49 B. C. POMPEY abandoned Italy, and took the sea with his legions, at
Brundusium.
45 B. C. Battle of Munda, in Spain, between the armies of Cæsar and
Pompey, which decided the fate of the Roman republic. These men did not
consider the Roman empire sufficiently large for two of them.
180. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS, surnamed the philosopher, died on an
expedition against the Marcomanni. He was so extremely popular with his
Roman subjects, that they placed him among the gods, and kept his statue
in their houses.
464. ST. PATRICK, the tutelar saint of Ireland, died. He was carried
away with many of his father's vassals by pirates, from whom he made his
escape to Gaul and Italy. He received a commission from Pope Celestine
to convert the Irish to Christianity, in which mission he was eminently
successful.
807. A large spot noticed upon the sun's disc, which continued there
eight days.
1072. ADALBERT, archbishop of Bremen, died. He became very powerful in
Denmark, and even obliged the king to divorce his wife Gutha, because
she was somewhat allied to him. Though intriguing and violent, he
possessed some good qualities, and formed many wise regulations in civil
and ecclesiastical affairs.
1562. DIEGO ESQUIVEL ALAVA, a learned Spanish bishop, died. He was at
the Council of Trent, and published a work on councils.
1565. ALEXANDER ALES, a Scottish theologian, died. He first opposed the
tenets of Luther, but afterwards embraced them, and suffered
persecution. He wrote commentaries on some of the books of the old and
new testament.
1632. Treaty of St. Germain, by which Canada and Nova Scotia were
restored to the French. The capture of Quebec was unknown at the time
peace was re-established, or perhaps those territories would not have
been so generally given up.
1634. THOMAS RANDOLPH, an English poet, died. He was the friend of
Jonson, and his works have been several times reprinted.
1640. PHILIP MASSINGER, an English dramatic poet, died. Some of his
comedies still keep the stage. He was courted by the wits and learned
men of his time.
1657. An offensive and defensive league concluded between France and
England.
1676. Warwick, R. I., destroyed by the Indians. Only one house was left
unburnt.
1677. Valenciennes, in France, taken by assault by the army under Louis
XIV, in person.
1681. The members of the English parliament from London came to Oxford,
the place of their meeting, armed and with ribbons on their hats
inscribed with "No popery, no slavery."
1695. AUGUSTIN LUBIN, an Augustine friar, died. He was geographer to the
French king, and author of various works.
1715. GILBERT BURNET, bishop of Salisbury, died. He was a zealous
promoter of the revolution in England, which placed the present family
on the throne, and of which he wrote the history.
1740. Mrs. STEVENS received £5,000 from the English parliament for
making public her medicine for the stone.
1741. JOHN BAPTIST ROUSSEAU, an eminent French poet, died. He possessed
a fine genius, but an unhappy temper embittered his life by stimulating
him to abuse those whose friendship would have procured him a place
above dependence.
1767. Birthday of ANDREW JACKSON, seventh president of the United
States.
1776. Boston evacuated by the British. By four in the morning the king's
troops, with those Americans who were attached to the royal cause, began
to embark, and before ten all of them were under sail. As the rear
embarked, General Washington marched into the city, where he was
joyfully received as a deliverer. The British left 250 cannon and 25,000
bushels of wheat.
1781. JOHANNES EVALD died: the most distinguished poetical genius of
Denmark, in the eighteenth century. Being left to his own reading by his
tutor, his imagination was captivated with _Tom Jones_ and _Robinson
Crusoe_. Proposing to himself the latter hero for a model, he eloped at
the age of thirteen with a view of proceeding to Batavia, but was
overtaken, and his project frustrated. He next conceived the scheme of
entering the Prussian army, and enlisted at Magdeburg; but being
received only as a foot soldier, instead of a hussar, he deserted to the
Austrians. On quitting the army he devoted himself to the study of
theology, but having suddenly become violently enamored with a young
lady, who regardless of his passion, bestowed her hand on another, a
permanent melancholy settled upon his mind, and under this influence he
took up his pen. His first work _Fortune's Temple_, a vision, at once
stamped his reputation. In 1772 he executed his literary
chef-d'œuvre, _Balder's Död_, a drama of extraordinary poetical
beauty, and greatly superior to anything which had then appeared in the
Danish language. His after life was embittered by poverty and sickness;
and it was under the hospitable roof of Madame Skou that he breathed his
last, after having been confined to his bed or armchair two years, and
almost deprived of the use of his limbs.
1782. DANIEL BERNOUILLI, a German philosopher, died. He studied medicine
as a profession, but was at the same time engaged with mathematics. At
the age of twenty-four, he was offered the presidency of an academy at
Genoa, but gave the preference to an invitation from St. Petersburgh. He
returned to Basle in 1733, where he spent the remainder of his days, so
much respected by the inhabitants, that to bow to Daniel Bernouilli,
when met in the street, was one of the first lessons which every father
gave his children.
1790. The government of France issued assignats to the amount of
170,000,000 francs. This system of assignats, while it gave more
strength to the public, yet was the source of more private suffering
than any other measure during the French revolution.
1793. Battle of Neerwinden, or Linden, between the French under
Dumourier, and the Austrians under Coburg and Clarifayt. Dumourier was
obliged to retreat.
1794. French sloop Avenger, 16 guns, taken by Admiral Jervis's squadron
off Martinique.
1795. A number of the Parisians complained to the national convention of
the _scarcity of bread_ in Paris.
1798. THOMAS JACKSON, an English actor, died. His epitaph is ingenious:
"Sacred to the memory of Thomas Jackson, comedian, who was engaged 21st
December, 1741, _to play a comic cast of characters_ in the great
theatre, the world; for many of which he was _prompted_ by nature to
excel. The _season_ being ended, his _benefit_ over, the charges all
paid, his account closed, he made his _exit_ in the _tragedy of Death_
on the 17th of March, 1798, in assurance of being called once more to
_rehearsal_, where he hopes to find his _forfeits_ all cleared, his
_cast of parts_ bettered, and his situation made agreeable by him who
paid the great _stock debt_, for the love of _performers_ in general."
1799. The French army arrived before St. Jean d'Acre, and to their no
small chagrin and astonishment, beheld the town prepared for a siege,
and the English colors flying in the harbor.
1800. The British ship Queen Charlotte, 110 guns, destroyed by an
explosion off Leghorn. More than 800 persons perished with her.
1806. WILLIAM ROWLEY, an eminent British physician, died. He was a man
of great skill and experience in his profession, and his benevolence and
humanity were conspicuous; yet was he one of the most obstinate
opponents to the introduction of vaccination as a preventive of small
pox that ever impeded the might of his authority to that experiment.
1808. Rupture of the negotiation at Washington between the British
minister and the American government.
1811. Charles IV, of Sweden, resigned the government of his kingdom in
favor of his adopted son, Bernadotte.
1828. JAMES EDWARD SMITH, an eminent English naturalist and physician,
died. He was one of the founders of the Linnean society, and published
several valuable works on natural history and botany.
1843. GEORGE TURNER, aged 93, died at Philadelphia. He was a native of
England, but joining the American revolutionary army, he distinguished
himself in many severe actions and endeared himself to Gen. Washington.
1849. WILLIAM II, king of Holland, died.
1855. The French and Russians at Sebastopol contended fiercely for the
rifle pits which the latter had established between the French advance
and the Mamelon.