en...
    • Dix-huitième siècle. Nr. 1-2, 1969. p. 274: It seems this is translated in: John Lough (1971) The Encyclopédie. p. 9
  • A French Protestant from the banking family Lambert claims to be the first to have thought of translating Chambers into French, and to have begun to do it.(*) But it was an Englishman and a German, John Mills and Gottfried Sellius, who first began to prepare a version for publication, Le Breton, the royal printer, being the publisher. Mills was rich and relatively prominent, and Sellius was a peripatetic scholar. The enterprise did not succeed in their hands, and they were replaced by a French abbe, Gua de Malves, from Languedoc, who was prominent inasmuch as he was a member of the Academy of Sciences.
    • Robert Shackleton "The Encyclopedie" in: Proceedings, American Philosophical Society (vol. 114, No. 5, 1970. p. 390
    • Footnote: (*) Precis de la vie du citoyen Lambert (n.d., n.p. ; Bibliotheque nationale, Ln" 11217). I am grateful to Dr. R. A. Leigh for drawing my attention to this work.
  • John Mills, a younger man who was to achieve a modest reputation as a writer on agriculture in the 1760s. From the fact that in 1786 he gave his age as nearly seventy we may deduce that he was about a dozen years younger than Sellius and was twenty-nine or thirty in 1745. He would appear to have spent a considerable part of his early life in France, though he was not born there. In 1741 he was in London and had plans for going to Jamaica, but 'having met with something more advantageous which engages me to stay in England', he gave up the idea. In 1743 we find him back in Paris; indeed, if he can be identified with the "Jean Mills, gentil-homme anglais" whose child was baptized on 27 April 1742, he must have returned there even sooner (a second child was born to the same John Mills and his French wife in May 1743). He seems to have left Paris soon after 1745, but he only really emerges from the shadows between 1762 and 1776 when he translated from French or Latin or himself compiled a series of works on agriculture. The best of these was A new and Complete System of Practical Husbandry, the five volumes of which appeared between 1762 and 1765. These writings earn for him a modest place in books on eighteenth-century writers on agriculture. In 1766 he was elected to the fellowship of the Royal Society — some thirty years after his one time associate, Sellius — one of his sponsors being Benjamin Franklin. He was also made a member of the Mannheim Academy of Sciences and of the Royal Societies of Agriculture of Paris and Rouen. The date of his death is not known.
    • John Lough (1971) The Encyclopédie. p. 9 (online)
  • The first sentence of the introduction has the following footnote: Voir le très important Mémoire pour André-François Lebreton contre le Sieur Jean Mills, gentilhomme anglais, 20 pages in 4° (Arch. Nat. A D VIII 8, année 1745, pièce 67), mémoire inédit d'où nous avons tiré la plupart des précisions dont nous faisons état dans cette introduction. But clearly this so-called mémoire inédit was far from unknown in 1938; it had been duly listed in Volume.l First published in French Studies, 1963, pp 121-135. 3 The MS bas en. 'Autographes de Mariemont, Paris, 1955-9, Two Unsolved Problems.
    • John Lough (1971) The Encyclopédie. p. 71
  • John Lough weaves a revealing account of the Le Breton- Mills quarrel in an ample article on " Le Breton, Mills and Sellius." Although it is difficult to determine who was the deceiver in the affair, the evidence presented leads to the conclusion that Mills's claims to wealth and philanthropy toward the Encyclopedie were false, and one is not surprised that he eventually lost its " privilege " to Le Breton.
    • Otis Fellows ed. (1973). Diderot Studies. p. 408
    • Comment: "Otis Edward Fellows [died May 1993], a professor emeritus in the humanities at Columbia University and a scholar of 18th-century French literature... An authority on Denis Diderot, an encyclopedist of the Enlightenment, Professor Fellows founded Diderot Studies, a periodical published in Geneva, in 1949 and edited it for many years." (From: The New York Times, May 19, 1993)
  • In 1743 another Englishman, John Mills, was in France working on a French translation of Chambers' Cyclopaedia with the professional German translator G. Sellius. Their endeavours are further illustration of the prevailing intellectual climate that favoured the creation of large-scale learned texts and the preparedness of scholars to meet the demand. But scholarship and intellectual ferment alone do not create works of reference: publication in the 18th century was, as it is today, a financial affair. Chambers' Cyclopaedia was offered to the public at a cost of four guineas 'one guinea to be paid down, and the remainder on delivery of the book', and there was a financial incentive to booksellers: 'Such as subscribe for six books, shall have...
    To return to John Mills and G. Sellius, they were undoubtedly in France in 1743, hard at work translating Chambers, for reasons of personal cupidity. But if they were to succeed, the support of a group of publishers was needed: John Harris required a team often publishers to bring out his Lexicon Technicum (which included Thomas Longman, founder of the publishing house), and Ephraim Chambers names no less than 21 individuals in his publication syndicate (title page of Cyclopaedia). To discover how Mills and Sellius fared with the French publishers and to trace the evolution and eventual publication of the Encyclopédie, we need now to return to France, and in particular to Paris, to make the acquaintance of André-François Le Breton, .... (p. 3)
  • Terence M. Russell, ‎Ann-Marie Ashworth (1993) Architecture in the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D'Alembert. p. 4
  • The relationship between the three [Le Beton, Mills and Sellius] did not last long. Le Breton quarrelled with Mills over financial matters: in addition, Mills's French translations were marred by errors and his true status as a clerk in the branch of a British bank was exposed. Following scenes worthy of a Rossini opera bouffa (Le Breton beat Mills over the head with his cane), Le Breton had his contract with Mills and Sellius annulled. Sellius, the professional translator, was retained to work on further translation from Chambers' and also Harris's Lexicon. Mill left France and found true vocation as a writer in agriculture: he promoted the work of Jethro Tull in his A New System of Practical Husbandry (1767), became a Fellow of the Royal Society and eventually repaired his relationships with France, becoming the first foreign associate of the French Agricultural Society. Mills died in 1784. (p. 4)
    • Terence M. Russell, ‎Ann-Marie Ashworth (1993) Architecture in the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D'Alembert. p. 4
  • Although it will never be known how each of the 140 men identified as having contributed to the seventeen letterpress volumes became an Encyclopedist, a close study of their lives and the history of the publication does reveal the complicated pattern of how such a team came to be assembled.
    The work started in 1745 as a commercial and scholarly venture to translate Chambers's Cyclopaedia with additions and revisions. After a false start by the Parisian publisher Andre-Francois Le Breton with the German Gottfried Sellius and the Englishman John Mills, Le Breton began again in partnership with three other Parisian publishers, Michel-Antoine David, Laurent Durand and Antoine-Claude Briasson.
    • Frank A. Kafker. The Encyclopedists as a group: a collective biography of the authors of the Encyclopédie. Voltaire Foundation, 1996. p. 36

