406 B. C. EURIPIDES, the Greek tragic poet, died at Barmiscus, in
Macedonia. He wrote 92 tragedies which were greatly esteemed, but of
which only 19 are extant.
69. ANDREW, one of the apostles, suffered martyrdom at Patræ in Achaia,
upon the cross. He is the patron saint of Scotland.
1016. EDMUND II (_Ironside_), king of England, assassinated.
1093. MALCOLM III, king of Scots, who was the son of the gracious Duncan
immortalized by Shakspeare in Macbeth, was slain in his 70th year.
1292. JOHN BALIOL crowned king of Scotland at Scone, after swearing
fealty to the king of England.
1603. WILLIAM GILBERT, a learned English physician, died. He discovered
some of the properties of the loadstone.
1654. JOHN SELDEN died; an English antiquary, historian and law writer,
of most extensive learning.
1672. The English East India company lost the island of St. Helena; the
Dutch taking it.
1700. Battle of Narva; the Russians under Peter the great defeated by
the Swedes under Charles XII. The forces of the two armies were unequal;
that of the Russians differently stated from 80 to 100,000, while that
of the Swedes varies from 8 to 20,000. Charles had a horse killed under
him, and was struck in the neck by a ball.
1718. CHARLES XII, king of Sweden, killed by a musket shot while
attacking one of the forts in Frederickshall, Norway.
1733. In consequence of a vast exportation of grain from England,
freights nearly doubled and the price of wheat rose in some places to
four shillings per bushel.
1750. The nunneries of Begging Friars suppressed in Ireland by the pope
for vile and disorderly practices.
1750. MAURICE of Saxe, marshal of France, died.
1751. NICHOLAS BOINDIN, a French dramatist, died. He left the pursuit of
arms for that of literature, and became celebrated for his comedies.
1761. JOHN DOLLOND died; an eminent English optician, and inventor of
the achromatic telescope.
1781. THEODORE TRONCHIN, an eminent physician of Geneva, died. He was
the pupil of Boerhaave, and the author of several medical works.
1782. Preliminary articles of peace signed at Paris between England and
America.
1793. Treaty between the United States and the Creek Indians.
1793. JEAN PIERRE BRISSOT guillotined; a very eminent Welch writer on
philosophy, politics and legislation.
1793. WILLIAM LEWIS died in the act of drinking a cup of French ale,
called a _tumbler maur_. He made it a rule to read a certain number of
chapters in the Bible in the morning, and to drink eight gallons of ale
in the evening. He weighed 40 stone, and his bulk was enormous. A
machine in the form of a crane was constructed to hoist him on the
carriage, and to let him into his grave. He had drank beer enough in his
day to float a 74 gun ship.
1801. JOSEPH FRANCIS MAURICE DE LASCY, a Russian officer in the service
of Austria, died. He gradually rose to a high rank by his talents
displayed at several important battles.
1803. French port of St. Domingo evacuated by capitulation; the French
under Rochambeau went as prisoners of war on board the British squadron,
and the black prince Dessalines took possession. Almost all the whites
that remained were massacred.
1811. British ship Rover captured French corvette Le Compte Reginaud, 14
guns, with a valuable cargo of sugar, coffee and spices. She had before
belonged to the British navy.
1812. HARRIET NEWELL, an American missionary, died at the Isle of
France. She was a woman of great excellence of character, who was the
means of greatly exciting and extending the missionary spirit.
1813. The hereditary stadtholder of Holland arrived at the Hague from
England to assume the sovereignty of the country.
1815. Fall of meteoric stones at the village of Chassigny, near Langres.
1828. JOHN BELL, a distinguished citizen of New Hampshire, died. He was
a leading member of the senate during the revolutionary war, and
possessed great judgment, decision and integrity.
1830. The two LANDERS in descending the Niger, reached the sea,
completing the discovery of that river; having ascertained that the
Benin, the Nun and the New Calabar rivers, are all mouths of the great
river Niger, with a direct communication with the Tschad lake.
1833. GWYLLYM LLOYD WARDLE, an English statesman, died at Florence. He
obtained great notoriety for his successful motion in the British
parliament in 1809 for inquiring into the conduct of the duke of York as
commander-in-chief.
1833. WILLIAM MACLEOD BANNATYNE died, aged 90; a celebrated Scottish
justice, one of the contributors to the _Mirror_ and _Lounger_, and the
last survivor of that phalanx of genius which shed a brilliant lustre on
the periodical literature of Scotland near the close of the 18th
century.
1838. Battle of Tampico; the Mexicans under general Piedra defeated by
the federalists under general Urrea, with the loss of 500.
1848. Major JOHN ROBERTS died. He served in the revolutionary war, and
negotiated the exchange of prisoners obtained by the convention of
Saratoga, 1777.
1850. SERENO EDWARDS DWIGHT, a noted New England preacher, died, aged
65. He published a life of Edwards, whose works he edited.
1853. ANSON G. PHELPS, a prominent, wealthy and benevolent merchant,
died in New York, aged 74.
1853. Battle at Sinope; the Turkish squadron, consisting of 3 frigates,
2 steamers and some transports, was destroyed by the Russians; 5000
Turks were killed, and Osman Pasha was taken prisoner.
1856. HENDERSON YOAKEM, the historian of Texas, died at Houston, aged
46. He possessed a high order of legal attainments.