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The Every Day Book of History and Chronology

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Title: The Every Day Book of History and Chronology

Author: Joel Munsell


        
Release date: October 24, 2013 [eBook #44028]
                Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVERY DAY BOOK OF HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY ***

Transcriber's note:

      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

      A complete list of corrections follows the text.





THE EVERY DAY BOOK OF HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY:

Embracing the Anniversaries of Memorable Persons and Events, in Every
Period and State of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time.

by

JOEL MUNSELL.


   "What hath this day done? What hath it deserved?"







New York:
D. Appleton & Co., 346 Broadway.
1858.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858,
by Joel Munsell,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern
District of New York.




PREFACE.


The object of this work, as will be seen, is to bring together the great
events of each day of the year, in all ages, as far as their dates can
be ascertained, and to arrange them chronologically. It has been
necessary to observe brevity in its compilation, in order to reduce it
within a proper compass. Hence notices of the most eminent men are often
confined to two or three lines, while individuals of less note have
occasionally received more attention, on account of the absence of ready
reference to them in books.

The dates are in accordance, it is believed, with the best authorities.
Great care has been taken to make them so, and nothing has been inserted
for which there was not at least some authority. Occasionally authors
have been found to disagree in days, months, and even years, and it has
been necessary to reconcile, as well as possible, such discrepancies.
Much of this confusion arises from the change in the calendar; some
authors following the old, others the new style, without informing us
which they adhere to. The protestant countries did not all adopt the new
style till 1777, about two centuries after the catholic authorities had
reformed the calendar. The Russians still use the Julian era, and are
now consequently twelve days behind the true time. With these
difficulties in the way, no ordinary vigilance ensures an entire freedom
from error in a work like this. The dates here, however, are made to
conform to the new style as far as practicable. In some cases where
different dates have been given, and it has been found impossible to
determine the true one, the article has been inserted under different
days with cross references. Repetitions have crept in however, which
could only be discovered in preparing the index. Errors of this kind are
perpetuated by a succession of authors following a wrong date, and are
exceedingly difficult to detect, or when suspected, not easily traced to
their origin. When dates have been taken from computations of time other
than the Christian era, it should be understood that the corresponding
day has been made to conform to our own era, and consequently perfect
accuracy can not be claimed for them.

It has been said that geography and chronology are the eyes of history;
in aiding to promote one of these sciences, the reader will not fail to
discover how great and varied is the amount of facts brought together,
rendering the work of use to persons of every age and calling. A
reference to the index will show more clearly the extent of the work.




EVERY DAY BOOK

OF

HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY.




JANUARY.


JANUARY 1.

154 B. C. It was fixed that the Roman consuls should always enter upon
their office on this day, and the years were named after them. On this
occasion they went in solemn procession to the Capitol to sacrifice to
Jupiter Capitolinus; after which the senate held a solemn session. Those
who had discharged the office of consul enjoyed the pre-eminence of rank
over the other senators. They were annually elected by the people till
the time of Tiberius, who ordered that they should be chosen by the
senate. The last consul after whom the year was named, was Barsilius, in
the year 541, in the reign of Justinianus.

38. B. C. The Spanish era, or era of the Cæsars, commenced, being the
year following the conquest of Spain by Augustus. It was much used in
Africa, Spain and the south of France; but was abolished by one kingdom
after another during the fourteenth century, and by Portugal 1555.

404. TELEMACHUS, or St. Almachus, whose story is the foundation of
Fenelon's famed work _Telemaque_, suffered martyrdom at Rome.

1109. The Festival of Fools was instituted at Paris, and continued
prosperous for 240 years. This, with the Lords of Misrule, and the
Abbots of Unreason, was doubtless designed to ridicule the Druidic
saturnalia.

1308. WILLIAM TELL, the Swiss patriot, associated himself on this day
with a band of his countrymen against the tyranny of their oppressors.

1349. EDWARD III, king of England, defeated the French before Calais
with great slaughter.

1504. Birthday of CASPER CRUCIGER, an extensive and multifarious
scholar, and a follower of Luther. He died 1548.

1515. LOUIS XII of France, surnamed _the father of the people_, died.
Notwithstanding the faults of his education, which had been purposely
neglected, he became a wise and politic monarch, who had the welfare and
improvement of his country in mind. Though extensively engaged in wars,
he avoided burdening the people with taxes--was economical, just and
magnanimous.

1513. JUAN DIAZ DE SOLIS, coasting the southern continent, discovered
the mouth of a river on this day, which in consequence he called Rio
Janeiro.

1516. JUAN DIAZ DE SOLIS again entered the Rio de Solis which he had
discovered three years previous. In attempting a descent on the country
he was slain by the natives, who in sight of the ship cut his body in
pieces, and roasted and devoured it. He was reputed the ablest navigator
in the world.

1523. Knights of Malta driven from the island of Rhodes by the Turks.

1537. JAMES V of Scotland married Magdalen, daughter of Francis I of
France.

1617. HENRY GOLTZIUS, a distinguished Dutch painter and engraver, died.
His father was a painter on glass, and gave his son instructions in the
art; but it was his own genius and application that raised him to the
rank he ultimately held among the best artists of the time.

1618. Charter of the first New Netherland company expired by its own
limitation.

1618. Birthday of BARTHOLOMEW ESTEBAN MURILLO, the greatest of all the
Spanish painters. He was employed by the churches and convents of
Seville a great number of years, which were enriched by the masterly
productions of his pencil, and procured for himself an independent
fortune. Having been invited to Cadiz, he there executed his grand
picture of St. Catharine; but just as he was about to finish it he was
dreadfully wounded on the scaffolding, and died at Seville, 1682.

1630. THOMAS HOBSON, the celebrated carrier of Cambridge, England,
died. One of the most general proverbial expressions in England
originated with him. He let to students and others horses, and his
practice was to secure equal portions of rest as well as work for each
horse. Hence when applied to for any, none but that which had its due
proportion of rest could be let. "This or none" was the answer. Hence
the phrase "Hobson's choice; this or none."

1644. MICHOB ADER, calling himself the Wandering Jew, appeared at Paris,
where he created an extraordinary sensation among all ranks. He
pretended to have lived sixteen hundred years, and that he had traveled
through all regions of the world. He was visited by the literati of the
city, and no one could accost him in a language that he was ignorant of;
he was also familiar with the history of persons and events from the
time of Christ, so that he was never confounded by intricate or
cross-questions; but replied readily and without embarrassment. The
learned looked upon him as a counterfeit, or madman, yet they took their
leave of him bewildered and astonished.

1651. CHARLES II crowned king of Scotland at Scone.

1661. A parliament met in Scotland.

1700. The Russians began their new year.

1715. WILLIAM WYCHERLEY died, aged 81, an eminent English dramatic
writer and comic poet.

1727. CLAUDE ADRIAN HELVETIUS died; a celebrated Dutch physician, who,
having obtained celebrity by introducing the use of ipecacuanha in
dysentery, was made inspector general of military hospitals, and died at
London.

1729. Great fog in London, persons lost their way in St. James' park,
and many fell into the canal.

1730. SAMUEL SEWALL, chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts
died.

1731. EDWARD CAVE printed the first number of the well known
_Gentleman's Magazine_.

1748. Birthday of GODFREY AUGUSTUS BURGER, a celebrated German poet, and
the writer of that whimsical satire, _Munchausen's Travels_.

1748. JOHN BERNOUILLI, a Swiss mathematician, died. He was born at Basil
in Switzerland, and educated for a merchant, but afterwards studied
medicine, and finally devoted his attention to mathematics with great
success. He was the contemporary of Leibnitz and De L'Hopital, and of
Newton. His labors in the science were indefatigable, and his works
contain an immense mass of discovery. But the details of his private
life exhibit an unusual degree of acerbity and disingenuousness.

1752. The new style commenced this day in England by act of parliament.
(See March 25.)

1757. Calcutta surrendered to the British under Admiral Watson, Colonel
Clive and Captain Coote.

1761. Great hurricane in the East Indies, destroying a part of the
British fleet; of the crews of three of the ships lost but 14 were saved
out of 1100.

1776. Norfolk Burnt. Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia,
having abandoned the town and retired on board his ships, became
distressed for provisions; and on the arrival of the Liverpool man of
war, the inhabitants refusing to supply his majesty's ships, the place
was reduced to ashes. The provincials themselves destroyed the houses
and plantations near the water, to deprive the ships of every resource
of supply.

1781. Revolt of the Pennsylvania line at Morristown, N. J. They had
enlisted for three years, and that term having expired they wished to be
discharged.

1787. ARTHUR MIDDLETON, a signer of the Declaration of Independence,
died. He was a native of South Carolina, born 1743, and educated in
England; and at the age of twenty-two made the tour of Europe. On the
breaking out of the war he engaged warmly on the side of the colonies.
In 1779 he distinguished himself in the defence of Charleston against
the British, who afterwards ravaged his plantation and rifled his
mansion, by which he suffered an immense loss of property; and in the
following year he was taken prisoner. On the termination of the contest
he returned to his native seat, and spent the remainder of his life in
elegant and philosophical ease--a model of private wealth and public
virtue; a firm patriot and an enlightened philanthropist.

1793. A beginning was made upon the Pennsylvania state canal, at
Conewago falls; seventeen rocks being blasted--one for each stockholder
of the canal company.

1794. The French convention abolished flogging in the army and navy and
substituted other punishments more congenial with the spirit of the
times.

1794. THOMAS PAINE and ANACHARSIS CLOOTS arrested by order of
Robespierre and sent to prison in Paris.

1797. ZEMAUN SHAH made his triumphal entry into Lahore, the capital of
the Sikhs, where he formed an army of 100,000 men with a view of
marching upon Delhi.

1798. Athenæum at Liverpool was opened.

1799. The French drove the king of Naples from his capital and forced
him to take refuge on board of a British man of war, in which he sailed
to Palermo.

1801. Union of Great Britain with Ireland.

1801. Ceres discovered by Piazzi, the astronomer, at Palermo.

1804. The numerous army which France had sent against the negroes of
Hayti being compelled by disasters to fly to St. Domingo, the general
and chiefs of the Haytian army entered into a solemn compact, in the
name of _the people of Hayti_; renouncing all dependence on France, and
appointed Dessalines, the oldest general, governor for life, with very
extensive powers.

1806. The French republican calendar abolished, and the Christian era
and reformed calendar restored.

1806. The elector of Wurtemberg proclaimed king of Swabia, and the
elector of Bavaria king of Bavaria.

1807. Curacoa surrendered to the British under Sir Charles Brisbane.

1810. There had died in Philadelphia during the year ending this day
2004 persons; the population including the Liberties was about 100,000.

1810. Married at East Haddam, Conn., nine young ladies, being all that
were marriageable at that time in the town.

1811. Tortosa in Valencia surrendered to the French under Suchet, who
took nearly 8000 prisoners, 177 cannons, and a large quantity of
provisions.

1811. Hamburgh formally annexed to France.

1811. Spanish cortes forbid the people obeying any act of Ferdinand XII,
while a prisoner of Bonaparte.

1813. JEAN MOURTRIE, a Frenchman, died at the age of 115. He was a
tilemaker, and continued his occupation to the age of 109. He was a
pattern of honor and integrity; his gaiety made the young fond of his
society; and his mild and even temper and kind disposition gained him
the love of all who knew him.

1814. Great fog in London, which had commenced on the 27th of December,
was now at its greatest density, extending seventy miles from the
metropolis. Many persons lost their lives by falling into the river, and
canals, and other places.

1814. The allied army entered France.

1814. American dragoons under Capt. Stone advanced on Buffalo,
accompanied by Lieuts. Riddle, Totman and Frazer, of the United States
regiment; the militia retiring, Totman was killed, and Riddle narrowly
escaped being captured.

1815. WILLIAM CREECH, bookseller and twice lord provost of Edinburgh,
died. He was a spirited writer.

1815. The British under Gen. Packenham opened a battery of two 18
pounders on the Americans at New Orleans; it was silenced the same day.
The Americans had a boat loaded with military stores sunk; 34 men killed
and wounded, and two caissons blown up by rockets. Gen. Thomas joined
Gen. Jackson same day with 660 men from Baton Rouge.

1816. WILLIAM HILLHOUSE died, aged 88; for more than 50 years a member
of the council and legislature of Connecticut.

1817. MARTIN HENRY KLAPROTH, a German chemist and philosopher, died. He
was born at Wernigerode 1743 and followed the profession of an
apothecary till 1788, when he became chemist to the Academy of Sciences
at Berlin.

1817. The new Bank of the United States opened at Carpenter's hall,
Philadelphia; Wm. Jones president, Jonathan Smith cashier.

1818. WILLIAM HARROD, an eccentric bookseller in Leicestershire, died.

1823. The French language abolished in the law courts of Holland, where
it had long been in use, and was prevalent in society.

1825. Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the South American
republics.

1835. CHARLES LAMB died. He was the author of the beautiful stories of
_Elia_, which are universally admired. His exquisite humor, fancy,
feeling and wit, have given an endurable character to his essays. The
bettering of the condition of mankind was his great aim, and he was in
the esteem of every philanthropist.

1835. First daily paper in Buffalo, New York.

1837. SAMUEL HULSE died at Chelsea Hospital, England, of which he had
been governor since 1820, aged 90. He entered the British army in the
year 1761, and at the time of his death had been upwards of three
quarters of a century in the military service, and was then field
marshal.

1837. Saphet in the Holy Land nearly destroyed by an earthquake. It is
said that this and a subsequent shock were both predicted by a Walachian
almanac maker.

1848. Girard college opened with appropriate ceremonies at Philadelphia.

1848. The state of Maryland repudiated repudiation, and resumed payment
of interest on her debt at the Chesapeake bank, Baltimore.

1852. FREDERICK PHILIPS ROBINSON, an American officer, died, aged 89; he
had been scarcely less than 75 years in the military ranks.

1854. Great fire at Constantinople destroyed 400 houses; among which
were those of the Greek patriarch, and the patriarch of Jerusalem.


JANUARY 2.

17. TITUS LIVIUS died at Padua. His history of Rome, to which he devoted
twenty years, rendered him so celebrated, that a Spaniard is said to
have gone from Cadiz to Rome for the purpose merely of seeing him. His
history was written in 140 books, of which only 35 are extant. Five of
these were discovered at Worms 1731, and some fragments are said to have
been since found at Herculaneum. Few particulars of his life are known,
but his fame was great even while he lived, and his history has made him
immortal.

17. PUBLIUS OVIDUS NASO, the Roman poet, died in exile at Tomos (a town
on the inhospitable coast of the Black sea), aged 60. He exhibited an
unconquerable predilection for poetry, and the ease and the enjoyments
of life, which his fortune placed within his power. He traveled in
Greece and Asia which added to his accomplishments; his works were
adapted to the public taste, and he was esteemed by the learned: Horace
and Virgil were his friends, and he was a welcome visitor at the court
of Augustus. Until his fiftieth year he appears to have lived almost
solely for poetry and pleasure. He might have hoped to pass the
remaining years of his life in peace, under the shadow of his laurels,
but he was suddenly banished by Augustus, for some unknown cause. His
_Metamorphoses_, and _Art of Love_ are often republished in our
language. He painted nature with a masterly hand, and his genius
imparted elegance to vulgarity; but impurity defiles the sweetness of
his numbers, and his finest productions are sullied with licentiousness.

1547. Conspiracy of Genoa, headed by John Lewis Fiesco; his being
drowned in the night, occasioned the failure of the scheme, in the very
moment of success.

1604. The Jesuits reinstated in France.

1731. A reprieve sent to a prisoner at Newgate on condition he would
suffer Mr. Chiselden to make an experiment on the tympanum of his ear.
The experiment was never performed.

1741. JOHN BARBER, printer to the city of London, and the first printer
that rose to the rank of mayor, died.

1757. Calcutta retaken by the English and permitted to be fortified by
the subah.

1758. The Whitefield methodists observed this day in thanksgiving for
the victories of the king of Prussia in favor of England.

1759. The French surprised and captured Frankfort on the Maine.

1766. JAMES EDWARD FRANCIS STUART, the Pretender, died. He was the
eldest son of James II, born at London 1688. He was five months old when
his father was dethroned, and the royal family fled to France. His elder
sister Anne afterwards came to the throne, and some effort was made to
secure his own succession; but it does not appear that he entered into
the project with much spirit.

1771. LEWIS CÆSAR, count d'Estrees, marshal of France, and minister of
state, died aged 76. He distinguished himself in the war against Spain,
and afterwards in 1741, wherein his bravery was conspicuous and his
services meritorious. In 1756 he was placed at the head of the French
forces in Germany, but was superceded by Richelieu through intrigue.

1774. The coffin of EDWARD I opened by a deputation from the society of
antiquarians, after it had been buried 467 years. In a coffin of yellow
stone they found the royal body in perfect preservation, enclosed in two
wrappers; one of them was gold tissue, strongly waxed and fresh; the
other and outermost considerably decayed. The corpse was habited in a
rich mantle of purple lined with white and adorned with ornaments of
gilt metal, studded with red and blue stones and pearls. Two similar
ornaments lay on the hands. The mantle was fastened on the right
shoulder by a magnificent _fibula_ of the same metal, with the same
stones and pearls. His face had over it a silken covering, so fine, and
so closely fitted to it, as to preserve the features entire. Round his
temples was a gilt coronet of _fleur de lys_. In his hands, which were
also entire, were two sceptres of gilt metal; that in the right
surmounted by a cross fleure, that in the left by three clusters of oak
leaves, and a dove on a globe. The feet enveloped in the mantle and
other coverings were sound and the toes distinct. Its length was 6 feet
2 inches.

1777. Cannonading at Trenton; the British repulsed in their attempt to
cross Sanpink creek bridge. In the night Gen. Washington retired leaving
his fires burning.

1780. The Dutch admiral, Count Byland, refusing to permit the British
admiral, Fielding, to search his convoy, an action ensued, and the Dutch
ships, two of the line and two frigates, surrendered; after detaining
seven of the convoy, the Dutch admiral had permission to proceed; but he
refused without the whole of his charge, and therefore sailed into
Spithead.

1788. Georgia ratified the Constitution of the United States, without
amendment, being the fourth state to do so.

1795. JOSIAH WEDGEWOOD, the inventor of the scale that bears his name in
the thermometer for determining the different degrees of metallic heat,
died at his residence in England.

1801. JOHN GASPER CHRISTIAN LAVATER died. He was born at Zurich, in
Switzerland, where his father was a physician of skill and reputation.
In 1763 he traveled in Germany; in 1767 appeared as a poet; and in 1769
as a preacher of much popularity. All his activity was devoted to
religion until he undertook his work on physiognomy. This great work in
4 vols. quarto, in which he had collected the features of distinguished
persons from all parts of the world, made him known throughout Europe.
He published several other works, and became so popular that his
journeys resembled triumphs. On the capture of Zurich by Massena, he
received a shot while assisting the wounded in the street, which
although he lived more than a year, and wrote several works, was the
cause of his death.

1809. Two French ships of war and eleven victualers, proceeding to
Barcelona, were captured in the port of Caldagues by the British under
Lord Cochrane.

1809. Penguin island, at the cape of Good Hope, sank, and is now only
known to mariners by name.

1810. Orders were received from Paris by Murat, king of Naples, to seize
and immediately dispose of all American vessels and cargoes.

1814. Dantzic surrendered to the duke of Wurtemberg.

1815. The prince regent of England extended the military order of Bath,
and divided it into three classes, namely: 1. Knights grand crosses; 2.
Knights commanders; 3. Companions.

1816. LOUIS BERNARD GUYTON DE MORVEAU, a French chemist, died. He was
born at Dijon 1737, and distinguished himself in 1773 by the invention
of the method of purifying the air by means of chlorine. He was an
upright, able, eloquent and business man; and founded a school at Dijon
for the study of his favorite science, chemistry. He was a member of the
national assembly and convention at the time of the revolution, and
assisted to establish the polytechnic school.

1827. JOHN MASON GOOD, an English physician, poet and philological
writer, died. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a surgeon; in 1793
removed to London, and by talent and perseverance, succeeded in
establishing both a literary and professional fame. He was a voluminous
writer, and the extent and variety of his works evince the greatest
industry, and a retentive and orderly mind. He acquired thirteen
European and Asiatic languages, and at the time of his death had just
completed a translation of the Psalms.

1829. Forty men and thirty horses destroyed by an explosion of fire damp
in a mine near Lyons, France.

1831. BERTHOLD GEORGE NIEBUHR the historian, died. He was the son of
Niebuhr the traveler, born at Copenhagen 1777, and finished his
education at Edinburgh. He traveled much and received great attention
wherever he went. In 1810 he delivered his lectures on Roman history at
Berlin; and in 1815, on the death of his father, planned and published
his biography. In 1827 he published the first volume of a remodeled
edition of his Roman history; the second volume appeared a few months
before his death, leaving the third unpublished.

1835. ROBERT HINDMARSH, the most distinguished among those who supported
the religious views of Emanuel Swedenborg, died at Gravesend.

1837. JOHN CUFFEE, a negro slave, died at Norfolk, Va., at the
remarkable age of about 120 years. He was a native of Africa, was sold
as a slave in the island of Barbadoes, and brought to Norfolk about
1740.

1850. GEORGE BLATTERMAN, professor of modern languages in the Virginia
university, died at Charlottesville.

1853. A new and stringent law against the liberty of the press was
published in Spain.

1857. ANDREW URE, author of the _Dictionary of Arts_, died at London,
aged 89.


JANUARY 3.

456. B. C. MYRONIDES the Athenian general defeated the Bœotians at
Enophyta.

106. B. C. Birthday of MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, the Roman orator.

1641. JEREMIAH HORROX, an English astronomer, died. He seems to have
been the first to observe the transit of Venus over the sun's disc, from
which he deduced many useful observations, though not aware of the full
importance of that phenomenon.

1661. Secretary PEPYS seeing the comedy of the _Beggars' Bush_ performed
at Lincoln Inn Fields, says: "And here the first time that ever I saw
women upon the stage."

