1493. COLUMBUS discovered the island of Guadaloupe, the largest of the
Carib or Cannibal islands, called by the natives Carucueria. The
drinking vessels of this fierce people were formed of human skulls. They
here saw the pine apple.
1611. NICHOLAS LE FEVRE (or _Faber_), a learned and ingenious French
writer, died. He was more ready to assist others than to appear as an
author himself.
1613. EDWARD BREREWORD, a learned English antiquary, died.
1631. Lady MARY, eldest daughter of king Charles I, and subsequently the
wife of William prince of Orange, born.
1673. The house of commons, in England, sent for to the house of lords,
and prorogued, for addressing the king against a standing army.
1677. The marriage portion of the princess Mary was £40,000. She married
the prince of Orange.
1680. JOSEPH GLANVIL, an eminent English divine, died; celebrated for
his controversies.
1688. WILLIAM III entered Torbay with 50 sail of the line and 400
transports.
1694. The Hannibal, of London, arrived at Barbadoes with a cargo of
negroes. Of 692 captives, 320 died on the passage; the rest, Philips,
the master, says, "came out £19 per head, one with another." The
official return of the population, four years afterwards was, 2,330
whites, 42,000 slaves.
1698. A colony from Scotland settled at New Edinburgh, on the coast of
Darien.
1702. JOHN BENBOW, a brave English admiral, died in the West Indies,
after an inglorious defeat, owing to the cowardice of his officers.
1702. EDWARD SHERBURNE, an English writer, died, aged 85. Besides his
original works, he translated Seneca's tragedies and other Latin
authors.
1713. FRANCIS PETIT DE LA CROIX, a French ambassador, died. He was an
expert linguist in Turkish and Arabic, and rendered great services to
literature by his dictionaries and other works on those languages.
1749. A ball of fire burst about 40 yards above the British ship
Montague, admiral Chambers, knocking down five men, shattering the
maintop mast, and otherwise injuring the ship. The ball was first
visible about three miles from the ship, at mid-day, and rose before it
burst.
1749. At Stoke, in Glocestershire, about 6 P. M., the inhabitants were
surprised by a brilliant light surpassing that of the sun. It was seen
but for a few minutes.
1764. CHARLES CHURCHILL, an eminent English poet, died. He was endowed
with great natural abilities, and his poems, though they have lost
something by time, are still preserved from oblivion.
1788. DEBORAH GODFREY died at Stepney, England, aged 80; celebrated as
the mother of 34 children, all of whom lived to the age of maturity.
1791. The United States army, 1,400 men, under general St. Clair,
defeated by the Indians, near the Miami villages. The Indians made the
attack immediately after the soldiers had been dismissed, from the
parade, and with so much intrepidity, that most of the officers were
killed before they could form their men. The loss of the Americans was
894, being nearly two-thirds of the force. The Indians took 7 cannon,
200 oxen and a great number of horses. Their force was between three and
four thousand, and their loss only 56. (Other and more reliable accounts
say 1,500 Indians instead of 3,000.)
1793. RICHARD TICKELL, an eminent English writer, was killed by a fall
from a window of his apartments.
1794. Praga carried by storm by the Russians under Suwarrow; upon which
Warsaw was compelled to surrender, and a massacre of the Poles followed,
which issued in blotting out Poland from the nations of Europe.
1797. Earthquake at Quito; nearly 40,000 of the natives perished, either
buried under the ruins of their own houses, swallowed up in the crevices
of the earth, or drowned in the lakes which were suddenly formed.
1806. GEORGE MASON, an English writer, died. He made a valuable
collection of English and foreign literature.
1825. The first boat down the Erie canal, arrived at New York.
1836. CHARLES X, ex-king of France, died at Goritz, in Illyria, an
exile. He succeeded Louis XVIII, but lost the throne by his arbitrary
measures.
1837. BARON ALBERT died at Paris, aged 70; a celebrated French
physician, and author of numerous works in his profession.
1838. Martial law established at Montreal, in consequence of a rebellion
against the government, which became general, throughout Canada and
caused serious disturbances.
1839. Riot of 10,000 chartists from the mines and colleries, who
attacked Newport, England, led on by John Frost, an ex-magistrate. About
20 of the rioters were killed, and Frost taken prisoner.
1845. ELEAZER BLACKMAN, the last survivor of the massacre at Wyoming,
died at Hanover, Pa.
1848. The new constitution of France, adopted in the general assembly,
by 739 to 30.
1853. LUCIEN B. WEBSTER, a United States officer, died at fort Brown,
Texas. He served on the eastern frontier in the time of the Aroostook
trouble, and also distinguished himself at Buena Vista.
1853. Battle of Oltenitza, between the Turks and Russians, in which the
latter lost 1,200 killed and wounded.