Part 10

1791. JOHN BEARD, an eminent and popular English theatrical vocalist, died. He ultimately became joint proprietor and acting manager of Covent Garden theatre, and continued on the stage till the loss of his hearing forced him to leave it.

1792. JOHN EARDLY WILMOT, an English miscellaneous writer, died.

1795. Report of the committee of the assembly of the states of Holland, respecting the state of the bank of Amsterdam, by which it appeared that the bank had been for 50 years receiving as securities for large sums advanced by it, a very considerable number of bonds instead of specie.

1795. The royal assent was given to the bill for suspending the habeas corpus in Great Britain.

1796. Negombo, in the East Indies, captured by the British under Admiral Elphinstone.

1797. The post of Corne, at the bridge head of Hueningen, was surrendered to the Austrians by the French general, Sisce, Gen. Abbatucci having died a few days before. Two days were allowed to withdraw the garrison and every movable appertaining to the place.

1799. LEWIS GALVANI, an Italian philosopher, died, aged 62. His favorite studies were anatomy and physiology. In his pursuits he was led fortuitously to the discovery of a new branch of science, called _Galvanism_. His manners are said to have been most unostentatious and retiring, and his mind of a melancholy turn.

1802. The French and Spanish troops landed at Hayti and captured forts Dauphin, Bizoton and St. Joseph. Christophe, the black general, set the town on fire and massacred many of the white inhabitants.

1805. The East Indiaman, earl of Abergavenny, wrecked on the shambles off the bill of Portland, and sunk in twelve fathoms of water. Of 402 persons on board, only 139 were saved. Her cargo was valued at £200,000, exclusive of 275,000 ounces in dollars.

1807. PASCAL DE PAOLI, a celebrated Corsican general, died near London. While endeavoring to rescue his native island from the tyranny of the Genoese government, and defending its liberties against Gallic encroachments and invasion, being overpowered by the French, he retired with a few of his followers to England, where in a few years he ended his illustrious career.

1807. The French under Soult, Davoust and Ney, surrounded and cut to pieces a Russian column of 9000 men, took 1000 prisoners and 16 cannon.

1809. British ship Loire, Capt. Schomberg, captured the French national ship Hebe, 20 guns, with 600 barrels of flour.

1810. The French under Sebastiani and Milhaud defeated the Spaniards and took Malaga with its immense stores, 171 cannon, &c. The same day two French frigates of 40 guns each, full of troops, destroyed off Guadaloupe.

1811. Royal assent given by commission to the act appointing a regent of Great Britain, in the person of the prince of Wales.

1813. British Admiral WARREN declared the ports and harbors of the bay of Chesapeake to be in a state of blockade.

1814. Seventeen British officers put in close confinement at Chilicothe, on the principle of retaliation.

1814. The advance of Gen. De York made a successful charge upon the rear of Macdonald's army at La Chaussee, between Vitry and Chalons, took 3 cannon, and 100 Frenchmen prisoners.

1815. British ship Grannicus, Capt. Wise, captured the American privateer brig George Little, 8 guns, 58 men.

1816. RICHARD, Viscount Fitzwilliam, died, leaving to the university of Cambridge his splendid library and £60,000 for the erection of a museum for its reception and exhibition. In his collection there are more than 10,000 proof prints of the first artists, a very extensive library of rare and costly works, among which are nearly 300 Roman missals, finely illuminated. There is also a very curious collection of the best ancient music, containing the original _Virginal_ book of Queen Elizabeth, and many works of Handel in the handwriting of that great master.

1818. CHARLES XIII of Sweden died. He was the second son of Adolphus Frederick, and appointed at his birth high admiral of Sweden. His education was directed chiefly to naval tactics, but the revolutions of the time called him finally to the throne, where he conducted with great prudence, and gained the confidence of the people.

1822. ALI, pacha of Yanina, generally called Ali Pacha, killed. He was a bold and crafty rebel against the Porte; an intelligent and active governor of his province; as a warrior, decided and able; as a man, a very fiend. His early life was unfortunate, but his extraordinary strength of mind, which shrank from no danger or crime, united to great address, raised him to princely independence. His enormities at length attracted the wrath of the sultan. Finding it vain to withstand so powerful a foe, he sued for pardon, gave up his fortress, and was treacherously cut down, with six of his companions.