21th century

  • ... The blows were dealt out, with some gusto, by a bookseller, Andre-Francois Le Breton (1708-79), who was trying to save an investment with his bare knuckles. "On the receiving end of 'one punch of the fist to the stomach and two strikes by a cane to the head" (1), which promptly brought him down, was a hapless English fortune hunter, sometime translator and later writer on agriculture, Le Breton had engaged Mills to translate an English work, the Cyclopaedia by Ephraim Chambers, and now found himself lumbered with a collaborator who seemed to be both lazy and incompetent.
    • Philipp Blom. Encyclopédie: the triumph of reason in an unreasonable age Fourth Estate, 2004. p. 35: About Le Breton (1) and John Mills (1)
  • The driving force behind the translation had been a German scholar of some reputation, Gottfried Sell (1704?-67)... Despite his scientific credentials, though his qualifications as an editor and translator were somewhat limited. A contemporary later wrote: "As he he knew our language very well, he translated fluently, at the speed of writing, and showing himself more attentive to the literal words of the author... than to making him speak French, which rendered the result incomprehensible [obscur]."
    Despite this handicap, Sellius was obviously determined to refloat his fortunes with the Cyclopaedia and recruited a second translator, John Mills, a much younger man, who had moved to Paris from London and was to leave the French capital soon after having found himself at the wrong end of Le Breton's stick. Sellius managed to persuade the bookseller and furnished some specimen articles as early as 1743...
    • Philipp Blom. Encyclopédie: the triumph of reason in an unreasonable age Fourth Estate, 2004. p. 36 : About Gottfried Sellius, John Mills (2) & Le Breton (2)
  • early as 1743, while his partner was introduced as the supposed heir to a considerable fortune who was able to secure the financing of the enterprise. Le Breton took out the requisite privilege, the permission to publish granted by the Royal Chancellery, on 25 February 1745. It was registered on 13 April; work on the translation could now begin in earnest.
    • Philipp Blom. Encyclopédie: the triumph of reason in an unreasonable age Fourth Estate, 2004. p. 37: About John Mills (3) & Le Breton (3)
  • Mills was part of that literary ferment of young men trying to make it in Paris that was so important for the Encyclopédie Encyclopedie, for literature in France, and, some forty years later, for the Revolution: writers with ambitions but without money or patronage, out to make a name for themselves and to find a niche somewhere, somehow. Like them, he lived on the little revenue he could make from odd literary jobs translating or writing pamphlets, with the occasional bit of private tutoring. Unlike some of his contemporaries, however, he seems to have been neither very gifted nor terribly eager to work. Charged with doing the lion's share of the translations of the English reference work into French, he gave the appearance of having "a great part of it translated" and of having gained the support and cooperation of many men of science and letters of the Academie...
  • Philipp Blom. Encyclopédie: the triumph of reason in an unreasonable age Fourth Estate, 2004. p. 37: About John Mills (4)
  • ... The fact that the prospectus was successful despite the inadequacy of the translations was because Le Breton had paid an unnamed 'intelligent person' to correct them. This nameless but competent translator seems to have been the young Denis Diderot, the future editor and hero of the Encyclopedie.
  • Philipp Blom. Encyclopédie: the triumph of reason in an unreasonable age Fourth Estate, 2004. p. 37: About Le Breton (4) and Denis Diderot
  • Mills had not, it seems, translated much apart from the contents of the prospectus: his contemporaries agreed that, even had he wanted to, his French was not proficient enough for him to do what he had been paid to do. This did not prevent him from asking a great deal of money, 1,200 livres, from Le Breton in a letter dated 7 August. The return post brought not the desired purse full of louis d'or, but the bookseller himself, who had had enough of financial demands and other difficulties. Having called several times while Mills had been out (or hiding behind a curtain), he called again and this time found the Englishman at home. In the ensuing conversation, Le Breton eventually decided that words alone were not enough. Later he would claim that Mills had in fact drawn his sword against him and he acted in self defense. After the violent confrontation, Mills brought a suit against his assailant, and Le Breton contemptuously called his bluff:
