986. LOTHAIRE, king of France, died of poison, said to have been
administered by his wife Emma.
1492. The Jews banished from Spain by an edict of Ferdinand V. They
numbered 800,000 souls.
1585. Dr. PARRY executed for a design to assassinate Queen Elizabeth.
She had formerly released him from imprisonment, on a charge of
justifying Romanism.
1611. BARTHOLOMEW LEGGAT, convicted of the Arian heresy and delivered
over to the secular power.
1617. ROBERT ABBOTT, bishop of Salisbury, died, aged 58. He was active
and pains-taking in his office; a profound scholar, and an industrious
author.
1619. QUEEN ANNE, consort of James I, died at Hampton Court.
1622. JOHN MARION AVANTIO, a learned Italian civilian, died at Padua.
1629. The speaker of the house of commons, in England, refusing for fear
of the king's displeasure to put the question of reading the
remonstrance against the king's usurpations, is held in his chair, the
doors of the house shut, and the remonstrance read.
1711. DESPREAUX NICHOLAS BOILEAU, the French poet, died. He was born
1636, and in early youth gave indications of the future bent of his
genius, by his fondness for the great poets of antiquity. His works are
frequently republished in France, though some of his satires are little
to the taste of the present day. Bruyere has said of him, that his
verses will be read when the language is obsolete, and will be the last
ruins of it!
1713. The first No. of the _Guardian_ appeared, conducted by Steele
during the temporary suspension of the _Spectator_.
1714. Peace proclaimed with Spain, and a special privilege granted to
the English of supplying the West Indies with negro slaves at the rate
of 4800 a year.
1714. Gibraltar and Minorca also ceded to the English.
1715. EMANUEL THEODOSIUS BOULLION, a cardinal and ambassador of Louis
XIV of France, died.
1729. FRANCESCO BIANCHINI, an Italian antiquary and astronomer, died. He
devoted his life to intense study, and in his character extensive
learning was united with great modesty and amiability of manners. He was
patronized by the pope, and received marks of respect from the Roman
senate.
1738. JOHNSON and GARRICK started from Litchfield for London as literary
adventurers. The former had two pence half penny in his pocket, and the
latter something less.
1767. JAMES DRAKE, an English political and medical writer, died. He is
chiefly known now by his _System of Anatomy_.
1768. The extensive copper mine in the isle of Anglesey was discovered.
1776. The Americans cannonaded Boston from Cobble hill and Lechmere
point.
1786. JOHN JEBB, an eminent English non-conformist divine and physician,
died. His publications, theological, medical and political, gained great
approbation.
1788. SOLOMON GESNER, a Swiss bookseller, poet and painter, died at
Zurich. Of his writings the best known, in English, is the _Death of
Abel_.
1791. JOHN WESLEY, founder of the methodists, died, aged 88. He was born
at Epworth, England, and at the time of finishing his studies, was
distinguished for his classical attainments, skill in dialectics, and
talent for poetry. The origin of the sect called methodists is to be
attributed to the circumstance of a club of kindred spirits, who used to
meet on week days and read classics, and on Sundays divinity, but
shortly their meetings became exclusively religious. This society
consisted of fifteen members, who from the strictness of their manners
and deportment, obtained the name of _Methodists_, an appellation which
they sanctioned and retained. He visited America, and afterwards
Germany, and on his return commenced the systematic labors by which he
became the founder of a numerous religious sect. He joined with
Whitfield in field preaching, but their opinions being at collision on
some point, they finally separated. He continued his active labors till
within a week of his death. His works on various subjects amount to
upwards of thirty volumes octavo.
1793. Breda, a city of Holland, noted for its numerous sieges, was taken
by the French.
1793. Congress passed a law making appropriations for purchasing two
lots of ground with buildings, and other materials and necessaries for
a mint, $1,279·78; and for the salaries of its officers from July to
Dec. 1792, $2,694·88.
1794. Great scarcity of provisions in Paris.
1797. Battle of Monte di Savaro, between the French and Austrians, in
which the former under Joubert attacked and carried the posts of the
latter.
1797. HORACE WALPOLE, an English author, and son of Robert Walpole the
statesman, died.
1799. Corfu, one of the Ionian islands, taken by the Turco Russian
squadron.
1799. Manheim, a strong German city, taken by the French.
1801. CHARLES ALBERT DEMOUSTIER, a French poet, died. He was first a
successful lawyer, but subsequently turned his attention to literature,
and wrote comedies, operas and poems. His pieces are distinguished for
spirit, delicacy and ease, and some of them have maintained a place upon
the stage.
1802. FRANCIS RUSSEL, duke of Bedford, died, aged 37. He distinguished
himself by his endeavors to improve every branch of agriculture, and was
a worthy man.
1830. Great freshet at Vienna, in Austria; the Danube rose twenty-three
feet, and the houses of 50,000 inhabitants were inundated.
1835. FRANCIS I of Austria (II of Germany), died. His disposition was
mild; his dress plain and homely; his manners gentle and familiar; and
he was greatly beloved by his German subjects.
1835. SAMUEL BLACKBURN died; an officer of the revolution, an eminent
lawyer and for many years a conspicuous member of the Virginia
legislature. At his death he liberated his slaves, 46 in number,
charging his estate with the expense of transporting them to Liberia.
1839. ZERAH COLBURN died at Norwich, Vt., aged 35. At the age of 6 years
he attracted great attention in Europe and America by his marvelous
powers of calculation. At that time he was unable to read or write, and
ignorant of the name or properties of a single figure traced upon paper.
Yet his talent for mental arithmetic was so extraordinary as to be
wholly incredible, were it not supported by unquestionable evidence.
This faculty he lost before he left England, which was in 1824; and on
his return he became a methodist preacher, having acquired a respectable
education while abroad.
1840. HENRY WILLIAM MATTHEW ALBERS, a celebrated astronomer, and
practicing physician at Bremen, died, aged 81. He acquired a lasting
reputation by the discovery of the planet Pallas, in 1802, and of
Vesta, in 1807.
1841. First daily paper in Brooklyn published.
1843. ASA PACKARD, aged 84, died at Lancaster, Mass. He was a soldier of
the revolution, and for nearly 70 years carried a musket bullet in his
body.
1845. JUDAH ALDEN, a distinguished officer of the American revolutionary
army, died at Duxbury, Mass.
1849. JAMES MORIER, the celebrated author of _Hajji Baba_, and other
works, died.
1852. The town of St. Bartholomew, one of the Antilles, nearly destroyed
by fire; 120 houses and stores having been burned in the space of four
hours.
1852. MARMONT, duke of Ragusa, died at Venice, aged 78. He was the last
of Napoleon's marshals.
1855. NICHOLAS I, emperor of Russia, died, aged 59. He came to the
throne in 1826, and his reign was devoted to strengthening the power and
extending the domain of Russia.
1856. An earthquake in the island of Great Sangor, one of the Moluccas,
by which 2,806 lives were lost.