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.