  • Philipp Blom. Encyclopédie: the triumph of reason in an unreasonable age Fourth Estate, 2004. p. 37-38: About John Mills (5) & Le Breton (5)
  • In form, content, and manner of production, the Encyclopédie stands as one of the outstanding creations of the ENLIGHTENMENT in FRANCE. The project began with the plans of John Mills, an English bank clerk, and G. Sellius, a professional translator, to produce a French translation of the 1728 English Cyclopaedia; or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences by Ephraim Chambers. The two translators offered the project to the Parisian printer André Le Breton, who obtained royal permission in 1745 to proceed with publication. Le Breton quarreled with Mills, and as a result, the original project was scrapped.
    • Ellen Judy Wilson, ‎Peter Hanns Reill (2004) Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. p. 175
  • John Mills comes to the attention of history because of his writings on agriculture and his earlier, prospective involvement, when he was in France in 1743, in the publication of a French edition of Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia; he was apparently cheated by the printer, and it was this work that led to the famous Encyclopedia. Returning to England Mills completed...
    • A.C. Grayling, ‎Andrew Pyle, ‎Naomi Goulder (2006) The Continuum encyclopedia of British philosophy.
  • In autumn 1745, the French publisher Andre-Francois Le Breton decided, with the Englishman John Mills as a investor, and the German Sellius as a translator, to transfer Ephraim Chambers' two-volume Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences into the French language. At the same time in addition to the translation, was planned a revised and expanded version in four volumes of text and a picture book. A royal printing privilege, without which the printing was forbidden, was already was present. However, the project only got started with the three new business partners Briasson, David and Durand. After the cooperation with Abbe de Gua de Malves as editor was ended, in 1748 his responsibility was transferred to Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert.
    • Translation of:
      Im Herbst 1745 beschloss der französische Verleger Andre-Francois Le Breton, gemeinsam mit dem Engländer John Mills als Geldgeber und dem Deutschen Sellius als Übersetzer, Ephraim Chambers zweibändige Cyclopaedia or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences in die französische Sprache zu übertragen. Geplant war neben der Übersetzung, gleichzeitig eine überarbeitete und erweiterte Version in vier Textbänden und einem Bildband. Ein königliches Druckprivileg , ohne das die Drucklegung verboten war, lag bereits vor. Das Projekt gewann jedoch erst mit den drei neuen Geschäftspartnern Briasson, David und Durand an Form. Nachdem die Zusammenarbeit mit Abbé de Gua de Malves als Herausgeber gescheitert war, wurde die Verantwortung schließlich 1748 Denis Diderot und Jean le Rond d'Alembert übertragen.
    • Spindler, Ulrike (2006): "Die Encyclopédie von Diderot und d'Alembert". In Madame de Pompadour - Die Encyclopédie, at historicum.net, online
  • Historically the most famous encyclopedia was Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopedia, or Reasoned Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Trades). Its 17 volumes (plus 11 volumes of illustrations) were produced over the period 1751–72 under the editorship of Denis Diderot along with the mathematician Jean Le Rond d’Alembert. The project had its origins in a French translation undertaken by John Mills in 1743-5 of Ephraim Chambers’s Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. The French publisher wrested control from Mills and, intending speedy publication, engaged two editors in succession who instead expanded the project’s contours...

