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.