MAZEPPA, JOHN, the hero of one of Lord Byron's poems, was born about the middle of the seventeenth century, of a poor but noble family, in the palatinate of Podolia. At an early age he became a page at the court of John Casimir, King of Poland. After some time he returned to his native province; but engaging in an intrigue with a Polish matron of high rank, he was detected by the injured husband, and was sentenced to be bound naked on the back of an untamed horse. The animal on being let loose galloped off towards its native wilds of the Ukraine, and arrived there jaded and worn out. Mazzeppa half-dead and insensible, was released from his fearful position, and restored to animation by some poor peasants. In a short time, his agility, courage, and sagacity, rendered him popular among the Cossacks. He was appointed secretary and adjutant to Samoilowich, their hetman or chief, and succeeded that functionary in 1687. The title of prince was afterwards conferred upon him by his friend and patron, Peter the Great. Bent, however, upon casting off the Russian yoke, Mazzeppa became, in his seventieth year, an ally of the Swedish monarch, Charles XII. After the disastrous battle of Pultowa, fought, it is said, by his advice, he retired to Bender, and there he died in 1709.