About his work on husbandry, bees, weather etc.

18th century

  • The History of the Roman Emperors, from Augustus to Constantine, by Mr. Crevier, professor of rhetoric in the college of Beauvais. Translated from the French by John Mills, esq; Vols. 1 and II. 8vo. 5s. each. Knapton...
... The above specimens will, we apprehend, in some measure, serve to justify the observations we think it necessary to add, with regard to the translator. Mr. Mills, and his other works, we are alike strangers to; but have been informed he has published some tracts, with reputation, abroad; and that he was the first undertaker and promoter of the translation of Chambers's Cyclopædia into French. If he is an Englishman, which, but for his name, we should doubt, from his manner of expression, it is possible he may have lived so long in foreign countries, as to have somewhat lessened his acquaintance with his vernacular language: for we have met with few writers that have shewn themselves less masters of its purity, Mr. Johnson has judiciously observed, that "the great pest of speech is frequency of translation. No book was ever turned from one language to another, without imparting something of its native idiom; this is the most mischievous and comprehensive innovation; single words may enter by thousands, and 'the fabric of the tongue continue the fame; but new phraseology changes much at once, it alters not the single stones of the building, but the order of the columns." The translation before us is a recent proof of the justice of these remarks not contented with attempting what Tiberius was told, lay not in an emperor's power, the naturalizing foreign words, Mr. Mills has, in general, left his diction in a Gallic form, that renders it uncouth to an English ear. However, this work is still in its infancy: only two volumes are yet published; and as ten more are expected, it is hoped these strictures will be accepted with the fame candour they are meant, and that the remaining volumes will, consequently, be made more agreeable to the reader, as well as more reputable to the translator...
  • A practical Treatise of Husbandry: Wherein are contained many useful and valuable Experiments and Observations in the New Husbandry, collected during a Series of Years, by the celebrated, M. Duhamel Du Monceau, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences dt Paris, Fellow of the Royal Society, London, &c. Also the most approved Practice of the best English Farmers, in the old Method of Husbandry. With Copper-Plates of several new and useful Instruments. , 4tO. 16s. Whiston, &c.
M. Duhamel's work, in the original, consists of five volumes, published at different times ; so that we are not to expect a translation of the whole in the work before us : on the contrary, we are told by the writer of it, [Mr. John Mills] that he has translated only such experiments as seemed to him most instructive to his Countrymen. And to render this treatise still more useful, he has also given, from the most approved English writers, what appeared to him best in the modern practice of farming, either according to the old or new method. The plainness wherewith the whole is written, Mr. Mills hopes, will shew, that his intention was to make it of as general use as possible...
  • Review of "A Practical Treatise of Husbandry." in: The Monthly Review, Or, Literary Journal, Volume 21 by Ralph Griffiths, G. E. Griffiths, 1759, p. 139-148 (online)
  • The work before us was it seems, continued, and completed, from the original papers of Dr. Blackwell, by John Mills, Esq. a gentleman we are entirely unacquainted with. In an advertisement prefixed to this volume, we are informed , that the volume was printed off to p. 144, when Dr. Blackwell died. "The proprietor, unwilling to let the sets of those gentlemen who had purchased the former volumes remain incomplete, put all the papers left by the author, relative to this work, into the hands of the present editor, who begs leave to observe, that those papers being, in general, Little more than loose leaves, detached notes, memorandums, and, very often, only bare hints of things intended to be said, without any connection, reference to each other, or even paging, he hopes he may justly claim some indulgence from the public, wherever he has erred in his endeavours to give them the order and method which he imagines might have been Dr. Blackwell's, if that gentleman had lived to finish his work." Mr. Mills then informs us, that where the Doctor's loose papers were deficient, he bad recourse to the ancients.
    It is impossible for us to ascertain the particular passages of this publication thai belong to Mr. Mills; but we will venture to fay, upon the whole, that this volume, both in point of composition and language, is not inferior to its two elder brothers...
  • Review of Thomas Blackwell, Memoirs of the court of Augustus. Vol. 3. Continued and completed by John Mills. A. Millar. 1753-63
  • A New and Complete System os Practical Husbandry; containing all that Experience has proved to be most useful in Farming, either in the Old or New Method; with a Comparative View of Both; and whatever is beneficial to the Husbandman, or conducive to the Ornament and Improvement of the Country Gentleman s Estate. By John Mills, Esq. Editor of Du Hamel'; Husbandry. Vol.I. %vo. Pr.6s. Baldwin.
