73. Festival of ST. THOMAS, the Christian apostle, whose counsels
penetrated into India. He was killed by the Bramins, and buried at
Meliapour, about ten miles from Madras.
1375. GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO, an eminent Italian writer, died; whose
_Decameron_ has been translated into all the European languages,
although great pains were taken to suppress it.
1641. MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE, duke de Sully, died; celebrated as the
prime minister of Henry IV, and the most able and incorruptible
statesman that France ever had. After the murder of the king he went
into retirement, where he wrote his _Memoirs_, a minute history of his
own times.
1667. MILTON'S widow disposed of her entire interest in the _Paradise
Lost_ for eight pounds; so that the sublimest poetical building in the
world produced for its architect and his family, the sum of eighty
dollars; ten pounds having been paid to the author in his life time!
1667. Sentence was executed upon many of those Scottish covenanters who
had rebelled, it is supposed under persecution.
1670. The maiming of sir JOHN COVENTRY for reflecting on the moral
character of Charles II, which caused the Coventry act.
1705. CATHARINE, of Portugal, died; queen of Charles II, of England, by
whom she was treated unkindly.
1706. Tumultuous meetings in Edinburgh, occurred on account of signing
the articles of union with England.
1719. First No. of the _Boston Gazette_ issued by William Brooker.
1741. BERNARD DE MONTFAUCON, a very learned French Benedictine, died;
famous for his knowledge of ecclesiastic and pagan antiquities.
1774. THOMAS BROUGHTON, a learned English divine, died; author of the
_Bibliotheca Historica Sacra_, and one of the original writers for the
_Biographia Britannica_.
1775. An act of parliament confiscating all American vessels found
floating on the water, and for _impressing_ the crews of American
vessels into the British navy, without distinction of persons.
1777. There were at this time 300 American officers and 900 privates
confined as prisoners of war in New York by the British. They were
mostly confined in sugar houses and the most loathsome jails. In
Philadelphia there were 500 privates and 50 officers. They were
generally stripped of what clothing they had when taken, and were
sometimes confined several days with scarcely any food in order to
induce them to enlist to save their lives. Frequent instances occurred
of persons thus perishing from hunger.
1780. JAMES HARRIS died; an English gentleman of uncommon abilities and
learning, whose writings have been greatly admired.
1782. FRANCIS PHILIP DE REYRAC, a French ecclesiastic, died; a learned
and amiable character.
1791. ARNAULD DE BARQUIN, a French miscellaneous writer died; whose
works are known in our language. His _Children's Friend_ was honored
with the prize of the French academy, as the most useful book issued in
1784.
1807. The Danish islands of St. Thomas and St. Johns, in the West
Indies, surrendered to the British.
1811. PETER PARKER, the British admiral, died, aged 89.
1815. WILLIAM VINCENT, a learned English divine, died. As an author he
is principally known by his commentary on Arrian's voyages of Nearchus.
1815. LAVALETTE, one of Bonaparte's ministers, escaped from prison in
the disguise of his wife's dress, she having been permitted to visit
him.
1831. Trial of the French ministers for high treason. The excitement was
so great that a strong guard was required to save them from the popular
violence. Above 70,000 men were under arms at one time. Their sentence
was imprisonment for life, with the additional penalty of civil death on
Polignac.
1832. WILLIAM BRAY, an eminent English antiquary, died, aged 97.
1833. JOHN P. HUNGERFORD died; an officer in the revolutionary war, and
afterwards a member of congress from Virginia.
1835. JOHN SINCLAIR, an eminent British Statesman, died, aged 82. He was
also a very voluminous author, and was distinguished for his patriotism
and philanthropy. During a public life of upwards of fifty years, there
is scarcely any topic in the whole range of political, statistical or
medical science, to which he did not turn his inquiring mind.
1840. FRANK HALL STANDISH, an English author, died at Cadiz, aged 42. He
wrote biography, travels, sketches and poems.
1845. The battle of Punjaub, between the English forces and the Sikh
army, was fought, which issued in the defeat of the Sikhs, and the
annexation of a large portion of their territory to that of the English.
1848. The Asiatic cholera broke out with great violence among the United
States troops at port Lavaca, Texas.