1670. GEORGE MONK, duke of Albemarle, died. He entered the British army
at an early age; and in 1639 was engaged in the unfortunate expedition
of Charles I against the Scots. He was confined three years in the Tower
under the parliament, during which he wrote a work on military and
political affairs; but finally accepted a commission in the republican
army against the Irish, the Scotch and the Dutch. But at the death of
the Protector he employed his influence to reinstate the Stuarts. In
1666 he was again employed against the son of his old antagonist Tromp,
in which the English fleet was much damaged, and both claimed the
victory.

1717. LAMBERT BOSS, an eminent Dutch philologist, died. He was born in
Friesland 1670; studied under his father who was a clergyman, became
private tutor in a family of rank, and subsequently professor of Greek
in the university of Franeker. He was an indefatigable student, and
regretted every moment which could not be devoted to his favorite
pursuit. The number and character of his works mark his industry.

1724. PHILIP V of Spain abdicated the throne in favor of his son Louis;
but he dying the same year, Philip resumed the crown again.

1730. The Turks began to learn the art of war and fortification after
the European model, from Count Bonneval of France, who became a
Musselman.

1777. Battle of Princeton, N. J., between the British and a division of
the American army, under General Washington. The British lost 100 men,
and 300 more who had taken refuge in the college, were forced to
surrender.

1795. JOSIAH WEDGEWOOD died. His father was a Staffordshire potter, to
whose business he succeeded, and soon distinguished himself by his
discoveries and improvements, insomuch that in a few years England,
instead of importing the finer earthen wares, was enabled to supply her
neighbors. He was a scientific, as well as an active and enterprising
man--and benevolent withal.

1797. Three of the large stones in the antique pile at Stonehenge in
England fell, the smallest of which weighed 20 tons. They were loosed,
it was supposed, by the severe frost of that season.

1805. CHARLES TOWNLEY, an English antiquarian, died. He employed his
liberal fortune in the collection of rare manuscripts and relics of
ancient art, and died at the age of 68, bequeathing his collection of
antiquities to the British Museum.

1805. ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN, lord of Rosslyn, died. He distinguished
himself as a lawyer, and was appointed solicitor general in 1771, in
which office he is _remarkable_ for having insulted Franklin in arguing
on American affairs before the privy council. He joined the
administration under Pitt, in 1793, and succeeded Lord Thurlow as
chancellor; from which office he retired in 1801, with the title of Earl
of Rosslyn. He is the author of a work on the management of prisons.

1815. British frigate Junon, Capt. C. Upton, captured the American
privateer Guerrier, of 4 guns and 60 men, from Portsmouth, N. H.

1844. LEVI HEDGE, author of a treatise on logic and editor of an
improved abridgment of Dr. Brown's _Lectures on the Philosophy of Mind_,
died at Cambridge, England.

1847. JOHN SHEPHERD, a soldier of the revolution, died at Royalton,
Ohio, aged 119.

1853. The Pantheon in Paris reopened as the church of St. Genevieve.


JANUARY 4.

100. TITUS, disciple of St. Paul, died at Crete.

1569. Burial of ROGER ASCHAM, at St. Sepulchre's, London. He was a man
of learning, and author of numerous works, among others, _The
Schoolmaster_.

1649. Some barrels of gunpowder exploded and destroyed 60 houses in
Tower street, London. A child in its cradle was found alive and unhurt
on the roof of Barking church.

1689. Col. HENRY SLOUGHTER appointed governor of New York.

1698. The palace, except the banqueting house, of White-hall palace, in
England, destroyed by fire.

1707. LOUIS WILLIAM I, marquis of Baden-Baden, died. He was born at
Paris 1655, where his mother wished to educate him; but his father and
grandfather stole him away at the age of three months, that he might
pass his childhood among the people whom he was destined to govern. He
served his first campaign under Montellucco against Turenne. He was in
Vienna when that city was besieged by the Turks, and subsequently
commanded against the Turks in the Danube. He was one of the greatest
generals of his time; made 26 campaigns, commanded at 25 sieges, fought
at 13 battles, yet was never really defeated.

1753. The first number of _The World_ appeared, conducted by Coleman,
Bonnell Thornton, Chesterfield, and others.

1762. England declared war against Spain.

1773. The town meeting of Petersham, Mass., adopted a kind of manifesto
of grievances, drafted by Josiah Quincy and signed by Sylvanus How.

1775. A circular letter from the British secretary of state was
addressed to the governor of the several colonies, forbidding the
election of delegates to the congress proposed to be held in May. The
order was disregarded, and the country has not been without its annual
sessions of congress since 1774.

1778. The British, under Col. Campbell, landed at the mouth of Savannah
river, Ga., and defeated the Americans under Gen. Robert Howe. They took
the city of Savannah, together with 38 officers, 415 privates, 48
cannons, 23 mortars, the fort, ammunition and stores, the shipping in
the river, and a large quantity of provisions.

1781. British ship Courageux, Capt. Phipps, captured in one hour the
French frigate Minerva 32 guns. Minerva had 50 killed, 23 wounded;
Courageux 10 killed, 7 wounded.

1784. Treaty signed between the United States and Great Britain; by
which the latter relinquished her right to the sovereignty of the
revolted colonies.

1789. THOMAS NELSON, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died.
He was born at York, Va., 1738. His father was an opulent merchant and
sent him to England for an education. He returned 1761, and in 1774 had
become a statesman of some note. Three years afterwards he was appointed
brigadier general and commander in chief of the Virginia forces, and in
1781 succeeded Jefferson as governor of the state. His services elicited
the public thanks of Washington.

1793. The Alien bill passed in the British parliament. During the debate
on this measure the great Burke threw upon the floor a Sheffield dagger
to enforce his oratory.

1795. The French crossed the Waal near Bommel, and took possession of
Tiel. They also captured Rosas and 540 of the garrison.

1796. Message from Gen. Washington to congress, accompanied by the
French flag presented by the committee of public safety, which was
deposited among the archives.

1804. CHARLOTTE LENOX, the popular author of the _Female Quixotte_, &c.,
died.

1814. JOHN GEORGE JACOBI, a German poet, died. He was the son of a
wealthy merchant; studied theology; became professor of theology and
eloquence at Halle, where he published a periodical for the ladies
called the _Iris_. He was afterwards connected with several periodicals.
His works are published in 7 vols.

1825. FERDINAND IV of Naples died. The life of this prince is remarkable
for the uncommon length of his reign, and its many vicissitudes,
embracing a period of 65 years, and being closely connected with all the
great events of Europe during the last half century. He was born 1751,
and came to the throne at the age of eight. The first thirty years of
his reign were attended with peace and happiness; but in 1798 the
country was invaded by Bonaparte, before whom Ferdinand fled to Sicily:
and afterwards in 1820 the Carbonari effected a revolution which again
banished the royal family. The interposition of the Austrians, however,
restored the ancient order of things, which continued till the death of
the king, four years after.

1827. JAMES CHAMBERS, an eccentric poet, died in misery at a farm-house
in Stratbroke, England. From the age of 16 to 70 he wandered about the
country, gaining a precarious subsistence by selling his own effusions,
of which he had a number printed in a cheap form. His compositions were
mostly suggested to him by his muse, during the stillness of the night
while reposing in some friendly barn or hay-loft. When so inspired, he
would arise and commit the effusion to paper. He continued through life
in hopeless poverty, and was a lonely man and a wanderer, who had
neither act nor part in the common ways of the world.

1835. Thermometer 40 deg. below zero, at Lebanon, N. Y., the mercury
becoming solid. It was severely cold throughout the United States.

1843. STEVEN THOMPSON MASON, formerly governor of Michigan, died at New
York, aged 31.

1845. BENJAMIN RUSSELL, chiefly known as the conductor of the _Columbian
Centinel_, died at Boston.

1849. SAMUEL JENKINS, a negro died at Lancaster, aged 115. He drove his
master's provision wagon over the Alleganies in Braddock's expedition,
and was supposed to be the last survivor of that expedition.

1849. The town of Moultan in India, after a long siege was taken by the
British, but with great loss.

1852. ELIOT WALBURTON, an author of considerable note, perished in the
Amazon steamship, on his way from Southampton to the West Indies.

1853. Mr. INGERSOLL, the American envoy to England, was feted by the
chamber of commerce at Liverpool.

1854. Albion college, Michigan, destroyed by fire.

1856. JEAN PIERRE DAVID, a celebrated French sculptor, died at Paris,
aged 65.


JANUARY 5.

62. B. C. LUCIUS SERGIUS CATILINE, the Roman conspirator, killed in
Etruria. The history of his life unfolds a series of most revolting
crimes; but there is reason to believe that some of them are unreal.
Murder, rapine and conflagration, were the first pleasures of his life.
Pompey, Crassus and Cæsar favored his schemes with a view to their own
aggrandizement. Only two Romans remained determined to uphold their
falling country--Cato and Cicero. The speeches of the latter in the
Roman senate on the crisis of affairs are imperishable monuments of
eloquence and patriotism, and produced the overthrow of the
conspirators. Five of them were put to death, and Catiline being
surrounded by the army under Petreius resolved to die sword in hand. The
battle was fought with desperation, and the insurgents fell, with their
leader at their head.

1066. EDWARD the Confessor, king of England, died. He was called to the
throne 1041. He was not the immediate heir, but his claim was supported
of Godwin, earl of Kent, whose daughter Editha he married. He was a weak
and superstitious prince, and acquired the title of _Saint_ or
_Confessor_, by abstaining from nuptial connection with his queen. He
was the first English monarch who undertook to cure the _king's-evil_ by
touching the patient. With him ended the Saxon line of kings.

1477. CHARLES the Bold, duke of Burgundy, killed in battle on this or
the following day. This prince, the son of Philip the Good and Isabella
of Portugal, early displayed a violent, impetuous and ambitious
disposition; and in after life was constantly embroiled in unjust and
cruel warfare, in which he performed many daring exploits. But having
turned his arms against the Swiss, the fortune of war turned against
him; and being deserted by his allies, with his usual temerity risked a
battle with only 4000 men against a vastly superior force, was defeated
and killed by the thrust of a lance in the 44th year of his age. His
body covered with blood and mire, and his head imbedded in the ice, was
not found till two days after the battle, when it was so disfigured that
his own brother did not recognize it. With him expired the feudal
government of Burgundy.

1531. The electoral college assembled at Rome and elected Ferdinand,
brother of Charles V, king of the Romans. He was crowned a few days
after at Aix-la-Chapelle.

1536. CATHARINE OF ARRAGON, the repudiated queen of Henry VIII, died.
She was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, born 1483. She
was first married to Arthur, prince of Wales, who died five months
after; and the king unwilling to return her dowry caused her to be
contracted to his remaining son, Henry. The prince, at the age of 15,
made a public protest against this proceeding, but finally consented to
the match. Notwithstanding the inequality of their ages and the
capricious disposition of the king, they had been married 20 years when
the division took place. This separation led to a divorce from the pope
also, and was the cause of mighty effects.

1559. CATHARINE DE MEDICIS died. She was born at Florence 1519; married,
1533, the dauphin, afterwards Henry II, of France. She was three times
regent of France, and during her administration made a conspicuous
figure in the annals of Europe by her political genius. By her was begun
the palace of the Tuilleries; but the lasting monument of her fame and
iniquity is the massacre of St. Bartholomew's, which was brought about
by her intrigues, when more than 50,000 protestants were massacred in
one day.

1621. PAUL VAN SOMER died in London. He was born at Antwerp, 1576, and
arrived at great proficiency as a painter. His pencil was chiefly
employed on portraits of royal and eminent personages, and is said to
have equalled Vandyke.

1636. DE VRIES, who had recently arrived from Holland in the capacity of
a patroon, sent his colonists over to Staten island from fort Amsterdam,
to commence the colony and buildings.

1675. TURENNE defeated the imperialists at Turkheim.

1705. Second volcanic opening of the peak of Teneriffe, in the ravine of
Almerchiga, a league from Icore. It closed on the 13th of the same
month.

1722. BELL, the Traveler, arrived at Moscow on the return from China.
(See July 14, 1719.) The account of this journey, and of what he saw and
learned at Pekin, is the most valuable part of his book, and one of the
best and most interesting relations ever written by any traveler.

1724. CZARTAN PETRARCH died, aged 184, at a village near Temeswar, in
Hungary. He was born in the year 1539; and at the time the Turks took
Temeswar from the Christians he was employed in keeping his father's
cattle. A few days before his death he had walked with the help of a
stick to the post house to ask charity of the travelers. His hair and
beard were of a greenish-white color, like mouldy bread; and he had a
few of his teeth remaining, and enjoyed a little eyesight. His son, who
was ninety-seven years of age, declared that his father had married at
an extreme age, for the third time, and that he was born in this last
marriage. He had descendants in the fifth generation, with whom he
sometimes sported, carrying them in his arms. His son, though
ninety-seven, was still fresh and vigorous. The commandant of Temeswar
on learning of his sickness, caused his portrait to be painted, and it
was nearly finished when he expired.

1757. DAMIENS attempted the assassination of Louis XV, for which he was
condemned to the most cruel tortures, and finally quartered by four
horses. (See March 28.)

1764. A comet was first seen at Tewkesbury, England, near two small
stars in the hand of Bootes.

1776. The New Hampshire provincial convention resolved to change the
form of government.

1781. ARNOLD invaded Virginia with 1500 British troops; he marched to
Richmond, destroyed the public stores and buildings, the rope-walk, and
much private property.

1781. The British ship Warwick, Capt. Elphinstone, captured the Dutch
ship Rotterdam, 50 guns and 300 men; the first material capture during
that war.

1782. Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon, taken by the British under
admiral Sir Edward Hughes.

1783. Onore, situated between Panian and Bombay, taken by assault by the
British Gen. Matthews; the garrison and many of the inhabitants were
cruelly slaughtered.

1795. The French attacked the British Gen. Dundas at Geldermalsem, and
compelled him to fall back to Buren; and afterwards the whole force of
Gen. Walmoden to cross the Leck.

1795. The British ships Bellona and Alarm captured the French ship Le
Dumas of 20 guns, off Deseada.

1796. SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, died. He was born at Windham, Ct., 1732; his father being
a farmer could allow him only a common school education; but his own
assiduity made up the deficiency, so that at the age of 22 he commenced
the study of the law with borrowed books; in 1764 he was sent to the
general assembly; 1765 appointed king's attorney; 1774 raised to the
bench of the supreme court; 1775 sent a delegate to the general congress
of the colonies, and in 1779 succeeded John Jay as president of
congress. At the time of his death he was governor of Connecticut.

1797. British ship Polyphemus, Capt. Lumesdaine, captured the French
ship L'Uranie, 38 guns, off Ireland.

1798. A bill passed the house in congress paying Kosciusko $12,800; and
the four daughters of count de Grasse $400 each per annum for five
years.

1799. Treaty of defensive alliance between England and Turkey.

1806. Breslaw surrendered to the French under Vandamme; Lieut. Gen. De
Thile, Maj. Gen. Krafti and 5500 Prussians taken.

1807. British sloop Nautilus, Capt. Palmer, lost on a rock near Peri, in
the archipelago of the Seven islands. The captain refused to leave the
vessel, and was lost in his 26th year.

1809. The British rear guard under Sir John Moore attacked by the French
van guard under Soult. Gen. Colbert, aged 30, was mortally wounded, and
the French were compelled to fall back.

1812. The French Gen. LEVAL was compelled to abandon the siege of
Tariffa, defended by the British, Col. Skerritt.

1814. Gluckstadt surrendered to the British.

1814. British ships Bacchante and Saracen captured the fortress of
Cattaro after a cannonade of ten days.

1827. FREDERICK, duke of York, died. He was the second son of George
III, born in 1763; 1787 took his seat in the house of peers; 1789 fought
a duel, firing his pistol in the air; 1791 married the eldest daughter
of the king of Prussia, from whom he afterwards separated; 1793 went to
Flanders at the head of the British army, and in the end showed himself
unequal to the station; 1809 was called to account by the house of
commons for the follies committed in the army through the influence of a
female favorite; 1818 was appointed the _keeper of his father_, with a
salary of £10,000. Although enjoying princely salaries and pensions he
died universally lamented by his tailors and other creditors to the
amount of some hundred thousands of pounds.

1841. JAMES ABRAHAM HILLHOUSE, an eminent American poet, died at New
Haven, Ct., aged 51.

1845. The national debt of England amounted at this time to
£794,193,645.

1849. The discovery of the magnetic clock by Dr. Locke of Ohio,
announced to the secretary of the navy by Lieutenant Maury of the
National observatory.

1852. EUGENE LEVESQUE died at Paris, aged 81; author of travels in
America.

1852. BENJAMIN LA ROCHI died at Paris, aged 54; French translator of
Shakespeare.

1852. BARON KEMENYI, a Hungarian chief, eminent for his patriotism and
exploits in the struggle with Austria and Russia, died aged 53.

1853. CHARLES W. MORGAN, an American commodore, died, aged 63. He was a
nephew of Gen. Morgan of the revolution, and distinguished himself in
the action between the Constitution and the Guerriere.

1853. Revolution in Mexico; Gen. Arista resigned, and Cevallos elected
president ad interim.

1854. The steamer San Francisco, which had withstood a heavy gale, was
foundered at sea. Of 700 persons on board 247 had been washed overboard
before assistance arrived.

1855. Gen. CASTILLA defeated Pres. Echenique and entered Lima in
triumph.

1855. The entire Victoria bridge across the St. Lawrence, carried away
by the ice.


JANUARY 6.

1402. Birthday of JOAN OF ARC.

1540. HENRY VIII married Anne, daughter of John, duke of Cleves. This
was his fourth wife. He had asked her hand in marriage after having seen
a portrait of her by Holbein; and becoming disgusted with her in six
months bestowed upon her the epithet of _Flanders mare_, and sent her
home. She retired, not much disconcerted, to her own country, where she
died 1557.

1649. ANNE OF AUSTRIA, queen regent of France, obliged to fly from Paris
to St. Germain.

1698. Birthday of METASTASIO, the celebrated Italian poet.

1711. CHRISTOPHER BATEMAN, a noted English bookseller, died. He suffered
none to open a book in his shop till it was bought.

1724. The bishop of London preached a sermon against masquerades, which
produced a decree that no more than six masquerades, the number already
subscribed for, should be held.

1725. Pope BENEDICT XIII, in great state and measured ceremony, opened
with a golden hammer the _holy gates_ of the four great churches which
had been shut 25 years, for obtaining indulgences, &c.

1734. JOHN DENNIS, an English dramatist and critic, died. He was the son
of a saddler, born in London 1657, and liberally educated. His first
play appeared in 1697, and was followed by many dramatic pieces and
poems which were sufficiently worthless to procure their author an
imperishable notoriety in the _Dunciad_, where Pope has gibbeted him. He
squandered a fortune which had been left him by an uncle, and not being
able to subsist by his pamphlets and criticisms for the magazines,
depended upon his friends for a living; and even those whom he had made
his enemies joined in the benefit for him at the Haymarket theatre,
after he had become blind and partially insane. One of his plays, which
was condemned, is famous for a new kind of thunder introduced in it; a
few nights after its representation, the players made use of the
contrivance in Macbeth, when the author rose in the pit and with an oath
claimed it as his thunder. His _thunder_ is said to be that still used
in the theatres.

1738. JEAN BAPTIST LABAT, a missionary and traveler, died. He was born
at Paris 1663, and became a Dominican priest in Norway, where he taught
mathematics and philosophy also. In 1693 he embarked for Martinique as a
missionary; and during several voyages in service of the mission,
visited all the Antilles. When the English attacked the island of
Guadaloupe, he rendered his country important services as an engineer.
He afterwards traveled much in Europe, and published his travels. His
voyage to the West Indies has been translated into several languages,
and is a truly scientific work.

1763. Unsuccessful and very disastrous attack by two English ships on
Buenos Ayres. The commodore and nearly 300 of the crew were drowned.

1766. The wild man PETER taken in the Hartz forest and presented to
George II, was brought from Cheshunt and shewn to George III and his
queen. Like Shakespeare's Caliban, he could bring wood and water but not
articulate any language.

1777. The American army, under Gen. Washington, went into winter
quarters at Morristown, N. J.

1781. ARNOLD detached Lieut. Col. Simcoe, from Richmond to Westham, Va.,
who destroyed the cannon foundry and a quantity of public stores which
had been removed from Richmond.

1785. The Halsewell, East Indiaman, Capt. Richard Pearce, wrecked on the
island of Purbeck; of 240 persons but 74 were saved.

1794. The duke of Brunswick resigned his command as generalissimo of the
coalition against France.

1795. French frigate La Pique, 33 guns, captured off Marigalante by the
British frigate Blanche, Capt. Faulkner, who was shot through the heart;
also 7 of his crew killed and 21 wounded. La Pique had 76 killed, 113
wounded, and 30 were lost when her mast went overboard.

1810. JAMES RICHARD DACRES died of a fall from his horse. He was
vice-admiral of the Red, and father of the Capt. Dacres captured by
Hull.

1813. ALEXANDER issued his ukase at Wilna, directing the foundation
stone of a new church to be instantly laid in Moscow, dedicated to
_Christ our Savior_, as a perpetual monument to future generations of
the deliverance of Russia from the French, and the devotion of his
people.

1816. FRANCIS NORODSKY, a Polish gentleman, died at Warsaw, aged 125.
The Polish government allowed him a pension of 3000 florins, which the
emperor Alexander continued till his death.

1817. General THOMAS died, at Milledgeville, Georgia, of cancer in the
mouth.

1823. The siege of Missolonghi raised. Mavrocordato, the commander in
chief, had thrown himself into the town on the 5th of November with 380
men, and 22 Suliots under Marco Botzaris, and though almost destitute of
artillery and ammunition, defended it against the Turkish forces. On the
23d November it was relieved by sea, and the enemy were repulsed in
several assaults, when they finally abandoned the walls.

1831. Died at Geneva, RODOLPHE KREUTZER, a distinguished violinist and
musical composer.

1836. ABRAHAM VAN VECHTEN died at Albany, aged 75. He was a highly
respected man, an eminent lawyer, and one of the fathers of the New York
bar.

1839. A tremendous gale or hurricane in the west of England, which did
great damage at Liverpool.

1840. Madame D'ARBLAY, the well known novelist, Miss Burney, died at
Bath. Lord Chancellor Thurlow said her _Cecilia_ was worth all the books
in his library.

