165 B. C. Feast during eight days, commencing on the 25th of the Hebrew
month Casleu, of the dedication of the temple, repaired and purified by
the care of Judas Macabæus, being the anniversary of its profanation
three years before by the order of Antiochus Epiphanes.
1185. LUCIUS III (_Humbaldo Allineigoli_), pope, died. He was twice
compelled to fly from Rome to avoid the popular tumult. He established,
with the countenance of the emperor Frederick, constitutions for the
punishment of heretics, which may be considered as the origin of the
inquisition.
1542. Battle of Solway Moss; the Scottish army under Sinclair defeated
by an inferior force of English under Dacres and Musgrave.
1547. HENRY II, of France, caused the following to be proclaimed: "We
forbid all booksellers, printers, &c., under pain of confiscation, to
print any book relating to the holy scriptures."
1560. ANDREW DORIA, the famous Genoese admiral, died. He distinguished
himself in the service of several Italian princes, and finally achieved
the liberty of his own country, of which he refused to accept the
sovereignty.
1624. RICHARD CRACKANTHORP, an eloquent English preacher, died. He was
also an author of merit.
1626. EDWARD ALLEYN died; an actor of great reputation in the reigns of
Elizabeth and James I, and founder of Dulwich college.
1651. HENRY IRETON, a republican general in the English civil war, died.
He possessed great abilities and uncommon valor, and deserved the
friendship of Cromwell, whose daughter he married. He died at the siege
of Limerick, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster abbey; but at
the restoration was dug up and exposed on Tyburn gibbet with Cromwell
and Bradshaw.
1687. NICHOLAS STENO, an eminent Danish anatomist, died.
1694. ISMAEL BULLIALDUS, an astronomer of the isle of France, died.
1748. ISAAC WATTS, an English dissenting divine, died; author of several
valuable works on subjects of divinity, and whose hymns and poetical
version of the psalms are still in general use.
1758. Fort du Quesne taken by the British and provincial army, 8,000
men, under general Forbes; the French garrison, deserted by the Indians,
being unequal to its maintenance. In compliment to the popular minister,
William Pitt, it was named Pittsburgh, and has become an important place
at the head of the Ohio.
1759. Battle of Chinchura, in the East Indies; the Dutch defeated by the
British under colonel Forde.
1760. Tripoli nearly destroyed by an earthquake, shocks of which had
continued nearly a month. Balbec was entirely ruined.
1766. ZACHARY GREY, an English scholar and divine, died. He was the
author of thirty publications, the best known of which is an edition of
_Hudibras_, with curious and interesting notes.
1770. PHILIP MORANT died; a learned and indefatigable English antiquary
and biographer.
1774. HENRY BAKER, an ingenious English naturalist, died, aged 70.
1775. EUSEBIUS AMORT died; a distinguished Bavarian ecclesiastical and
theological writer.
1780. NAPHTALI DAGGETT, fifth president of Yale college, died. He had
previously been professor of divinity; was a good classical scholar and
a learned divine.
1783. New York evacuated by the British. The Americans under general
Knox took possession of it, and received general Washington and governor
Clinton, who made a public entry into it.
1785. RICHARD GLOVER, an English poet, died. He was a merchant by
profession, who made a proficiency in the belles lettres; and acquired
an enviable reputation as a citizen.
1785. CHARLES DE MAUR, an eminent Spanish mathematician and engineer,
died. He was employed in the army, and in the construction of canals and
roads.
1789. A Jamaica paper of this date states, that 2,300 negroes had been
imported into that island from Africa within the four weeks then
preceding.
1792. Battle of Liege; the Austrians under Staray defeated by the French
under Dumourier, and compelled to cross the river.
1795. STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI, king of Poland, deposed by Catharine of
Russia. He resigned his crown at Grodno, and was permitted to retire
into Russia, where he died three years after.
1816. The new theatre, Philadelphia, illuminated with gas lights, under
the direction of Dr. Kugler, being the first theatre on this continent
thus illuminated.
1833. NICHOLAS ESTERHAZY died; prince of Este, field marshal and privy
counselor of the emperor of Austria. He was at one time one of the
richest subjects in Europe. The choice Tokay wine is made from his
fruitful principality, upon whose estates were the largest flocks of
sheep in Europe.
1835. ROBERT GOODACRE, a distinguished English lecturer on astronomy,
died.
1837. St. Charles, in Canada, taken from the _patriots_ by the British
troops. The Canadian force consisted of between 3 and 4,000; their loss
was 200 killed, 300 wounded and 30 taken prisoners.
1840. A negro woman, in Virginia, gave birth to a lusus naturæ, in the
shape of a child with two heads, four arms and two chests; but from the
umbilicus downwards, the formation was that of a single child; it did
not survive. A living and perfect child was born at the same time.
1851. Battle at Cerralvo; between Carvajal, with 350 men, and Jarregui,
the Mexican general, with 320 men and 2 pieces of artillery. Jarregui
was driven with loss into a storehouse, which he held until aid arrived,
and Carvajal's troops were dispersed.
1852. The canton of Ticino, in Switzerland, suppressed the order of
Capuchin monks, and expelled all of that order under 65 years of age.
1853. J. W. GUNNISON, an eminent United States topographical engineer,
was killed by a party of Utah Indians, while engaged in the survey of a
route across to the Pacific.
1854. JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART, an eminent Scottish author, died at
Abbotsford, aged 59. He succeeded Gifford as editor of the _Quarterly
Review_ in 1829, but is best known by his _Life of Walter Scott_.
1854. JOHN KITTO, author of many valuable works on Biblical literature,
died at Stuttgart, aged 50.
1855. Admiral BRUAT, a noted French naval officer, died on board ship,
aged 59. He had been governor of the French establishments in Oceanica,
and was sent as commander of the French fleet in the Black sea.
1855. A revolution at Montevideo which lasted four days, in which 100
persons were killed, and many wounded.
1855. The town of Kars, after a siege of seven months, its garrison
being reduced to extremities, surrendered to the Russians on honorable
terms.