    FROM the title of this work the public had great reason to imagine that there would certainly be something contained in it worthy of peculiar attention, something new, not to be met with in print, out of the common road, and perhaps the result of the author's particular experience. What experimental knowledge he has had in agriculture, he can himself best acquaint us with; we may, however, venture to assert, that no great portion of it appears in the volume now under our consideration: if, therefore, we allow him some judgment, acquired from reading, in the choice of the very frequent extracts be has made from the works of other writers, he has reason to be abundantly satisfied.
    In the first part of the introduction to this work, Mr. Mills takes some notice of the long agitated question, whether earth or water conduces most to supply plants with the necessary nourishment? But as he has advanced nothing new on this subject, only retailing the opinions of others, without hazarding any conjectures of his own, we shall pass it over; as also the subsequent part of the introduction, which treats of the food of plants, a subject which is handled more at large by Du Hamel, from whom, with little or no variation, this part is evidently and avowedly borrowed.
    The work is divided into chapters, of which this volume contains three; and the chapters are subdivided, after the manner of Du Hamel, to whom Mr. Mills is much obliged, into sections and articles....
  • Bey Weidmanns Erben und Reich ist des vollstandigen Lehrbegriffs von der praktischen Feldwirlhschaft von John Mills, durch M. E. F. I. aus dem Englischeu übersetzt, Zwevter Band in gr. 8. 478 Seiten 7 Kupfertaffeln, herausgekommen. Man findet hier, wie in dem sonst von uns angezeigten I. B. die lehren der Hauswirthschaft aus den besten Schriftstellern gesammlet. Gegenwärtiger Band enthält vornehm, sich die neue Art mit Hülfe eiues Pferdes das Erdreich aufzuhacken, wo der Verfasser besonders den Hrn. du Hamel und desselben Correspondenten zu Anführern gehabt. Er verwirft indessen den Nutzen der Düngung nicht, den er selbst im l. B> gewiesen hat, und erinnert, daß auch bey dieser neuen Feld« wirthschaft die Wurzeln und Stoppeln der Gewachse, die man auf diese Art erbauet hat, viel zur Zeuchtbarkeit beptragen. Er beschreibet hier ausführlich des Hrn. von Chateauvieur Säepflug und desselben Eultivators. und «ineMenge damit angestellter Versuche. Das ll. Hauptstück dieses Bandes betrifft die Krankheiten des Getreides, wo auser des Herrn du Hamel Schriften auch die Anweisung des Grafen Ginanni, eines Patricius zu Ravenna, gebraucht «orden, der diesen wichtigen Gegenstand unter allen am vollständigsten abgehandelt hat...
  • The natural and chemical Elements of Agriculture. Translated from the Latin of Count GuJIavus Adolphus Gyllen* lorg. By John Mills, Esq; F. R. S. Member of the Royal 'Societies of Agriculture at Paris and Rouen, of the Œconomical Society of Berne, and of the Palatine Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres. i2tno. 2 s. 6 d. sewed. Bell, 1770.
    COUNT Gyllenborg is well known to have applied with great diligence to the study of nature ; and the present work, in its original Latin dress, has been very well received. Mr. Mills...
  • Mr. Mills's system of Husbandry has been so well received by the public, that there is little doubt but the present volume, which is designed as a continuation of that system, will meet with as favourable a reception. It was finished, we are told, and prepared for publication some years ago; when the manuscript was unfortunately burnt, with the stock in trade of the publisher: at whose request it was written anew. The treatise now offered to the reader, says Mr. Mills, is the result of that second labour; in the prosecution of which, the most approved writers of different countries, and the practical experience of some judicious friends in this, have been my principal guides. To these last, in particular, I owe an accession of new materials, which were not in my former copy, and by means of which this is considerably enlarged.
    So rapid, however, are the improvements in this branch of science, or so determined the spirit of innovation, that it is hardly possible for a writer to keep pace with the reformation, real or pretended, of the arts of agriculture and husbandry. Thus we find Mr. Mills still maintaining, on the authority of Mr. Arthur Young and others, the preference of ploughing with oxen rather than horses without taking any notice of what has been lately urged in support of the contrary practice in a late very plausible treatise, entitled Rural Improvements...
  • I had read the translation of the marquis's history of his improvements in Mr.Mills' husbandry,* and thought it the most interesting morsel I had met with, long before I procured the original Memoire sur les defrichemens; and determined that if ever I should go to France to view improvements the recital of which had given me such pleasure..."