1841. Great freshet in the Hudson river and tributaries.

1849. GEORGE SINNET, a native of Germany, the last survivor of Gen.
Wolfe's army, died at Brighton, Nova Scotia, aged 120.

1854. Russians defeated at Citale, near Kalafat, with a loss of 2500
men.


JANUARY 7.

1328. EDWARD II of England deposed by parliament, and his son, Edward
III, proclaimed king.

1558. Calais, in France, retaken by the French after a short siege of
one week, having been in the possession of the English 200 years, during
which it had become a thriving place, and the seat of a considerable
trade in wool.

1610. GALILEI discovered the satellites of Jupiter.

1657. THEOPHILUS EATON, first governor of the colony at New Haven, died.
Before coming to America he was employed by the king as an agent at the
court of Denmark. He was one of the original patentees of Massachusetts.
On the settlement of New Haven he was chosen governor, for which office
his integrity, dignity and wisdom peculiarly fitted him, and which he
filled till his death.

1681. The commons of England resolved that till a bill be passed,
excluding the duke of York from the throne, no supplies could be
granted without danger to the state.

1692. The philosophical ROBERT BOYLE died leaving a sum of money for a
monthly sermon against atheism.

1715. FRANCOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTTE FENELON, died. He preached his
first sermon at the age of 15; and he was distinguished for learning and
piety. The celebrated romance, _Telemaque_, was published against his
will by the treachery of his servant, and involved him in difficulties
with the king, who considered it a satire upon his reign. During the
revolution of 1793 his coffin was dug up to furnish lead for bullets. In
1819 a monument was erected to his memory by public subscription, and in
1826 a statue by the sculptor David was placed at Cambray. The age in
which he lived could not appreciate his worth.

1740. A rock fell on a large number of young people while at play on the
first Monday of the year, at Kirkaldy, Scotland.

1758. ALLAN RAMSAY, a Scottish poet and author of the _Gentle Shepherd_,
died.

1767. THOMAS CLAP, an American mathematician and natural philosopher,
died. He graduated at Harvard college, and by singular industry made
great acquisitions in almost every branch of learning. In 1739 he was
elected president of Yale college, and continued in that office till the
year before his death. He constructed the first orrery in America.

1779. LAFAYETTE embarked at Boston, in the frigate Alliance, for France.

1779. _The Mirror_, appeared at Edinburgh, to which Mackenzie the
novelist was a principal contributor.

1782. The Bank of North America opened for business in Philadelphia. It
was the first bank regularly established in America.

1785. Mr. BLANCHARD, the æronaut, accompanied by Mr. Jeffries, an
American gentleman, made the bold attempt to cross the British channel,
from Dover to Calais, in a balloon filled with inflammable air, then
beginning to be used. They left the English coast at 10 o'clock, and at
half-past two, reached the French side, a distance of twenty-three
miles.

1798. The French army under General Menard, entered Switzerland with a
design to revolutionize the cantons after the model of the French
republic.

1806. PAULINUS, better known as John Philip Werdin, died at Rome. He was
one of the first Europeans who acquired a knowledge of the Sanscrit
language.

1807. British order in council prohibiting neutrals from trading from
one port of France or her allies to another, or to any other where Great
Britain was refused that privilege.

1811. Ship Rapid, of Boston, Capt. Dorr, with $280,000 on board, totally
lost off the coast of New Holland; captain and crew saved.

1812. JOSEPH DENNIE, an American editor, died. He was born at Boston
1768, and educated for the bar; but his literary taste and habits
interfered with his profession, which he resigned and established at
Boston a weekly paper called _The Tablet_; and subsequently edited the
_Farmer's Museum_ at Walpole, in which he published a series of popular
essays under the signature of The Lay Preacher. He was afterwards editor
of the _Port Folio_ at Philadelphia, where his superior endowments would
have procured him an independence, but for some unfortunate propensities
which deprived him of health and happiness.

1817. First paper in Chautauque co., N. Y.

1822. Liberia in Africa colonized under the direction of Dr. Ayres. Cape
Montserado with a large tract of adjoining country was purchased of the
natives by the American colonization society, and a settlement commenced
by 28 colonists; in six years the number had increased to 1200 under the
care of Ashmun.

1830. THOMAS LAWRENCE, a distinguished English portrait painter, died.
By industry and force of talent he rose in his profession, till on the
death of Sir Joshua Reynolds he was made painter to the king, and in
1815 was knighted. His income for the last twenty years of his life was
from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds; but he died poor, owing to his purchasing
the best productions at the most extravagant prices.

1841. LOUIS EDWARD BIGNON, Napoleon Bonaparte's historian, died.

1843. Mrs. WINGATE, died at Stratham, N. H., aged nearly 101 years.

1850. JOHN H. KYAN, a native of England, and inventor of Kyanized wood,
died at New York.

1850. SAMUEL MILLER, an eminent American theologian and sometime
president of Princeton college, died, aged 91.


JANUARY 8.

1167. EDGAR, king of Scotland, died, and was succeeded by his younger
brother, Alexander I.

1536. CATHARINE OF ARRAGON, died; queen of Henry VIII and mother of
Mary, queen of England.

1642. GALILEO GALILEI, the astronomer, died, aged 78.

1676. French Admiral Duquesne defeated the Dutch and Spanish fleets
under De Ruyter, who had both legs shattered.

1704. LAURENTIO BELLINI, a Florentine anatomist, died, aged 61. He was
held in great estimation by prince and pontiff. His theory and practice
are out of date now, and his works also, in consequence of the vast
improvements in medicine and surgery since his day.

1775. JOHN BASKERVILLE, an English printer and type founder, of rare
celebrity, died. As a philanthropist he was also well known to large
circles.

1777. British evacuated Elizabethtown, N. J.; Gen. Maxwell fell on their
rear, and took 70 prisoners and a schooner loaded with baggage.

1780. British Admiral Rodney captured 22 sail of Spanish ships. One of
these, the Guipuscaio, of 64 guns, was named the Prince William, from a
son of George III who was in the action.

1784. Whitestown, N. Y., settled about this time.

1795. French ship Esperance, 22 guns, captured off Cape Henry by British
ship Argonaut, Capt. Ball.

1796. SAMUEL HUNTINGDON, governor of Connecticut, and one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, died aged 64.

1796. French took by surprise the British camp at Mount William, island
of St. Vincent, West Indies. British lost 54 killed, Brig. Gen. Strutt
and 109 wounded, and 200 missing.

1799. French privateer cutter La Rancune, from St. Maloes, captured, by
the British cutter Pigmy, Capt. Shepheard, who at the same time
recaptured two British brigs, prizes to La Rancune.

1815. Battle of New Orleans. The city was attacked by the British under
Packenham, consisting of 15,000 disciplined troops, and was defended by
6000 militia and volunteers, under Gen. Jackson, prepared to die in its
defence. The result was a brilliant victory over the British. Packenham
was killed, and 5,000 men surrendered--the rest fled to their vessels.
The loss of the Americans was trifling, 13 killed and wounded, that of
the British 2,600.

1815. Total loss of the Americans in this war up to the last battle,
1344 killed, 2673 wounded, 651 missing, 1351 taken prisoners.

1817. Two shocks of earthquake at Charleston, S. C, and at Savannah, Ga.

1825. ELI WHITNEY, inventor of the cotton gin, died.

1848. The lives of thirty persons lost by the bursting of the boilers of
the steamer Blue Ridge on the Ohio river. The boilers had been in use
nine years.

1849. The pope threatened all who should take part in electing a new
assembly, with excommunication.

1850. First ship in the United States dry dock at Brooklyn.

1853. CHARLES HUMPHREY ATHERTON, an eminent New Hampshire lawyer, died,
aged 79.

1854. WILLIAM CARR BERRESFORD, a distinguished British field officer and
nobleman, died, aged 85.

1854. Metropolitan hall and Lafarge hotel, two of the finest buildings
in New York destroyed by fire.


JANUARY 9.

1514. ANNE OF BRETAGNE, queen of France died, aged 37.

1584. WILLIAM CARTER, a daring London printer, hanged, boweled, and
quartered at Tyburn, for printing lewd pamphlets, popish and others, and
particularly a _Treatise on Schisme_.

1596. FRANCIS DRAKE, the English navigator, died. He served with
distinction under his relative Sir J. Hawkins; and having lost all his
property in an action with the Spaniards, he conceived an inveterate
hatred against them. He signalized himself in the destruction of the
Spanish Armada; and finally died on the coast of America in a war
against the Spanish settlements. He made the first voyage round the
world. To him is attributed the introduction of the potatoe into Europe.
The day of his death is differently stated.

1621. The Plymouth colonists commenced the erection of their projected
town, which they built in two rows of houses for greater security. The
same street still exists, leading to the water side.

1658. Birthday of NICHOLAS COUSTON, a famous French sculptor, from whose
labors the art of statuary received a noble impulse. He died at Paris
1733.

1757. BERNARD LE BOVIER DE FONTENELLE, a French author of great repute,
died. He was born at Rouen 1657; his mother was the sister of Corneille.
Although his works are now obsolete in consequence of the advancement of
science, no learned man exerted a more decided influence on the age in
which he lived than Fontenelle.

1766. THOMAS BIRCH, an English historian and biographer, died. He was of
quaker parentage, and by unwearied industry educated himself. His
literary labors were prodigious, which early rising and a strict economy
of time enabled him to perform. He bequeathed his library to the British
museum; it contained an incredible number of MSS. in his own
handwriting.

1770. CATHARINE TALBOT, authoress of _Reflections on the Seven Days of
the Week_, and a contributor to the _Rambler_, died.

1779. JOHN REINHOLD FOSTER, author of _Northern Voyages_, and who
circumnavigated the globe with Cook, died in his 70th year.

1788. Connecticut, the fifth state which adopted the constitution of the
United States without amendments.

1792. Treaty of peace signed at Jassy between Russia and Turkey.

1793. MR. BLANCHARD, the French æronaut, made the first balloon
ascension in the United States, at Philadelphia, in the presence of
General Washington.

1795. Thiel in Holland taken by the French under Macdonald.

1799. The habeas corpus act suspended in Great Britain.

1805. NOBLE WIMBERLY JONES, a revolutionary character, died. He came to
America under Gen. Oglethorpe, and at the breaking out of the war was a
practicing physician in Savannah. He was elected to the Georgia
legislature a number of years and then resumed his practice again, at
the solicitation of many of his former patients.

1809. Congress passed laws to enforce the embargo.

1810. The Diocesan court of the officiality of Paris pronounced a
nullity of marriage between Bonaparte and Josephine.

1811. The Spanish cortes published a manifesto declaring their
determination not to enter into a treaty with Bonaparte until his troops
should have entirely evacuated the Peninsula.

1811. The whole militia of New Orleans ordered into immediate service by
Gov. Claiborne to suppress a negro insurrection.

1812. Valentia in Spain surrendered to the French under Suchet, with 374
cannons, 18000 troops and stores of all kinds.

1813. British manifesto against the United States.

1815. Truce between Gen. Jackson and Gen. Lambert to bury the dead of
the battle of the previous day.

1815. The British began the bombardment of the American fort St. Philip,
defended by Major Overton, which was kept up daily until the 17th.

1816. A society instituted at Trenton, N. J., for forming a colony of
blacks.

1818. OLD JOHN died. During eighty years, from the premiership of
Walpole to that of Liverpool, he acted as messenger in the Royal
printing office, London. He styled himself King's messenger.

1827. ELIZABETH OGILVY BENGER, an English authoress, died. In her 13th
year she wrote a poem, and afterwards attempted the drama. Her
reputation is based upon her _Historical Biographies_, which were
originally published in 10 vols.

1828. FRANCIS DE NEUFCHATEAU, a French statesman, died. He was born
1750, and in his 13th year published a volume of poems, which indicated
more for the future than was realized. He took part in the affairs of
the revolution, but was condemned for his moderation. Napoleon took him
into favor; his pursuits were chiefly literary, however.

1843. Great fire at Port-au-Prince; 600 houses burnt and property to an
immense amount destroyed. The blacks who inhabited the mountains rushed
down and completed the work of destruction, by firing and plundering
such houses as the fire had not reached, and committing every sort of
excess.

1854. The Astor library in New York opened to the public.


JANUARY 10.

1640. MAURICE ABBOT, a distinguished London merchant, died. He acquired
great consequence by his own efforts in commercial affairs, and was
employed in 1624 in establishing the settlement of Virginia. At the time
of his death he was mayor of London.

1645. WILLIAM LAUD, archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded on Tower hill,
aged 70. Sentenced to be hung for political misdemeanors, he was
pardoned by the king; but parliament overruled the pardon, and
substituted the _privilege_ of being beheaded instead of hanging. He
acquired so great an ascendency over Charles as to lead him, by the
facility of his temper, into a conduct which proved fatal to that
prince, and by which he lost his kingdom, and met the same fate four
years after at Whitehall.

1661. A proclamation issued by the king of England prohibiting
conventicles for religious meetings.

1661. The fifth monarchy men, headed by Venner, a wine cooper, arose to
proclaim "King Jesus against all the powers of the earth." But King
Charles's power was found too strong for them.

1754. EDWARD CAVE died, an English printer and founder of the
_Gentleman's Magazine_. When his indentures expired as a printer's
apprentice, he was employed in the post office, and occupied his leisure
in writing for the newspapers. In 1731 was first published the Magazine,
and it has continued to this day, more than a century, amid the crowd of
magazines which have perished around it; and is one of the most
successful and lucrative periodicals that history has upon record.

1756. FRANCOIS, marquis de Beauharnois, died at Paris. He was a member
of the national assembly, and took part in the king's favor;
subsequently joined the army under Conde; and was banished by Napoleon
in 1807. The heroic wife of Lavalette was his daughter.

1757. The British under Admiral Watson took by assault, Houghley,
situated about thirty miles above Calcutta.

1761. EDWARD BOSCAWEN, the English admiral, died. He was born 1711, and
entered the navy at an early age. He acquired honorable distinction
under Vernon, and afterwards signalized himself in many important
contests with the French, in which he had the singular fortune to take
the French commander, M. Hoquait, a prisoner three times, viz. in 1744,
1747 and 1755. On his return to England in 1759, after destroying the
Toulon fleet in the Mediterranean, he was rewarded with a pension of
£3000 a year.

1763. CASPER ABEL, a voluminous German historian and antiquary, died.

1765. Stamp Act passed the British Parliament. How little did that body
anticipate the consequences that were to follow their decision on that
subject.

1776. The New Hampshire convention dissolved itself and assumed
legislative powers, chose twelve counselors as an executive branch, and
delegates to Congress, which were recognized.

1782. GEORGE COSTARD died. A classical, mathematical and oriental
scholar, whose reputation as an author is chiefly derived from a
_History of Astronomy_, highly appreciated in Europe.

1791. Vermont, the last of the thirteen original states which composed
the Union, adopted the constitution and took her place in the
confederacy.

1795. The French frigate Iphigenie, 32 guns, captured by the Spanish
fleet off Catalonia.

1797. French sloop Atalante, 16 guns, captured off Scilly by the British
frigate Phœbe, 36 guns, Capt. Barlow.

1800. The first soup establishment for the poor was opened at
Spitalfields, London.

1806. The Dutch surrendered the cape of Good Hope to the British.

1808. PHILLIPS COSBY, British admiral of the Red, died aged 78.

1809. Samana taken by the British, together with two privateers, and
four vessels laden with coffee.

1812. London involved for several hours in impenetrable darkness. The
sky, where any light pervaded it, showed the aspect of bronze. It was
the effect of a cloud of smoke, which, from the peculiar state of the
atmosphere, did not pass off. Were it not for the peculiar mobility of
the atmosphere, this city of a hundred thousand chimneys would be
scarcely habitable in winter.

1815. The British under Gen. Lambert having abandoned the enterprise on
New Orleans began to re-embark their artillery and munitions,
preparatory to a general retreat.

1816. The schooner Eliza cast away near Newport; the captain and crew
saved by Com. Perry, who with part of the crew of the frigate Java, went
five miles in a boat to their relief.

1824. THOMAS EDWARD BOWDITCH, the African traveler, died. He went to
Africa at the age of 21, and engaged in a series of expeditions into the
country. In 1822 he went out from England with a view of devoting
himself to the exploration of the African continent. He had only arrived
at the mouth of the Gambia when a disease occasioned by fatigue and
anxiety of mind put an end to his existence.

1833. ADRIEN MARIE LEGENDRE, so well known as a profound mathematician,
died at Paris. His life work on geometry is much used.

1840. The uniform penny postage commenced in England; the number of
letters despatched from London on this day being 112,000; the average,
for January, 1839, being 30,000.

1840. Battle between the Russian and Khivian cavalry; the latter
commanded by the khan in person were completely routed and pursued to
the city of Khiva.

1848. MISS CAROLINE HERSCHEL, member of the Royal astronomical society,
London, died at Hanover.

1855. MARY RUSSEL MITFORD died, aged 68; a distinguished English
authoress.

1856. THOMAS H. PERKINS, a wealthy and liberal Boston merchant, died
aged 89. His was the first American firm engaged in the China trade.


JANUARY 11.

395. THEODOSIUS THE GREAT, emperor of Rome, died. He was born about the
year 346, and on coming to the throne distinguished himself by his
orthodoxy, and his zeal against heresy and paganism. His public and
private virtues, which procured him the name of _The Great_, will
scarcely excuse the fierceness of his intolerance, or the barbarity of
his anger and revenge.

1569. The first English lottery drawn at London. It continued day and
evening four months. The prizes were money, plate and merchandise. It
had been advertised two years at the time it took place.

1698. PETER, the czar of Russia, arrived in England and wrought as a
mechanic in the dockyard at Deptford, as well as in the workshops of
various mechanics, with view of carrying the English arts into his own
country. He was well received by William III.

1751. A globular bottle of glass was made at Leith measuring 40 by 42
inches, the largest ever made in Britain.

1753. SIR HANS SLOANE, the eminent English naturalist, died, aged 93. He
was born at Killileagh in Ireland; studied medicine in London, and
settled there in the practice of his profession. He was the second
learned man whom science tempted to America. His museum, composed of the
rarest productions of nature, he bequeathed to the public, on condition
of the payment of £20,000 annually to his family, and was the foundation
of the British Museum.

1775. The first provincial congress of South Carolina met at Charleston.

1778. CHARLES LINNE (or Linnæus), the Swedish botanist, died, aged 71.
In his twenty-fourth year he conceived the idea of a new arrangement of
plants, or a sexual system of botany. In 1732 the Academy of Sciences at
Upsal appropriated 50 Swedish dollars to send him on a tour through
Lapland, and with this small sum he made a journey of more than 3500
miles, unaccompanied, traversing the Lapland desert, and enduring many
hardships. A series of offices and honors were conferred upon him, till
in 1753 he was created a _Knight of the Polar Star_, an honor never
before conferred on a literary man; and in 1761 he was elevated to the
rank of nobility.

1778. A collection amounting to £3815 was made for the 924 American
prisoners in England. Dr. Franklin, at Paris, applied to the British
ambassador for an exchange of prisoners, but his lordship was pleased to
return only the following answer: "no application received from rebels
unless they come to implore his majesty's pardon."

1782. Ostenburg, near Trincomalee, in the island of Ceylon, taken from
the Dutch by the British Admiral Hughes.

1795. The French, under Pichegru, crossed the Waal on the ice at
different points.

1800. WILLIAM NEWCOME, archbishop of Armagh, died, aged 79. He rose
gradually in the church to the primacy of Ireland; was a worthy man, and
author of a great number of theological works.

1801. CIMAROSA, the celebrated Italian musician, died.

1803. The Hindostan, East Indiaman, lost on the Culvers, off Margate, in
a dreadful storm.

1805. Letters of marque and reprisal issued by Great Britain against
Spain.

1807. Breig in Silesia surrendered to the French and Bavarians; 3
generals, 1400 Prussians, and considerable magazines were captured.

1810. In the night the mercury in three thermometers froze at Moscow and
withdrew into the ball. At Iraish it was observed at -44½° of
Fahrenheit immediately before it froze.

1811. MARIE JOSEPH DE CHENIER, a French poet, died. By flattering the
passions of the people he soon gained great popularity, and during the
revolution was one of the most violent democrats.

1815. Cumberland island, Georgia, taken possession of by Capt. Barrie of
the British ship Dragon. Same day British sloop of war, Barbadoes, Capt.
Fleming captured privateer schooner Fox, of 7 guns and 72 men from
Wilmington.

1817. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, president of Yale college, died, aged 65. He
entered Yale college at the age of 13, and became a tutor at 19. His
health becoming impaired, by the advice of his physicians he traveled,
walking 2000 and riding 3000 miles in the course of a year. It had the
effect to restore his constitution completely. His published works
consist of theology, poetry and travels. His biography is interesting;
he was an uncommon character.

1829. GREGORIO FUNES, a patriot of La Plata, died at Buenos Ayres. He
was actively engaged in the South American revolution from its
commencement. He was also an author.

1839. ALEXANDER COFFIN, the last survivor of the original proprietors
who settled the city of Hudson in 1784, died, aged 99. He was highly
respected for his talents, integrity and usefulness.

1839. Earthquake at Martinique, which did great damage, particularly at
Fort Royal, where only 18 houses were left standing, of 1700, and 900
hundred sufferers were dug out of the ruins.

1843. FRANCIS S. KEY, district attorney of the United States and author
of the national song, the _Star Spangled Banner_, died in Baltimore.

1853. Russia, Austria and Prussia, after considerable delay, finally
acknowledge Napoleon III as emperor of France.

1853. The caloric ship Ericsson made her trial trip from New York to the
Potomac.


JANUARY 12.

400. B. C. XENOPHON, with the 10,000, forced a passage through the
defiles of Armenia.

1519. MAXIMILIAN I, emperor of Germany, died. He was elected king of
the Romans 1486, and ascended the imperial throne 1493. Under him the
Turks were checked in their enterprises against Germany, and repelled
from his hereditary territories.

