1491 B. C. The Egyptians under Pharaoh drowned in the Red sea.
1153. DAVID I, of Scotland, died. He was earl of Northumberland and
Huntington, and married the daughter of the king of England, for whom he
claimed the throne on the death of her father. He was a mild and popular
king.
1310. JAMES DE MOLAI, grand master, and 54 knights of the temple,
publicly burned at Paris, under the decree of an archiepiscopal council.
They were condemned on confessions of Islamism and paganism, extorted by
the rack, and afterwards retracted.
1537. A terrible and destructive eruption of Mount Ætna.
1553. Three vessels sailed from England, under Sir Hugh Willoughby, to
explore the northern seas. By this voyage an inlet was discovered to the
White sea and the bay of Archangel, and an almost exclusive commerce
established with Russia in that quarter.
1554. FRANCISCO DE ORELLANA sailed from St. Lucar, in Spain, with 4
ships and 400 men, for the purpose of exploring the river Amazon. He
forced his way up about 120 leagues, and meeting with disasters by which
he lost his ships and the greater part of his men, he turned about and
died on his way back. "Orellana was very _warmly_ received by armed
swift-footed females, which originated the fanciful name _Amazonia_."
1676. The Indians assaulted the town of Plymouth, Mass., and burned 11
houses and 5 barns; and two days after they burned 7 houses and 2 barns,
and the remaining houses in Namasket.
1686. OTHO GUERICKE, a Prussian philosopher, died. He was the most
celebrated mathematician of his time, and invented the air pump.
1690. Charlemont, in Ireland, taken by the English.
1696. The Reformed Dutch church at New York incorporated.
1723. JEAN GUALBERT DE CAMPISTRON, a French poet, died. He is thought to
be little inferior to Racine in the merit of his dramatic compositions.
1743. Several tons of leaden pipe were dug up in Fleet street, London,
laid down 300 years before.
1749. CATHARINE COCKBURN, an English poetress, died. She produced the
tragedy of _Agnes de Castro_ in her 17th year, which was followed by
several others. She possessed also a great and philosophic mind, and
wrote an able defence of Locke.
1776. At an action near Charleston, S. C., between count Pulaski and the
British, Major Huger of the American army was killed by mistake.
1778. WILLIAM PITT, earl of Chatham, a most illustrious English
statesman, died. He was the friend of liberty and justice, and eloquent
in their cause.
1781. Orangeburgh surrendered to the American Gen. Sumpter; prisoners
taken, 82.
1782. RICHARD WILSON died; an English landscape painter of great merit.
1799. PHILIP NICHOLAS PIA, a French chemist, died. He was sheriff of
Paris, 1770, and employed his leisure in objects of benevolence, till
the revolution overwhelmed him.
1807. Action in the Dardanelles, between the Russian and Turkish fleets;
3 of the latter stranded.
1810. Hastalrick, in Catalonia, evacuated for want of provisions; the
garrison cut their way through the French troops.
1813. SPENCER PERCEVAL, prime minister of Great Britain, shot in the
lobby of the house of commons.
1814. ROBERT TREAT PAINE, one of the signers, died. He was a
distinguished lawyer, of learning and integrity, member of the first
congress, and judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts.
1821. GEORGE HOWE, editor of the _Sydney Gazette_, died. His paper
commenced in March, 1803, in the 15th year of the colony, and was the
first Australian periodical.
1838. ANDREW THOMAS KNIGHT died. His horticultural writings were
exceedingly beneficial, as well to the gardeners as farmers.
1839. THOMAS COOPER, president of South Carolina college, died, aged 80.
He wrote on law, medical jurisprudence and political economy, and
translated Justinian and Broussais.
1844. STEPHEN WOOD, died at Miami, Ohio, aged 82. He was the last
survivor of those who were associated with John Cleves Symmes in the
settlement of North Bend.
1848. An expedition under Sir James Ross, sailed for the Arctic regions,
in search of Sir John Franklin.
1853. PETER HITCHCOCK, an eminent civilian, died at Painesville, Ohio,
aged 70. He was a member of the Ohio senate, and of the house of
representatives at Washington; also for twenty-five years a judge of the
supreme court of Ohio.
1854. The packet Pike, from St. Louis to Louisville, struck a snag, and
sank in a few minutes, by which about fifty passengers lost their lives.
1854. J. DELIUS, of Bremen, assistant professor of English literature at
Berlin, fell into the crater of Vesuvius, and perished there.