1215. A special excommunication of the English barons fulminated at
Rome, and towered London laid under an interdict.
1515. ALFONZO ALBUQUERQUE died, Portuguese viceroy of India, surnamed
_the Great_ and _the Portuguese Mars_.
1653. WILLIAM GOUGE died; a minister of the famous assembly of divines,
and appointed one of the annotators of the Bible.
1653. OLIVER CROMWELL appointed lord protector of England.
1656. EDMUND WINGATE died; an English writer on arithmetic and
mathematics.
1657. JOSHUA REYNOLDS, commander of the English forces in Mardyke, was
cast away with the whole ship's company, on Goodwin's sands.
1684. The statue of Charles II in the Royal Exchange at London, was
erected by the Hamburg company.
1687. WILLIAM PETTY, an eminent English physician, died; chiefly
celebrated for his knowledge in mathematics and mechanics, and for his
writings on political arithmetic.
1703. JULIUS MASCARON, a most eminent preacher, died. His eloquence was
astonishing, and it is related that his preaching had such an effect
upon the Huguenots, that of 30,000 Calvinists which he found on coming
to the see of Agen, 28,000 forsook their church.
1710. Gerona, the key of Catalonia in Spain, surrendered to the French.
1723. JOHN TRENCHARD died; an eminent English patriot and political
writer.
1745. PETER FRANCIS GUYOT DES FONTAINES died; a French critic,
historical writer and translator.
1767. JAMES GRAINGER, a Scottish physician and poet, died in the West
Indies.
1770. ROGER LONG, an eminent English astronomer, died.
1773. Destruction of 340 chests of tea in Boston harbor by a party of
citizens disguised as Indians. There was but one survivor of that event,
in 1840.
1782. The British burnt fort Arbuthnot and a new fort on Sullivan's
island.
1783. WILLIAM JAMES died; an English baronet, who rose from the humble
occupation of a plowboy to the chief command of the East India company's
marine forces.
1788. Oczakow taken from the Turks by storm by the Russians under prince
Potemkin, who had about 1,000 killed in the assault.
1798. THOMAS PENNANT died; an Englishman of eminent knowledge in natural
history and antiquities, and the author of a number of valuable books.
1800. Convention of the northern powers of Europe for an armed
neutrality, signed at St. Petersburg between Russia and Sweden.
1809. The most ceremonious and extraordinary divorce in the world took
place between Bonaparte and Josephine.
1809. ANTHONY FRANCIS FOURCROY died; a very eminent French writer on
chemistry, and a member of the Institute.
1811. An earthquake was experienced in the southern states and in Ohio
and Pennsylvania. Charleston, Savannah, Pittsburgh and Circleville
especially suffered from it.
1825. JAMES WATT, the original publisher of the _Montrose, Arbroath and
Brechin Review_, fell over board in Yarmouth Roads and was drowned.
1832. ROBERT C. SANDS, an American author and editor, died. He was a man
of genius, a scholar, and an elegant writer.
1835. The coldest day on record, from sunrise to sunset. The thermometer
ranged from 12° to 16° below zero all day, in the vicinity of Boston.
The winter was remarkable for the lowness of its mean temperature, the
number of extremely cold days, and the great quantity and long duration
of snow.
1835. Great fire in New York, the most destructive that ever took place
in this country, by which the entire seat of the greatest commercial
transactions of the city, was destroyed. The number of buildings
destroyed was 529, including the Merchant's Exchange, valued at
$150,000, and the Garden street church $50,000. The total loss was
estimated at $17,000,000.
1848. A little after midnight the Park theatre at New York was burned to
the ground.
1852. SAMUEL LEE, canon of Bristol, and the profoundest orientalist of
the age, died, aged 69. He rose from the sphere of a carpenter's
apprentice.