332. B. C. Era of the accession of Alexander the great to the Persian
rule.
565. JUSTINIAN I, emperor of Rome, died. He built St. Sophia's church at
Constantinople, and reduced the Roman laws into a code, which was called
the Digests or Pandects.
1318. The greatest earthquake ever known in England.
1524. FRANCISCO PIZARRO sailed from Panama for the conquest of Peru.
Diego de Almagro, and Hernando de Luque a priest, associated with him
under bonds and oaths for mutual protection. This expedition was a
failure; they were repulsed and compelled to leave the country. More
than six years afterwards the attempt was renewed with success.
1556. JOHN DE LA CASA, an Italian writer, died. Besides some beautiful
Italian poems, he wrote the lives of cardinals Contarini and Bembo, and
various other works.
1574. An aurora borealis appeared in England.
1672. FRANCIS DE LA BOE SYLVIUS, an eminent Dutch physician, died. He
was professor of medicine at Leyden, where he ably demonstrated the
truth of Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood.
1690. Capt. JAMES CAMPBELL, brother of the duke of Argyle, with the
assistance of sir J. Johnstone, seized a rich heiress and married her,
for which Johnstone was afterwards hung and Campbell divorced.
1716. GODFREY WILLAM LEIBNITZ, a German philosopher, died. He had in his
life the singular felicity of being esteemed the greatest and most
learned man in Europe.
1736. GEORGE SALE, a learned Englishman, died. He was well skilled in
oriental literature, and contributed much to the completion of the
_Universal History_, but his chief work is a translation of the _Koran_.
1770. Bruce discovered the sources of the mighty Nile.
1785. A chebeck with 19 men and 23 passengers, passing from Majorca to
Ivica, was attacked by an Algerine pink, and boarded by about 100 men,
in spite of the firing of two cannon and the musketry. A bloody
engagement ensued, in which all the Moors but 6 or 7 were killed. These
were assaulted by a volley of hail shot, which fired some powder casks,
and blew up the vessel, destroying all on board but the captain and 3
passengers, who got to Ivica in a boat, badly wounded.
1800. MARQUIS DE BOUILLE, a celebrated French general, died; during the
American war he served with credit in the West Indies, but being opposed
to the enormities of the French revolution he was compelled to seek an
asylum in England.
1804. JACOB BRYANT, an English philologist and antiquary, died. He was a
learned and indefatigable writer, but fond of paradox.
1809. BONAPARTE was congratulated on his return from Austria, by the
public bodies of Paris, as "the greatest of heroes, who ever achieved
victories but for the happiness of the world."
1809. FREDERICK MORTON EDEN, an English diplomatist and writer on
political economy, died.
1812. Battle of Smolnya; the French under Victor and Oudinot defeated by
the Russians under Wittgenstein, with the loss of 1,500 dead on the
field, and 800 prisoners. Russian loss 1,000.
1825. JEAN PAUL FREDERICK RICHTER, a German writer of the first rank in
belles lettres, died. He is known as Jean Paul among the Germans, and
his numerous works are held in very high repute.
1827. THOMAS ADDIS EMMETT, an eminent Irish lawyer, died in New York,
aged 63.
1828. ANDRE JOSEPH ABRIAL died; a French statesman under Napoleon and
his successor.
1831. GEORGE WILLIAM FREDERICK HEGEL, the distinguished German
philosopher, died by cholera at Berlin. His philosophy partakes of much
of German mysticism.
1832. CHARLES ABBOTT, lord Tenterden, died, aged 70. He was the son of a
London hairdresser, who by great application became one of the most
learned jurists of England.
1832. CHARLES CARROL died, aged 96; the last of the signers of the
declaration of independence. He studied the law in France and England,
and returned to America at the age of 27, where he was soon known as an
advocate for liberty, and as one of the best political writers in
Maryland. He quitted public life in 1810.
1835. JAMES FREEMAN, pastor of the Stone chapel society, in Boston,
died. He was chosen pastor of the episcopal society that worshiped there
in 1783. Having rejected the trinitarian doctrine, the greater part of
his hearers responded to his sentiments and resolved to alter their
liturgy and retain their minister. Thus did the first episcopal church
in New England become the first unitarian church in the new world. He
was a man of talent and learning, and one of the founders of the
Massachusetts historical society.
1840. JOHN A. G. DAVIS, professor of law in the university of Virginia,
died of a pistol shot discharged by a disguised student. He was a man of
extraordinary intellect, of untiring industry, of amiable and
philanthropic character. He published a valuable treatise on criminal
law.
1840. ZACHARIAH LEWIS, senior vice-president of the American Bible
society, died at Brooklyn, N. Y. He was educated for the ministry, and
was for 17 years editor of the _Commercial Advertiser_ and _New York
Spectator_.
1855. TOBIAS WATKINS died at Washington, aged 75. He was a physician by
education, had contributed largely to the public press, and figured as a
politician.