940. ATHELSTAN, king of England, died. He was bountiful, wise and
affable; ascended the throne at the age of 30; became distinguished by
the titles of _conqueror_ and _faithful_, and left behind him a name of
great renown, respected at home and abroad.
1346. Battle of Nevil's Cross; the Scots under king David Bruce signally
defeated by the English under Philippa and lord Percy. Bruce was taken
prisoner and 15,000 of his men slain.
1492. COLUMBUS named the more civilized island Fernandino, now Largo.
The men wore cotton mantles, and the women a band of that manufacture
round the waist.
1509. PHILIP DE COMINES, an excellent French historian, died, leaving
behind him _Memoirs of his Own Times_.
1552. ANDREW OSIANDER died; a Bavarian, one of Luther's first disciples;
a professor at Konigsburg, and a voluminous writer.
1616. JOHN PITS, an English biographer, died. He collected the lives of
the kings, bishops, apostolical men and writers of England in four large
volumes.
1662. The seaport Dunkirk, in France, sold to the English for five
million livres. The annual charge of the place (£120,000) far exceeded
its intrinsic importance.
1678. EDMUNDBURY GODFREY, before whom Oates gave evidence of the popish
plot against the king of England, was found in a field with his sword
through his body; verdict of the jury was, that he had been strangled.
1683. An assembly of the representatives of the freeholders of the
province of New York, first met in assembly under governor Dongan.
1740. The Czarina ANNE, empress of Russia, died.
1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, between England, France and Spain. The
British took, during the war, 1,249 Spanish and 2,185 French prizes;
total 3,434. The Spaniards captured 1,360, and the French 1,878 British
vessels; total 3,238.
1758. ROLAND MICHAEL BARRIA DE GALISSONIERE, a French admiral, died.
After serving with distinction in the navy, he was made governor of
Canada.
1758. JOHN WARD, an English dissenting minister, died; remembered for
the assistance he rendered to many of the learned works of his day.
1775. Two men and eleven horses killed by the lightning which proceeded
from a volcanic steam cloud of the Katlagia burning mountain, in the
island of Iceland.
1777. BURGOYNE, after losing 3,461 men at Stillwater and other places,
surrendered the remainder of his army (5,752), to the Americans under
Gen. Gates, conditioned not to serve again in North America during the
present contest. Thus was extinguished an army of 9,213 men, including
volunteers. The army of Gates amounted to 10,557 effective men.
1781. Several new batteries were opened by the Americans in the second
parallel, against Yorktown. In the judgment of Cornwallis and his
engineers, the place was no longer tenable; and in a letter to
Washington he requested a cessation of hostilities to prepare for a
capitulation.
1781. EDWARD HAWKE, a brave and intrepid English admiral, died.
1793. Battle of Cholet, the Vendeans defeated by the French. The actions
of _Hagenau_ and _Brumpt_ took place on the same day, in both of which
the allies defeated the French.
1797. Treaty of Campio Formio between Bonaparte and the emperor of
Austria.
1803. Agra in Hindostan taken by the British.
1805. Ulm surrendered by the Austrian general Mack to Bonaparte, and was
delivered up on the 20th. The archduke with a corps of 17,000 Austrians
effected his escape the night before by a masterly piece of generalship,
leaving 40,000 behind who became prisoners to the French.
1806. Battle of Halle; prince Eugene of Wirtemburg defeated by the
French under Bernadotte; 34 cannon and 5,000 prisoners were taken.
1806. JACQUES DESSALINES, the black emperor of Hayti, assassinated.
1829. The Delaware and Chesapeake canal opened.
1834. Both houses of the British parliament destroyed by fire. They were
not very remarkable for elegance or convenience; but with them was
destroyed the celebrated tapestry that hung upon the walls of the house
of lords, representing the defeat of the famous Spanish armada, a relic
of great value in the eyes of the antiquary.
1837. JOHN HUMMEL, an eminent musical composer, founder of the modern
school of pianoforte music, died at Weimar, in Germany.
1848. Vienna in a state of siege; the imperial troops drawn close around
the city, and deputations passed from the diet at Vienna to the emperor
at Olmutz. Kossuth withdrew the Hungarian army within their own
frontier.
1853. A party of 45 men under colonel Walker, sailed from San Francisco
for the purpose of establishing a republic in lower California.
1854. The allies opened their first fire from the fleet and batteries
upon Sebastopol. The loss of the Russians was 500 killed; of the allies
90, and 300 wounded.