1823. Yates county, New York, erected.

1823. JUAN ANTONIO LLORENTE died. He was induced by Bonaparte, who placed in his hands the papers of the inquisition, to write a history of that tribunal. When the fortunes of the Bonapartes declined, he was banished from his country, and lived in France in indigence, supporting himself by teaching Spanish in the boarding schools; but the university at last forbid him that means of support. The rage of his enemies was raised to the highest pitch by the publication of his _Portraits Politiques des Papes_, and the old man was ordered in the middle of winter to leave Paris in three days, and France in the shortest possible time. He was not allowed to rest one day, and died exhausted, a victim to the persecutions of the 19th century, a few days after his arrival in Madrid.

1824. HENRY CALLISEN, a German physician and surgeon, died. He was the son of a poor clergyman; educated himself; served in the army and in the fleet; afterwards in the hospitals in Copenhagen; and finally accepted a professorship in the university.

1831. The Russian army of 160,000 men enter Poland at several points, Count Diebitsch commander-in-chief.

1835. Tremendous eruptions of volcanoes, attended with destructive earthquakes, occurred in Central America, sinking several towns and villages, and destroying a large part of St. Miguel and St. Salvador.

1837. JAMES CERVETTO the younger died, aged 90. He first brought the violincello into favor in England. He excelled his father as a musician, was leader of the orchestra of Drury lane theatre in the time of Garrick, and 72 years member of the royal society of musicians.

1839. ASAHEL STEARNS, professor of law at Cambridge, died, aged 64. He published a learned and accurate work on real actions, and was one of the revisers of the statutes of Massachusetts.

1841. The Pennsylvania bank of the United States, after having, from the time of the resumption of specie payments on the 15th January, paid out an amount little if at all short of six millions of dollars in coin or specie funds, again suspended specie payments. The exhibition of its affairs, which soon followed, were so unfavorable as to cause great surprise. The suspension was followed by that of nearly all the banks south and west of New York and New England.

1851. JOHN PYE SMITH died, aged 77; a religious controversial author of note, and nearly half a century principal of a dissenting college in England.

1853. The Sloo treaty signed at Mexico, for opening a communication across the isthmus of Tehuantepec.

1854. JAMES B. COOPER, an American naval officer, died, aged 94. He was a member of Lee's legion in the war of the Revolution, and served in the navy during the war of 1812.

A day of dire calamity, says Hesiod, in which certain _Greek_ ladies, called "the Furies," make their round, "_about, about, about_."

FEBRUARY 6.

129 B. C. Three ambassadors from John Hyrcanus, the Jewish pontiff, were received at Rome, when the senate decreed a renewal of the league of amity and assistance with that "good and friendly people," and dismissed the delegates with presents.

1554. JOHN WYATT and a number of others executed for an insurrection and riot, on account of Queen Mary's marriage with Philip II of Spain.

1593. JAMES AMYOTT, grand almoner of France, died; a writer on various subjects, but chiefly known as the translator of _Plutarch's Lives and Morals_.

1623. JUAN MARIANA, a Spanish historian, died. He wrote several works, theological and historical; the most considerable of which is his _History of Spain_.

1649. The Rump parliament voted the house of peers to be useless and dangerous, and accordingly that branch of the legislature and the office of king, were abolished by two brief resolutions.

1685. CHARLES II, king of England, died. At the time of the death of his father he was a refugee at the Hague, on which he immediately assumed the royal title. In 1660 he entered London amidst the universal acclamations of the people. He was a confirmed sensualist and voluptuary, says Lardner, and owing to the example of him and his court, his reign was the era of the most dissolute manners that ever prevailed in England. His career was terminated by a fit of apoplexy, at the age of 55. It was during this reign that the great plague and the great fire of London occurred. He was the twenty-sixth king of England.

1693. A party of about 700 French and Indians fell upon the Mohawk villages near Schenectady, and took about 300 prisoners in the English interest, without doing much other damage. They were pursued by Col. Schuyler with a party from Albany, and several skirmishes ensued. The French escaped by crossing the north branch of the Hudson, on a cake of ice. They lost in this enterprise 80 men killed, and were reduced to great want before they got home.