1598. The Marquis DE LA ROCHE received from Henry IV a commission to
conquer Canada. He sailed from France with a colony of convicts from the
prisons. He landed them on the Isle of Sable, and sailed for Acadie,
from whence he returned to France. The survivors of the colony, twelve
in number, were taken off seven years afterwards, and presented to the
king in their sealskin clothes and long beards. He gave them fifty
crowns each and pardoned their offences.

1640. An engagement of four days' duration near the Island Tamaraca,
Brazils, between the Dutch and Portuguese, in which the latter were
defeated and the Dutch admiral killed.

1678. A remarkable darkness at noon in England.

1777. General MERCER died of the wounds of the battle of Princeton.

1781. The states general of Holland issued letters of marque and
reprisal against England.

1793. ARTHUR LEE, a distinguished American statesman, died at Urbana,
Va. The long and faithful services which he rendered his country during
his arduous struggles for independence, in the alternate character of
ambassador and statesman, are universally known and acknowledged.

1794. JOHN GEORGE ADAM FORSTER died, aged 40. He was of Scotch descent,
born in Prussia, studied at St. Petersburg, taught German and French in
England, accompanied Cook in his voyage round the world, accepted the
professorship of natural history at Hesse Cassel, was appointed
historiographer of a Russian expedition round the world; this project
being frustrated by the Turkish war, he went to Germany, and residing at
Mentz when the French took that city 1792, was sent by the republicans
to request a union of that city with France. During his absence the
Prussians retook the city, by which he lost all his property, including
his books and papers, and died soon after. The Germans number him among
their classical writers.

1795. In consequence of a great thaw, the communication of the main army
of the French under Pichegru and the four divisions that crossed the
Waal the day before on the ice, was totally interrupted during two days.

1795. Mr. PITT recommended in the British parliament that a premium be
given by government to large families.

1805. British frigate Doris, Capt. Campbell, lost on the Diamond rock,
Quiberon bay. The crew saved themselves and blew up the frigate.

1805. The thermometer at Danbury, Ct., stood at 19° below zero; being
the coldest weather known there since 1780.

1807. A fatal explosion at Leyden, in Holland. A vessel containing
40,000 pounds of powder, moored before the house of Prof. Rau, exploded
with a tremendous crash. Upwards of 200 houses were overthrown, besides
churches and public buildings, 150 persons killed and 2000 wounded.

1809. Cayenne surrendered by the French, to the British and the
Portuguese under Capt. Yeo.

1815. National fast in the United States.


JANUARY 13.

857. ETHELWULF, son of Egbert, sometimes styled the first king of
England, died. In his reign the tax called Peter's pence was levied.

1399. The Tartars, under Tamerlane, pillaged the imperial city of Delhi,
and two days after wantonly massacred the entire Indian population.

1400. RICHARD II of England murdered. He came to the throne at the age
of 11, and after a turbulent reign of 22 years, was deposed and
imprisoned.

1404. It was enacted at this short parliament of Henry's that no chemist
shall use his craft to multiply gold or silver.

1560. JOHN DE LASCI, a learned Pole, died.

1618. GALILEO discovered the fourth satellite of Jupiter.

1669. JOHN BOCHIUS, a Dutch poet, died. He excelled in Latin, and is
called the Virgil of the Low Countries.

1691. GEORGE FOX, founder of the sect of quakers, died, aged 67. His
father was a poor weaver, and George was apprenticed to a shoemaker; but
he left his employment and wandered about the country in a leather
doublet, and finally set up as a teacher. He visited different
countries, and had the satisfaction to see his tenets taking deep root
in his life time.

1705. A house in London where fireworks were manufactured, blew up, and
destroyed 120 houses, and killed 50 persons.

1711. The last No. of the _Tatler_ appeared (No. 271).

1715. Great fire in Thames street, London; many lives lost.

1716. ELIZABETH PATCH died at Salem; the first female born in the old
colony of Massachusetts.

1717. MARIA SYBILLA MERIAN, the distinguished painter, and writer on
entomology, died at Amsterdam.

1738. The famous convention of Pardo signed.

1759. Execution of the conspirators against the life of the king of
Portugal. The whole family of the Marquis Tavora was executed, and the
name suppressed for ever.

1797. British ships Indefatigable, 44 guns, and Amazon, 42 guns, had a
night action of six hours, in the bay of Audierne, with the French 74
gun ship Les Droits des Hommes, 1600 men; the latter was driven on
shore, and the crew made prisoners; Gen. Renier and 750 men were lost in
the action. The Amazon was also lost in the action.

1798. Lieut. Lord Camelford shot Lieut. Charles Peterson, at English
harbor, Antigua, for disobedience of orders, was afterwards tried and
acquitted.

1798. The Swiss cantons armed against France.

1809. The French under Marshal Victor defeated the Spanish under
Castanos at Cuenca.

1811. The British merchant ship Cumberland, Captain Barrat, beat off 4
French privateers, and took 170 men who had boarded her.

1814. British and Prussians repulsed in an attack on Antwerp; part of
the suburbs were burnt.

1814. The emperor of Russia and king of Prussia crossed the Rhine to
invade France; the emperor of Austria, who had arrived the evening
before at Cassel, went out to meet them, and they entered Basil, in
Switzerland.

1814. General thanksgiving throughout Great Britain for the successes
gained over Bonaparte.

1814. Capt. Barrie of the British ship Dragon, took the fort on Point
Peter and the tower of St. Mary's, in Georgia; they afterwards destroyed
the fort.

1817. The ship Georgianna, of Norfolk, experienced a tremendous shock in
the Gulf stream supposed to be by earthquake; the day was calm.

1822. JOHANN GOTTLIEB SCHNEIDER, a German philologist and naturalist,
died, aged 72; a voluminous author.

1836. KARL CHR. TRAUG. TAUCHNITZ, an eminent German printer, died, aged
75. At the age of 35 he commenced business for himself with a single
press; but his establishment soon became very extensive, including a
letter foundry and book store. He was most indefatigable in improving
and perfecting whatever he undertook, as his publications attest. His
founts of oriental type were unsurpassed in Germany.

1838. Chancellor ELDON died.

1840. Steam boat Lexington burnt, on her passage from New York to
Stonington. Of 145 persons on board, only four escaped with their lives.
Among the sufferers were many highly esteemed and valuable members of
society.

1848. A severe battle took place at Chillianwallah between the British
and Sikh forces without decisive results.

1854 An earthquake at Finana in Spain, crumbling down the Alcazaba, an
ancient Moorish castle, prostrating houses and causing chasms in the
streets, and loss of lives.


JANUARY 14.

1526. Treaty of Madrid between the emperor Charles V, and Francis I of
France, by which the latter obtained his liberty.

1604. The episcopal divines and puritans held a conference at Hampton
court in the presence of King James.

1611. EDWARD BRUCE, a Scottish statesman, died. He occupied some of the
highest offices under the government, and his services were important in
establishing the peaceable accession of James to the English throne.

1622. PIETRO SARPI, better known as Father Paul of Venice, died, aged
90. He employed the latter part of his life in writing a history of the
council of Trent, in which he has developed the intrigues connected with
the transactions of that famous assembly, with a degree of boldness and
veracity, which renders the work one of the most interesting and
important productions of the class to which it belongs.

1634. Of seven sailors left at Spitzbergen in the fall of 1633, by the
Dutch fishermen, for the purpose of wintering there, the first of the
number died. The journal which they kept relates that they sought in
vain for green herbs, bears and foxes, in that desolate region. In
November the scurvy appeared among them. Their journal ended February
26, and they were all found dead on the return of their countrymen in
spring. (See April 16.)

1696. MARIE DE RABUTIN SEVIGNE, a French woman of quality, died, aged
70. Her _Letters_ (11 vols. 8vo.) are models of epistolary style, and
have been translated into English.

1738. The famous convention of Pardo signed.

1739. The pope issued an edict against the assemblies of freemasons,
under penalty of the rack and condemnation to the galleys.

1742. EDMUND HALLEY the astronomer, died, aged 86. He devoted himself
to mathematics with great success, and spent much time abroad in
astronomical observations and experiments. His astronomical pursuits
tended greatly by their results to improve the art of navigation.

1753. GEORGE BERKLEY, bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, died, aged 85. He
appeared as an author before his twentieth year. He devoted seven years
and a considerable part of his fortune in an effort to establish a
college at Bermuda, for the education of Indian preachers, which
miscarried. He published several philosophical, mathematical and
theological works, and is said to have been acquainted with almost every
branch of human knowledge.

1781. French took the island of Nevis.

1783. CERVETTO, an Italian of extraordinary musical genius, died at
London, aged 103. He was a member of the orchestra of Drury lane
theatre.

1784. Congress ratified the definitive treaty of peace.

1792. JOSEPH JACKSON, a celebrated English type founder, died. While an
apprentice his master had carefully kept from his view the mode of
making punches, but by boring a hole through the door he got an
occasional glimpse of the art, and succeeded.

1795. Intense frost in Holland, which enabled the remainder of the
French army to cross the Waal.

1795. The French were repulsed in an attack on all the posts of the
allies, from Arnhem to Amerongen. In the night the allies retreated to
Amersfoort, leaving 300 sick behind them.

1797. Battle of Rivoli in Italy. The contest was continued three days,
and decided the fate of Mantua. The French under Joubert were victorious
over the Austrians.

1798. Five English gentlemen who had been sent to investigate the title
of Vizier Ally, were by his orders assassinated at Benares in India.

1801. ROBERT ORME died, aged 73; historiographer to the East India
company.

1801. An embargo laid in England on all Russian, Swedish and Danish
ships. More than 100 Swedish and Danish vessels were immediately seized.

1809. Formal treaty of peace, friendship and alliance between Great
Britain and Spain.

1813. An engagement off Pernambuco between the United States privateer
schooner Comet, Capt. Boyle, 14 guns and 120 men, and three British
vessels of 24 guns, convoyed by a Portuguese ship of 32 guns and 165
men. The Portuguese were beaten off, and the British vessels captured.
She also captured three other vessels on the passage.

1814. Treaty of peace signed at Kiel between Denmark and England.

1814. CHARLES BOSSUT, a French mathematician, died, aged 84. He studied
under D'Alembert, and rose to eminence. On the breaking out of the
French revolution he lost the offices he had acquired, and subsisted by
his writings. He was a contributer to the _Encyclopedie_.

1815. Com. DECATUR, sailed from New York in the frigate President.

1822. The Grand Duke CONSTANTINE declined, by letter to his brother
Alexander, the succession to the throne of all the Russias.

1831. HENRY MACKENZIE, the novelist, died, aged 86. He studied the law,
at the same time cultivating elegant literature. His first effort was a
tragedy, which was favorably received; his first novel appeared in 1771,
in which he was eminently successful. Scott entitles him the Scottish
Addison.

1834. WILLIAM POLK, a revolutionary officer, died. He held the rank of
colonel at the close of the war, and was the last surviving field
officer of the North Carolina line. He was among the small band of
patriots who declared independence in Mecklenburg county, N. C., May
20th, 1775.

1838. Navy island evacuated by the Canadians, &c., under Mackenzie and
Van Rensselaer, 510 in number. The arms belonging to the United States
were surrendered, as also the cannon belonging to the state of New York.

1852. T. HUDSON TURNER died, aged 37; one of the ablest of the British
archæologists.

1854. JOSHUA BATES, a distinguished New England clergyman, died, aged
77. He was twenty-three years president of Middlebury college.


JANUARY 15.

69. SERGIUS GALBA, the Roman emperor, assassinated, at the age of 72. He
was the successor of Nero, and reigned but three months.

936. RODOLPH, king of France, died, in the 14th year of his reign, and
was succeeded by Lewis the Stranger.

1549. The liturgy of the English church established by parliament. All
the divine offices were to be performed according to the new liturgy,
and infringements were to be punished by forfeitures and imprisonments,
and for the third offence imprisonment for life. Visitors were appointed
to see that it was received throughout England. From this time we may
date the era of the Puritans.

1655. DANIEL HEINSIUS, a Dutch philologist, died. He made great progress
as a student, under Scaliger, and was appointed to a professorship at
Leyden. He was also successful as a Greek and Latin poet.

1559. Queen ELIZABETH, crowned at Westminster, by the bishop of
Carlisle, who was the only person that could be prevailed upon to
perform the ceremony.

1672. JOHN COSIN, bishop of Durham, died; a lover of literature and
prodigal in his expenditures on book-binding. He ordered that all his
books should be rubbed once a fortnight to prevent their moulding.

1693. An army of six or seven hundred French and Indians set out from
Montreal to invade the Mohawk castles. (See Feb. 6.)

1730. Gov. MONTGOMERIE granted the city of New York a new charter.
Although that city had been put under the government of a mayor in 1665,
it was not regularly incorporated until 1686.

1773. At Duff house, the residence of the countess dowager of Fife, the
first masquerade ever seen in Scotland was exhibited.

1777. Vermont declared itself a free and independent state. It had been
settled as a part of New Hampshire, but was claimed as a part of New
York, and so decided to be by the British crown. But by the dissolution
of the bonds which had held America in subjection to the crown of
Britain, they considered themselves free from New York, to which the
most of them had never voluntarily submitted; and being, as they said,
reduced to "a state of nature," they assumed the right to form such
connections as were agreeable to themselves. Accordingly they formed a
plan of government and a code of laws, and petitioned congress to
receive them into the Union.

1778. Nootka sound and the Sandwich islands discovered by Captain Cook.

1780. First exportation of woolen goods from Ireland to a foreign
market.

1780. Unsuccessful attack by the Americans under Lord Stirling on the
British at Long island.

1781. The traitor ARNOLD succeeded in burning some stores at Smithfield.

1783. WILLIAM ALEXANDER, Lord Stirling, an officer in the revolutionary
army, died at Albany, aged 57. He was of Scotch descent, and from early
youth a mathematician. Throughout the war he acted an important part,
and was warmly attached to Washington. He left behind him the reputation
of a brave, discerning and intrepid officer, and an honest and learned
man. He was generally styled Lord Stirling, and was considered the
rightful heir to the title and estates of that earldom in Scotland.

1794. A desperate engagement off the island of Corsica between three
Sardinian ships and two Barbary xebecs. One of the xebecs was captured,
but the other, rather than surrender, was blown up; upon which the
prisoners taken, Turks and Algerines, 92 in number, were put to death.

1795. The French attacked the British outposts at Rhenen.

1795. The French national convention liberated Gen. Miranda and Capt.
Lacrosse from prison.

1799. A revolution at Lucca in Italy, without bloodshed. Titles and
exclusive privileges were abolished, the sovereignty of the people
proclaimed, and a contribution of two millions of livres levied on the
nobility alone, which was immediately presented to the French general
Serrurier.

1805. ABRAHAM HYACINTHE ANQUETIL DU PERRON, the French orientalist,
died, aged 74. He studied theology, but afterwards devoted himself with
ardor to the study of the eastern languages. In 1754 he embarked for
India, and with difficulty succeeded in finding some priests to instruct
him in the sacred language of the Parsees. He returned to Paris in 1762
with a number of manuscripts, and proceeded to arrange them for
publication. During the revolution he shut himself up with his books;
but continued labors and an abstemious diet exhausted his constitution.
He was a learned and excellent man.

1807. Battle between the forces under Christophe and Petion for the
governorship of Hayti, which had been assumed by Christophe as the
oldest general, on the death of Dessalines; but Petion had been
subsequently duly elected. Christophe was defeated after a fierce
encounter. A separation of the republic followed. Petion instituted a
pure republic, while Christophe founded a monarchy.

1810. Masquerades and masked balls prohibited in the city of New York.

1815. The United States frigate President, Com. Decatur, captured by
four British vessels, after a sharp action, and a chase of 18 hours.
Loss of the Americans 22 killed, 59 wounded; British loss 11 killed, 14
wounded.

1825. ROBERT GOODLOE HARPER, an American statesman, died. He was born in
Virginia, of poor parentage; acquired the rudiments of a classical
education; served a campaign in the revolutionary army; after which he
entered Princeton college. He subsequently settled in South Carolina, in
the practice of the law, and acquired great reputation as a professional
man and a politician.

1827. JEAN DENIS LANJUINAIS died. He was a staunch defender of liberal
principles, and opposed first the arrogant pretensions of the privileged
class, although himself one of their number: afterwards he arrayed
himself against the intrigues of Mirabeau, the violence of the mountain
party, and the usurpations of Bonaparte, in the face of destruction. The
object of his wishes was constitutional liberty. He escaped the axe of
the revolution, and was even promoted to office by Napoleon.

1834. The city of Leira, in Portugal, taken by Count de Saldanha, and
the garrison, of Miguelites about 1500 in number, made prisoners.

1836. CHARLES LEWIS, one of the most eminent book binders in Europe,
died. The splendidly bound books in the duke of Sussex's library are of
his workmanship.

1842. JOSEPH HOPKINSON died. His speeches in congress on the Seminole
war were much admired. He was author of the song, _Hail Columbia_.

1844. The Fontaine Moliere, a monument to the great French dramatist, at
Paris, inaugurated. It combines a public fountain with a monument, and
stands opposite the house in which Moliere died.

1849. Reporters excluded from an adjourned meeting of a convention of
the southern states.


JANUARY 16.

1543. An act of the English parliament was passed forbidding women,
apprentices, &c., &c., to read the New Testament in English.

1556. CHARLES V of Germany, (Don Carlos I of Spain) resigned the crown
of Spain to his son Philip, after a reign of 40 years. Of all his vast
possessions he only reserved to himself an annual pension. It was under
him that Cortez conquered Mexico.

1580. An act of the English parliament inflicting a penalty of 20 pounds
for absenting from church.

1599. EDMUND SPENCER, the English poet, died, aged 46. His first poem,
the _Shepherd's Calendar_, appeared in 1576. He went to Ireland as
private secretary to the lord lieutenant, and commenced the _Faery
Queen_ while in that country. The rebellion took place with such fury
that he was obliged to leave the country in so great confusion, that an
infant child was left behind, and burnt with his house. The unfortunate
poet died soon after his arrival in England, in consequence of these
misfortunes.

1643. Parliament of England forbid free commerce, and ordered no wagon
or carriage to go to Oxford without a license.

1668. The earl of SHREWSBURY slain in a duel by the duke of Buckingham,
who had lived in open adultery with Shrewsbury's wife. It is said that
she, in the habit of a page, held Buckingham's horse when he was
fighting with her husband.

1706. Articles of union between England and Scotland ratified by the
Scottish parliament 110 to 69.

1715. ROBERT NELSON died, an English gentleman of fortune, which he
employed in works of benevolence and charity. Few works on devotional
subjects were more popular than his.

1748. The bottle conjuror imposed on a great multitude at the Haymarket
theatre, by announcing that he would jump into a quart bottle.

1760. Pondicherry, defended by the French under General Lally, taken by
the English under Colonel Coote.

1772. A revolution in Denmark which terminated in the imprisonment of
the royal family, and finally the banishment of the queen, sister to
George III of England.

1780. The Spanish fleet of 11 sail, under Langara, destroyed off St.
Vincent by the British fleet of 19 sail, under Rodney. Langara was
dangerously wounded and taken prisoner. One of the Spanish ships with
600 men on board was blown up, and all perished. The British lost 32
killed and 102 wounded.

1790. The bean-fed friars ejected from their convents by an augean labor
of the French revolution.

1794. EDWARD GIBBON, the historian, died, aged 57. During his visit to
Rome in 1764, he formed the plan of writing the _Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire_. In 1774 he obtained a seat in parliament, and two years
after appeared the first quarto volume of his history. A disorder which
he had endured twenty three years terminated in a mortification.

1795. Retreat of the British from Utrecht, in Holland, upon which the
inhabitants capitulated to the French.

1796. The first theatre at Botany bay opened by the convicts at Sydney
cove.

1809. Battle of Corunna in Spain, between the French and English, and
death of Sir John Moore, who fell mortally wounded by a cannon shot, at
the moment of victory achieved by the troops under his command. His men
buried him in his cloak, and the French, in testimony of his gallantry,
erected a monument over his remains. He was unmarried and in his 47th
year.

1812. The king of Sicily, on account of ill-health, abdicated the throne
in favor of his son, until he should recover. It is remarkable that
Great Britain, Spain, Portugal and Sweden were governed by regents or
viceroys at the same time.

1813. LEWIS BARNEY died at Champlain, New York, aged 105. He had 24
children by one wife.

1815. HENRY THORNTON, founder of the Sierra Leone company, and a writer
on the credit of Great Britain, died.

1816. The bridge at the falls of the Schuylkill fell with the great body
of snow upon it.

1816. JOHN WRIGHT, the first constable of Cumberland county, Virginia,
died, aged 107.

1817. ALEXANDER JAMES DALLAS, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, died.
He filled the office of secretary of state in Pennsylvania many years;
and also that of secretary of the treasury of the United States a short
time previous to his death.

1838. DOROTHY TORREY died at Windsor, Conn., aged 107.

1843. State lunatic asylum, at Utica, New York, went into operation.

1854. ALDEN PARTRIDGE died at Norwich, Vt.; nearly fifty years engaged
in military instruction, and some time principal of West Point academy.


JANUARY 17.

86. B. C. CAIUS MARIUS, the Roman consul, died. He was the son of a
farmer in indigent circumstances; but by his talents and energy raised
himself to the highest dignity of the greatest state in the world.

395. The EMPEROR THEODOSIUS died at Milan, soliciting his heirs
faithfully to execute his will.

1009. ABD-EL-MALEK, a Moorish prince, crucified by his conqueror.

1380. An act of parliament passed, by which foreign ecclesiastics were
incapacitated from holding benefices in England.

1467. JOHN CASTRIOTTO, (or Scanderbeg) prince of Albania, died. His
father placed him as a hostage with the sultan of Turkey, by whom he was
educated in the Mohammedan faith, and at the age of 18 placed at the
head of a body of troops. He afterwards deserted to the Christians, and
on ascending the throne of his fathers renounced the Mohammedan faith.
He obtained repeated victories over the Turks. After his death, when
Albania submitted to the Moslem dominion, the Turks dug up his bones
which they wore to transfer his courage to themselves.

1524. VERRAZANO sailed from a desolate rock near Madeira, with fifty men
and provisions for eight months, arms, munitions and other naval stores,
on his voyage westwardly, expecting to reach Cathay.

