members. The Rump sat again, May 7th. The Rump parliament
turned out again by Lambert, October 18th. The Rump parliament
re-admitted, December 26th.
1660 Oliver Cromwell’s corpse hung at Tyburn, December 2nd. The
Long parliament dissolved, and another called, to be holden at
Westminster, April 25th.
1661 The body of the noble Marquis of Montrose taken up, and
interred in great state.
1662 152 slaves redeemed from Algiers.
1663 Laird Warreston executed at Edinburgh, according to a
sentence in parliament, on a gibbet twenty-two feet high.
1665 90,000 people destroyed by the plague in London.
1666 Great fire in London, September 2nd, when 13,200
dwelling-houses were destroyed. The Dutch and English fleets
fight for four days, neither party having the advantage. They
engage again, and the English obtain the victory.
1669 Death of the poet Sir John Denham.
1670 The church of Quebec constituted a bishopric.
1671 The exchequer shut for want of money. Blood attempted to
steal the crown from the Tower.
1674 King Charles received from France a pension of £100,000 per
annum. Milton, the poet, and the Earl of Clarendon died.
1676 Carolina planted by English merchants.
1678 Statue at Charing-Cross erected.
1679 The meal-tub plot.
1683 The charter of London taken away by Charles. The Rye-house
plot. Lord Russel beheaded on a charge of high treason. Algernon
Sidney beheaded, for writing a libel never published, November
21st.
1684 The Buccaneers of America, about 100 in number, with the
assistance of some Indians, went into the South seas, and made
a bold attack on the Spaniards. Bombay, in the East-Indies, was
surrendered to Sir Thomas Grantham, for the use of the East-India
company.
1685 Duke of Monmouth proclaimed King at Taunton Dean, defeated
at Sedgemore, taken and beheaded.
1685 Justice Jeffries and General Kirk exercise great cruelties
on the adherents of Monmouth.
1686 The Newtonian philosophy published. Kirk, at Taunton, while
at dinner with his officers, ordered 30 condemned persons to be
hanged, namely, 10 in a health to the King, 10 to the Queen, and
10 to Jeffries; but one action the most cruel, was, a young girl
throwing herself at his feet to beg her father’s life, he made
her prostitute herself to him, with a promise of granting her
request; but having satisfied his lustful desire, was so inhuman
as out of the window to show the poor unfortunate girl her father
hanging on a sign-post: the spectacle so affected her, that she
went distracted. The King encamped 15,000 men on Hounslow heath.
1688 Seven bishops committed to the Tower for not countenancing
popery. The city of London lent the Prince of Orange £20,000,
January 10. The parliament declared James’s abdication. James
escorted to Rochester by a Dutch guard, and sailed to France.
James landed in Ireland with an army, and assembled a parliament.
Brass money coined by James in Ireland. Bill of rights passed.
Every hearth or chimney paid two shillings per annum. King
William and Queen Mary crowned at Westminster, April 11. The
Hanover succession first proposed, May 31.
1690 The battle of the Boyne in Ireland, where James was finally
defeated by William, and obliged to embark for France, July 1.
1691 William III took his seat as Stadtholder in Holland. The
Queen issues out her royal proclamation for the more reverend
observing the Sabbath day, and against profane cursing and
swearing. A terrible battle between the Imperialists and Turks,
near Salenkemen, in the principality of Sclavonia: in which the
Imperialists had about 7,000 killed and wounded, and a great many
good officers; but the Turks lost 18,000 men, and almost all
their officers killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Five captains
of Admiral Benbow’s squadron in the West-Indies, were tried
on board the Breda, at Port-Royal, in Jamaica, for cowardice
and breach of orders, in an engagement with Ducasse. The Irish
defeated at the battle of Aughrim, in Ireland.
1692 The French fleet destroyed at La Hogue and other places by
Admiral Russell. A terrible earthquake in the island of Jamaica
in the West-Indies, which almost entirely ruined the town of
Port-Royal, the best of all the English plantations.
1692 37 cities, towns, and large villages, and about 130,000
people destroyed in the kingdom of Naples, by an earthquake,
February 11. The massacre of Glencoe, in Scotland.
1692 James’s descent on England frustrated; the destruction of
the French fleet, May 19.
1693 The English fleet defeated by Tourville.
1694 Queen Mary died of the small-pox. The bank of England
incorporated.
1694-5 Discipline of the Church restored. Commissioners appointed
to direct the building and endowment of Greenwich hospital.
1695 Duties imposed on births, marriages, burials, bachelors, and
widowers.
