30 B. C. Defection of the entire fleet of Marc Antony, at Alexandria,
which suddenly passed over to Octavius, afterwards Augustus Cæsar.
117. MARCUS ULPIUS TRAJAN, emperor of Rome, died. He admired and copied
the virtues of Nerva, his predecessor, and reigned nearly twenty years
in the hearts of his people, when Hadrian received his mantle.
432. CELESTINE I, pope, died. The doctrines of Nestorius were condemned
by him.
643. OSWALD, king of Northumberland, slain at Maserfield. Bede says he
erected in the shape of a wooden cross the first altar to Christ among
the Bernicians.
725. The old English tax called _Peter's pence_, was first laudably
imposed by Ina, king of the west Saxons, for the support of an English
college at Rome, but afterwards appropriated by the church for very
different purposes.
1137. LOUIS VI, king of France, died. He was a wise and popular monarch,
but during his reign, which continued nearly thirty years, the country
was disturbed by external quarrels and internal factions.
1202. King JOHN of England obtained a victory over his nephew Arthur,
whom with his sister Eleanor he took prisoner.
1221. The convent belonging to Westminster abbey destroyed; which issued
in several individuals being severely punished.
1464. COSMO DE MEDICIS, a Florentine merchant, died. He bestowed vast
expense and attention in the promotion of learning, and presided over
the commonwealth 34 years, with so much wisdom and popularity, as to
acquire the title of _Father of the People_. (See Oct. 4, 1434.)
1498. COLUMBUS, on his third voyage, first set his foot upon the
continent of America at Terra-Firma, mistaking it for an island. This
was more than a year after the English expedition under the Cabots had
reached its shores.
1560. The Scottish parliament assembled which overturned the Roman
church in Caledonia, and established a new ecclesiastical system on a
Calvinistic and presbyterian model.
1589. HENRY III, of France, assassinated. He was a weak and vicious
prince, during whose reign the country was desolated with factions and
civil and religious wars. He was the last of the house of Valois.
1605. EDMUND ANDERSON, an eminent English lawyer, died. He was one of
the ablest and most learned of queen Elizabeth's judges; his law works
are of great authority.
1625. The first parliament of Charles I, of England, on account of the
plague, met at Oxford.
1714. ANNE, queen of England, died, in the 50th year of her age.
1716. JAMES BOILEAU, a celebrated French theologian, died; a doctor of
the Sorbonne, and a man of great wit and learning.
1720. JOHN LEAKE, a brave English admiral, died. He signalized himself
in many important victories in different parts of the world.
1732. WILLIAM COSBY arrived at New York as governor of that province and
New Jersey.
1743. RICHARD SAVAGE, an eminent English poet, died in prison, aged 46.
His great natural abilities were over-balanced by vices and follies
which rendered him an unhappy man.
1759. Battle of Minden; the British and German forces under Ferdinand of
Brunswick defeated the French, who met with great losses.
1766. France stipulated not to aid the Pretender if England would suffer
a Romish bishop to be sent to Canada; it was acceded to.
1768. The merchants and traders of Boston entered into a non-importation
agreement against Great Britain.
1769. JEAN CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, a French astronomer, died at California,
whither he had gone to make an observation. He was distinguished for
learning and abilities.
1770. Battle of Cahal; the Turkish army of 150,000 defeated by 18,000
Russians under marshal Romanzow.
1772. A revolution was effected in Sweden by the army, and dissimulation
of the crown.
1774. Dr. PRIESTLY discovered _dephlogisticated air_, which has been
called the birth day of pneumatic chemistry.
1780. The village of Canajoharie laid waste by the Indians.
1790. JOHN KNOX, the book seller, and the improver of the herring
fisheries in Scotland, died.
1793. Action without the harbor of New York between the French frigate
L'Ambuscade, and British frigate Boston. The battle was severe, and both
vessels were greatly damaged; but the Boston would have been captured if
she had not been enabled to retreat. The Ambuscade had 6 killed, 20
wounded. The British lost their captain and nearly all their officers
killed. The crews of the two frigates were about the same, 350 each.
1798. Battle of the Nile; the French fleet of 13 sail and 4 frigates
defeated by the British, 13 ships of 74s, and a 50 gun ship under
Nelson. Nine of the French ships were taken and 2 burnt, and 2 of the
frigates destroyed. Admiral Brueys was mortally wounded and blown up in
the Orient, 120 guns and 1070 men. Of the French 3,105 were put on shore
by cartel, and 5,225 perished.
1801. JONATHAN EDWARDS, president of Union college, died; a man of
uncommon powers of mind.
1803. WILLIAM WOODFALL, an English printer, died. He possessed a
remarkably retentive memory, and was the first who gave a full and
immediate detail of the proceedings of parliament.
1807. JOHN WALKER, the English lexicographer, died.
1819. JAMES FORBES died; a civil servant in the East India company, and
creditably known as the author of _Oriental Memoirs_, which were
selected from a mass of manuscripts written during 17 years' residence
in India, stated to occupy 52,000 folio pages, in 150 vols. The plates,
from drawings of plants and animals made by the author, have rarely been
surpassed in spirit and beauty.
1821. WILLIAM FLOYD, one of the signers, died.
1821. ELIZABETH INCHBALD, an English dramatic writer and actress, died.
She possessed great beauty and talent, and an unsullied reputation; many
of her pieces are still _stock plays_.
1829. Capture of Jambouli and destruction of the Turkish camp by a
brigade of Hulans and Cossacks, after having defeated on the road a
body of 15,000 Turks.
1834. ROBERT MORRISON, an eminent English orientalist, at Canton, died.
He was considered the best Chinese scholar in Europe. He translated the
whole of the _New Testament_ into Chinese, which was printed in 1813;
but the great monument of his literary fame is his _Dictionary of the
Chinese Language_, 6 vols. quarto.
1834. The slaves in the British colonies emancipated, and a temporary
apprenticeship commenced.
1834. The bill admitting dissenters to the honors of the English
universities, which had passed the house of commons, rejected in the
house of lords by a majority of 102--a grand halt to the march of mind
in England.
1838. JOHN ROGERS died; a distinguished naval officer, and senior
commander in the American navy. He had been fifteen months a resident of
the naval asylum, and the greater part of the time in close confinement
as a confirmed lunatic.
1838. The entire emancipation of the negro apprentices in the islands of
Jamaica, Barbadoes, Chevis, Montserrat, St. Christophers, St. Vincent
and Tortola, took place, in compliance with the acts of the colonial
legislatures.
1848. The city of Vera Cruz delivered up to the Mexicans by the United
States; general Smith embarked for home.
1849. HENRY A. BRECKINGHAM, known as the author of several historical
sketches and other interesting reminiscences of the early days of the
American colonies, died at Brooklyn, of cholera.
1849. Queen VICTORIA embarked at Cowes on her visit to Ireland.
1851. HARRIET LEE, an English authoress, died, aged 95. Jointly with her
sister Sophia, they were the authors of various works, chiefly novels or
dramas. Harriet was almost the exclusive author of the _Canterbury
Tales_, 5 vols., perhaps the best known of their labors.
1853. The Austrian government, in a circular addressed to the European
courts, protested against the proceedings of Capt. Ingraham, in the port
of Smyrna, in rescuing Martin Koszta, claiming to be a citizen of the
United States.
1854. KENNETH MURCHISON formerly governor of Penang and Singapore, died
in London, aged 60.
1854. The yellow fever became epidemic at New Orleans. It disappeared in
November, when the number of deaths was 2441. There were 600 deaths in
Savannah from the same disease.