Part 11

1851. NICHOLAS VAN SITTART, a British statesman, died, aged 85.

1856. M. CHACORNAC discovered the thirty-ninth asteroid.

FEBRUARY 9.

1450. AGNES SOREL died. She was the mistress of Charles VII, of France, distinguished for her beauty, strength of mind, and the influence she possessed over the king, whom she incited to deeds of glory.

1547. HENRY VIII was succeeded on the throne of England by his only son, Edward VI, in the ninth year of his age, who was crowned with great state at Westminster.

1555. JOHN HOOPER bishop of Gloucester, burnt. He was a dissenter in the time of Mary, and refusing to recant his opinions, was burnt in the city of Gloucester, and suffered death with admirable constancy.

1555. ROWLAND TAYLOR burnt at Hadleigh, in England, for resisting the establishment of papal worship in his church. Great efforts were made to induce him to recant, which he firmly rejected, and proceeded on his way to the stake with great courage and apparent unconcern. During the burning he stood without crying or moving, till one of the executioners struck him on the head with a halberd, when his corpse fell down into the fire.

1577. PHILIBERT DE LORME, an eminent French architect and antiquary, died. He left several works on architecture greatly esteemed.

1636. PHILEMON HOLLAND died at Coventry, England. He was a laborious translator of the Greek and Latin authors.

1660. The gates and portcullis, of London destroyed by Monk, who soon discovered his error.

1670. FREDERICK III, of Denmark, died. He succeeded his father, Christian IV, and improved the condition of his people by making them more independent of the nobles; the crown he also made hereditary.

1671. A speech on the enormous subsidies granted to Charles II, by Lord Lucas; though delivered in the king's presence, it was published, and burned by the common hangman.

1674. The city of New York surrendered to the British by the Dutch governor, Anthony Colve.

1674. Treaty of peace between England and the States General.

1675. The French fleet, under the duke of Vivonne, of 9 men-of-war and several fire ships, defeated the Spanish blockading fleet at Messina, and entered that port in triumph.

1680. J. CLAUDE DABLON, a Jesuit missionary in Canada, died. He contributed the two last volumes of the _Relacions_, which were sent to Europe; valuable for the geographical information they contain.

1734. PETER POLINIERE died at Coulonces in France. He was a mathematician, philosopher and chemist, and the first who read lectures on those sciences at Paris.

1751. HENRY FRANCIS D'AGUESSEAU, a French statesman, died. At the early age of 21 he was appointed to the office of advocate-general, ten years after solicitor general, and finally, in 1717, succeeded to the chancellorship. He retired from this office 1750, at the age of 82, when an annuity of about $25,000 was settled upon him. Voltaire pronounced him the most learned magistrate that France ever produced. His published speeches and pleadings form 13 quarto volumes.

1752. FREDERICK HASSELQUIST, a Swedish botanist and natural historian, died at Smyrna.

1765. The peruke makers, distressed that people wore their own hair, and that foreigners were employed, petitioned the king for redress. But the populace, not seeing the consistency of being compelled to take off their hair while the peruke makers wore their own, rose upon them, and cut it off.

1767. HUBERT DROUAIS died; a painter of Normandy, who by pencil raised himself from obscurity to fame and opulence.

1773. JOHN GREGORY, an eminent physician of Edinburgh, died. He taught that the medical art, to be generally admired and respected, needed only to be better known; and that the affectation of concealment retarded its progress, rendered it a suspicious art, and tended to draw ridicule and disgrace on its profession. His writings are spirited and elegant; among them _A Father's Legacy to his Daughter_ is well known and appreciated.

1778. Two clergymen having preached in a chapel in Clerkenwell street, London, without leave of the bishop, were prosecuted, and the chapel shut by a writ of monition.

1779. WILLIAM BOYCE died; an eminent English musician and composer, chiefly of sacred pieces.

1782. BENJAMIN MARTIN died in London; one of the most celebrated mathematicians and opticians of the age in which he lived.

1795. FERDINAND III of Austria recognized the French republic, and made peace with it. This was the first power that acknowledged the new dynasty.

1795. The first parliament opened in Corsica, then subject to England.

1795. Treaty of peace signed between France and Tuscany.

1799. A naval action between the United States frigate Constellation, 36 guns, Capt. Truxton, and the French frigate Insurgent, 48 guns and 410 men. The engagement resulted in the capture of the Frenchman in one hour and a quarter. French loss, 29 killed, 44 wounded; American, 1 killed, 2 wounded. This was the first opportunity offered to an American frigate to engage an enemy of superior force.