1696. A plot to assassinate WILLIAM III of England, was discovered.

1736. Earthquake in New England.

1738. JOSEPH MITCHELL, a Scotch dramatic poet, died.

1740. CLEMENT XII (Laurence Corsini), pope of Rome, died. He was very popular, and corrected many abuses in the church.

1755. MAURICE JOHNSON, a noted English antiquary, died.

1756. Birthday of AARON BURR, at Newark, N. J. His father was the Rev. William Burr, second president of New Jersey college at Princeton, and his mother a daughter of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, third president of that institution. His wife is well known.

1777. Great Britain granted letters of marque and reprisal against America.

1778. The French avowed the independence of the United States, by concluding a treaty of defensive alliance with them.

1778. New York acceded to the confederation.

1783. LAUNCELOT BROWN died. He invented a new system of horticulture, and carried ornamental gardening to a high degree of perfection. Many delightful places of resort in England will stand for ages as memorials of his superior taste and abilities.

1783. The first ship which displayed the thirteen stripes in any British port, was recorded at the London custom house. She was loaded with 587 butts whale oil, belonged to the island of Nantucket, and was manned wholly with American seamen.

1788. Massachusetts adopted the constitution of the United States, being the 6th state which ratified that instrument. The vote stood 187 to 168.

1792. The city of Morocco, which had shut its gates against the emperor Muley Yazid, was attacked by his forces and carried. The greatest excesses were committed by the soldiery, against friends as well as foes, and the Jews were as usual given up to be plundered. (See 12th and 16th.)

1796. The state of Vermont adopted its constitution.

1798. The bank of England subscribed £200,000 to assist government to repel the threatened invasion. By the assistance of manufacturers, &c., this sum was increased to £1,500,000.

1799. British ship Arago, Capt. Bowen, captured off Mahon, at midnight, the Spanish frigate Santa Teresa, 42 guns and 350 men.

1800. The duke of ORLEANS (Louis Phillip, afterwards king,) asked pardon of Louis XVIII, and swore that he was ready to shed the last drop of his blood in his service. He was graciously received.

1803. GIAMBATTISTA CASTI, a Florentine historian, died, aged 82. His works are full of wit and originality, and some of them have been translated into English.

1804. JOSEPH PRIESTLY died. He was the son of a Calvinistic clothier, in whose rigid principles he was educated. His heresy ripened into unitarianism. His publications had already made him extensively known, when in 1766 he became acquainted with Franklin, by whom he was encouraged to compose a work on electricity. This was followed by several scientific works, till in 1794, on the anniversary of the capture of the Bastile, the mob at Birmingham, where he then resided, proceeded to his house, which, with his library, manuscripts and apparatus, fell a prey to the flames. Finally, goaded by party enmity, he sought an asylum in the United States, and took up his residence at Northumberland, Pa. Here his devotion to his favorite pursuits brought on a disease, which hastened the end of his existence, in the 71st year of his age. His works amount to about 70 volumes, octavo.

1806. Action between the British fleet under Admiral Duckworth, and the French under Lessiegues, off St. Domingo, which resulted in the destruction of the latter, consisting of four large ships of war.

1807. The French under Murat, defeated the Prussians under Hoff, in Prussian Poland.

1811. The prince regent of Great Britain took the oath prescribed by the regency act, and was installed.

1813. The United States government ordered all alien enemies to report themselves to the marshals of the districts in which they resided.

1814. Lord CASTLEREAGH, with other diplomatic characters, met at Chartillon-sur-Seine, for the negotiation of peace.

1815. Full pardon granted to the Barratarian pirates by the president of the United States, in consequence of their fidelity and courage in the defence of New Orleans.

1832. The crew of the United States frigate Potomac, made an attack upon Qualla Battoo, in Sumatra. The town was destroyed and 150 Malays killed; loss of the Potomac 2 killed, 14 wounded.

1833. PIERRE-ANDRE LATREILLE, a French naturalist, died at Paris. He particularly distinguished himself in entomology.

1834. The celebrated and enterprising traveler, Lander, died of a shot wound in Africa.

1853. President CAVALLOS resigned, and Gen. Lombardini chosen president of Mexico with dictatorial powers.

1853. The insurrection of Mazzini at Milan, which was unsuccessful.

1853. WILLIAM PETER, British consul at Philadelphia, died. He translated the _Prometheus_ of Æschylus, was an accomplished scholar and talented poet.