1546. MARTIN LUTHER preached his final sermon at Wittemberg.

1556. PHILIP NERLI, the Florentine historian, died.

1684. WENTWORTH DILLON, earl of Roscommon, died at Rome. The early part
of his life was spent in dissipation, but he afterwards conducted with
more discretion, and became distinguished among the wits of the day.
Johnson calls him the most correct writer of English verse before
Dryden.

1694. A powder magazine of 218 barrels exploded at Dublin, doing much
damage.

1701. ROGER MORRIS, an English chaplain, died, aged 73. He was a
diligent collector of ecclesiastical manuscripts relating to the history
of the English church, whereof, says Strype, "he left vast heaps behind
him."

1705. JOHN RAY, an English naturalist, died. He was the son of a
blacksmith; received a liberal education at Cambridge, and devoted
himself to science and literature. His publications were numerous.

1706. Birthday of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

1733. GEORGE BYNG, an English admiral, died. He entered the navy at the
age of 15, and gradually rose to the highest honors and distinctions.

1746. Battle of Falkirk, in which the forces of the Pretender were
victorious over the royal army.

1750. The singular ceremony of the Greek church of consecrating the
water in memory of Christ's baptism, performed at St. Petersburg.

1766. FREDERICK V, king of Denmark and Norway, died.

1781. Battle of the Cowpens, in South Carolina, and defeat of 1100
British under Tarleton, by an inferior force of Americans under Morgan.
British loss 100 killed and wounded, and 500 prisoners; 800 muskets, 2
field pieces, 35 baggage wagons, and 100 dragoon horses fell into the
hands of the conquerors. The loss of the Americans was 12 killed and 60
wounded.

1783. Action between the British frigate Magicienne and the French
frigate Sybille. The latter lost her masts, and was captured a few days
after by the Hussar.

1789. JOHN LEDYARD, the traveler, died. He was born at Groton, Conn.,
1751; entered Dartmouth college at the age of 19, but for some reproof
resolved to escape: accordingly he felled a tree on the bank of the
Connecticut, of which he constructed a canoe, and descended the river
140 miles to Hartford: studied theology a while, and then enlisted as a
common sailor for a voyage to Gibraltar; accompanied Capt. Cook in one
of his voyages, of which he published an account. Not meeting with
assistance to prosecute any of the daring enterprises he proposed, he
finally determined to make the tour of the globe from London east, on
foot; and had proceeded as far as Yakutsk in Siberia, when he was
arrested by order of the queen as a French spy and hurried back to the
frontiers of Poland. He returned to London, he says, "disappointed,
ragged, pennyless, but with a whole heart." He had scarcely taken
lodgings when Sir Joseph Banks proposed an African expedition. He
accepted the offer and proceeded as far as Cairo, where he was attacked
by a disease which carried him off.

1789. CHARLES IV proclaimed king of Spain.

1791. Lord DUNGARVON, an Irish peer, was tried at the Old Bailey,
London, for stealing three and a half guineas from a poor woman in town,
but was acquitted.

1792. GEORGE HORNE, bishop of Norwich, died. His _Sermons_ and
_Commentary on the Psalms_, are well known.

1795. The stadtholder, WILLIAM V, obtained permission from the States
General to withdraw from Holland.

1800. The church at Chelmsford, England, fell; it was first built in
1424.

1804. CHARLES NISBET died, aged 67. He was a Scotch clergyman, and the
first president of Dickinson college in Pennsylvania.

1806. An iris or lunar rainbow was seen for one hour (9¼ to 10¼)
at Wakefield in Yorkshire, England.

1810. Masquerades and masked balls prohibited by the authorities in the
city of Philadelphia.

1811. The Mexican patriots under Hidalgo totally defeated near
Guadalaxara by the Spaniards under Calleja.

1813. Capture of the United States brig Vixen, 12 guns, Capt. Henley, by
the British frigate Narcissus.

1815. The king of Spain issued an edict against freemasonry.

1817. At Philadelphia and Albany the singular phenomena of snow, clear
weather, rain, snow, thunder and lightning, hail and snow, was observed
in succession.

1836. Two engagements in the mountains of Arlaban, between the forces of
the queen of Spain under Gen. Cordova and the Carlists, in which the
latter were defeated.

1841. REZIN P. BOWIE died at New Orleans, aged 48; "well known in the
southwest by his many deeds of valor in its early history, among the
Mexicans and savages."

1851. SPENCER COMPTON, marquis of Northampton, died, aged 61. He was
president of the Royal society; was associated with Wilberforce in the
anti-slavery cause, and with Macintosh as a criminal law reformer.

1854. Two rail road bridges and crossings at Erie, Pa., destroyed by a
mob of women, who were afterwards escorted through the town with
banners, headed by a band of music.

1856. ZADOCK THOMPSON died, aged 59; author of several historical works
relating to Vermont, and a naturalist.


JANUARY 18.

1486. HENRY VII married the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of
Edward IV. Thus uniting the houses of York and Lancaster, blending the
Roses.

1534. Lima, the present capital of Peru, founded by PIZARRO; thirty
years before a single town was founded within the limits of the United
States, St. Augustine, Florida, being founded 1565.

1546. The council of Trent assembled and agreed upon a confession of
faith.

1561. The first English tragedy performed, at Whitehall, before the
queen. It was entitled _Gorboduc_, from the name of a supposed ancient
British king, and was written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton. It
consists of five acts, each preceded by a dumb show, prefiguring what is
to occur; the first four acts close by choruses in rhyme, and the fifth
by a didactic speech of nearly two hundred lines. Sir Philip Sydney
pronounced it "full of stately speeches and well-sounding phrases,
climbing to the height of Seneca his stile, and full of notable
morality, which it doth most delightfully teach."

1701. FREDERICK III of Brandenburgh crowned first king of Prussia, by
the title of Frederick I.

1703. THOMAS HYDE died. He was an Oriental interpreter during the reigns
of Charles II, James II, and William III.

1713. ARCANGELO CORELLI, an Italian composer, died. He became so great a
master in the science of music, that his countrymen bestowed on him the
cognomen of _Il Divino_.

1718. SAMUEL GARTH, an English poet and physician, died. He settled in
London where by his professional skill he soon acquired a very extensive
practice; and by his wit and conversational powers distinguished himself
among the literati of the day.

1739. SAMUEL BERNARD, one of the richest and most celebrated financiers
of Europe, died at Paris. His funeral procession equaled that of a
prince in point of magnificence and in the train of distinguished
attendants.

1775. JOHN BASKERVILLE, an eminent English printer, died. He was a man
fertile in invention, and effected improvements in the art which could
scarcely have been expected from the exertions of a single individual.

1777. Battle of Kingsbridge, N. Y., between the Americans under Gen.
Heath and the Hessians.

1782. DUMITER RADULY died at Haromszeck, at the remarkable age of 140.

1793. GEORGE GORDON, an English nobleman, after five years'
imprisonment, appeared to give bail; but the attorney-general refused to
accept of it. He was therefore remanded.

1795. The French under Salm took Utrecht in Holland, and Gen. Van Damme
took Arnhem; the prince of Orange and his family escaping to England.

1797. FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, an American statesman, died at his
residence in Virginia, aged 63.

1804. Goree taken by the French from the English.

1806. EUGENE NAPOLEON BEAUHARNAIS married to Augusta Amelia, daughter of
the king of Bavaria.

1810. LYON LEVY, a jeweler, threw himself from the monument in London.

1811. Gen. JUNOT wounded in the face by a musket ball, while
reconnoitering the British lines.

1813. Battle at Frenchtown in Michigan, between the United States troops
and the British and Indians, when the latter were defeated. American
loss, 12 killed, 55 wounded.

1815. The British decamped from before Fort St. Philip, on the
Mississippi, which they had bombarded from the 9th. About 12 o'clock at
night they took to their boats, leaving 80 of their wounded, 14 pieces
heavy artillery, and a great quantity of shot.

1815. STANISLAUS, chevalier de Bouffleurs, died at Paris, aged 78. He
was the son of the marchioness de Bouffleurs, mistress of Stanislaus,
king of Poland. He distinguished himself in the army, which however he
left to give his attention to literature. He was considered one of the
most ingenious men of his time, and was noted for the elegance of his
manners and conversation. The epitaph on his tomb, written by himself,
is characteristic of him: _Mes amis, croyez vous que je dors?_

1816. Thanksgiving throughout England on the restoration of peace.

1819. JOHN WILLSON, died in London, aged 52. He sometime held the chief
command at Ceylon, and subsequently administered the government of Upper
Canada.

1826. OMMEGANCK, one of the most celebrated Dutch landscape painters,
died at Antwerp. His pieces are distinguished for good taste, and for
freshness and warmth of coloring.

1829. JOHN GEORGE HENRY HASSEL, a distinguished German geographer and
statistical writer, died at Weimar.

1834. NATHANIEL AMES died at Providence. He was the son of Fisher Ames,
and a seaman by profession. He is the author of _Mariners' Sketches_,
_Nautical Reminiscences_, and _Old Sailor's Yarns_.

1848. JOHN DEIDRICH PETERSON died at Markham, Canada. He was the pioneer
pastor of that town.

1854. JUDAH TOURO died at New Orleans, aged 78; bequeathing nearly two
millions of dollars to the public institutions of that city.

1854. WILLIAM WALKER proclaimed the republic of Sonora.


JANUARY 19.

1472. Birthday of COPERNICUS, at Thorn in Prussia.

1514. VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA returned to his colony at Darien, after
having made the discovery of the Pacific ocean. His expedition occupied
four months and a half; his triumph was complete. The whole population
poured down to the shore to meet him, to hail him as the author of their
fortunes, as less a man than a gift of heaven, to guide them into the
possession of glories and riches incalculable. The expedition had been
undertaken in consequence of the extravagant representations by the
Indians, of a people who lived on the borders of that ocean, six suns
distant, who owned large ships, and whose eating and drinking vessels
were of pure gold. They referred to the Peruvians.

1535. Date of the probate of the will of the famed early English
printer, Wynkyn de Worde.

1547. HENRY HOWARD, earl of Surrey, a soldier, scholar and poet,
beheaded on Tower hill for treason. In his youth he made the tour of
Europe, and at Florence signalized his courage and romantic spirit, by
publishing, in the style of a knight-errant, a challenge to all comers,
Christians, Jews, Saracens, Turks and Cannibals, in defence of the
surpassing beauty of his mistress, the fair Geraldine; and was
victorious at the tournament instituted by the grand duke on the
occasion. He served in the army sent against Scotland in 1542, and in
1544 accompanied the troops with which the king invaded France. For his
services he was promoted, but being defeated in an attempt to seize a
convoy, he was superseded. This unmerited disgrace was the beginning of
his ruin. He is said to have aspired to the hand of the Princess Mary,
and on some frivolous charges was tried by a common jury, by whom he was
obsequiously found guilty of treason. Thus perished a man "no less
valiant than learned, and of excellent hopes," aged 27.

1565. JAMES LAYNEZ, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, died.
He was born in Castile, 1512. His intimacy with Loyola was formed in
Paris, where they matured the plan of the society. Loyola was chosen the
first general, and in 1558 was succeeded by Laynez.

1576. HANS SACHS, the famous German master-singer, died. He was born at
Nuremberg 1494; his occupation that of a shoemaker. At the age of 14 he
began to write poetry, and made verses and shoes, plays and pumps, with
equal assiduity, to the age of 77, when he took an inventory of his
literary stock in trade. It consisted of 4200 songs, 508 comedies, and
other pieces, in all 6048, making 32 folio volumes written by his own
hand. From these a selection was published in 5 volumes folio. His poems
are distinguished for _naïveté_, feeling, and striking description.

1643. Battle of Liscard, in Cornwall, England.

1657. MILES SYNDERCOMBE and others convicted of plotting the death of
Oliver Cromwell.

1706. CHARLES SACKVILLE, earl of Dorset and Middlesex, died. He was an
accomplished scholar and a good speaker, but declined all public
employment, being wholly engrossed in gallantry and pleasure. He was the
patron of poets and men of wit: his own productions are those of a man
of wit, vigorous, gay and airy. He served in the Dutch war of 1665 as a
volunteer, and on the night before an engagement, composed the
celebrated song, beginning, "To all you ladies now at hand."

1728. WILLIAM CONGREVE, the English dramatist, died. He was educated for
the bar, but like many others similarly situated, gave up the law for
the pursuit of polite literature, in which he was eminently successful.
His first work, _The Incognita_, was written at a very early age, and he
produced his first comedy at the age of 21.

1730. PETER II of Russia died of the small pox. He was the grandson of
Peter the Great, and ascended the throne by the will of Catharine, when
but 13 years old.

1757. THOMAS RUDDIMAN, a celebrated Scottish printer and grammarian, and
who excelled in many learned treatises, died.

1776. Great eruption of mount Vesuvius.

1777. HUGH MERCER, an officer of the revolution, died. He was a
Scotchman by birth, and was in the memorable battle of Culloden. Soon
after, he emigrated to America, and was engaged with Washington in the
Indian wars of 1755. He joined the patriots of the revolution, and
distinguished himself at Trenton and Princeton; was wounded in the
latter engagement, of which he died. His funeral was attended by 30,000
people.

1778. FRANCIS FURGLER, the New Jersey recluse, died. During 25 years,
without fire, he lived in a cell in the form of an oven, about four
miles from Burlington.

1782. The emperor JOSEPH pardoned all those who kept out of his
dominions on account of religion, provided they returned within a year;
he also abolished several religious orders, and absolved the monks and
nuns from their vows, and at the same time disclaimed all subordination
to the pope in secular affairs.

1795. Insurrection in the island of Granada.

1795. The French under Devinther took Amersfoort in Holland, and the
advance of the French army entered Amsterdam.

1796. The brass coffin, containing the bones of Columbus and the chains
with which he had been loaded at Cuba, were removed from St. Domingo to
Havana, by the direction of his descendants. They are now preserved in a
silver urn on the left of the altar of the cathedral.

1806. JAMES JACKSON, an officer of the revolution, died. He came from
England only two years before the war, and although but 19 years of age
in 1776, he displayed great intrepidity at the attack upon Savannah. He
continued in the service throughout the war, and in 1782 was presented
by the legislature with a house and lot in Savannah. He held various
civil offices in the state, and at the time of his death was a senator
in congress.

1809. The French entered Corunna.

1812. Ciudad Rodrigo, a town and fortress in Spain, eight miles from the
Portuguese line, garrisoned by 1700 Frenchmen, taken by storm by the
British under Wellington, after a siege of 11 days.

1817. Riot and rebellion of the students of Princeton college.

1819. CHARLES IV, king of Spain, died. He was born at Naples 1740, and
came to the throne of Spain 1788. Too imbecile to govern, he was always
ruled by his wife and ministers. He was dethroned by Napoleon 1808, and
died a pensioner at Naples of a relapse of the gout.

1836. JOHN BUTLER, "the celebrated huntsman," died, in Wake county, N.
C. He was supposed to be at least 110 years of age, and left a wife
surviving equally as old.

1840. The United States exploring expedition under Lieut. Wilkes
reported the discovery of a new antarctic continent on this day. A
subsequent British expedition sailed over its site without being able to
discern any vestige of it. It is supposed to have been a series of
icebergs.

1843. THOS. W. WHITE, editor of the _Southern Literary Messenger_, died
at Richmond.

1847. PETER R. LIVINGSTON, a prominent man in the counsels and politics
of the state of New York, died at Rhinebeck.

1848. ISAAC D'ISRAELI, author of the _Curiosities of Literature_, died
aged 82.

1853. C. B. ADAMS, an eminent American naturalist, and professor in
Amherst college, died.

1854. GEORGE MCFEELY, died at Carlisle, Pa., aged 73. He distinguished
himself on the Niagara frontier in 1813.


JANUARY 20.

1265. The earl of Leicester having defeated Henry III, summoned a new
parliament, in which the commons were first represented.

1546. FREDERICK, elector palatine, established without any acts of
violence, the protestant religion.

1662. Three women condemned at Hartford, Conn., as witches, one of whom
was hanged.

1706. HUMPHREY HODY died, an eminent English writer. A dissertation on
the resurrection of the body asserted is one of his most useful works.

1745. CHARLES VII of Germany died at Munich, aged 48.

1764. MR. WILKES was expelled from the British house of commons for
writing the _North Briton_ No. 45. This famed individual was
subsequently outlawed; disregarded his outlawery; was three times
elected for Middlesex, and his election as often voted void by the
commons, though returned by large majorities.

1770. Lord Chancellor YORKE committed suicide in the 48th year of his
age. He was a distinguished English politician, and his death is
ascribed to remorse for neglecting a promise he had made to his brother
to accept of no office from court.

1776. Gen. SCHUYLER disarmed the Highlanders at Johnstown, N. Y., and
took six hostages.

1777. Gen. DICKINSON, with 400 militia and 50 Pennsylvania riflemen,
defeated a British foraging party, took 9 prisoners, 100 horses, 40
wagons and a number of cattle.

1779. BENEDICT ARNOLD condemned to be reprimanded by the
commander-in-chief, for misdemeanor at Philadelphia.

1779. DAVID GARRICK, the actor, died. He formed a new era in the English
stage, a reform both in the conduct and license of the drama, which was
honorable to the genius that had the power to effect it.

1781. A revolt of 160 of the Jersey line at Morristown. It was
suppressed and two of the ringleaders executed.

1783. The Independence of the United States acknowledged by Great
Britain.

1788. GEORGE JOACHIM ZOLLIKOFER, a Swiss divine, died. He was born 1730,
and became one of the most eminent preachers of the last century. His
sermons have been published in 15 vols.

1788. Australia first colonized, nearly three centuries after the
discovery of the Ladrones by Magellan, which constitute a part of it.
Governor Philip arrived with a number of convicts from England, and
established a colony at Port Jackson in preference to Botany Bay.

1790. JOHN HOWARD, the philanthropist, died at Cherson in Russia, aged
63. He had taken up his residence at this settlement on the Baltic sea;
a malignant fever prevailing there, he was prompted by humanity to visit
a patient laboring under the contagion, when he received the infection,
and died in consequence.

1790. LAFAYETTE, in the assembly of the states general supported the
motion for the abolition of titles of nobility, from which period he
renounced his own, and never afterwards resumed it.

1795. The French under Pichegru entered Amsterdam, and Geertruidenberg
capitulated to Gen. Bonneau.

1795. A great fire occurred at Bergen in Norway, when 60 houses and a
great many stores were burnt.

1796. PICHEGRU attacked Kaiserslautern, but was repulsed with the loss
of 2000 men and several cannon. Austrian loss about 700 killed and
wounded.

1798. The frigate Crescent sailed from Portsmouth, N. H., as a present
from the United States to the dey of Algiers; she also carried out
presents to the amount of $300,000.

1800. THOMAS MIFFLIN, an officer of the revolution, died. He was a
member of the first congress, and for many years governor of
Pennsylvania.

1813. CHRISTOPHER MARTIN WIELAND, a German author of great repute, died
aged 80. He was the father of 14 children, and 42 quarto volumes of
books by the sale of which last he was enabled to purchase an estate. He
was knighted by Alexander of Russia, and by Napoleon.

1817. The weather had been so moderate that up to this time no ice had
been seen on the Delaware at Philadelphia.

1817. JAMES ANTHONY, of Hanover co., Va., died, aged 104.

1823. The British government received advice that a Bengalee newspaper
had been issued, edited by a learned Hindoo. Its title was _Sungband
Cowmuddy_, or the _Moon of Intelligence_.

1835. The city of Mocha taken by the Egyptians under Achmet Pacha; by
which the whole of Arabia was rendered subject to Mehemet Ali, pacha of
Egypt.

1836. XAVIER SAUBERT, the celebrated fire-king, being engaged in making
some experiments in chemistry, with phosphoric ether, it exploded and
scattered his body into a thousand pieces.

1836. Treaty of peace and commerce signed between the United States and
the republic of Venezuela.

1839. The army of the confederation of Bolivia and Peru, commanded by
Santa Cruz in person, was entirely defeated and destroyed, at Yungay,
with a loss of 2,600 killed and 3,400 prisoners. Santa Cruz immediately
resigned his office.

1843. A report fully approving of the conduct of Com. McKenzie and his
officers on board the United States brig of war Somers, was brought in
by the court appointed for that purpose.

1848. CHRISTIAN VIII, king of Denmark, died in the 62d year of his age
and 9th of his reign. A constitution was offered the same day by his
successor.

1854. A tornado in Ohio half a mile in width demolished every thing it
encountered, and almost entirely destroyed the town of Brandon.

This day in the calendar of Hesiod, is most propitious for the birth of
men.


JANUARY 21.

988. ADALBERO, archbishop of Rheims, died. He assisted in placing Hugh
Capet on the throne of France.

1582. FERDINAND ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO, duke of Alva, a Spanish general and
minister of state, died, aged 74. It is said of him that during nearly
sixty years of warfare against different enemies, he never lost a
battle, and was never taken by surprise. He was undoubtedly the ablest
general of his age; had a proud mien, a noble aspect and a strong frame;
slept little, labored and wrote much. But pride, severity and cruelty
tarnished his renown, so that he became odious even to his own
countrymen.

1609. JOSEPH JUSTUS SCALIGER died, aged 69. His education commenced
early, and he was one of the most indefatigable students through a long
life, that was ever known. So entirely immersed was he in his studies,
that he passed whole days in his chamber without eating or drinking, and
paid very little attention to the common affairs of life. He may be
called the founder of the science of chronology.

1647. The plague broke out at Edinburgh. A writer of the time says, that
the last plague they had raged so violently that the fortieth person
lived not of those who dwelt there four years before, but that it was
peopled with new faces.

1666. SHAH JEHAN, a Mogul emperor, died, aged 74. He was the son and
successor of Jehangir, but did not inherit much of the talent and spirit
of that powerful ruler. During a severe illness the government was
usurped by his son, and on his recovery he was removed from Delhi to
Agra, where he died, probably by poison.