1799. British ship Dedalus, captured the French frigate La Prudente in 57 minutes. French lost 27 killed, 22 wounded; British had 2 killed, 12 wounded.

1801. Definite treaty of Luneville signed.

1810. The French occupied Zafra in Estramadura.

1811. NEVIL MASKELYNE died at London, aged 79. This eminent mathematician and astronomer ardently devoted a long life to science, and mariners owe to his discoveries the method of finding the longitude at sea by lunar observations.

1815. CLAUDIUS BUCHANAN died. In scriptural erudition he had very few superiors. Deeply versed in oriental literature, he conceived the plan of giving every man to read the scriptures in his own tongue, and died while superintending an edition of the Bible in the Syriac language.

1834. BENJAMIN B. WISNER, a distinguished Calvinistic clergyman, of Boston, and for several years secretary to the A. B. C. F. M. died.

1845. JOB PALMER, one of the fathers of the city of Charleston, S. C., and a worthy of the revolution, died, aged nearly 98.

1849. On account of revolutionary movements the grand duke of Tuscany fled from Florence. The glorious Roman republic proclaimed.

FEBRUARY 10.

1024. ABDURRAHMAN IV, sultan of Cordova, dethroned by a relative and put to death. He was a patron of science, which he cultivated with success, and a poet.

1306. JOHN COMYN murdered by Robert Bruce in the convent of the minorite friars. They were rival nobles, who had recently settled their differences, and agreed upon a revolt from the dominion of England. Comyn had treacherously revealed the matter to Edward. Bruce hastened to accuse him of it, and after some altercation struck him with his dagger, and he was immediately despatched by Bruce's attendants.

1402. WALLERAN, count of St. Pol, issued against Henry IV, of England, his famous cartel of defiance.

1519. HERNANDO CORTEZ sailed from Cuba for the conquest of Mexico. His armament consisted of 11 ships, 508 soldiers and 109 mariners. This force was divided into 16 cavalry, 13 musketeers, 10 brass field pieces, 4 falconets, and 32 crossbows. This miniature army was destined to oppose more than 500,000 warriors before it reached the capital of the great Montezuma.

1539. JOHN STEPHEN DURANTI killed. He was the first president of the parliament of Toulouse; and made himself conspicuous by his efforts to preserve that city from the plague of 1538. He was killed by a mob.

1567. HENRY STUART, Lord Darnley, murdered, aged 21. The house in which he lay sick was blown up, it is supposed with the privity of his wife, Mary queen of Scots, by her favorite, the earl of Bothwell. Darnley had murdered Rizzio, the queen's musician, before her own eyes, whose blood was thus avenged. Mary perished on the scaffold, and Bothwell was taken by the Norwegians, and died insane after ten years' imprisonment.

1640. DE VRIES commenced a plantation about four miles above the fort at New Amsterdam, and complains that the director of the West India company had failed to send him people for his colony on Staten island, as had been agreed upon.

1658. GERARD LANGBAINE, an English writer, died. He acquired literary celebrity by his edition of Longinus.

1676. Attack on Lancaster, Mass., by the Indians under Pocanoket. The village contained 60 families; most of the houses that were not garrisoned were burnt; and the house of the clergyman, although defended by a competent number of inhabitants, was fired by the Indians, the women and children carried away, and the men either killed on the spot or reserved for further misery. Mrs. Rowlandson and her children, the family of the clergyman, were afterwards redeemed. The town was saved from entire ruin by the appearance of a company of 40 men from Marlborough.

1676. ALEXEI MICHAELOWITZ, czar of Russia, died. He was father of Peter the Great; distinguished for his wars, his munificence, and his improvements in the state.

1680. A great comet, which had alarmed the inhabitants of New England since the 18th November, disappeared. It was also observed in Europe, and Henault says that it was the largest which had ever been seen, and struck terror into the minds of the people of France. It was by the observation of this comet that Newton ascertained the parabolic form of the trajectory of comets, and demonstrated their orbits. This discovery contributed to the removal of those terrors with which the phenomenon had always been attended, in all ages, and among all nations, who viewed it as the presage of some direful event.

