M 1 T 
p.447, and Gent. Mag. May 1778. p. 209, jo, for fix dif- 
f. rent forms of archbifhop's mitres. 
Abbots wear the mitre turned in profile, and bear the 
crofier inwards, to fhow that they have no fpiritual jurif- 
didlion without their own cloifters. The pope has alfo 
granted to fome canons of cathedrals the privilege of 
wearing the mitre. The counts of Lyons are alfo faid to 
have afiifted at church in mitres. In Germany, feverai 
great families bear the mitre for their creft; to fhow that 
they are advocates, or feudatories, of ancient abbeys, or 
officers of bifhops, &c. The pope has four mitres, which 
are more or lefs rich, according to the folemnity of the 
.feaft-days they are to be worn on. 
The mitre was originally the women’s head-drefs, as 
the hat was that of the men. This appears from Remulus 
in Virgil, who reproaches the Trojans, that they were 
dreffied like women, and wore mitres : “ Et tunicas mani- 
cas & habent redimicula mitras.” The cardinals anciently 
wore mitres, before the hat, which was firft granted them 
by the council of Lyons, in 1243. Authors make no 
mention of the mitre as an epifcopal ornament, before 
the year 1000. 
Mitre, in architecture, is the workmen’s term for an 
angle that is juft 45 degrees, or half a right one. If the 
angle be a quarter of a right angle, they call it a half- 
mitre. To defcribe fucli angles, they have an inftrument 
called the mitre-Jquare ■, v.'ith this they ltrike mitre-lines 
on their quarters or battens ; and, for difpatch, they have 
a mitre-box, as they call it, which is made of two pieces of 
wood, each about an inch thick, one nailed upright on 
the edge of the other; the upper piece hath the mitre- 
liiies ftruck upon it'on both tides, and a kerf to dire 61 
the faw in cutting the mitre-joints readily, by only ap¬ 
plying the piece into this box. 
Mitre is ufed by the writers of Irith hi dory for a fort 
of bafe money, which was very common there about the 
year 1270, and for 30 years before and as many after. 
There were befides the mitre feverai other pieces, called, 
according to the figures impreffied upon them, rofaries, 
lionades, eagles, and by the like names. They were im¬ 
ported from France and other countries; and were fo 
much below the proper currency of the kingdom, that 
they were not worth fo much as a halfpenny each. They 
were at length decried in the year 1 300, and good coins 
ftruck in their place. Thele were the firft Iriih coins in 
which the fceptre was left out. They were ftruck in the 
reign of Edward, the fon of our Henry III. and are ftill 
found among the other antiquities of that country. They 
have the king’s head in a triangle full-faced. The penny, 
when well preferved, weighs 22 grains; the halfpenny 
log grains. 
MI'TRED, adj. Wearinga mitre ; adorned with a mi¬ 
tre. Huloet—Mitred abbots, among us, were thofe that 
were exempt from the diocefan’s jurifdidlion, as having 
within their own precindts epifcopal authority, and being 
lords in parliament were called abbots lovereign. Ay- 
liffe's Parcrgon. 
Shall the loud herald our fuccefs relate. 
Or mitred prieft appoint the folemn day ? Prior. 
The fane conventual there is dimly feen, 
The mitred window, and the cloifter pale. Mafoit. 
MITRE'KE, a town of Arabia, in the province of 
Oman : forty-four miles weft of Haffek. 
MITREO'LA, f. in botany. See Ophiorhiza. 
MI'TROVATZ, a town of Sclavonia: thirty-two miles 
eaft-north-eaft of Gradifca, and feventy-fix weft-north- 
weft of Peter Wardein. 
MI'TRY, a town of France: twelve miles north of 
Paris. 
MIT'TA, f. An ancient Saxon meafure. Its quan¬ 
tity is not certainly known ; but it is faid to be menfura 
decern modiorim, a meafure of ten bulhels. DoomJ'day .— 
Mitta, or mitcha, being befides a meafure for fait and corn, 
is ufed for the place where the cauldrons were put to boil 
M I T 59 5 
fait. “ Chalderias quoque ad fal conficiendmn cum pro- 
priis fedibus mitchce vocantur.” 
MITTAMPOU'R, a town of Hindooftan, in Rohil- 
cund : twenty miles fouth-weft of Biffowla. 
