Part 52

1618 Sir Walter Raleigh is executed for high treason, at the instigation of the Spanish ambassador. The poet Shakspeare flourished during the beginning of this and the latter part of the preceding reign. Synod of Dort began: who generally agreed to condemn the doctrines of Arminius, concerning election, reprobation, and the universality of Christ’s death, and man’s redemption by it.

1623 The fatal Vespers at Black-Friars.

1625 A plague in London destroyed 35,417 of its people.

1626 The king raised money by sale of the crown lands, loans, and ship-money.

1628 Dr. Lamb murdered in the streets of London. The city fined for Dr. Lamb’s death, £6,000.

1629 Quebec surrendered to Sir David Kirkt.

1635 Thomas Parr, reported to be aged 152 years, died November 15.

1640 The fatal Long Parliament, began November 3. An act to abolish the Star-chamber.

1641 The princess Mary married to William of Nassau, prince of Orange, at Whitehall. The earl of Strafford attained, May 8: executed May 12. A bill passed for pressing soldiers.

1642 Edge-Hill fight: the number of the slain amounted to above 5,000, whereof two-thirds were conceived to be of those of the parliament party, and a third part of the king’s. June 17th, Montreal founded by Champlain. In the year 1640 the King ceded the whole Island of Montreal to the St. Sulpicians and in the following year M. de Maisonneuve brought out several families from France, and was appointed governor of the island. On the 17th of June, 1642, the spot destined for the city was consecrated by the Superior of the Jesuits, the “Queen of Angels” was supplicated to take it under her protection, and it was named after her “la Ville Marie.” On the evening of this memorable day, Maisonneuve visited the mountain. Two old Indians who accompanied him, having conducted him to the summit, told him that they belonged to the nation which had formerly occupied the whole of the country he beheld, but that they had been driven away, and obliged to take refuge amongst the other tribes, except a few who, with themselves, remained under their conquerors. The governor kindly urged the old men to invite their brethren to return to their hunting-grounds, assuring them they should want for nothing. They promised to do so, but it does not appear that they were successful. In the year 1644, the whole of this beautiful domain became the property of the St. Sulpicians of Paris, and was by them afterwards conveyed to the Seminary of the same order at Montreal, in whose possession it still remains.

1644 York relieved by Prince Rupert, after which happened the fight on Marston-Moor, in which action about 7000 were slain, and 3000 of the King’s party taken prisoners, with all their baggage.

1645 The fatal battle of Naseby, in which 600 private soldiers were killed on the King’s side, and 4500 were taken prisoners; 3000 horse, &c. Montrose defeated the Scotch army at Ketsith, near Glasgow, in Scotland. Cromwell made lieutenant-general.

1646 The whole order of archbishops and bishops abolished, October 9th.

1646-7 Charles delivered up by the Scotch to the English for the consideration of £400,000, January 30th.

1648-9 The King sentenced to be beheaded as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy.

1649 Oliver Cromwell made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, August 13th.

1650 The Marquis of Montrose defeated in Scotland, taken prisoner, sentenced, and barbarously murdered.

1651 Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland, July 22nd. Charles II defeated at Worcester by Oliver, September 3rd.

1653 Oliver chosen protector of England, December 16th. The Rump parliament turned out by the army, which had sat twelve years six months and thirteen days. Scotland and Ireland united in one commonwealth with England, April 12th. Jamaica taken by the English.

1655 Cromwell dissolved the parliament.

1656 Oliver would not suffer the French King to call himself the King of France.

1656-7 A plot to destroy Oliver discovered.

1657 Doctor William Harvey, the first discoverer of the circulation of the blood, died January 5th.

1659 The House of Commons shut up, and entrance denied its 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.