FEBRUARY 7.

1451. B. C. The Jews place the death of Moses on this day.

1642. WILLIAM BEDELL, bishop of Kilmore, died; one of the most exemplary prelates of the 17th century. He was so greatly respected even by the papists, that when the Irish rebellion of 1641 broke out, his was for some time the only English house in the county that stood unviolated. But refusing to submit to the orders of the council of state, interfering with his religious duties, he was thrown into prison, and his death was occasioned by the rigors of confinement. He translated the old testament into Irish.

1674. MARGARET LUCAS, dutchess of Newcastle, died; authoress of plays, poems, letters, essays, and philosophical fancies, filling 12 folio volumes, and the biography of her husband, William Cavendish, earl of Newcastle. She was a very singular character, and has been both ridiculed and extolled by the best English authors.

1693. PAUL PELISSON FONTANIER died. He gave a history of the French academy from its establishment.

1778. DANIEL BOONE, the first settler of Kentucky, taken by the French and Indians near the Blue licks. This was the second time he had fallen into the hands of the Indians. He made his escape about ten days after, and reached home in safety.

1788. The settlement at Botany bay abandoned, and this day the regular form of government was adopted, under Gov. Arthur Philip, and settlement made at Sydney cove, Port Jackson, New South Wales.

1791. Saratoga and Rensselaer counties in New York, erected.

1792. ATHANASE AUGER, a celebrated linguist, died. He was born at Paris, 1734, and became a clergymen. His studies of the Greek and Roman writers were indefatigable; the study of Cicero and of Roman history occupied the last thirty years of his life. His translations, &c., were published in 30 vols. Learning proved its worth in his character and life.

1796. The British admiral, Sir FRANCIS GEARY, died, aged 86.

1799. JOHN HEDWIG died; a German botanist, whose researches respecting the cryptogamia class of plants have established his name.

1807. Schweidnitz in Silesia surrendered to the French general Vandamme.

1810. British General PICTON tried for ordering Louisa Calderon to be put to the torture. He was killed at the battle of Waterloo.

1812. Earthquake at Philadelphia; duration 30 seconds. It was also observed in various parts of the United States to a less extent.

1813. Capt. FORSYTHE with 200 volunteers from Ogdensburgh, crossed at Morristown to Elizabethtown, surprised the British guard and took 52 prisoners, 140 guns and some munitions, and liberated from jail 16 British deserters.

1821. The Caxton printing office, on Copperas-hill, Liverpool, the property of Henry Fisher, totally destroyed by fire. It was the largest periodical warehouse in Great Britain.

1823. ANNE RADCLIFFE died. She was born in London, 1764, and married at the age of 23, William Radcliffe, editor of the _British Chronicle_. The _Romance of the Forest_, her third novel, gave her much celebrity, and the _Mysteries of Udolpho_ placed her at the head of a department of fiction then rising into esteem. These works still maintain their place among the more modern and fashionable productions of the kind.

1828. HENRY NEELE, an ingenious English poet and novelist, died by his own hand, in a fit of insanity, supposed to have originated from too intense an application to study. He was the son of an engraver, and educated for the bar. His literary remains were published after his death.

1834. CADWALLADER D. COLDEN, so favorably known as a philanthropist and scholar, died at Jersey city.

1837. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS IV, ex-king of Sweden, died. He came to the throne at the age of 14, on the assassination of his father, 1792; but on account of his violent and impolitic conduct, he was deposed in 1809, and his heirs excluded from the throne. He afterwards traveled in different countries of Europe under different names, and died at St. Gall in Switzerland. The latter years of his life were spent in poverty; he was badly clothed and fed, and possessed only an annuity of £300.

1837. The royal palace at Naples took fire and was partially destroyed. The library and the magnificent collection of paintings belonging to the king were burnt.

1839. KARL AUGUST NICANDER, a recent Swedish poet of no small celebrity, died.

FEBRUARY 8.

293 B. C. PAPIRIUS CURSOR dedicated a temple to Quirinus, on which he placed a sun-dial, the first ever seen in Rome.

291 B. C. ESCULAPIUS, the Sanitary god, as it was fabled, was enshrined as a serpent on an island in the Tiber. As a physician he used the probe, cathartics, bandages, &c., hence the respect.

