1247. ROBIN HOOD, the leader of a band of robbers who infested the
recesses of Sherwood forest, England, died. The chief, with his
formidable band, continued their plundering life with success, and with
little opposition, from the year 1189 to 1247. It has been attempted to
identify him with Robert, earl of Huntington, whom the malice of his
enemies banished from the court of Richard I. The following epitaph is
said to have been engraven upon his tombstone at Kirklees:
Hear undernead dis laitl stean
laiz robert earl of huntington
nae arcir ner as hie sae geud
an pipl kauld im Robin Heud
sick utlawz as he an is men
vil England nivir si agen
obit 24 kal. dekembris 1247.
1518. CORTEZ sailed from Cuba for the discovery and conquest of Mexico.
His force consisted of 10 vessels, 10 pieces cannon, 18 horsemen, 600
infantry--13 only of whom were musqueteers, and the rest cross bowmen.
1558. REGINALD POLE, an English cardinal, died. He entered college at
the age of 12, and took his first degree at the age of 15. Refusing to
sanction the divorces of Henry VIII, he was obliged to reside in Italy
for safety. On the accession of Mary, however, he was restored.
1559. CUTHBERT TONSTALL, a learned catholic bishop of London, died, aged
85.
1624. JACOB BOEHMEN died; a noted Teutonic philosopher and visionary.
1636. King CHARLES I restored to sir Hugh Middleton a portion of his
private property, expended on bringing a supply of water into the city
of London. Middleton survived this event but a short time.
1665. BLAISE FRANCIS DE PAGAN, a valiant French officer and eminent
mathematician, died. He lost his eyesight in the service of his country,
after which he devoted himself to study, and wrote several works on
fortifications, astronomy, &c.
1682. JOHN FINCH (_Heneage?_), earl of Nottingham and lord high
chancellor of England, died. He was distinguished for his wisdom and
eloquence and styled the English Cicero.
1751. ABRAHAM VATER died; an eminent German physician and anatomist,
famous for his anatomical preparations, which form a curious cabinet at
Wirtemberg.
1755. A great earthquake, extending from New England to the West Indies,
damaging the houses throughout the whole extent of the coast. In the
harbor of St. Martin the sea withdrew leaving the vessels dry and the
fish on the banks; when it came in the water overflowed the lowlands.
1776. Fort Lee, near Haversack, N. Y., evacuated by the Americans under
general Greene. The British, 6000 men under Cornwallis, advancing to its
reduction, it was found that the conflict would be too unequal to
attempt its defence. The British took several hundred barrels of flour,
most of the cannon, baggage, &c.----Same day congress agreed upon a
lottery to defray the expenses of the campaign, being the first lottery
they sanctioned.
1777. Fort Mercer at Red Bank, on the Delaware, evacuated by the
Americans on the approach of the British under Cornwallis.
1777. The British under governor Tryon burnt the houses at Philip's
manor, N. Y., with circumstances of great barbarity; the women and
children being turned out in a severe cold night, almost naked, and the
men made prisoners and led with halters round their necks in triumph to
the British camp.
1777. WILLIAM BOWYER, an eminent English printer, died. He was noted for
the accuracy of his editions, and was a distinguished member of the
antiquarian society, whose transactions he enriched with many valuable
communications.
1784. M. LE ROY fixed a conductor on the Etoile galley, being the first
conductor of lightning that had ever been placed on a French ship.
1785. Mrs. KELLY, the noted Irish fairy, died. She was only 34 inches
long. Her child, which lived only two hours, was 22 inches.
1789. JOHN ELWES, the celebrated English miser, died, worth nearly five
millions of dollars. This singular man, although he denied himself the
necessaries of life, served twelve years in parliament, a most
independent and incorruptible member. He would travel a whole day,
eating only a hard boiled egg, and at night play for thousands in the
most splendid apartments from whence he has been known to issue at four
in the morning, and stand in a cold rain to dispute with a butcher for a
shilling a head on his cattle.
1793. Battle of Bliescastle; the French general Pichegru stormed the
Prussian camp.
1793. Battle of Dol; the French royalists defeated the conventional
troops.
1803. Cape Francois surrendered to the blacks under Christophe.
1804. PHILIP SCHUYLER, a major general in the revolutionary army, died
at Albany, aged 73. He was a member of the old congress, and of the
federal congress.
1809. The French under Suchet attacked the Spaniards under Gen. Blake,
posted on the heights of Beclhithe, and forced them to fall back.
1811. All differences between the United States and Great Britain on
account of the attack made on the United States frigate Chesapeake
amicably adjusted.
1813. Americans under general White, with a few Cherokee Indians,
attacked Grayson's Farm, one of the Hillibee towns, of 20 houses, which
they burnt, and killed 60 Creek warriors and captured about 256 more,
without the loss of a man.
1824. Destructive hurricane on the coast of England. The river Neva
overflowed its banks, and damaged the city of St. Petersburg.
1832. Violent eruption of mount Etna; the town of Bronte, containing
10,000 inhabitants, destroyed.
1848. The great dam at Hadley Falls, in Massachusetts, near Springfield,
carried away by a flood.
1849. BENJAMIN SMITH, a very eminent and industrious American statesman,
of Rhode Island, died at North Kingston.
1851. ERNEST AUGUSTUS, duke of Cumberland and king of Hanover, died,
aged 81. He was the fifth son of George III, and distinguished himself
as an officer on the continent during the last century.
1852. Duke of WELLINGTON'S funeral obsequies took place at London, with
great pomp. The religious ceremonies were observed in St. Paul's
cathedral, which was elaborately decorated for the purpose. The body was
deposited in the crypt near that of Nelson.
1852. A convention was signed at London by England, France, Prussia,
Bavaria and Greece, by which none but a prince of the Greek religion was
thereafter to ascend the throne of Greece.
1854. GEORGE WILLIAM MAREBY, inventor of several kinds of apparatus for
saving lives in shipwreck, died in England, aged 89.