19th century

  • The Natural and Chemical Elements of Agriculture, by Count Gustavus Adolphus Gyllenborg, a learned Swedish statesman, were translated by John Mills in 1770, and may be considered as the prototype of Davy's Agricultural Chemistry.

20th century

  • One of the bee books which are worth reading over and over again is the essay on " The Management of Bees," by John Mills, 1766. This book was never reprinted, and Col. Walker. says, truly enough, that it contains nothing original, but it was nevertheless, an epoch-making book, for Mills was a member of agricultural societies in Paris and Rouen and of another society at Berne, and so he was in touch with the most recent discoveries which had been made in France and Switzerland.
Two points which interested me greatly were his advocacy of taking bees to the heather. He seems to have been the first man to suggest this, and it must have been difficult to manage in the days of skeps : swarms would be frequent, and it might well be necessary to sulphur the bees and cut out the honey and wax on the moors. (This was actually done in the Luneberger Heath in Germany, but the bee-keepers there worked in large, well-organised bodies.)...
  • British Bee Journal. Vol. 72 (1944) p. 177
  • The career and writings of John Mills ^.1784) vividly exemplifies these concerns. Reclaiming the contemporaneity of the ancients. Mills not only highlighted pitfalls of modern natural philosophy, but professed a method that went beyond scientific truths to reach national interests. During the 1760s, Mills was a member of the French Society of Agriculture, the Economical Society of Berne and the Pallatine Academy. From 1763 to 1765, he published five volumes of A New and Complete System of Practical Husbandry, designed to aid the farmer and contribute to "the ornament and improvement of the country gentleman's estate." He also translated Duhamel du Monceau's treatise on husbandry (1762), wrote on bee-management (1766), and in 1767 completed the unfinished "Memoirs of the Court of Augustus," begun by Thomas Blackwell, the Greek classicist from Abberdeen. In An Essay in the Weather Mills wrote that despite two centuries of philosophical work, no account of the weather had been proposed that could in certainty match those of the earliest authors...
    • Vladimir Janković (2000) Reading the Skies: A Cultural History of English Weather..., p. 139
  • A fundamental work in the history of agricultural chemistry, being the English translation by John Mills (d. ca. 1784) of Agriculturae Fundamenta Chemica (Uppsala, 1761), a dissertation prepared by Count G. A. Gyllenborg (fl. 1761) under the...
    • Roy G. Neville (2006) The Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library. p. 569

