812. St. WILLIAM, of Aquitaine, died. He distinguished himself by his
valor against the Saracens, under Charlemagne.
1089. LANFRANC, archbishop of Canterbury, died. He was an Italian, and
has the character of a great statesman, as well as a learned prelate.
1220. Pope HONORIUS issued a decree that no person in England should
keep in his hands more than two of the royal castles; intended to check
the encroaching barons.
1357. ALPHONSO IV, of Portugal, died. He was an able prince, benevolent,
and warred with the Moors.
1500. DE CABRAL'S fleet encountered a violent storm; 4 of his vessels
ran foul of each other and sunk. Bartholomew Diaz, the Portuguese
navigator, who first doubled the cape of Good Hope, was lost here.
1576. The first newspaper printed in England was the _Liverpool Times_
of this date; it is said to be published at the present day.
1583. The printing of the _Vandalie Bible_ commenced at Wittemberg, by
Samuel Seelfish, at the expense of the state of Carniola, which paid
8,000 florins for 1,500 copies.
1661. The marquis of ARGYLE beheaded at Edinburgh and his head set upon
the Tolbooth.
1672. Battle of Southwold bay, in which the Dutch admiral De Ruyter with
91 ships of the line and 44 frigates and fireships, engaged the combined
fleets of France and England, consisting of 130 sail, under the command
of the duke of York, afterwards James II, and the admiral count
d'Estrees. The conflict was terrible. The allies had a trifling
advantage, and the Dutch retired to the coast of Holland.
1672. EDWARD MONTAGUE, earl of Sandwich, drowned in the confusion of the
battle of Southwold bay. He was distinguished as a statesman, general,
admiral, and writer.
1672. War declared in Boston against the Dutch; the first declaration of
war in the colonies.
1673. Action between the English and French fleets, under prince Rupert,
and the Dutch under De Ruyter, at Schonvelt; both sides claimed the
victory.
1701. ANNE HILARION DE COSTENTIN DE TOURVILLE, a French admiral, died.
He distinguished himself against the Algerines and the Spaniards, but
the battle of La Hogue was fatal to his glory.
1708. Com. WAGER attacked and destroyed the Spanish fleet near
Carthagena.
1736. Madamoiselle SALLE, a famous _danseuse_ at Paris, who piqued
herself upon her reputation, instituted an order there, of which she was
president, by the name of the _Indifferents_. Both sexes were
indiscriminately admitted, after a nice scrutiny into their
qualifications. They had rites, which no one was to disclose. The badge
of the order was a ribbon, striped black, white and yellow, and the
device something like an icicle. They took an oath to fight against
love, and if any of the members were particular in their regards, they
were excluded the order with ignominy.
1745. JONATHAN RICHARDSON died; a celebrated English painter of heads,
and an author.
1754. Battle at fort Duquesne; the French and Indians defeated by the
Americans under Washington.
1781. American frigate Alliance, 32 guns, Capt. Barry, captured British
sloops of war Atalanta, 16 guns, and Trespasser, 14 guns.
1793. ANTHONY FREDERICK BUSCHING, a distinguished Prussian geographer,
died.
1794. Lord HOWE'S first action with the French fleet under Joyeuse.
British ship Russell captured the Revolutionaire, 110 guns.
1795. WILLIAM, prince of Orange, issued a manifesto against the French
and Batavian republics, protesting against their right to abolish the
stadtholdership.
1797. Toulon, which had been seized by the French royalists, surrendered
to the conventional troops.
1798. JAMES DUNBAR, professor of philosophy at Aberdeen, died; author of
an essay on the history of mankind in the rude and uncultivated ages.
1798. Father MURPHY, at the head of the United Irishmen, took
Enniscorthy, killed 90 of the king's troops, and set the town on fire.
1803. British ship Victory captured the French frigate Ambuscade,
formerly belonging to the British.
1803. RICHARD HOLE, an English poet and divine, died. He published
Ossian in a poetic dress and other works.
1808. The bones of the American prisoners who had perished on board the
Jersey and other British prison ships at New York during the
revolutionary war, solemnly inhumed in a vault erected at the
Wallabout.
1808. RICHARD HURD, bishop of Worcester, died, aged 89. He was a learned
man, author of several literary productions, and was offered the
primacy, which he declined.
1810. The crown prince of Sweden killed by a fall from his horse. A
circumstance which led the way for the elevation of Bernadotte.
1818. First steam boat on lake Erie (Walk in the Water), launched at
Black Rock.
1839. MICHAEL BUFF, a soldier of the revolution, died in Oglethorpe co.,
Ga. He was under Gen. Forbes, 1758, and fought at the battles of
Brandywine and Germantown.
1840. THOMAS HARVEY, a distinguished officer in the British navy, died
at Bermuda, aged 65.
1841. Capitulation of the city of Canton, which had forfeited previous
stipulations with the British and resumed hostilities. The Chinese
agreed to pay six millions of dollars in one week as a ransom for the
city, and that their troops should be withdrawn 60 miles into the
interior, and that all losses sustained by the partial destruction of
the factories, should be paid. The sum was paid as stipulated.
1843. NOAH WEBSTER, the American lexicographer, died, aged 85.
1850. JOHN N. MAFFIT, the well known and eccentric methodist preacher,
died at Mobile.
1852. THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER, a political exile from Ireland, and
convict at Van Dieman's land, arrived at New York.
1853. The French legislature passed an act restoring capital punishment
for attempts on the life of the emperor, or to subvert the imperial
government.
1854. A riot occurred at the park in New York, between a party of
Catholics and the friends of a street preacher; several persons were
badly injured.