1727. Sir Isaac Newton died; he was born December 25th, 1642.
1751. Frederick, prince of Wales, father of king George III. died aged
44.
1793. Died William Murray, earl of Mansfield. He was born on the 2d of
March, 1705, and during thirty years, and until his death, presided as
lord chief justice of the court of King’s Bench. He was eminent as a
lawyer, and dignified as a judge. It is said that he altered the common
law of England, by ingrafting upon it the civil law in his decisions. As
an elegant scholar, of highly cultivated and vigorous intellect, he
shone in the constellation of great men, which arose in the reign of
queen Anne. In eloquence and beauty of diction, he outrivalled his
predecessors, and has not been excelled by any successor in the high
office he filled.
1811. Napoleon, son of the late emperor of France, by the empress Maria
Louisa, was born, and received the title of king of Rome.
On the 20th of March, the sun enters the constellation ♈ _Aries_, or the
Ram, which is the first zodiacal sign; and this day is _the first day of
Spring_.
_By an accident, the remarks relating to_ SPRING _were inserted under_
MARCH 6, _instead of this day_: and as the error is thus _particularly_
noticed, in order as far as possible to rectify it, the reader will
please to consider all that has been said on the _sixth_ of March as
applicable to the _twentieth_ alone. The editor, while acknowledging,
and craving pardon for a vexatious and unpurposed misrepresentation,
will endeavour to set a watch upon himself in future, to guard against a
similar accident.
Aries, or the ram, as a zodiacal sign, is said to have been derived by
the Greeks from the golden fleece brought from Colchis by Jason, about
1263 years before Christ; but as it is a hieroglyphic on Egyptian
monuments, it is of higher antiquity, and symbolizes that season when
sheep yean their lambs. The people of Thebes slew a ram in honour of
Jupiter Ammon, who personifies the sun in Aries, and is represented by
ancient sculpture and coins with the horns of a ram on his head. The
Hebrews at this season sacrifice a lamb, to commemorate their
deliverance from Egypt. Aries, or the ram, was the ensign of Gad, one of
their leaders.
[Illustration: ~Aries.~]