in 1743 mills was in paris for the purpose of bringing out, in concert with gottfried sellius, a german historian, a french edition of ephraim chambers's "cyclopaedia;" 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.