1413. HENRY IV of England, died. He usurped the throne 1399, and thereby
excited the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster, called
the war of the roses.
1516. BAPTIST SPAGNOLI, a general of the Carmelites, died. He was a
native of Mantua in Italy, and distinguished himself by the sound and
virtuous regulations which he attempted to introduce among the corrupted
members of his order. His works have been published in 4 vols.
1549. THOMAS SEYMOUR, lord high admiral of England, attainted and
beheaded without being heard. His offence was alleged to be equal if not
superior in power to his brother the protector.
1586. RICHARD MAITLAND, lord of session in Scotland, died. He reported
the decisions of that court till he became blind at about the age of 60;
when he commenced writing and collecting Scottish poetry. He sustained
the character of "a maist unspotted and blameless judge, and valiant,
grave and worthy knight;" but it is in his character of a writer and
collector of Scottish poetry that he is now chiefly remembered.
1643. JOHN KIRCHMAN, a learned German, died at Lubeck.
1677. GEORGE DIGBY, an English nobleman of great ability, died. During
the civil wars he espoused the cause of Charles I; but though
romantically brave, was always an unsuccessful commander.
1687. SAMUEL PARKER, an English prelate, died. He was educated a
puritan, but for the reward of place, it is believed, became an
anti-puritan and was made bishop of Oxford. He wrote a history of his
own times, which appeared in Latin and English.
1727. ISAAC NEWTON, the celebrated philosopher and mathematician, died,
aged 84. He was so small and weak at the time of his birth, that his
life was despaired of; and in his youth, his mother, finding him of no
service in the management of the farm, sent him to finish his studies.
From the success of his pursuits in after life, he has been styled the
_creator_ of natural philosophy. The last few years of his existence
were spent in utter neglect of those studies which had engrossed fifty
years of his life.
1730. ADRIENNE LA COUVREUR, a French actress, died. She is one of the
few of her profession whose reputation has survived the age in which
they lived.
1737. NICHOLAS HOOKER, _gentleman_, died at Conway, North Wales;
celebrated as being the forty-first child of his father; and being
himself the father of twenty-seven children. His tombstone, attesting
the above facts, is to be found in the churchyard adjoining Conway
castle.
1741. PETER BURMAN the elder died. He was professor of history and
eloquence at the university of Leyden, and published editions of many of
the Latin classics.
1744. France declared war against England.
1750. The first No. of the _Rambler_, by Dr. Johnson, appeared.
1750. FREDERICK, prince of Wales, and father of George III, died
suddenly in his 45th year. He died in the arms of his violin player, who
was playing for his amusement.
1767. FIRMIN ABAUZIT, a learned French writer, died. He became
distinguished for his superior progress in every branch of polite
learning, but particularly in mathematics and natural history; and was
consulted in difficult questions by the most learned men of the age.
1775. DANIEL BOONE, employed, in forming a settlement in the then
wilderness of Kentucky, was attacked by the Indians, near where
Boonsborough now stands, and two of his men killed and two wounded.
1780. Action between the French fleet, admiral Piquet, and 3 British
ships, off Monte Christie. The action continued till the next day, when
the French suffered so much that they were compelled to lie by and
repair.
1792. The French government adopted the instrument since known as the
guillotine; it had been in use in various countries several centuries
before.
1793. WILLIAM MURRAY, lord Mansfield, died. He was eminent as a lawyer,
and dignified as a judge; as an elegant scholar, of highly cultivated
and vigorous intellect, he shone in the constellation of great men which
arose in the reign of queen Anne; in eloquence and beauty of diction he
outrivaled his predecessors, and has not been excelled by any successor
in the high office he held.
1797. Battle of Larvis, between the Austrians and the French under
Joubert, in which the former were defeated, after an obstinate battle.
Austrian loss 2,000 k., 4,000 taken.
1799. BONAPARTE opened the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, in Palestine.
1799. Battle of Pfullendorf, in Germany, in which the French under
Jourdan sustained the attack of the Austrians under the archduke, who
had the advantage in point of numbers and artillery, having no less than
300 pieces.
1800. Battle of Heliopolis, Egypt, in which the French under Kleber
defeated the Turks under the grand vizier.
1801. The British, under admiral Duckworth, took the island of St.
Bartholomews, in the West Indies. It was again restored on the
dissolution of the armed neutrality.
1809. The populace rose and plundered the French in the Havana.
1811. MASSENA gave up the command of his army to Marmont, and retired
into France.
1811. Birthday of NAPOLEON, duke de Reichstadt, son of the emperor of
France. He was christened emperor of Rome.
1812. JOHN HORNE TOOKE, an English politician, died. He was educated for
the ministry, with a great predilection for politics. In 1771 he induced
the printers of two newspapers to publish the debates of the house of
commons in violation of their rules, which led to proceedings that
finally resulted in the defeat of the house, and the practice of those
publications ever since. He was a warm opponent of the American war, and
was prosecuted for sedition, for the wording of a resolution by which
the Constitutional society voted £100 to the relief of the widows and
children of the Americans who fell at the battle of Lexington, and was
sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of £200. In 1786, appeared
his _Diversions of Purley_, which raised him to a high rank as a
philologist. His political life ended with the dissolution of
parliament, in 1802, and the remainder of his days were spent in the
society of his friends.
1814. Battle of Arcis, in which the prince of Wirtemberg defeated the
French and captured that place.
1815. BONAPARTE ascended the throne of France on his return from Elba.
1831. The Austrian troops entered Bologna, and in a few days overrun the
revolted part of Italy.
1831. Insurrection of the slaves at Antigua. Suppressed on the 25th.
1843. CHARLES G. CORLISS was shot dead in a street near Broadway, New
York, by a woman who escaped.
1844. PETER B. PORTER died, aged 71. His name is connected with most of
the important events in the history of western New York; and as an
officer in the army during the last war with great Britain he rendered
important services to his country. He was some time secretary of war of
the United States.
1849. NEWTON M. CURTISS, author of a number of novels, died, aged 34. He
some time printed a political paper at Ballston, before his talent as a
writer of fiction was developed. His subjects were mostly of Indian and
revolutionary scenes and incidents.
1853. The French fleet sailed for the Turkish waters, to act against the
Russians, if necessary.
1854. Two shocks of an earthquake at Macon, Ga.
1856. DAVID CONNER, a United States commodore, died. He entered the
service in 1809, and was wounded in the action between the Hornet and
Penguin.
1856. A party of 500 Costa Ricans attacked Col. Schlessinger who
commanded 400 of Walker's men, at the hacienda Santa Rosa, and entirely
defeated them. Mora had 16 killed and 25 wounded; of Gen. Walker's men
90 were killed and several perished in the woods. The action lasted but
14 minutes. The Costa Ricans shot 19 prisoners.