1692. King WILLIAM and his court issued a proclamation against vice and
profaneness.

1702. The affirmation allowed by Queen Anne to the quakers in England,
extended to those of Pennsylvania.

1707. AURUNGZEBE, (_ornament of the throne_,) died; the last powerful
and energetic sovereign that ruled over the Mogul empire of Hindostan.
From his 20th year, military duties devolved upon him; he raised a body
of troops, and obtained the government of the Deccan. He invited his old
friends the fakirs, or religious mendicants, to a feast, and compelled
them to put on new and decent clothing. The gold and silver pieces which
he found on burning their old garments, was of great service to him in
prosecuting the war against his elder brother for the sovereignty. He
stirred up dissensions among his brothers, by which they were put out of
his way, shut up his father in his harem, and in 1659 ascended the
throne. Notwithstanding his cruelty he governed with much wisdom, and
consulted the welfare of his people. Two of his sons endeavoring to form
a party in their own favor, he caused to be put to death by slow poison.
In the midst of his activity he died at Ahmednagar, and with his death
terminated the brilliant epoch of the Moguls.

1721. FRANCIS PAGI died, author of a chronological history of the popes.

1733. BERNARD DE MANDEVILLE, an English author, died. He was born at
Dort in Holland, and went to England to practice medicine. Meeting with
poor encouragement, he turned author; but his topics, though professedly
intended for the promotion of the public morals, introduced him to the
notice of the grand jury. His pen procured the means of subsistence, but
acquired for him an unenviable notoriety.

1750. JOHN BLAND, the renowned writing master, died at his academy in
London.

1759. Battle of Wandewash, in India. The French under Lally defeated
with the loss of 800 killed and wounded, by the British under Col.
Coote, who lost 262 do.

1769. The first letter of JUNIUS appeared in Woodfall's _Public
Advertiser_; and the last number was also published on this day, 1772.

1773. ALEXIS PIRON, a French dramatist, died. His first effusions were
satires, which procured him so many enemies that even in the latter part
of his life he could not get admission into the Academy. He revenged
himself by calling them _les invalides du bel esprit_, and composing his
own humorous epitaph:

     _Ci-git Piron, qui ne fut rien,
     Pas même académicien._

1774. MUSTAPHA III, emperor of Turkey, died, and was succeeded by his
brother Abdul Hamet.

1775. PUGATCHEF, the daring chief of the Tartars, defeated by the
Russians, into whose hands he fell and was put to death.

1780. Admiral RODNEY of the English fleet arrived with his prizes and
transports for the relief of Gibraltar; the garrison was short of
provisions.

1782. Grand fete in Paris on the birth of the dauphin.

1793. LOUIS XVI beheaded at Paris, aged 38. He had reigned 17 years and
7 months, and is now represented as an amiable and benevolent man,
anxious to make his subjects happy; who in turn treated him in the
vilest manner, and executed him as a tyrant and a traitor. His behavior
on many trying occasions vindicated him effectually of timidity, and
showed that the unwillingness to shed blood by which he was particularly
distinguished, arose from benevolence, and not from pusillanimity. Upon
the scaffold he exhibited a firmness that became a noble spirit.

1814. JACQUES BERNARDIN HENRY DE ST. PIERRE, a French philosophical
writer, died, at his estate near Paris. He is best known as the author
of _Paul and Virginia_, which appeared in 1788, and passed through fifty
editions in one year. It has been generally translated in Europe.

1815. MATTHIAS CLAUDIUS, a German poet, died. His prose and poetry are
said to bear a peculiar stamp of humor, frankness and cordiality, and
many of his songs, set to music by the first composers, have become a
part of the national melodies. He filled several public offices.

1816. Day of general mourning in France, on account of the death of
Louis XVI, twenty-three years after his execution.

1820. AMBROISE MARIE FRANCIS JOSEPH PALISOT DE BEAUVAIS, a French
naturalist, died. He came to America in the pursuit of science, and
while at Philadelphia learnt that he had been proscribed by the
revolutionists as an emigrant. He supported himself as a teacher of
music and languages until the arrival of the French minister, who
afforded Palisot the means of prosecuting inquiries into the natural
history of America. He was employed to arrange Peale's collection. On
returning to France with his rich collections, he was admitted into the
Institute, in the place of Adanson.

1824. CHARLES MACARTHY killed. He commanded at the Cape-Coast against
the Ashantees. Whilst making preparations to repel these savages in
1821, the king sent his compliments to him, and said he hoped to have
his head as an ornament to their great war drum. Subsequently Sir
Charles marched against the enemy with a mixed force of Europeans and
blacks; the latter ran away, and the whites being defeated and their
commander captured, the ferocious menace was realized. The trophy
however was afterwards recovered.

1839. Great conflagration at Constantinople, in which the grand vizier's
palace, called the Sublime Porte, including the ministerial and
administration offices, was destroyed. Loss estimated at 20,000,000
piasters.

1847. Major JAMES MORTON, died at High Hill, Virginia, aged 90. In the
revolutionary war he acquired the cognomen of _Solid Column_, by which
soubriquet he was recognized by La Fayette in 1824, at Richmond.

1854. The magnificent British vessel Tayleur on its voyage to Melbourne,
wrecked on the Irish coast, and 370 persons lost.


JANUARY 22.

     The _Catagogia_, an erotic and bacchanalian festival
     celebrated at Ephesus by its licentious devotees, about the
     first century.

97. TIMOTHY, to whom St. Paul addressed several epistles, is said to
have been killed at Paris (Ephesus).

1265. First English parliament constituted of members from counties,
&c., as at present, met.

1528. HENRY VIII and FRANCIS I declared war against Charles V of
Germany.

1552. The duke of SOMERSET beheaded on pretence of inciting others to
imprison Dudley, the duke of Northumberland. He was a distinguished
writer of that age.

1561. Birthday of FRANCIS BACON, the English philosopher.

1562. The two houses of convocation subscribed the 39 articles of the
English church.

1575. Queen ELIZABETH granted to Thomas Tallis and William Birde an
exclusive patent for printing music, for the term of twenty-one years.

1683. ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, first earl of Shaftsbury, died. The career
of this able, but dubious and versatile statesman was cast in a stormy
period, and his acts have been severely reprehended. Yet much of it is
to be attributed to the odium excited by opposing party feelings. His
vices appear to have been redeemed by corresponding virtues, and had he
appeared in a different age, it is likely he would have developed a
different character.

1689. The British parliament having met under the name of a convention,
declared that the king, James II, had abdicated the throne. William and
Mary succeeded him.

1696. Birthday of JAMES BRUCKER, a German scholar, remembered by his
_Critical History of Philosophy_, 6 vols. 4to. He gives an account of
every school, from the Hebrew, Chaldaic and Egyptian, down to the Huron
in America.

1749. MATTHEW CONCANEN, some time attorney-general of Jamaica, and a
dramatic writer, died.

1788. Birthday of Lord BYRON.

1795. The French under Macdonald entered Naarden, Holland.

1800. GEORGE STEVENS died, best known as the editor of Shakspeare,
though to the versatility and richness of his talent there are numerous
testimonials. His literary collections were extremely curious, and as
regards the days that are gone, of great value.

1809. Naval action off Guadaloupe between the British frigate Cleopatra
and sloop of war Hazard, and the French frigate Topaz, 40 guns. The
engagement lasted 45 minutes, and resulted in the capture of the Topaz,
which was laden with provisions to relieve the garrison at Cayenne.

1810. The French forced the passage of the Sierra Morena, in Spain.

1812. Madame REICHARD ascended in a balloon to a great height at
Kœnigsberg in Prussia. The balloon was totally destroyed by a
hurricane, and the aeronaut precipitated to the earth, yet escaped with
life.

1813. Second battle of Frenchtown in Michigan. The van of Gen.
Harrison's army, about 750 men, was attacked at day break by 2000
British and Indians under Proctor and Tecumseh. Notwithstanding the
superiority of the latter in numbers, the Americans fought with
desperation six hours, when they surrendered. British loss, as stated by
Proctor, 24 killed, 128 wounded; the loss of the Indians is supposed to
have been greater. American loss, 200 killed, 522 prisoners, 27 escaped.
Proctor was promoted.

1815. The remains of LOUIS XVI and his queen taken up from the burial
ground, and deposited with much solemnity in the royal church of St.
Denis.

1815. American commodore PATTERSON captured a British transport
schooner, and took 63 prisoners. His own force was 53.

1815. United States privateer schooner Tomahawk 9 guns and 84 men,
captured by the British ship Bulwark.

1818. CASPAR WISTAR died, a distinguished physician of Philadelphia. He
was of German parentage, and a member of the society of Friends; became
eminent as an anatomist, and corresponded with Cuvier and other eminent
naturalists of Europe. He held scientific meetings at his own house, and
was an active contributer to knowledge of all kinds. He died of a slow
fever, caught by attending a poor family in a close apartment.

1822. JOHN JULIUS ANGERSTEIN died, celebrated as the founder of the
British national gallery, which was purchased by the government after
his death for £40,000, (_Cyclopedia Americana_ says £60,000) and was
first exhibited in May, 1824. He was born at St. Petersburg, 1735.

1830. Great fire at Pera, Constantinople, extinguished by the exertions
of the crew of an English ship.

1834. Great earthquake in South-America; the cities of Popayan and Pasto
almost entirely destroyed, and many lives lost.

1835. ANDREW WALLACE died at New York, aged 105. He emigrated from
Scotland in 1752, enlisted in the American army in 1776, and continued
in it till 1813, when he was honorably discharged, on account of his
disability, having suffered a stroke of paralysis.

1840. JOHN FREDERICK BLUMENBACH died at Göttingen, aged 88. He was long
a distinguished professor at the university, and a very eminent
naturalist. His collection of skulls was said to be the richest in the
world. The 50th year of his professorship was celebrated in 1826.

1849. JOHN C. CALHOUN'S draft of an address to the people of the United
States adopted in preference to Berrien's, and the Southern convention
adjourned sine die.

1854. PATRICK O'DONAHOE died at Brooklyn, N. Y.; one of the Irish exiles
who escaped from Van Diemen's Land.


JANUARY 23.

1401. TAMERLANE introduced his troops into the city of Damascus, in
violation of a truce; and after levying an enormous contribution in
gold, massacred the inhabitants, and reduced the city to ashes, in
revenge of the murder of the grandson of Mahomet, seven centuries
before, by the Syrians.

1516. FERDINAND V of Spain died. He inherited the crowns of Aragon and
Sicily, and united to them the kingdom of Castile by marriage. In 1492
he added to these the kingdom of Granada, the last possession of the
Moors, by conquest; at the same time Columbus was discovering for him
the new world. By force and treachery he acquired the kingdom of Naples,
and by similar means Navarre was also added to his dominions. Thus the
whole of Spain was united under him; so that he may be considered as the
restorer if not the founder of the Spanish monarchy. He was the most
powerful monarch of his time; but his conduct was characterized by a
total want of faith, and a recklessness of principle of which he made no
scruple of boasting. He was the founder of that fearful tribunal, the
Inquisition.

1570. Earl MURRAY, regent of Scotland, shot by Hamilton of
Bothwellhaugh. The latter, after the battle of Langside hill, had been
condemned to death as a rebel, and pardoned. A part of his estate,
however, was bestowed upon one of the regent's favorites, who seized
Hamilton's house and turned his wife out into the fields naked in a cold
night, by which she became deranged. This injury induced him to seek
revenge on the regent, after which he escaped to France.

1722. HENRI DE BOULAINVILLIERS, count of St. Saire in Normandy, died.
Having finished his studies he entered the army, which however, he soon
left to devote his attention to literature. A marked antipathy to
revelation pervades his writings, and exhibits itself in singular
contrast with a superstitious reverence for judicial astrology, and the
mystic sciences, which he cultivated with much diligence.

1733. O. S. Birthday of BENJAMIN LINCOLN, a revolutionary general, at
Hingham, Mass. Great reliance was placed in his abilities by Washington,
and many important commissions entrusted to him. In 1781 he was
appointed secretary of war, which office he held three years, and then
retired to his farm. He died 1810.

1761. Action between the British frigate Minerva, 22 guns, Capt. Hood,
and French ship Warwick, 34 guns, M. de Bellair, near cape Pinas, which
resulted in the capture of the latter. French loss 14 killed, 32
wounded; British loss 14 killed, 33 wounded, 3 of whom died.

1765. The British under Capt. Byron colonized the Falkland islands.

1766. WILLIAM CASLON, an eminent English type founder, died. He was
induced to attempt letter-cutting by a friend, and such was the
perfection to which he carried the art, that the beauty of his type
exceeded all others of the day, and was sought for from other countries
on the continent. He was employed to cut characters for several
languages of Asia.

1772. Mrs. CLUM died near Litchfield, England, aged 138. She had lived
103 years in one house.

1775. The Pennsylvania convention declared their determination, in case
the arbitrary laws of England were attempted to be executed by force, to
repel the same by the most determined resistance.

1780. The British ship Culloden of 74 guns lost off Long island.

1789. FRANCES BROOKE died, an English lady, remarkable for her literary
accomplishments. Her works consist of novels, periodicals, tragedies,
musical dramas, and translations.

1789. JOHN CLELAND died; author of the notoriously immoral romance,
_Fanny Hill_.

1790. The mutineers of the ship Bounty having arrived at Pitcairn's
island, and landed all their effects, set fire to the vessel and
destroyed every vestige that could lead to the discovery of their
retreat. The island was then divided into nine equal portions between
them, and the natives were reduced to the condition of slaves. (See Oct.
3.)

1795. JOHN SULLIVAN, a distinguished general in the revolutionary army,
died. He was of Irish descent, and before the revolution practiced law
in New Hampshire. He was among the first to take an active part in the
contest; resigned his seat in the first congress to enter the army; was
conspicuous at several engagements; and terminated his military career
in laying waste the country of the Six Nations, in order to put a stop
to their depredations. After the peace he filled several important state
offices.

1795. The French took possession of the Hague and Helvoetsluis, made 800
Englishmen prisoners, and liberated 600 Frenchmen.

1799. The French under Championnet entered Naples.

1800. A convention signed between Gen. Kleber and the grand vizier for
the evacuation of Egypt by the French troops.

1800. EDWARD RUTLEDGE, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, died. He was a member of the first congress and acted a
conspicuous part during the war. While the British beleaguered
Charleston, his native city, he commanded a company of troops, and was
taken prisoner. On the restoration of peace he returned to the practice
of law, and a short time previous to his death was elected governor of
the state of South Carolina.

1802. HUMBOLDT and his companions ascended Chimborazo to the height of
18,576 feet above the surface of the sea. The blood started from their
eyes, lips and gums, and they became almost torpid with cold. A narrow
deep valley prevented them from reaching the summit, which was 1344 feet
higher.

1806. WILLIAM PITT, second son of the earl of Chatham, died. He was born
1759, and at the age of 23 became chancellor of the exchequer and the
next year prime minister. It was during the early part of his career
that the American war was concluded. Notwithstanding the emoluments of
his offices were great, so far from acquiring wealth, he died involved.
Parliament decreed him a public funeral, and £40,000 to pay his debts.

1813. GEORGE CLYMER, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, died. By the death of his parents he was left an orphan at
the age of 7 years; but he was taken care of by his uncle, who left him
a large fortune, with which to continue the business of a merchant in
Philadelphia. His services to the country during the revolution, in
raising supplies and devising ways and means to continue the struggle,
were of incalculable importance.

1813. Horrible massacre of the United States prisoners taken by the
British and Indians at the battle of Frenchtown the day before. The
houses in which the helpless wounded lay were set on fire, and those who
were too feeble to continue the march were shot or tomahawked on the
road. It is morally certain that the British generals Proctor and
Elliott were culpable for this wanton sacrifice of human life to satiate
the revenge of the savages.

1813. ROBERT JAMISON died in South Carolina, aged 104. His eyesight,
which had failed him some years previous to his decease, returned again
just before his death in all its strength.

1815. Thanksgiving day in New Orleans, and a solemn _Te Deum_ on account
of Jackson's victory.

1820. EDWARD, duke of Kent, died. He was the fourth son of George III.
In 1802 he was appointed governor of Gibraltar, but his rigid discipline
produced a mutiny, and he was recalled. The present queen of England is
his daughter.

1824. STEPHEN ACOUR KOVER, an Armenian writer of distinction, died, aged
84.

1833. BANASTRE TARLETON died, aged 78. He commanded the British cavalry
in the Carolinas, in the revolution.

1841. SARAH ANN DAVIS sentenced at Philadelphia for murder; the first
capital conviction of a female in Philadelphia.

1844. WILLIAM GASTON died at Raleigh, the capital of his native state.
The prudence and energy of his mother made a disposition, naturally
volatile and irritable, become a pattern of patience and perseverance.
His speeches when a member of congress were highly finished.

1853. JUNIUS SMITH died, aged 74; having devoted a considerable portion
of his life to the establishment of transatlantic steam-navigation, and
the naturalization of the teaplant in the United States.

1854. ALEXANDER DE BODISCO died at Georgetown. He was seventeen years
Russian minister at Washington, and was very popular with the American
people.

1855. There was an earthquake in a part of New Zealand, by which the
surface of the earth was raised between three and four feet, and the
shellfish attached to the rocks died.


JANUARY 24.

41. CAIUS CALIGULA, the Roman emperor, assassinated. He commenced his
reign with every promise of becoming a good monarch. But at the end of
eight months he was attacked with a fever, which appears to have left a
frenzy upon his mind, for his disposition was totally reversed. After
committing the most atrocious acts of cruelty and folly, he was
assassinated by a tribune as he came out of the amphitheatre, in the
29th year of his age, and the 4th of his reign.

76. Birthday of PUBLIUS ÆLIUS ADRIAN, the Roman emperor. He was a
renowned general and great traveler; who, on a visit to Britain, built
the famous wall or rampart, which still retains his name, extending from
the mouth of the Tyne to the Solway frith, 80 miles, to prevent the
incursions of the Caledonians into England.

1559. CHRISTIAN II, king of Denmark, died. His history affords a series
of cruelties and usurpations almost without a parallel, from 1515, when
he ascended the throne, until 1523, when he was deposed. The remainder
of his life was passed in imprisonment.

1709. GEORGE ROOKE, an English admiral, died. He took the fortress of
Gibraltar, by surprise, 1704; since which it has continued in the hands
of the British, and is considered impregnable.

1712. Birthday of FREDERICK the Great of Prussia.

1727. PHILIP DE VENDOME, a French general, died. He distinguished
himself in the army of Louis XIV.

1762. JAMES RALPH, a voluminous writer of poetry, politics and history,
died. He was an American by birth, but went over to England about 1729.
He wrote a history of England, commencing with the Stuarts.

1781. The British garrison at Georgetown, South Carolina, surprised and
taken by General Lee.

1793. The French minister, M. CHAUVELIN, ordered to quit England before
the 1st of February.

1795. Lord HOOD sailed from England, on an expedition against Corsica.

1797. At a dinner complimentary to Charles J. Fox, the chairman, the
duke of Norfolk, gave as a toast, "Our sovereign's health, the majesty
of the people;" for which offence he lost all his offices.

1812. DANIEL MCDONALD died at Canajoharie, aged 102. He was a native of
Ireland, born in the reign of Queen Anne, and had seen four monarchs on
the English throne. He took an early and active part in the
revolutionary war; and was possessed of a most remarkable degree of
activity, both of body and mind, until the morning he expired.

1834. WILLIAM DONNISON, an officer of the revolution, died. He was
appointed adjutant and inspector-general of the Massachusetts militia by
Gov. Hancock in 1788, which office he held until 1813.

1838. JOSEPH GOUGE, a revolutionary soldier, died, aged 109.

1838. Defeat of the Indians at Loche-Hatchee by the United States troops
under Gen. Jessup; loss of the latter, 7 killed and 32 wounded.

1841. MATTHIAS DENMAN, an enterprising western pioneer, and in early
life one of the first owners of the land on which Cincinnati now stands,
died at Springfield, N. J., aged 91.

1851. G. L. P. SPONTINI died in Italy; a celebrated dramatic composer,
in the line of opera.

1857. Dr. MEDHURST, English missionary to China, died, aged 71. He was
also a noted linguist, and author of a work on China, a Chinese
dictionary, and a Japanese and English vocabulary.


JANUARY 25.

275. LUCIUS DOMITIUS AURELIANUS, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was
the son of a peasant; his mother a priestess of the Temple of the Sun.
He enlisted as a common soldier, and rose from that humble station to
the highest military offices during the reigns of Valerian and Claudius,
the latter of whom, on his death bed, recommended Aurelian to the choice
of the troops. He delivered Italy from the barbarians, and conquered the
famous Zenobia queen of Palmyra. He had planned an expedition against
Persia, and was waiting in Thrace for an opportunity to cross the
straits when he fell a victim to a conspiracy.

1327. EDWARD II of England, then a prisoner in Kenilworth castle,
compelled to resign his crown in favor of his son, Edward III.

1533. HENRY VIII privately married to Ann Boleyn in a garret at
Whitehall.

1640. ROBERT BURTON, an English divine, died. He is known principally by
his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, a rare book, which it is said he wrote to
divert his own thoughts from that feeling.

1692. The Indians, accompanied by some French, attacked the town of York
in Maine, killed 50 and carried away 100 of the inhabitants, and
destroyed the town.

1717. The episcopal clergy of Scotland, who had before been fined for
not praying for King George by name were forced to abscond or fly their
country.

1726. WILLIAM DE LISLE, a distinguished geographer, died at Paris. His
maps are still of great authority.

1730. A fire which broke out in the archduchess's apartments at
Brussels, consumed the palace, with the national records and state
papers.

1745. Action in the Straits of Banca, (Sumatra) between the British
ships Debtford and Preston, Com. Barnet, and three French company ships,
in which the latter were captured.

1759. Birthday of ROBERT BURNS.

1782. DE GRASSE attacked the van of the British fleet under Admiral
Hood. The French were drawn from their anchorage ground, and by a
masterly manœuvre the British succeeded in obtaining it.

1786. CHARLES PRICE, one of the most successful counterfeiters ever
known, committed suicide in prison, London. He had continued to practice
forgeries on the Bank of England to an incredible amount during six
years, contriving all the while to elude the most cunning devices of the
police to detect him, although the notes were traced in every quarter to
have proceeded from one man, always disguised and always inaccessible.