MITTAU', the capital of the duchy of Courland, the 
refidence of the duke, and the regency of the country. 
It is fituated on the river Aa, in that part of Courland 
called Semigallia. It is an extenfive town, but within its 
circuit contains a great many gardens and open places or 
areas. The houfes, for the moil part, have no particular 
elegance to attradl the eye ; and the walls and moats of 
the town are decayed. However, it is pretty well inha¬ 
bited. Here are two Lutheran churches, a beautiful Cal- 
viniftical church, completed in the year 1740, and a Po- 
pifli church. This city is alfo the feat of the regency, 
and fuperintendants of both duchies. The town-fchocl, 
though it is the principal in the whole country, is at pre- 
fent far from being in a flourifhing condition. The pa¬ 
lace, built by the late duke, is a great pile of buildings, 
containing a large and handfome iuite ot apartments, but 
almoft totally without furniture. It is fo magnificent, 
and upon fo large a fcale, for fo little a fovereignty, as 
almoft to juftify the witticifm of a traveller, who affirmed 
that the palace was larger than the dukedom, eftimating 
the country not from its fize, but from its trivial con- 
fequence in the fcale of the north. The academy, infti- 
tuted by the prefent duke at a conliderable expenfe, con¬ 
tained, in May 1785, eight profeffors, and only twenty 
ftudents. The Lettonians call this place Ielgawa. In 
1 795 > it contained 12,350 inhabitants; of whom 5120 were 
Germans, 3456 Lettonians, 1200 Jews, 243 Ruffians, See. 
In the yeaa’ 1809, it was the retreat of the ex-king of 
France, now Louis XVIII. but he was forced to quit it 
the following year. The French got pofleffion of it in 
July 1812. It is now under the protection of Ruffia. 
One hundred and forty miles north of Kdnigfberg, and 
fifty-fix weft of Riga. Lat. 56. 38. N. Ion. 23. 10. E. 
MIL'TBACH, a river of Germany, which runs into 
the Lahn two miles north of Braunfels. 
MI i'TELBERG, a mountain of Germany, in the 
fouth-eaft part of Swabia : two miles fouth of Oberlciorf. 
MIT'TELBUCHEN, a town of Germany, in the coun¬ 
ty of Hanau-Munzenburg: two miles north of Hanau. 
MIT'TELHAIT, a town of the duchy of Wurzburg: 
five miles eaft of Carlftadt. 
_ MIT'TELHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the prin¬ 
cipality ot Eifenach, on the Gera, anciently the fupreme 
feat of juftice in Thuringia : four miles north of Erfurt. 
MIT.'TELWALD, or Miedzibor, a town of Silefia, 
in the principality of Oels : fix miles north-north-weft of 
Wartenberg, andfixteennorth-eaftof Oels. Lat. 51. 23. N. 
Ion. 17.40. E. 
MIT'TELWALD, a town of Silefia, in the county of 
Glatz, on the Neiffe, near its fource, and on the borders 
ot Bohemia. It has often felt the ill effects of war. It is 
feventeen miles fouth of Glatz. Lat. 50. 2. N. Ion. 16. 
29. E. 
MIT'TENBERG, a town of Auftria: two miles fouth- 
eaft of Schwanaftat. 
MI rTEMDA'RII, f. Among the Romans, commif- 
fioners lent into the provinces by order of the preefedtus 
pratorii, or captain of the guards, upon fome public ac¬ 
count, as to infpedl the behaviour and management of 
provincial governors, and obferve whatever was amifs ; 
all which they were to lay before the prefedl, who had au¬ 
thority to remedy fuch abufes. 
MIT' rENS, J'. pi. [mitaines , Fr. It is faid that mit is 
the original word : whence mitten, the plural; and after¬ 
wards, by corruption, mittens, as in chicken.'] Coarfe gloves 
for the winter.—December mull be expreifed with a hor¬ 
rid afpedt; as alfo January, clad in Iriffi rug, holding in 
furred mittens the fign of Capricorn. Peacham on Drawing. 
•—Gloves that cover the arm without covering the fingers. 
MIT'TENT, adj. \mittens, Lat.] Sending forth; emit¬ 
ting.—-The fluxion proceedeth from humours peccant in 
quantity 