1686. WILLIAM DUGDALE, an eminent English antiquary and historian, died.

1689. ISAAC VOSSIUS, a German scholar, died. He is the author of various learned works in German, and edited several Latin and Greek works. In 1670 he visited England, was admitted to the degree of LL. D., and presented to a canonry at Windsor by Charles II, who afterwards took occasion to say that he was a strange divine, for he believed every thing but the Bible.

1711. RICHARD DUKE died. He was a poet of some credit in the last century, and by Dr. Johnson included among the classics.

1743. British sloop Squirrel captured the Spanish ship Pierre Joseph, with 195,000 pieces of eight on board and a valuable cargo of cochineal, indigo, &c.

1747. THOMAS CHUBB died. He was bred a glover, but when he arrived at the age of manhood, devoted great attention to the sciences and divinity, and gained great celebrity by a work on the latter subject.

1755. CHARLES DE SECONDAT, Baron Montesquieu, an illustrious Frenchman, died. His _Spirit of Laws_ has immortalized his name.

1763. Treaty of peace signed at Paris between France, Spain and Great Britain, by which the latter retained possession of Canada and Florida, besides many important islands in the West Indias, and along the coast, which had been recently captured by the British.

1773. JAMES FORTHON died at Grenada, one of the West India islands, aged 127.

1775. Lord NORTH, the prime minister, introduced a bill to restrain the trade and commerce of the New England states, which finally passed by a large majority on the 30th.

1783. JAMES NARES, a celebrated English musical composer, died. His anthems manifest great power of genius, and with his other works will perpetuate his name, and ever rank him with the first of his profession.

1786. JOHN CADWALLADER, an officer of the revolution, died, aged 44. He commanded the Pennsylvania troops, and was in several important engagements as a volunteer; he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of Washington.

1786. Cardinal DE SOLIS died, aged 110. He was a native of Andalusia in Spain, and at the time of his death was in the enjoyment of every faculty but strength and quickness of hearing.

1787. CHARLES CHAUNCEY, a Boston divine, died. He was eminent for learning, independence and attachment to the civil and religious liberty of his country. His productions are numerous.

1790. The celebrated chess-player PHILLODOR won two games which he played with skilled players while he was blind folded. The moves being made by his directions.

1794. The British under Admiral Jarvis took Pigeon island, Martinique.

1795. The English garrison at Bergen-op-Zoom disarmed and sent prisoners to France. The French also took Groningen the same day.

1795. The tower of Martello in Corsica taken by the British under Admiral Hood.

1797. The French pillaged Loretto, a fortified town in Italy. The soldiers entered the cathedral which contains the _holy house_, in which it is said the Virgin Mary lived at Nazareth, and laid their republican hands upon the madonna, the famous _Lady of Loretto_, which they found standing upon an altar, in a niche of silver, surrounded by numerous gold and silver lamps, and adorned with jewels. She was sent to Paris.

1799. BONAPARTE set out from Cairo on his disastrous expedition to Syria.

1802. Port au Paix in Hayti taken by the French. The blacks set it on fire and blew up two forts.

1803. JEAN FRANCOIS DE LA HARPE, an eminent French orator, critic, poet and dramatic writer, died.

1804. His catholic majesty, CHARLES IV, renounced his protest against the alienation by France of Louisiana to the United States.

1807. Bill for abolishing the British slave trade passed the house of lords.

1808. Russia declared war against Sweden.

1809. Portugal invaded by the French under Soult.

1809. GEORGE ZOEGA, a celebrated Danish antiquary, died.

1818. THOMAS MORRIS, a British officer, died, aged 74. He fought by the side of Montgomery in Canada during the French war, was taken by the Indians, and narrowly escaped burning at the stake. On quitting the army he published an account of his captivity, and in the retirement of a small cottage passed some years in the pursuits of literature.

1841. Union of Upper and Lower Canada; Lord Sydenham taking the oath of office as governor of the united provinces.

1852. Gold medal presented to Henry Clay at Washington by New York friends.

1854. Gen. HERRERA, ex-president of the republic of Mexico, died. He was one of the veterans of the war of independence, and as a statesman, had given proofs of the loftiest patriotism and disinterestedness.

1856. President RIVAS decreed the annexation of the whole Mosquito territory to Nicaragua.

FEBRUARY 11.

641. HERACLIUS, emperor of the East, died. He was the son of a governor of Africa, conspired against Phocas, whom he beheaded, and ascended the throne of Constantinople.

