1552. CATHARINE VON BORA, wife of Martin Luther, died. She was rescued
from a nunnery with eight others by the assistance of the great
reformer. She survived him several years.
1585. PETER DE RONSARD died; a French elegiac and epigrammatic poet of a
noble family.
1603. THOMAS CARTWRIGHT, an English puritan of great eminence and
learning, died. He was a sharp and powerful controversialist, author of
a practical commentary on the gospels and proverbs. He was obliged to
quit the kingdom to avoid persecution, and died in great poverty.
1605. JOHN DAVIS, a famous English navigator, killed in a desperate
fight with some Japanese near the coast of Malacca.
1669. SAMUEL CLARKE died; a celebrated English oriental scholar.
1689. PETER HALLE, an eminent French civilian and poet, died. He was
offered the headship of five colleges, and accepted the professorship of
canon law in the university of Paris, where he raised the character of
that much neglected science.
1763. LAWRENCE NATTIER died; a Swabian, who published a work on antient
gems.
1763. The Paxton boys broke into Lancaster jail and massacred fourteen
friendly Indians.
1771. HENRY PITOT died; a celebrated French mathematician, and friend of
the great Reaumur.
1779. The Spanish armament opened their batteries upon Gibraltar. It is
supposed the general had no orders to fire until this time, but to
remain on the defensive.
1784. LEE BOO, a prince of the Pelew islands, died in England, whither
he had been sent to acquire an education.
1791. JOHN MONRO died; an English physician, celebrated for his skill in
cases of insanity.
1800. HUGH BLAIR, a celebrated Scottish divine, died. His _Lectures on
Rhetoric_ delivered as professor at the Edinburgh university, are
eminently distinguished by laborious investigation, sound sense and
refined taste; and his printed sermons have had a success almost
unparalleled in the annals of pulpit eloquence.
1808. The French under LANNES assaulted Saragossa, in Spain, and the
convent of St. Eugratia carried. This was the second siege.
1814. JOANNA SOUTHCOTT, a noted English fanatic and imposter, died. At
the age of 42 she claimed the character of a prophet, and for more than
twenty years continued her rhapsodies, and drew after her several
thousand adherents, who are not yet extinct.
1814. United States schooner Carolina, blown up on the Mississippi river
by a red hot ball from the British batteries.
1820. JOHN KEATS, an English poet, died in Italy. He was originally a
stable boy, subsequently apprenticed to a surgeon, but gave way to the
ambition of becoming a poet. His poems though written at a very early
age, possess merit.
1834. CHARLES LAMB, the poet Coleridge's friend, died. In some of his
most popular works he was assisted by his sister Mary Lamb.
1835. EPHRAIM WILLIAMS, an eminent lawyer, died at Deerfield, Mass. He
prepared the first volume of the Massachusetts reports.
1840. JENNY KENNISON died at Brookfield, N. H., aged 110.
1842. ALEXANDER CROKE, quite a voluminous writer on law, politics, &c.,
died at Studley priory, England, aged 85.
1842. FRANCIS WRANGHAM, distinguished as a poet and antiquary, died at
Chester, England.
1851. BASIL MONTAGU, an English author, died, aged 81. He edited the
last and best edition of _Bacon's Works_, and was one of the earliest,
most prominent and most zealous advocates of a mitigated penal code in
England.
1853. The mammoth clipper Great Republic was burnt at her wharf in New
York, together with several other vessels and five large flour
warehouses.
1854. THOMAS WILSON DORR, the cause of what was called the Dorr war in
Rhode Island, died at Providence, aged 49.