1250. ROBERT, count of Artois, killed. He was brother to Louis IX of France, refused the empire of Germany offered him by the pope, and accompanied his brother to the Holy Land, where he conducted himself with great valor. He fell in the battle of Massourah.

1574. GEOFFREY VALLEE, a French writer, author of _Béatitude des Chrétiens_, which drew upon him the censure of the inquisition, burnt at Paris.

1587. MARY STUART, queen of Scots, beheaded in the great hall of Fotheringay castle, at the age of 44. She was the daughter of James V, of Scotland. The misfortunes which it was the destiny of this beautiful and accomplished woman to undergo are well known. After an imprisonment of 19 years in England, she was brought to the scaffold on a conviction of conspiracy against the queen, Elizabeth.

1594. EDMUND BONNEFOY, a writer on oriental law, died at Geneva in Switzerland, at the age of 38. He was appointed professor in the university of Valence, in France, where he narrowly escaped assassination at the massacre of St. Bartholomews. He bore an excellent character, independent of his talents and learning.

1637. FERDINAND II of Germany, an enterprising monarch, died.

1664. MOSES AMYRAULT, an eminent French divine, died. He was a man of such remarkable benevolence, that he bestowed the whole of his salary upon the poor, without distinguishing between catholics and protestants.

1674. A resolution was adopted by the house of commons in England, that a standing army is a grievance; that the king should have no other guard than the militia.

1690. A party of about 300 French and Indians made an assault on Schenectady about 12 o'clock at night. The inhabitants were taken by surprise, and 60 men, women and children massacred, and the town destroyed. They took 27 prisoners, the remainder of the inhabitants fled to Albany, nearly naked through a deep snow, of whom 25 lost their limbs from the severity of the frost.

1716. Earthquake in Peru.

1724. PETER I, emperor of Russia, died.

1727. GEORGE SEWELL died; an English dramatic poet, physician and miscellaneous writer.

1750. An earthquake in London.

1750. AARON HILL, a celebrated dramatic and miscellaneous writer in the time of Garrick, died.

1752. GASPER DE REAL died at Paris, author of a valuable work on government.

1772. The princess dowager of Wales died in her 53d year. She is said to have given the peculiar tone to the first years of her son's administration by her laconic exhortation "George be king."

1779. MOSES ALLEN, chaplain to the Georgia brigade, was drowned in attempting to escape from a British prison ship. He was a native of Northampton, Mass.; his age 31.

1807. Battle of Preussish Eylau, between the French army of 90,000 under Bonaparte, and 60,000 Russians under Benningsen. The battle commenced at the dawn of day. At noon a storm arose, which drifted the snow in the eyes of the Russians. The contest ended at 10 o'clock at night, when each army, after 14 hours hard fighting, occupied the same position as in the morning. Twelve of Napoleon's eagles were in the hands of Benningsen, and the field between was strewed with 50,000 dead, dying and wounded. The Russians finally retreated, leaving 15,000 prisoners in the hands of the French.

1815. The congress of Vienna determined to abolish slavery.

1817. FRANCIS HORNER died, aged 39. He was distinguished alike for his spirited report of the bullion committee, and his rich contributions to the _Edinburgh Review_.

1819. JOHN DAVID ACKERBLAD died; a Swedish scholar, who distinguished himself by his researches in Runic, Phœnician, Coptic and Hieroglyphic literature.

1820. CHARLES JUSTUS GRUNER, a Prussian police officer, died. He was an active opponent of Napoleon during the whole of his career, and was finally imprisoned to appease the French. After the second fall of Bonaparte he was made Prussian director of the police for Paris and the environs, in which capacity he counteracted with great decision and dexterity, the cunning of Fouche, who employed every means to retain the works of art which had been collected at Paris. He wrote several valuable works on subjects connected with politics and the police.

1820. ROBERT COWLEY, an African, died at Richmond, Va., aged 125. He had been for many years door-keeper to the Capitol of Virginia, which office was bestowed upon him as a reward for revolutionary services.

1827. WILLIAM MITFORD, an eminent historical and philosophical writer, died. He is best known as the author of a popular history of Greece.

1842. Great earthquake at the Windward islands. Point Petre, in Guadaloupe, totally destroyed, and 10,000 lives lost. It extended over 46 degrees of latitude.