21th century

  • ... The most significant fact to be gleaned from the present work, a propos the author’s biography, is that Benjamin Franklin was his ‘highly respected friend’, and the work is permeated by Franklinian ideas. The Shepherd of Banbury, John Claridge by name, published The Shepherd’s Legacy in 1670, a text which was popular and which enjoyed a revival in the second half of the eighteenth century. Due to a cataloguing error, repeated by several bibliographers, it was for a long time denied that there ever had been such a personage.
    • "Mills (John): An Essay on the Weather" Note, at rarebooks.blackwell.co.uk. Accessed March 3, 2014.

-- Mdd (talk) 15:08, 20 March 2014 (UTC)/ 02:07, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Further command

From the above quotes some (preliminary) conclusions can be made:

  1. Regarding his year of birth, 1717 is an approximation
  2. Regarding his year of death, the "1786 or 1796" seem to originate from the ODNB 1894/2004, while multiple sources state 1794 as year of dead; which remains an approximation.
  3. Little is known about his early live. Some sources indicate that his had been a bank employee in London.
  4. From the above quotes there is no indication that he was "originally a writer on agricultural matters from England" before he "proposed and worked on the Encyclopédie with Gottfried Sellius" in 1742 (when he was about 26 years).
  5. John Mills was in France in 1743 working with G. Sellius on the translating Chambers Encyclopédie. Mills had been instrumental in starting the project.
  6. John Mills's translation skills were, most likely, insufficient, and the cooperation ended with a quarrel between Mills and the published Le Breton. The sources have different opinion on the question who deceived who.
  7. Mills returned to England, where his agricultural works in the 1760s became quite successful in England and France
  8. Other of his works, such as on bees and on the weather, are still noted once in a while.
  9. He was internationally decorated with memberships of several European agricultural societies.

-- Mdd (talk) 00:02, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, stating he was "originally a writer of agricultural matters" seems wrong. I'm not sure why some editor stated it that way. When I looked at the article 3 years ago , I didn't really overhaul the content but just added some material (after having written the German article), that is his publications and his career as an agricultural writer after his stint in France and the misfortune with the encyclopedie. So that line in the lead needs to be changed.
As for the other conclusions I more or less agree, that essentially what you can derive from the discussed sources and matches what the sources of the German article were saying.--Kmhkmh (talk) 08:02, 22 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I totally agree about the "more or less". I think the German article has found quite a good neutral tone to represent the events; the content mostly following John Lough (1971). In these matters I still try to make up my mind, especially about the following phrases (and the bigger question which source to follow):
  • ... the court decided that Mills's incompetence had warranted the attack. (in this article)
  • ... Mills had not done the work he was commissioned to do; in fact, he could barely read and write French, and did not even own a copy of Cyclopaedia. Furious at having been swindled, Le Breton beat Mills with a cane. Mills sued for assault, but Le Breton was acquitted in court as being justified (*) (in the Encyclopédie#Origins article, with a (*) reference to Blom, p. 35–38)
These two quotes obviously follow Philipp Blom (2004, p. 35–38), who gives quite an outspoken negative image of Mills...!? -- Mdd (talk) 23:33, 22 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

recent edits

As long as the content is that small it is sufficient to simply list the 2 sources it is based on under references at the end of the article. However there is of course nothing wrong with switching to footnotes anyway. Personally I'm fine with either way.

Unfortunately recent edits which introduced the footnotes also rearranged and changed content in such a way that Sellius gets confused with Mills and as a consequences some of the biographical information on Mills has become plain wrong. For that reason i simply reset the article to an earlier version, where the content was still correct. Feel free to readd footnotes, if you want, but please make sure the content stays correct and that you read/access the sources you reference.--Kmhkmh (talk) 14:37, 20 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

No problem to take a temporary step back. I did already noticed a discrepancy between the German source and the text, and took a closer look at the second source as well. I will look into it some more later on... (to be continued). -- Mdd (talk) 15:41, 20 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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