1787. Battle with the insurgents under Shays, at Springfield, Mass., who
retreated with the loss of 3 killed.

1791. GEORGE SELWYN, a noted English wit, died, aged 72.

1804. JEAN JACQUES DESSALINES declared emperor of Hayti.

1807. Battle at Mohringen, in Prussian Poland, in which Bernadotte
defeated the Russians under Pahlin and Salitzin, who lost 1200 killed
and 300 prisoners.

1813. Concordat signed at Versailles, by which Napoleon allowed the pope
to exercise the pontificate in France and Italy, in the same manner as
his predecessors.

1834. Castle of St. Louis at Quebec, the residence of the British
governor-general, destroyed by fire.

1836. General PAEZ gained a victory over the rebels at Venezuela near
Porto Cabello.

1838. Earthquake in the eastern part of Europe. Seven severe shocks
occurred during a few days, by which 300 houses were thrown down in the
city of Bucharest, and 60 persons killed.

1841. The shock of an earthquake was felt in the city of New York and
vicinity to such a degree as to excite considerable alarm.

1843. EDWARD DRUMMUND, private secretary to Sir Robert Peel, was
assassinated in the streets of London. For nearly 20 years he discharged
duties second to those of a cabinet minister, because less conspicuous.

1845. ABIGAIL LEONARD died at Raynham, Mass., 101 years old. She was the
fifth in descent from John Alden, who first landed from the Mayflower on
the Plymouth rock.

1849. The usual convention of the two houses of congress declared that
the people had elected Zachary Taylor their president and Millard
Fillmore vice-president.


JANUARY 26.

477. Subterranean thunders were heard simultaneously from the Black to
the Red sea, and the earth was convulsed without intermission for the
space of six months after. In many places the air seemed to be on fire.
Towns and large tracts of ground were swallowed up in Phrygia, during
this convulsion, the particulars of which would seem incredible, were
they not corroborated by contemporary historians.

1564. The pope confirmed by a bull the decrees of the Council of Trent.

1630. HENRY BRIGGS, an English mathematician, died.

1679. Keel of the Griffin, the first vessel in the western waters, laid
6 miles west of Niagara falls, by La Salle.

1679. The invaluable library of Elias Ashmole destroyed by fire at his
chambers in London, together with his collection of coins and other
curious antiquities.

1681. Two Cameronian women hanged at Edinburgh for calling the king and
bishops "perjured, bloody men."

1699. Peace of Carlowitz concluded between Leopold I of Austria, and
Mustapha II sultan of Turkey, after fifteen years of hostility.

1721. PETER DANIEL HUET, a celebrated French critic and classical
scholar died. He was engaged twenty years in publishing an edition of
the Latin classics, which extended to 62 vols.

1730. A leaden pot containing a human heart preserved in spirits dug up
at Waverly in Surrey, England, supposed to have been there 700 years.

1733. A negro for an assault upon a white woman was burnt alive in New
Jersey.

1737. All the prisoners for debt in White Chapel jail, England, were
discharged by the executors of the will of the late Mr. Wright who paid
their debts.

1769. JOHN WHITE, printer and publisher of the _Newcastle Courant_,
died, aged 81. At his decease he was the oldest master printer in
England.

1779. ARNOLD sentenced by court martial to be reprimanded by Gen.
Washington.

1782. DE GRASSE with the French fleet, 29 sail, attacked the British
under Hood, 22 sail, but was repulsed with the loss of 1000 killed and
wounded. British loss trifling.

1787. The assembly of notables met at Paris, having been called together
to assist the king, Louis XVI, and M. Calonne, to raise a revenue to
meet the exigencies of the times. M. Calonne presented his new plan of
reform and taxation, imposing a share of the burden upon the privileged
classes: but as the assembly was composed of these classes they could
not make up their minds to impose taxes upon themselves which had
hitherto been borne by the lower classes. The assembly was called to
help the king and his minister out of a dilemma, but plunged them deeper
in trouble, and accelerated the revolution.

1793. The stadtholderate of Holland abolished, and the Batavian republic
under the protection of France established.

1793. The senate of Venice acknowledged the French republic.

1795. The French national convention declared Marseilles in a state of
siege.

1795. The assembly of the states of Holland met and chose Peter Paulus
their president for the term of fifteen days.

1814. The Russians under Blücher passed the Marne and marched upon
Troyes. Bonaparte at the same time entered Vitry.

1820. HENRY ANDREWS, a self-taught English mathematician, died. For more
than forty years he produced an almanac for a company of stationers
under the name of Francis Moore, physician, and astonished the simple
and ignorant by his marvelous predictions. His prophecies were as much
laughed at by himself as by the worshipful company of stationers for
whom he annually manufactured them in order to render their almanacs
salable among the ignorant, with whom a lucky hit covered a multitude of
blunders. A few years before his death he predicted that the people
would soon know better than to be influenced by the prophecies which his
employers required him to write. He did not live to see the publication
of the _British Almanac_, which effected the downfall of _Poor Robin_
(the title of one of his almanacs), which ceased to exist in 1828.

1823. EDWARD JENNER died, aged 74, celebrated for having introduced the
practice of vaccination as a preventative of the small pox. He was the
youngest son of a clergyman, born in England 1749. He commenced his
investigations concerning the cow pox about the year 1776, and twenty
years afterwards the practice was introduced into London hospitals. The
success of this discovery procured him honorary titles, and a grant from
parliament of £20,000.

1838. JOHN O'NEIL died at Havre de Grace, Md., distinguished for the
resistance which he made at that place, to the British under admiral
Cockburn, during the last war.

1839. STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER died at Albany. He was born in the city of
New York 1764, and graduated at Cambridge, Mass. He was the fifth in
descent from Kilian Van Rensselaer, the original proprietor and patentee
of the colony of Rensselaerwyck, a territory 48 miles long and 24 broad.
He filled several offices, civil and military; was a man of great
wealth, and distinguished for his magnificent charities and Christian
virtues.

1839. Tremendous gale and heavy rain in the United States. The river at
Philadelphia rose 17 feet above low water mark, and at Kenebec 13 feet
above high water mark. New York and Albany were considerably flowed.

1850. FRANCIS JEFFREY, a Scottish jurist, celebrated by his long
connection with the _Edinburgh Review_, died, aged 77.

1853. SYLVESTER JUDD died, aged 40; a unitarian clergyman at Augusta,
Me., author of several works which found many admirers.


JANUARY 27.

438. St. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, one of the Fathers and archbishop of
Constantinople, died.

1673. JEROME LALLEMANT, superior of the Jesuits in Canada, died, aged
80; leaving behind him a high reputation in his order. He furnished
seven of the _Relaçons_.

1676. The Narragansetts, in retreating from their country in Rhode
island, drove off from one of the inhabitants of Warwick, 15 horses, 50
oxen and 200 sheep.

1696. The Royal Sovereign burnt by accident. She was the first great
ship built in England, and became one of the best men of war in the
world. For sixty years she was so formidable to her enemies that none of
the most daring of them willingly ventured an engagement. The levies of
money for building this noble vessel caused the rebellion.

1733. THOMAS WOOLSTON, an English divine, died in prison. He imbibed a
fondness for allegorical interpretations of scripture from reading some
of the early writers--particularly Origen. His speculations finally led
to an indictment for blasphemy, and being unable to pay the fine
imposed, he was retained in prison. He was a learned man, but held
notions peculiar to himself, which was a high offence in those days.

1760. The ice carried away one of the dykes of the Rhine, in consequence
of which the neighboring country was inundated.

1783. The British under Gen. Mathews took possession of Bednapore and
Candapore, without firing a gun, and the whole country, except
Mangalore, yielded in consequence.

1795. PICHEGRU made a requisition upon the Dutch for the French army of
200,000 quintals of corn, 5,000,000 rations of hay, 5,000,000 measures
of oats, 200,000 rations of straw, 150,000 pairs of shoes, 20,000 pairs
of boots, 20,000 cloth coats and waistcoats, 40,000 pairs of stocking
breeches, 150,000 pairs of linen pants, 200,000 shirts, 50,000 hats, to
be furnished within a month, and 12,000 oxen to be furnished within two
months.

1800. King John's castle, at Old Ford near Bow, in England, was blown
down by a storm. It was built in 1203 and afforded the king a sleeping
place after signing the magna charta.

1807. BURR'S conspiracy communicated to congress.

1807. BONAPARTE confiscated the possessions of Ernest Frederick Anthony,
hereditary prince of Saxe Coburg, for holding a commission in the
Russian service.

1807. Action between the British ship Caroline and the Spanish ship St.
Raphael, which resulted in the capture of the latter, bound from Lima to
Manilla, with 500,000 Spanish dollars, 1,700 quintals of copper, and a
valuable cargo.

1814. Camp Defiance attacked by the Indians at day break. The United
States troops and friendly Indians were commanded by Gen. Floyd, who
repulsed the assailants with great slaughter.

1823. CHARLES HUTTON, an eminent English mathematician, died. He was
born 1737; his father, a viewer of mines, intended him for the same
employment; but he rose by his own energy and application to a high
degree of fame and fortune.

1832. AUGUSTIN DANIELS, count de Billiard, died, a French statesman and
soldier. He fought at Jemappes, was with Bonaparte through the Egyptian
campaign; at Austerlitz; in all the great battles in Prussia; at Moskwa;
and lost an arm at Leipsic. He made himself useful under Louis XVIII and
Louis Philippe.

1832. ANDREW BELL, founder of the Bell or Madras system of education,
died. It has been made a subject of dispute whether Bell or Lancaster is
the progenitor of the monitorial or mutual system of instruction. In
1796 Dr. Bell returned from Madras, and submitted his system to the
public. It has since been widely diffused over the civilized world.

1836. FREDERICK DAVID SCHAEFFER died, pastor of the German Lutheran
church in Philadelphia. He was born and educated in Germany, but came to
this country in early life. He was a man of learning, and distinguished
for his knowledge of languages.

1840. ISAAC CHAUNCEY, a distinguished American commodore, died at
Washington.

1841. MCLEOD arrested within the limits of the state of New York. Though
engaged in burning the steamboat Caroline in 1837, yet being a British
subject and that government having assumed the responsibility of that
act, his arrest threatened a rupture of the peace between the two
nations.

1850. WILLIAM ATKINS COLEMAN, for more than thirty years connected with
the literature of New York, died.

1856. CHARLES MORRIS, a commodore in the United States navy, died, aged
71. He was the acknowledged chief of the navy in administrative wisdom
and in varied professional attainments; had displayed great heroism and
intrepidity in the capture of the Philadelphia and Guerriere; in the
latter action he was shot through the body by a musket ball.


JANUARY 28.

814. CHARLEMAGNE, or Charles I of France, died. He was an illustrious
sovereign, as well in the cabinet as in the field; and though he could
not write his name, was the patron of men of letters and the restorer of
learning. He wanted the virtue of humanity.

1547. HENRY VIII of England having grown so unwieldy and corpulent that
he was raised up and let down the stairs by a machine, after an illness
of some weeks, sank under his disease, and died in the 38th year of his
reign, and the 56th of his age. He repudiated his first wife 20 years
after marriage, and in the course of about ten years espoused five
others. Henry's reign was one of the most remarkable in the annals of
the kingdom. He made himself so much feared, that no English king had
fewer checks to his power. No hand less strong than his could have
snapped the chain which bound the nation to papacy, and have resisted
successfully the power and influence of the pope.

1588. THOMAS CARN died in London, aged 207; an instance of longevity
exceeding any other on modern record, but well authenticated in the
parish register of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. An old man died at
Ekaterinoslaf, Russia, in 1813, between 200 and 205 years of age; and
Don John Taveira de Lima died in Portugal, 1738, aged 198.

1596. FRANCIS DRAKE, the first Englishman that circumnavigated the
world, died on board his own ship. (See Jan. 9.)

1612. THOMAS BODLEY died. He was actively employed during the last
fifteen years of his life in collecting manuscripts and books for the
library at Oxford which bears his name, and which by his perseverance
came to be one of the most celebrated in Europe.

1687. JOHN HEVELIUS died, an eminent German astronomer.

1725. PETER the Great, of Russia, died, aged 53. He devoted his life
time to civilize his subjects, and raise the nation from barbarism and
ignorance, to politeness, knowledge and power. He spared no pains or
fatigue to obtain knowledge which he thought would be beneficial to his
subjects.

1732. The protestants of Saltzburg being driven out of their country,
settled by invitation of the king of Prussia in Brandenburg.

1738. The first stone of Westminster bridge over the Thames laid.

1782. JOHN BAPTISTE BOURGUIGNON D'ANVILLE, the French geographer, died.
He was esteemed as well for the gentleness and simplicity of his
manners, as for his extensive knowledge. He labored at his maps fifteen
hours a day for fifty years.

1782. JAMES MURRAY, a very eminent historical writer, and pastor, died
at New Castle upon Tyne, England.

1790. The Jews of Spain, Portugal and Avignon admitted to the privileges
of French citizens.

1794. JOHN GOTTLOB IMMANUEL BREITKOPF died at Leipsic. He acquired great
celebrity as a printer and type founder. His foundry contained punches
and matrices for 400 alphabets. He improved the printing press, and
discovered a new method for facilitating the process of melting and
casting. From his foundry types were sent to Russia, Sweden, Poland, and
even America. With the interruption of only five or six hours for sleep,
his whole life was devoted to study and useful employment.

1796. Prince of Wales, regent of England, attacked in his carriage by
the populace.

1797. Battle of Unroomster, in India; Zemaun Shah attacked the Seicks at
8 o'clock in the morning, by opening his _shutah renauls_, or wall
pieces mounted on camels, and a heavy fire was kept up until 2 o'clock,
when the Seicks gave a signal for a general charge, and agreeable to
their mode in close combat, flung away their turbans, let loose their
hair, put their beards in their mouths, and dashed into the midst of the
Huddalah army. The two armies continued engaged in close combat four
hours, when Zemaun's troops gave way, and were pursued to the very gates
of Lahore. The loss of the Seicks was 15,000; that of the Shah 20,000
killed.

1803. Madame CLAIRON, a French actress, died. She evinced when very
young a predilection for the stage, and adopting the theatrical
profession, soon became the first tragic performer of her age, and long
remained without a rival. She published _Mémoires et Réflexions sur la
Déclamation Théatrale_.

1804. JOSEPH NICHOLAS D'AZARA, a Spanish diplomatist, died, aged 73. He
became acquainted with Napoleon in 1796, who conceived great admiration
of him. He was an ardent admirer of the arts and sciences, and collected
an elegant library and a rich collection of paintings and antiques,
which however he lost in the political changes of the times.

1816. RICHARD JOACHIM HENRY VON MOELLENDORF, a Prussian general, died.
He commanded the Prussian troops employed in 1793 in the disgraceful
dismemberment of Poland, on which occasion he did every thing consistent
with his commission to alleviate the misfortunes of the Poles.

1818. NATHAN BIRDSEYE died at Stratford, Conn., aged 103. His funeral
was attended by 100 of his descendants; the whole number of which was
258.

1836. WILLIAM SCOTT, Baron Stowell, died. He filled the office of judge
of the court of admiralty in England, thirty years with distinguished
ability. He is represented to have been the charm and ornament of every
society of which he formed a part; and his unbounded charities acquired
for him universal regard and esteem.

1841. WILLIAM HOGG died at Brownsville, Pa., aged 86, leaving an estate
of one million dollars to his heirs. Fifty years previous to his death,
he crossed the Alleganies with a pack of goods on his back, which was
his whole property, and opened a small store soon after at Brownsville,
the first in that region of country.

1842. The first stone of the Anglican cathedral at Jerusalem laid, at a
depth of 35 feet from the surface. It stands upon mount Zion, and the
state of the rubbish which had accumulated since the time of David,
rendered it necessary to excavate to the depth of 42 feet to the natural
rock.

1854. LEWIS W. CHAMBERLAYNE, a Virginia physician, died; one of the
founders of the Richmond medical college, of which he was a
distinguished professor.

1854. A ball-cartridge manufactory at Ravenswood, L. I., blew up killing
20 workmen and destroying 50,000 ball-cartridges.

1854. The steamer Georgia, from Montgomery, Ala., having 200 passengers
and 1000 bales of cotton on board, took fire at New Orleans, and 60
passengers lost their lives.

1855. The Panama railroad being completed, the first train passed over
it this day.


JANUARY 29.

164 B. C. ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, the great enemy of the Jews, died.

1559. THOMAS POPE, the founder of Trinity college, Dublin, died.

1597. ANTHONY SHIRLEY, commanding a British squadron, landed at Jamaica,
and marched six miles to the principal town, _which submitted to his
mercy_.

1720. JOHN ADAMS, a celebrated English preacher, died.

1728. Dean Swift's STELLA died at Dublin.

1743. ANDREW HERCULE DE FLEURY, cardinal and prime minister of Louis XV,
died, aged 90. He was 73 years of age when he was placed at the head of
the ministry, at which time the state was in a miserable condition. He
healed the wounds of his country, and without bloodshed or cruelty
established and increased the internal happiness of France, and its
national glory.

1762. From Christmas to this day the weather was severely cold in
England. The ice on the Thames it is said was over five feet thick!

1780. The coldest day for 25 years at Philadelphia.

1812. Desperate attempt by a black man, a negro, to fire the British
privateer Speedwell. He was killed after 7 shots had been fired at him.

1814. Battle of Brienne, in which the French under Napoleon gained an
inconsiderable victory over the allies under Blücher, who narrowly
escaped being taken prisoner. It was at this place that Bonaparte
acquired the rudiments of that skill in the military art with which he
had almost prostrated the world.

1820. GEORGE III died. It was during his reign that the discontents in
America burst into an open flame, and an empire was lost to the British
throne. In 1810 he retired from the government, and the interval which
elapsed from that time until his death was a period of insanity. He died
in the 82d year of his age and the 59th of his reign.

1824. LOUISA MARIA CAROLINE, countess of Albany, died at Florence, aged
72. She was the daughter of a German prince, and married Charles Stuart,
the English pretender, whence she derived the title of countess of
Albany. They resided at Rome, and had a little court, and were addressed
as king and queen. The connection, however, was an unhappy one, and to
escape from the barbarity of her husband she retired to a convent, and
afterwards went to France. On the death of Charles, 1788, she returned
to Italy. She was then secretly married to Alfieri, the poet; the French
court conferred on her an annuity of 60,000 livres. Alfieri confesses
that to her he owed his inspiration, and that without her friendship he
should never have achieved anything excellent. Their ashes repose under
a common monument in the church of Santa Croce, between the tombs of
Machiavelli and Michael Angelo.

1829. PAUL FRANCIS JEAN NICHOLAS DE BARRAS, a French revolutionist,
died. As a member of the national convention, he voted for the king's
death; and subsequently, having offended Robespierre, he headed the
force that captured the tyrant. As commander-in-chief of the troops of
the convention, he entrusted Bonaparte with the post in which he first
distinguished himself, on the 5th Oct., 1795. His political career ended
1799, when he received a passport to his estate from Napoleon, then
first consul.

1829. TIMOTHY PICKERING, an American soldier and statesman, died.
In public life he was distinguished for energy, ability and
disinterestedness; as a soldier he was brave and patriotic; and his
writings bear ample testimony to his talents and information. He was
one of the leaders of the federal party.

1834. Duel at Paris between Gen. Bugeaud and M. Dulong, members of the
chamber of deputies; Dulong was killed.

1855. NICHOLAS ordered the formation of a general militia of the Russian
empire.


JANUARY 30.

422 B. C. A census of the inhabitants of Athens was taken, and reported
the number of males to be 20,000.

405 B. C. Sophocles died at Athens.

1560. A phenomenon observed at London, called the _burning spears_,
being one of the earliest records of that appearance now well known by
the name of aurora borealis.

1601. SCIPIO AMMIRATI, an Italian historian, died. He wrote a history of
Florence, published in 2 vols, folio.

1606. EVERARD DIGBY hanged, drawn and quartered at the west end of St.
Paul's church, London. He was concerned in the gunpowder plot, having
offered £1500 towards defraying the expenses of that dreadful affair. He
also entertained Fawkes, who was to have executed it in his house, and
was taken in open rebellion with other papists after the plot was
detected and had miscarried.

1644. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH died; celebrated for his skill as a
religious controversialist, and a defender of protestantism against
popery.

1647. King CHARLES I delivered up to parliament by the Scots for
£200,000. Some think it unworthy of the nation.

1649. CHARLES I beheaded. He was born in Scotland 1600, and succeeded to
the British throne 1625. His reign was signalized by a struggle with his
parliaments, in procuring supplies, which finally ended in his
execution. He was tried for treason against the people, and condemned
with only three days' grace.

1660. WILLIAM OUGHTRED, an English divine and mathematician, died, it is
said, in consequence of excess of joy at the restoration of Charles II,
whom he called Christ's anointed.

1661. The heads of Oliver Cromwell, John Bradshaw, and Henry Ireton set
on poles at Westminster hall, and their bodies buried under the gallows
at Tyburn, where their disinterred bodies had been hung.

1678. The expense of the equestrian statue of Charles I at Charing
Cross, London, was defrayed with part of £70,000, voted for his funeral
celebration.

1691. Pope ALEXANDER III died, after a reign of only 15 months.

1735. GEORGE GRANVILLE, viscount Lansdowne, an eminent English poet,
died. Having vainly endeavored to get employment in arms for the defence
of James II, to whose cause he was warmly attached, he retired to
private life, enjoying the company of his muse, which he employed in
celebrating the reigning beauties of the age, in imitation of Waller.

1757. Calcutta retaken by Col. Clive.

1766. JAMES BARTHOLOMEW BECCARIA, an Italian physician and professor of
natural philosophy, died. His writings are highly esteemed.

1766. SUSANNA MARIA CIBBER died. She was not only considered the best
actress in England, but supposed by many to excel the celebrated Madame
Clairon, of Paris, her contemporary.

1805. JOHN ROBINSON, a celebrated Edinburgh mathematician, died.

1809. Assault upon Saragossa in Spain by the French under Junot, Lannes
and Mortier. The Spaniards made a most desperate resistance; a corps of
women even being formed for its defence. The houses were taken one by
one; they were compelled to undermine upwards of 600 in order to get
possession of them.

