49. TIBERIUS DRUSUS CLAUDIUS, emperor of Rome, died of poison
administered by his wife. He succeeded Caligula, and became contemptible
for his vices and weakness.
409. Irruption of the Vandals into Spain, who, dividing her prolific
territories, turned their swords into ploughshares.
643. OSWY, of Northumberland, and 10th king of Britain, ascended the
throne. The great controversy for the celebration of Easter, was decided
by him.
1164. The great council opened at Northampton, England, for the trial of
Thomas Becket, by whose sentence he was placed at the king's mercy.
1269. The bones of Edward the Confessor enshrined in gold.
1417. GREGORY XII (_Angelo Corario_), pope, died, aged 92. He was
elected during the schism of the west, while the opposite party
supported Benedict XIII. They were both deposed, and another elected.
1503. THEODORE BEZA, a learned French protestant, died. He was professor
of Greek at Lausanne, in Switzerland.
1515. Battle of Marignon, in Italy; the Swiss defeated by the French
under Francis I.
1698. The French missionary GERBILLON, returned to Pekin from his eighth
and last journey, from thence into Tartary, journals of all which are
published in Du Halde's _History of China_.
1705. The parliament of Scotland convened for the last time.
1754. JACOB POWELL died at Stebbing, England. He weighed five hundred
and sixty pounds. His body was five yards in circumference, and his
limbs were in proportion. He had sixteen men to carry him to his grave.
1771. JOHN GILL, an eminent English Calvinistic divine, died. He was a
learned orientalist and voluminous writer on theological subjects; his
greatest work is a commentary on the Bible.
1777. Esopus, on the Hudson river, burnt by the British under general
Vaughan; not a house escaped.
1782. Battle in Persia for the sovereignty, between Abdul Fatcan and
Murat Kan, the lord regent. The latter and his three sons were slain,
and Abdul caused himself to be proclaimed king.
1793. The allies under Wurmzer invested Landau, and carried the lines of
Weissembourg; the French retreated with loss.
1797. BENJAMIN HAMMETT fined £1,000 sterling, for refusing the office of
lord mayor of London.
1812. Battle of Queenston, in Canada; the Americans, under colonel Van
Rensselaer, attacked and carried the heights and fort; but owing to the
refusal of 1,200 militia to cross over to their support, and the arrival
of British regulars and Indians from fort George, the Americans, to the
number of 764, were obliged to surrender. General Brock was killed in
this affair, and Van Rensselaer was wounded by four balls. American
loss, 90 killed, 82 wounded.
1815. JOACHIM MURAT, king of Naples, shot. He was a soldier of fortune,
who emerged from obscurity during the French revolution, became a
distinguished general in the armies of France, married a sister of
Napoleon, and was placed upon the throne of Naples.
1815. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE landed at St. Helena, a perpetual exile.
1822. ANTONIO CANOVA died; the most eminent sculptor of the age. His
statues are in possession of the noble and the rich throughout Europe.
1828. VINCENT MONTI died; one of the most celebrated poets of modern
Italy.
1836. JACOB SPENCER, a revolutionary pensioner, died at Washington, N.
J., aged nearly 100. He had had seven wives, and left but one child
living.
1845. DOUGLAS HOUGHTON, state geologist of Michigan, died, aged 36. He
was prosecuting a combined geological and linear survey of the region
near lake Superior, on a plan suggested by himself.
1845. W. K. ARMISTEAD, a general officer in the United States service,
died at Upperville, Va., aged about 60. He had served long in the
engineer department, and in 1840-41 had chief command in the campaign
against the Florida Indians.
1846. Right honorable HENRY STEPHEN FOX, late her Britannic majesty's
minister plenipotentiary to the United States, died at Washington, D. C.
He was much respected as well for his prudence and urbane manners, as
for his decision and diplomatic talent.
1847. A body of 200 German catholics met at the Tabernacle, in New York,
and made a public and formal secession from the Romish church.
1853. TRISTRAM BURGESS, a Rhode Island statesman, died, aged 83. He
stood in the front rank of the public men of his day.
1853. THOMAS KEMPER DAVIS died at Boston. He stood high in his
profession as a lawyer, and having acquired a fortune, devoted himself
to and became learned in English and classical literature.
1854. Howard college, at Marion, Ala., destroyed by fire.