1695-6 Guineas went at the rate of thirty shillings. Six-pence
per month deducted out of every seaman’s wages, for the support
of Greenwich hospital.
1696 Czar of Muscovy, Peter the Great, came into England, and
remained incognito. The window tax first levied.
1700 The New-Style introduced by the Dutch and Protestants in
Germany.
1700-1 Earl John, of Marlborough, appointed General of the
foot, June 1, and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s forces in
Holland. King James II died of a lethargy at St. Germain’s in
France, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, September 6.
1702 King William died at Kensington in the fifty-second year of
his age, and the fourteenth of his reign, March 8.
1702 Captain Kirby and Captain Wade were condemned to die, and
being sent to England, were shot on board a ship at Plymouth, not
being suffered to go on shore. Admiral Benbow, who had his leg
shattered with a great shot in the engagement with Ducasse, died
of his wounds soon after he had the Captains condemned.
1703 The Earl of Marlborough chosen Captain General of Queen
Anne’s army. A dreadful tempest in England. The old and new
East-India companies united.
1704 Gibraltar taken in three days, by Admiral Rook. The battle
of Blenheim gained by the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene.
The French fleet defeated at Malaga, by the English.
1705 The colours and standards taken at Blenheim, hung in
Westminster Hall. The English take Barcelona from the Spanish.
1706 The battle of Ramillies gained by Marlborough. The colours
and standards hung at Guildhall.
1707 England and Scotland united. An interview between the Duke
of Marlborough and Charles XII. Sir Cloudesly Shovel shipwrecked
on the rocks of Sicily.
1708 The battle of Malplaquet gained by the Duke of Marlborough
and Prince Eugene. The French defeated at Oudenarde by
Marlborough and Prince Eugene. The first parliament of Great
Britain met April 24. Dr. Sacheverel impeached by the Commons for
high crimes and misdemeanors.
1709 Charles XII defeated by the Russians at Pultowa.
1712 Robert Walpole committed to the Tower for bribery. Richard
Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell, died, aged ninety.
1714 Mr. Steele expelled the House of Commons for writing the
Englishman and the Critic. £5,000 offered to apprehend the
Pretender.
1714 George I arrived at Greenwich from Hanover.
1715 The Pretender proclaimed as James VIII in Scotland, by the
Earl of Mar, who assembles forces.
1716 The tide forced back by a strong westerly wind for one day
and night, and the Thames lay perfectly dry both above and below
the bridge. A dreadful fire happened in Thames street, near
Bear-key, by the imprudence of a boy who was making squibs and
rockets, which consumed upwards of 120 houses.
1717 The Prince of Wales banished the court.
1718 James Shepherd, a lad of eighteen, executed for conspiring
the King’s death. Charles XII of Sweden killed at the siege of
Frederickshall.
1719 The Pretender received at Madrid as King of Great Britain.
The Mississippi scheme at its height in France. The English and
French invaded Spain by land, and took the towns of Fontarabia,
St. Sebastian, and St. Antonio, and reduced the province of Gui
Puocoa.
1720 South-sea stock rose 400 per cent, and continued to rise
until July, when it rose to 1,000 per cent.
1721 Several persons ruined by the South-sea stock falling to
150 per cent. Several members of parliament expelled for being
concerned in the South-sea bubble, and their estates confiscated
for the use of the sufferers.
1725 The Lord Chancellor (Earl of Macclesfield) displaced,
impeached, and fined £30,000 for corruption. Jonathan Wild, a
notorious thief-taker, executed.
1727 The Spaniards besiege Gibraltar. Sir Isaac Newton died, aged
85.
1729 Deaths of Dr. S. Clarke, Sir Richard Steele, Congreve the
poet, and the noted John Law.
1731 Deaths of Dr. Atterbury, and Defoe.
1732 Death of Gay, the poet and fabulist.
1737 A comet appeared. Death of Howe.
1739 Admiral Vernon takes Porto Bello.
1742 Sir Robert Walpole resigned, after holding his places
twenty-one years.
1743 King George defeated the French at Dettingen.
1744 Admiral Anson returned with £1,500,000 which he had taken
in the Acapulca ship. Deaths of Pope the poet, and Roger Gale.
Prague taken by the King of Prussia.
1745 The Duke of Cumberland defeated at Fontenoy. Battle of
Preston-Pans. Death of Dean Swift.
1746 The rebels defeat the royal army at Falkirk. The Pretender
totally defeated by the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden. Several
Lords and others executed for rebellion.