1810. Several meteoric stones fell in Caswell county, North Carolina.

1826. The mails were first carried over the Menai suspension bridge,
which connects the island of Anglesey with the Welch shore.

1833. JOSEPH BLUYDENBURGE died at Smithtown, L. I., aged 101, retaining
the vigor of perfect health to the last week of his life.

1834. Attempt to assassinate the president of the United States, Andrew
Jackson, made by Richard Lawrence.

1834. RUDOLPH ACKERMAN, who so much improved lithography, and the first
to use gas-light in England, died.

1837. Explosion of the magazine of the French garrison at Bona in
Algiers, containing 12,000 pounds of powder and 1 million musket
cartridges. The commandant with 108 men were killed, and 102 wounded.

1837. The town of Jaffa in Palestine destroyed by an earthquake. Of
15,000 inhabitants, only 2,000 escaped burial in the ruins.

1837. ADAM AZELIUS, the last remaining pupil of Linnæus, died;
celebrated for his travels in Asia and Africa.

1841. The town of Mayaguez, Porto Rico, consisting of about 600
buildings, was consumed by fire. Loss estimated at from two to four
millions of dollars.

1852. The king of Naples by decree confiscated the property of
Neapolitan emigrants.

1855. HERMAN KNICKERBACKER died, aged 75; known as the prince of
Schaghticoke, being the third in descent from the original settler
there.


JANUARY 31.

1000 B. C. It is usual to fix the finishing of the temple of _Hercules_
at _Tyre_ on this day, and the death of _Anchises_, 183 years earlier.

1574. Birthday of BEN JONSON.

1578. Battle of Gemblours, in the Netherlands, by which the Spanish
recovered their superiority in the Walloon provinces which were
zealously catholic.

1606. GUIDO FAWKES executed. He was an officer in the Spanish service,
concerned in the gunpowder plot, and discovered in the vault below the
House of Lords, prepared to fire the train which was to involve the
enemies of the catholic religion in one common ruin.

1616. JACOB LE MAIRE, a Dutchman, discovered cape Horn, the southern
extremity of the American continent.

1686. In Norway, Courland and Pomerania, there fell a great quantity of
a membraneous substance, friable, and blackish, somewhat like burnt
paper. Baron Grotthus analyzed a portion of this substance, which has
been preserved in a cabinet of natural history, and it is found to
consist of silex, iron, lime, carbon, magnesia, a trace of chrome and
sulphur, but not a particle of nickel.

1692. Massacre of Glencoe, Scotland. King William, whose chief virtue
was not humanity, signed and countersigned the warrant, which was
transmitted to the secretary for Scotland, who particularly charged the
ministers of destruction to take no prisoners. The population was
barbarously massacred, and the spot disemboweled of every social
appearance.

1718. ASHTON LEVER died at Manchester, England. He was a collector of
specimens in natural history, and possessed one of the finest museums in
the world.

1750. The _Student_, a paper of much merit, issued at Oxford, England,
appeared this day.

1754. The 1st number of the _Connoisseur_ appeared, conducted by
Coleman, Bonnell Thornton, Chesterfield and others.

1775. Capt. COOKE discovered Southern Thule, soon after Sandwich land
which from the vast quantities of ice seen he conjectured might be a
continent.

1737. The attorney general stated to the Irish parliament that an
insurrection existed in the county of Kerry, the people having taken an
oath to obey the laws of _Captain Right_ (a fictitious name), and to
starve the clergy.

1788. CHARLES STUART, the pretender to the throne of England, died at
Rome. He was the grandson of James II, born at Rome 1720. In 1745 he
landed in Scotland, with only seven companions, and marched south
gaining strength and carrying every thing before him till he arrived
within 100 miles of London. Here his career was arrested, and the battle
of Culloden decided his fate. He wandered about the wilds of Scotland
five months, often without food, and the price of £30,000 set upon his
head. He finally escaped in a French vessel, and ended his days in
dissipation.

1795. The assembly of the states of Holland passed at the Hague the
first public instrument in the shape of a declaration of rights.

1801. Sale of fine wheaten bread prohibited in London and that of brown
substituted.

1813. SAMUEL M'KEEHAN, surgeon's mate in the Ohio militia, ordered by
General Harrison, with a flag of truce, and money for supplies, for the
wounded prisoners taken January 22d, put up for the night in a cave at
the foot of the Miami, leaving his horse and cabriole at the entrance,
and the flag stuck up; about midnight a party of Indians fired on them,
wounded the doctor in the foot, killed and scalped his companion, Mr.
Lamont, and stripped him, they took the money, horse, blankets, &c., and
compelled the doctor to travel 20 miles that night on foot.

1826. FRANÇOIS D'ETIENNE LANTIER, a dramatic writer of no small
celebrity in France, died at Marseilles.

1828. ALEXANDER YPSILANTI, a Greek patriot, died at Vienna, aged 36. He
attempted the liberty of his country, but was discountenanced by the
emperors of Russia and Austria, and imprisoned by the latter seven
years. His early death is attributed to his incarceration.

1833. OTHO, prince of Bavaria, arrived at Napoli di Romania as the first
king of restored Greece; at which time he had not attained his 18th
year.

1838. OSCEOLA, the celebrated Seminole chief, died at Charleston, S. C.,
aged 35. From a vagabond child he became the master-spirit of a long and
desperate war. He was a subtil and sagacious savage, who established
gradually and surely a resistless ascendancy over his adopted tribe, by
the daring of his deeds, the constancy of his hostility to the whites,
and the profound craft of his policy.

1839. JAMES BYLES died at Oyster bay, N. Y., aged 118. He was a native
of France, came to this country while a boy, was a soldier under Wolfe,
and in the battle of Quebec.

1843. Was living at Caraccas, South America, MARIA DE LA CRUZ CARVALLO,
aged 144. Her hair, which had been white with age, returned to black at
the age of 133; and her sight, which was entirely lost at the age of
118, returned, at the age of 138, so that she could thread a needle.

1854. The rail road track at Erie, Pa., torn up the second time by a
mob.

1855. The western rail roads blocked with snow, and travel almost wholly
obstructed for several days. No communication was had between St. Louis
and Chicago for eleven days. Seventeen locomotives were frozen in or
buried by the snow on the Chicago and Mississippi rail road.




FEBRUARY.


FEBRUARY 1.

107. ST. IGNATIUS died, or was murdered.

1461. Battle of Mortimer's Cross, in which Edward, duke of York
(afterwards Edward IV), revenged his father's death by a signal victory
over the royalists, commanded by Jasper, earl of Pembroke.

1642. EDWARD FINCH died. He was vicar of Christ church, London, from
which he was expelled for preaching in a surplice and associating with
women.

1681. JOHN EDWARD NIDHARD, an Austrian jesuit, died. He was appointed
inquisitor-general and minister of Spain.

1684. ROBERT LEIGHTON, a Scotch prelate, died. He for a number of years
employed his talents and influence in a vain endeavor to bring about a
reconciliation between the presbyterians and episcopalians. As a
preacher he was admired beyond all his contemporaries, and his works
have not yet lost their popularity.

1686. FRANCIS BLONDEL died; eminent for his knowledge of geometry and
belles-lettres; was professor of mathematics and architecture, and tutor
to the dauphin of France.

1702. Marshal VILLEROY, general of the French and Spanish armies in
Italy, surprised in his bed at Cremona, and taken prisoner by the
imperialists under Prince Eugene.

1708. Captain ROGERS discovered Alexander Selkirk on the island of Juan
Fernandez, where he had lived alone four years and four months.

1718. DANIEL FRANCIS VOISIN, chancellor of France, died. He was eminent
for his talents, integrity and virtue.

1733. FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, died.
His court was one of the most splendid and polished in Europe, and he
filled with dignity his station among the European powers. In his
character generous ideas were united with despotic feelings; a taste for
pleasure with the cares of ambition; and the restlessness of a warlike
spirit with the effeminacy of a luxurious life. Instances of his
prodigious strength are recorded, which appear almost incredible.

1775. The new congress of Massachusetts met at Cambridge and chose John
Hancock their president.

1781. Lord CORNWALLIS with the British army, passed the Catawba at
M'Cowan's ford. His passage was disputed by Wm. Davidson, lieut. col.,
commandant of the North Carolina line, and brigadier general of militia,
with 300 militia. Davidson was overpowered, and killed by a ball in the
breast. Cornwallis had his horse killed under him.

1789. The first president of the United States elected.

1793. War declared against England and Holland by the French.

1796. A stone was thrown at the carriage of George III, king of England,
as he was returning from Drury lane theatre. It hit the queen in the
face.

1800. Battle between the United States frigate Constellation, Capt.
Truxton, and the French frigate La Vengeance of 54 guns. The action
lasted from 8 o'clock in the morning until after noon, when the
Vengeance was completely silenced; but taking advantage of a squall made
her escape to Curacao, where she arrived in a shattered condition,
having lost 160 men killed and wounded.

1801. DANIEL NICHOLAS CHODOWIECKI, a German painter and engraver, died.
He practiced miniature painting with great assiduity to support his
mother. His first trials at engraving excited the astonishment of
connoisseurs; and at length scarce a book appeared in Prussia for which
he did not engrave at least a vignette. He was universally esteemed for
his integrity.

1804. J. PACKER died at Spinningfield, England, aged 33, weighing 29
stone.

1813. American privateer schooner Hazard, Capt. Le Chartier, of 3 guns
and 38 men, captured the British merchant ship Albion of 12 guns and 15
men; on the 23d she was re-captured by the British cutter Caledonia of 8
guns and 38 men; on the 26th the Hazard fell in with and took both of
them; but succeeded in bringing the Albion only into St. Mary's. The
Hazard had her first lieutenant and 6 men wounded, but she was much
shattered. Great part of the Caledonia's crew were killed or wounded.

1814. BONAPARTE defeated by the allied army near Chaumenil.

1814. A destructive eruption of Albay in Luconia, one of the
Phillipines.

1815. Eruption of the volcano of Albay, in the province of Camarines, on
the southern part of one of the Phillipine islands, in the Indian ocean;
by this awful catastrophe five populous towns were entirely destroyed
and more than 1200 of the inhabitants perished.

1824. HENRY BATE DUDLEY died. He was born in England 1745, educated for
the pulpit, and succeeded to his father's benefice. He established the
_Morning Post_, and subsequently several other papers, and manifested
his literary abilities by the production of several successful comedies.
He obtained a baronetcy, and at the time of his decease was a magistrate
for eleven counties.

1824. JOHN LEMPRIERE died, author of the _Biographical Dictionary_. He
was an English prelate, and an excellent classical scholar.

1833. ELIZABETH MOORE died, in Pitt county, North Carolina, aged 101.

1837. A memorial was presented to congress, signed by 56 authors of
Great Britain, praying that body to secure to them the exclusive right
to their respective writings in the United States.

1837. EDWARD DONOVAN died, near London, a celebrated author on natural
history.

1837. SIMPSON, in the service of the Hudson Bay company, reached
Athabasca, having completed since the first of December a journey of
1277 statute miles, the _preliminary_ step of the expedition.

1845. SAMUEL MCGWINN, known as the _Caithness Veteran_, died at Andover,
New-Hampshire, aged 110.

1851. MARY WOLSTONECRAFT, widow of Percy Bysshe Shelley, died, aged 53;
known in authorship by her _Travels_ and _Frankenstein_.

1852. Ohio state house burnt, and a large mass of valuable papers
perished with it.

1854. SILVIO PELLICO died near Turin in Italy. In 1820 he was seized by
the Austrians as a carbonaro, while employed as a tutor, and confined in
the fortress of Spielberg ten years. On his release he was employed as
librarian by the Marchesa Barolo until his death.

1854. The splendid Parliament house at Quebec, with the government
library and philosophical apparatus, were destroyed by fire.

1855. The United States surveying steamer Water Witch, ascending the
Paraguay in violation of the ordinance that no man of war should enter
that river, was fired at from the fort, and one man killed. The Water
Witch returned the fire and backed down the stream.

1856. IVAN FEDOROWITCH PASKIEWITSCH, vice-roy of Poland, died, aged 74.
He distinguished himself in all the wars of the Russian empire,
beginning with that of the invasion of 1812.


FEBRUARY 2.

1141. Battle of Lincoln, and defeat of Stephen, king of England, by the
earl of Gloucester. The king, whose valor deserved a better fortune, was
taken prisoner, loaded with irons, and Matilda proclaimed queen.

1421. HENRY V entered London from the complete conquest of France, which
had been accomplished in about five years, and was received by the
people amidst such pageants and popular rejoicings as that capital had
never witnessed.

1461. Battle of Mortimer's Cross near Ludlow, where the king's forces
were defeated, Owen Tudor taken and beheaded.

1529. BALTHAZAR CASTIGLIONE, an Italian nobleman and poet, died. He was
also so well skilled in painting, sculpture and architecture, that it is
said Raphael and Michael Angelo, though incomparable artists, never
thought their works perfect unless they had his approbation.

1626. CHARLES I of England crowned at Westminster. He wore the white
rather than the purple robe, and to prevent the increase of the plague
omitted the usual ceremony of riding in state.

1643. Prince RUPERT took Cirencester for Charles, by storm; 200 slain.

1653. New York city incorporated.

1682. JOHN PAUTRE died; an eminent French designer and engraver. His
works were published in 3 vols. folio, and contained more than 1000
engravings.

1688. ABRAHAM DU QUESNE died. He was a native of Normandie in France,
and distinguished himself in the navy by a series of valorous and
successful engagements.

1705. A new eruption of the peak of Teneriffe, forming the third
volcanic mouth.

1723. RICHARD SARE, an eminent printer, died. A sermon preached at his
death was well received and went through many editions.

1745. A conspiracy of 900 negroes to murder their masters in Jamaica was
discovered by a negress to her mistress, because the plotters would not
save a child she had nursed.

1752. The contributors to the Pennsylvania hospital, having rented a
house, admitted their first patients.

1768. ARTHUR ONSLOW died. He was 33 years speaker in the English house
of commons and the third of his family that had been nominated to that
office.

1771. JOHN LOCKMAN, an English dramatic writer, died.

1787. Gen. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR elected president of the American congress.

1788. JAMES STUART died; sometimes called Athenian Stuart, a very
celebrated traveler and delineator of Athenian architecture.

1794. The French convention decreed it treason for any officer to
surrender his ship to a force less than double his own!

1797. Mantua surrendered to the French, who now became entire masters of
the pope's dominions; whereupon Napoleon dictates to his holiness those
pious terms of pacification signed ten days after.

1798. The Federal street theatre, in Boston, entirely destroyed by fire.

1799. THOMAS PAINE, often called the _Literary Merchant_, died. Few
mercantile men become literary men.

1799. ELIZABETH WOODCOCK, an English woman, returning home from market
in one of the most stormy nights ever known in England, was overwhelmed
in a snow drift, where she remained eight days without sustenance. When
discovered her mental faculties were unimpaired, but she had lost the
use of her feet, and died some months after.

1801. The first imperial parliament of Great Britain assembled in
London.

1804. GEORGE WALTON died, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence. He was a native of Virginia, served an apprenticeship to a
carpenter, removed to Georgia and studied law. He was foremost among the
patriots of that state who assembled to devise measures of resistance to
the acts of parliament in relation to American taxations.

1806. MIRANDA sailed from New York on his expedition to revolutionize
South-America.

1806. THOMAS BANKS died. He was bred a wood carver, to which he served
an apprenticeship. But having taken several premiums for models of
sculpture he turned his attention to that art, and was sent to Rome to
study at the academy's expense. From Italy he repaired to Russia, where
he stayed two years; but not meeting with any adequate encouragement, he
returned to his own country. A colossal statue of Achilles mourning the
loss of Briseis is his masterpiece. He closed a life of arduous
exertion, at the age of 70; and there are monuments, both in Russia and
England that will long attest his skill.

1807. Battle of Bergfried near the lower Vistula. Bonaparte defeated the
Russians after a severe and sanguinary contest, in which Soult,
Augereau, &c., distinguished themselves very highly. The French took
four pieces of cannon and 1700 prisoners. Same day, the French general
Guyot captured the whole of the Russian magazines at Guttstadt.

1808. The French subverted the papal government at Rome.

1814. BONAPARTE defeated at Brienne with the loss of 173 cannons and
4000 men.

1817. The Scottish regalia, which had been deposited in a chest in 1707,
(see March 26) was examined by a deputation. The doors were removed, and
the floor was found covered with 6 inches of dust. No keys being found,
the oaken chest was forced open, and found to contain the ancient crown,
scepter and sword of state, as they had been deposited 111 years
previous.

1820. BENJAMIN TRUMBULL died, aged 92, author of a _History of
Connecticut_.

1831. A. BONPLAND, the celebrated traveler, permitted to leave Paraguay,
where he had been detained about nine years, by the dictator Francia.

1834. RICHARD LANDER, the enterprising traveler and discoverer of the
course of the Niger, died at Fernando Po, in Africa, of wounds received
from the natives. All his papers were lost. The British government
allowed his wife and daughter a pension of £150.

1834. LORENZO DOW died, aged 57; an eccentric traveling preacher. He was
born in Connecticut and had a good elementary education; but in his
youth acquired vicious habits which however he overcame at about the age
of 14. At an early age he believed himself called to preach, and in
obeying the impulse he commenced a career which has probably never been
equaled; and in spite of acute bodily disease performed an amount of
labor in traveling and preaching never before known. Before he had
completed his twenty-fifth year, he once rode 1500 miles and held 184
meetings in ten weeks and two days; and about a year afterwards,
traveled 4000 miles in the southern states, constantly preaching, in
seven months, and finished his tour without stockings, shoes, or outer
garment, and almost without a horse. For several years after he traveled
from seven to ten thousand miles and held six or seven hundred meetings
annually. It is thought that during the thirty-eight years of his public
life he must have traveled two hundred thousand miles, including three
voyages to England and Ireland. During these flying journeys he
constantly refused donations and contributions, except for immediate
want; and his traveling expenses exceeded his receipts more than one
half, the first eighteen years. Afterwards, however, his books became a
source of profit to him, and finally he became the maker and vender of a
_family medicine!_ which was a matter of speculation purely. He was
twice married; his second wife survived him. He was familiar to every
body throughout the United States, for there were few places however
obscure which he had not visited.

1839. DEBORAH LOGAN died at Stanton, Pa. She was a member of the
Pennsylvania historical society, and more intimately acquainted with the
early history of that state, than any other person living.

1840. OLINTHUS GREGORI, an English mathematician, died, aged 67. He was
more than thirty years professor of mathematics in the royal military
academy at Woolwich, and had the whole of the general superintendence of
the almanacs published by the stationers' company, which had been for a
long period conducted by Dr. Hutton. He published mathematics, biography
and religion.

1841. WILLIAM BARTLETT, an eminent and wealthy merchant of Newburyport,
and a munificent benefactor to the theological seminary at Andover,
died, aged 93.

1851. JOANNA BAILLIE, a Scottish dramatic authoress, died, aged 85.

1852. A priest, aged 63, attacked the queen of Spain with a dagger, as
she was returning from church; for which he was executed.

1855. G. FLETCHER, an English Wesleyan preacher, died, aged 108. Until
within six months of his decease he preserved an astonishing activity of
mind and body, often preaching without fatigue three times a day.

1856. The house of representatives at Washington elected a speaker after
a contest of nine weeks.


FEBRUARY 3.

1014. SWEYN, king of Denmark, died.

1399. JOHN OF GAUNT, duke of Lancaster, died. He was the son of Edward
III; was a prince of distinguished valor and prudence, and a patron of
the poet Chaucer.

1497. "Johannes Cabotus Venetus et Sebastianus illius filius,"
commissioned by Henry VII of England to take six ships of 200 tons
burden from any port in the kingdom for the purpose of making a western
voyage of discovery. This expedition was got ready by the beginning of
May, and consisted of two caravals freighted by the merchants of London
and Bristol, and some smaller craft.

1619. By letters patent dated this day, James I granted Ben Jonson a
pension of 100 marks during life, "in consideration of the good and
acceptable service heretofore done and hereafter to be done by the said
B. J."

1649. CHARLES II proclaimed king by the Scots.

1660. CHARLES X of Sweden died. He ascended the throne 1654, and was a
prudent though a warlike monarch.

1698. ERNEST AUGUSTUS, duke of Hanover, bishop of Osnabruck, and father
of George I of England, died.

1700. FILIPPO ACCIAGUOLI, an Italian dramatic poet and composer, died.
He effected many improvements in the machinery and internal arrangements
of theatres.

1730. ELIZABETH THOMAS, an English poetess, died. She is known by the
name of _Corinne_.

1761. RICHARD NASH, commonly called _Beau Nash_, died, aged 87. He was
the most accomplished _gentleman_ in England.

1779. The American Gen. Moultrie defeated 200 British at Port Royal
island, South Carolina, and drove them off that island. Moultrie had 1
lieutenant and 7 privates killed and 22 wounded. The British lost most
of their officers.

1779. Mutiny suppressed on board the United States frigate Alliance,
bound to France with M. de Lafayette and several French gentlemen of
distinction on board. Half the crew were concerned in it, and measures
were taken to quell it but a few hours before it was to have been
carried into effect. Great inhumanity was meditated towards the officers
and the French. This was the first organized mutiny ever known in the
American service. The mutineers were 36 in number.

1781. The Americans, closely pursued by the British after the battle of
the Cowpens, crossed the Yadkin and secured their boats on the north
side, when a sudden rise of the river arrested the pursuit of the enemy.
In this retreat the Americans endured extreme hardships with admirable
fortitude, and their remarkable escape confirmed them in the belief that
their cause was favored of heaven.

1781. St. Eustatia, one of the West-India islands, taken by the British
under Rodney. The plunder amounted to above £3,000,000, besides 6 Dutch
armed frigates and 150 vessels, many of them richly laden. The British
kept the Dutch colors hoisted, by which means several Dutch, French and
American vessels were decoyed and captured.

1782. Demerary and Essequibo surrendered by capitulation from the
French.

1783. The ratification of the preliminary articles of peace exchanged at
Paris.

1786. GASPARD RISBECK, a German author, died.

1794. GEORGE III and Queen CHARLOTTE went to Hay Market theatre, which
attracted so great a crowd, that more than 15 per

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