578. BENEDICT I (Bonosus), pope, died. During his pontificate the people
suffered the double calamity of famine and invasion, throughout which he
interested himself to alleviate their condition.
911. ABU ABDILLAH assassinated; the principal actor in the revolution
which established the dynasty of the Fatimites in Africa and Egypt.
1095. LADISLAUS I, king of Hungary, died. He was an able statesman and
general, and victorious in his wars with the surrounding nations. The
Huns were driven from the country by him.
1388. Battle of Otterbourne, on Thursday, "about the Lammas tide,"
between sunrise and sunset. The youthful combatants were nearly of the
same age. Douglas was slain, and the English Hotspur and his brother
taken prisoners. The ancient song called _The Hunting a' the Cheviat_,
refers to a private conflict 48 years after this, between the son of
Hotspur and William Douglas; but _Richard Sheale_, with the license of a
ballad-poet has mingled the two events together.
1540. THOMAS ABEL, a chaplain at the court of Henry VIII, executed. He
incurred the resentment of the king by his attachment to the cause of
the queen, Catharine. He was hanged, and then drawn and quartered.
1588. WILLIAM STUART killed in Edinburgh by earl Bothwell.
1609. Battle between Champlain and Indians in Essex county, New York.
1625. The week's plague bill in London returns 2,471.
1631. A French coin dated 1596, found in digging a well at Dorchester,
Mass.
1673. New York taken by the Dutch. A small expedition, fitted out to
destroy the commerce of the English in America, having effectually
performed this service on the Virginia coast, made their appearance
before New York, which submitted without exchanging a shot. New Jersey
was also humbled.
1711. The British and colonial fleet, consisting of 12 men of war, 40
transports, and 6 store ships, with 40 horses, a fine train of
artillery, and all manner of warlike stores, sailed from Boston for the
conquest of Canada.
1718. WILLIAM PENN, the founder of Pennsylvania, died, aged 74. At the
age of 24 he became a preacher among the quakers; but by the grant of
Pennsylvania he was placed in the position of a legislator, and well did
he sustain it.
1743. THOMAS EMLYN, an English dissenting divine, died. He enjoyed an
imprisonment of two years' duration, as a reward for the publication of
some religious opinions, which no man had a right to entertain in those
days.
1746. Eight of those concerned in the pretender's rebellion hung,
beheaded and disemboweled near London.
1750. JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH, a German musician, died; celebrated for his
skill as an organist, and also as a composer.
1762. Moro fort, at the entrance of the harbor of Havana, stormed by the
English under admiral Pococke; 400 Spaniards were either cut in pieces,
or perished in attempting to escape by water to the city; the rest threw
down their arms and received quarter. (See Aug. 12.)
1768. Captain COOK sailed from England in the Endeavor, on his first
voyage of discovery.
1771. THOMAS GRAY, an eminent English poet, died. He was one of the most
learned men of Europe, equally conversant with every department of
science.
1775. Captain COOK returned from his second and most important
navigation, having lost but one man by sickness, out of a crew of 118
men, during an absence of more than three years.
1777. General BURGOYNE reached fort Edward, on the Hudson river, having
with incredible labor and fatigue conducted his army through the
wilderness. General Schuyler, whose forces did not exceed 4,400 men,
retreated over the river to Saratoga.
1780. Rocky mount, a British post on the Catawba, stormed and taken by
Gen. Sumpter, after three repulses.
1784. Earthquake at Port Royal and Kingston, Jamaica. Of 150 vessels in
the harbors but 6 or 8 were saved, and the sugar works were blown down.
A scarcity of provisions attended the calamity.
1789. Battle of Putna; the Turkish army of 30,000 defeated with the loss
of 1,500 men and all their artillery, camp equipage, &c., by the
Austrian and Russian army, whose loss did not exceed 200.
1800. The grand jury of York, England, recommended the enclosing of
7,800,000 acres of waste lands as the best preventive of future famines.
1809. The British under lord CHATHAM invaded Holland with 40,000
troops.
1813. Fifth day's battle of the Pyrenees. The French under Soult
defeated by the allies under Wellington, after an obstinate engagement.
Loss supposed to have been about 8,000 on each side.
1844. ZECHARIAH POULSON, for many years editor of _Poulson's Daily
Advertiser_, died. He was the last link connecting the fraternity of
publishers with those of the days of Franklin.
1845. LYNTHIA BROWNING, the Kentucky giantess, died at Flemingsburg, Ky.
She was seven feet high.
1855. GEORGE JOHNSTON, an eminent British surgeon, died, aged 58. While
engaged in the practice of his profession, he devoted his leisure to
natural history, in which he attained great eminence.
1855. JOHN WOODS, an eminent Ohio lawyer, died at Hamilton, aged 61. As
state auditor he did much to preserve the public credit at a time of
general depression.