1747 The French fleet defeated by Admiral Hawke.
1748 Death of Thompson, the poet.
1752 The style altered.
1755 General Braddock defeated.
1757 Admiral Byng shot for cowardice.
1758 100 French ships destroyed at St. Maloes, by the Duke of
Marlborough, called by his soldiers, _Corporal John_.
1759 The French defeated at Minden. Quebec taken by General
Wolfe, and death of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham. Boscawen
defeats the French off Gibraltar, (Gabel-el-Tarifa) hence
Gibraltar, which is also called the Babel of Nations, and the Key
of the Mediterranean. Guadaloupe surrendered to the English.
1760 General Lally defeated in the East Indies. Canada
surrendered to the English.--Capitulation signed 8th September.
1762 War declared against Spain. The Hermione, a Spanish ship
taken, valued at near £1,200,000. Manilla taken from the
Spaniards. Havana taken from the Spaniards. Preliminaries of
peace between England and France signed at Fontainbleau, November
3. Martinico and Guadaloupe taken by the French.
1763 Peace proclaimed between England, France, and Spain.
1764 The longitude found at sea by means of Harrison’s
time-piece. The massacre of Patna in the East Indies, where
4,000 of the garrison and inhabitants were put to the sword.
1765 Otaheite discovered by Captain Willis.
1766 The American Stamp Act repealed. Gibraltar nearly destroyed
by a storm.
1769 New Zealand explored by Captain Cook. Electricity of the
Aurora Borealis discovered. Stratford Jubilee held in honour of
Shakspeare.
1771 Falkland islands seized by the Spaniards.
1772 Negroes adjudged free, in England. Solway moss began to flow.
1773 A large quantity of tea belonging to the East India Company,
destroyed at Boston by the citizens.
1774 The port of Boston shut up by an act of parliament. Civil
war commences in America. A violent storm, by which 40 ships were
lost near Yarmouth. Humane Society for the recovery of drowned
persons instituted.
1775 Trade with America prohibited. The battles of Lexington and
Bunker’s hill. The Americans invade Canada and besiege Quebec.
1776 America declared itself independent.
1777 General Burgoyne and his army surrender to the Americans at
Saratoga.
1778 War declared against France. Pondicherry taken from the
French. Admiral Keppel fights the French fleet off Ushant. The
Earl of Chatham died, and interred in Westminster Abbey.
1779 Ireland admitted to a free trade. The French make a
fruitless attempt on the island of Jersey. Their shipping
destroyed in Concale Bay. An American fleet totally destroyed off
Penobscot. Pitch and tar made from pit-coal at Bristol.
1780 Admiral Rodney defeats the Spanish fleet near Cape St.
Vincent, and takes their Admiral Laugara prisoner. Dreadful
riots in London. War with Spain and Holland. Torture abolished
in France. His Majesty’s ships Andromeda, Laurel, Deal-Castle,
Thunderer, Stirling-Castle, Cameleon, and many others, lost in a
dreadful hurricane in the West Indies.
1781 Lord Cornwallis and his army surrender to the Americans
and French at York-Town. Sir Eyre Coote defeats Hyder Ally.
Ceylon taken from the Dutch. Florida conquered by the Spaniards.
Engagement between Admiral Parker and the Dutch fleet off Dogger
Bank. St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and other Dutch settlements,
captured.
1782 Batavia taken by the English. The memorable attack of
Gibraltar by the French and Spaniards;--their gun-boats totally
destroyed, and the garrison relieved by a squadron of 33 ships of
the line, under Lord Howe, in the face of the combined fleets of
France and Spain, consisting of 47. Admiral Rodney defeats the
French fleet in the West Indies; takes Admiral Count de Grasse
and five ships of the line. The Ville de Paris and other French
prizes lost at sea.
1783 Great Britain declares the United States of America
independent. A new planet discovered by Mr. Herschell, and called
the Georgium Sidus. A new island rose out of the ocean near
Iceland.
1784 The great seal stolen. Mail coaches first established, by
Mr. Raikes, of Gloucester. Slave trade abolished in Pennsylvania,
and in New England.
1785 Blanchard and Dr. Jefferies cross the English Channel, in a
balloon, from Dover, and land near Calais. M. Pilatre de Rosiere,
and M. Romain, ascend in a balloon, which takes fire and they are
dashed to pieces.
1786 Margaret Nicholson attempts to assassinate the King.
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, died. Convicts first sent
to Botany Bay, and Sierra Leone. The young Lord Gormadston
clandestinely carried abroad, in order to force him to embrace
the Romish persuasion.
1787 Three American priests ordained bishops by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, The house of Peers commenced the trial of Warren
Hastings, Esq., on a charge of high crimes, &c., committed by him
in the East Indies, of which he was impeached.
1789 The abolition of the Slave trade proposed in Parliament.
Beginning of the French Revolution.
1790 War commenced in India with Tippoo Sultan.
1791 Riots at Birmingham.
1793 The Alien-bill passed in the British House of Commons. The
English evacuate Toulon.
1794 The Habeas Corpus Act suspended. Lord Howe defeats the
French fleet off Ushant.
1795 Mr. Hastings’ trial ended by his acquittal. The Cape of Good
Hope taken by the British forces. Ceylon taken by the British.
1796 The East India Company votes an indemnification and
recompense to Mr. Hastings.
1797 A mutiny of the British fleet at Portsmouth and the Nore
suppressed. The Dutch fleet beaten and captured by Lord Duncan.
1798 Ireland in open rebellion. Lord Nelson totally defeated the
French fleet in the battle of the Nile. The French fleet defeated
by Sir J. B. Warren.
1799 Seringapatam taken by General Harris and Sir David Baird,
and Tippoo Sultan killed. The French under Bonaparte defeated by
Sir Sidney Smith at Acre. The expedition of the British against
Holland. The British troops evacuate Holland.
1800 Vote of the Irish House of Commons agreeing to the Union of
Great Britain and Ireland.--Similar vote of the House of Lords.
Malta taken by the British forces.
1801 Mr. Pitt resigns, after being minister 18 years. Battle
of Alexandria,--the French defeated and Sir Ralph Abercrombie
killed. Battle of Copenhagen, the Danish fleet taken and
destroyed by Lord Nelson. Taking of Cairo and Alexandria, by the
British troops.
1802 Definitive treaty with France signed at Amiens.
1803 Execution of Col. Despard for high treason. Dissolution of
the peace with France, May. Insurrection in Dublin; Habeas Corpus
suspended, and Martial Law proclaimed. Defeat of Row Scinda and
Berar Rajar at Ajunty, by General Arthur Wellesley. The British
troops enter Delhi and the Great Mogul puts himself under their
protection.
1804 Mr. Pitt resumes his situation as Prime Minister.
1806 The Spaniards declare war against Great Britain. Lord Nelson
defeats the combined fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar;
takes twenty sail of the line, and is killed in the engagement.
Sir R. Strachan takes four French ships of the line, off Cape
Ortegal.
1806 Death of William Pitt; his debts discharged at the public
expense, and a statue decreed to his memory. Admiral Duckworth
captures and destroys five French ships of the line. Sir John
Stuart defeats the French under Regnier at Maida in Calabria.
Surrender of Buenos Ayres to General Beresford and Sir Home
Popham. French squadron of five frigates captured by Sir Samuel
Hood. Death of Charles James Fox. Rupture of a negotiation for
peace with France, and return of Earl Lauderdale. Recapture of
Buenos Ayres by the Spaniards. The slave trade abolished by act
of Parliament.
1807 Copenhagen bombarded, and the Danish fleet surrendered to
the British, under Lord Cathcart and Admiral Gambier. South
America evacuated by the British. The British troops evacuate
Egypt. The island of Madeira surrendered to Great Britain in
trust for Portugal.
1808 The French prohibit all commerce with Great Britain. Battle
of Vimiera in Portugal; the French under Junot defeated by Sir
Arthur Wellesley.
1809 The French defeated at the battle of Corunna; Sir John
Moore killed. The French fleet in Basque roads destroyed by Lord
Cochrane. Senegal surrendered to the British. The battle of
Talavera; the French defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley. The 50th
anniversary of the King’s reign celebrated as a jubilee. The
French fleet in the Mediterranean defeated by Lord Collingwood.
1810 An attempt made to assassinate the Duke of Cumberland;
Sellis, the Duke’s valet, found with his throat cut. Murat’s army
in Sicily defeated by General J. Campbell. Battle of Busaco; the
French defeated by Lord Wellington. Capture of the Isle of France
by the British. This island has ever since remained in the hands
of the British. Its other name is Mauritius, famous for Peter
Botte Mountain and its fine sugar.
1811 The Prince of Wales appointed Regent. Battles of Barossa,
Albuera, &c. in which the French were beaten with great loss.
Isle of Java capitulated to the British arms.
1812 Ciudad Rodrigo taken by storm, by Lord Wellington. Right
Honorable Spencer Percival, prime minister of Great Britain,
assassinated by John Bellingham. Battle of Salamanca, and defeat
of the French.
1813 Great battle of Vittoria in Spain, in which Lord Wellington
totally defeats the French under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal
Jourdan. Defeat of Marshal Soult, in Spain, with the loss of
15,000 men, by Lord Wellington.
1814 A fair on the Thames, it being frozen over above the London
bridges, Feb. 2. Bourdeaux surrenders to Lord Wellington. Peace
between England and France. The allied Sovereigns visit London.
City of Washington taken by the British army under General Ross.
Treaty of peace between England and America, Dec. 24. Joanna
Southcott an impostor, died; and, with her, the hopes of the
promised Shiloh, and all her other prophecies.
1815 Bonaparte sailed from Elba, and landed with 1,000 men at
Cannes, in France. Bonaparte enters Paris, March 21. An attempt
made by Margaret Moore to steal the Crown from the Tower.
Memorable battle of Waterloo, June 17, 18; Bonaparte fled; the
Duke of Wellington’s horse killed under him. Bonaparte sailed
for St. Helena, August 7. Submission of the island of Ceylon to
Britain. Bonaparte landed at St. Helena, October 16. The English
repulsed at New Orleans, with the loss of several thousand in
killed and wounded, including several generals. General Jackson
commanded the Americans. General Packenham was killed. A column
of light appeared in the north-east, so vivid as to alarm many
persons. By the explosion of a coal-pit near Newbattle, in
the county of Durham, 70 persons perished. Bonaparte resigns
the government to a provisional council. In the colliery
above-mentioned at Newbattle, a steam engine burst, and 57
persons were killed or wounded.
1816 Princess Charlotte of Wales married, to Prince Leopold of
Saxe Coburg, May 2. Sir Humphrey Davy invented a Safety Lamp to
prevent the accidents which happen in coal-mines from fire damp.
1817 The Princess Charlotte died in child-birth, having been
delivered of a still-born child. Steamboats generally adopted
for river navigation in America and Europe. The magnetic needle,
which had for many years taken a western declination from the
meridian, returned towards the north.
1818 The Queen of Great Britain, Charlotte of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, died Nov. 21. Two expeditions to penetrate
the North-pole sailed, one to the north-east, and the other to
the north-west, but neither succeeded. The kaleidoscope, a new
optical instrument, invented by Dr. Brewster of Edinburgh. Three
systems of education in this year claimed public attention: that
of mutual instruction propagated by Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster;
the interrogative or intellectual system of questions without
answers; and that of Mr. Pestalozzi by oral questions. Belzoni
transported from Egypt to England the statue of Memnon. The Duke
of Clarence married to the Princess of Saxe Meiningen; and the
Duke of Kent to a Princess of Saxe Coburg. For two or three days
the metropolis, as well as the country round, were enveloped in
a thick impenetrable fog, which obstructed all travelling, and
caused a number of fatal accidents. The Duke of Richmond died in
Canada, from the bite of a rabid fox.
1819 Messrs. Perkins and Co., of Philadelphia, introduced into
London a mode of engraving on soft steel, which, when hardened,
will multiply fine impressions indefinitely. Many distressed
persons embarked, under the sanction of government, to establish
a new colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Southwark bridge opened,
making the sixth metropolitan bridge over the Thames. Forty
persons killed by the explosion of a mine near Newcastle. A
shoal of young whales appeared in Dungannan Bay, forty taken by
the fishermen. A whirlwind at Aldborough, Suffolk, carried up
a quantity of barley from a field to a great height. Another
expedition was fitted out to try a north-west passage to the
Pacific Ocean. Field Marshal Prince Blucher died.
1820 Lieutenant Parry returned from his voyage to attempt the
discovery of a north-west passage: he reached the 10th degree of
west longitude, where he passed one winter in latitude 74, and
returned for further supplies. Lamented death of H.R.H. the Duke
of Kent. Death, in Windsor-castle, of George III, in the 82d year
of his age, and 60th of his reign. George IV held his first court
in Carlton-house. Takes oath to maintain the Church of England.
Oaths of allegiance administered. Cato-street conspirators
arrested. Thistlewood and his associates executed before Newgate.
Regent’s canal from Paddington to Limehouse opened. Extraordinary
solar-eclipse; central and annular in the interior of Europe. An
_Estadfod_, or assembly of Welch bards, in Wrexham, North Wales.
Lieutenant Parry returns from his voyage of discovery in the seas
on the north of North America.