1225. HENRY III subscribed the great charter of English liberties, which was witnessed by 13 bishops, 20 abbots, and 32 earls and barons.

1451. AMURATH II, emperor of the Ottomans, died. He was the first Turk who used cannon in battle.

1502. ELIZABETH of York, queen of Henry VII, died in childbirth, in the tower of London, on her birth day, aged 36. She married Henry in 1486, by which the antagonist houses of York and Lancaster were united.

1503. JAMES TYRELL supposed to be one of the murderers of Edward V, executed as a traitor. He is said to have confessed his agency in the death of both the young princes.

1543. An alliance was formed between Henry VIII of England, and the emperor Charles V.

1573. DRAKE the navigator was conducted by the Symerons to a tree notched with steps, which served them for a watch tower, and from the summit of which he had a view of the two oceans, one of which no English vessel had ever yet navigated.

1650. RENE DESCARTES, a celebrated French philosopher and mathematician, died, aged 54. His superior intellect early manifested itself. He embraced the military profession, and served in various countries, the better to make observations and form satisfactory conclusions on scientific subjects. He finally settled in Holland, where during the last 20 years of his life, the greater part of his works were written. It is said of him that he extended the limits of geometry as far beyond the place where he found them, as Sir Isaac Newton did after him.

1659. FRANCIS OSBORNE died; an English writer of great abilities.

1733. JOHN PERRY, a celebrated English engineer, died. He was patronized by czar Peter of Russia, of which country he wrote a history.

1761. A usurer fined at Guildhall, London, £300 for having exacted six guineas to discount £100 for six weeks.

1763. PETER CARLET DE MARIVEAUX, a French romancer, died. The great characteristic of his works, is to convey a useful moral under the veil of wit and sentiment.

1763. WILLIAM SHENSTONE died, aged 50. His father was a gentleman farmer, who cultivated a moderate estate, called the _Leasowes_, which were rendered celebrated by the taste of the son. Having finished his studies, and come into possession of the paternal property, he gave himself up to rural embellishments and the cultivation of poetry. He wrote for fame, which was not awarded him by his cotemporaries and he died broken hearted. "He was a lamp that spent its oil in blazing." His principal poem is _The Schoolmistress_.

1771. JEAN DE BEAURAIN died; a French negotiator and geographer. He was made geographer to Louis XV at the age of 25.

1771. JOHN BURTON, a learned English divine, died, leaving some ingenious writings, collected under the title of _Opuscula Miscellanea_.

1780. The British under Sir Henry Clinton landed in St. John's Island, about 30 miles from Charleston, S. C.

1793. Great Britain issued letters of marque and reprisal against France.

1797. FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and a brave officer in the American revolution, died at Richmond, Va., aged 63.

1807. Revolution in St. Domingo, in which a profusion of blood was shed.

1810. The spire and part of the tower of St. Nicholas' church at Liverpool, fell through the roof and killed several in the church.

1811. Battle of Laffesat, in which the Prussians defeated the Turks, after a sanguinary contest.

1814. Battle of Montmirail between the French under Bonaparte, and the Russians under D'Yorck.

1815. Fort Boyer, Mobile, with a garrison of 375, surrendered to 5,000 British under Lambert, with a fleet of 13 ships of the line and 25 smaller vessels. Col. Lawrence received a wound, and seeing that it was useless to contend against such odds, struck his flag. British loss 31; American 10.

1821. ADAM WALKER died. He was apprenticed to a weaver; but ultimately became a lecturer on philosophy, which he adopted as a profession, and traveled in England for the purpose of lecturing on that science.

1827. JOSE MARIA ABRANTES, a Portuguese nobleman died in exile. He was the friend of Don Miguel, of infamous memory.

1828. DE WITT CLINTON died at his residence in Albany, aged 59. He was born in the town of Little Britain, Orange county, N. Y., 1769, and educated for the bar. He was at an early age elected to a seat in the legislature, and continued to hold offices of honor and emolument until the day of his death, at which time he was governor of the state of New York. It is to his perseverance in a great measure, that we owe the construction of the Erie canal. As a public character he is entitled to durable renown, and no one was ever more ambitious of a reputation for science and literature.

1837. JOHN LATHAM, an eminent English naturalist and ornithologist, died, aged 97. He was one of the founders of the Linnean society, and commenced the publication of his last work at the age of 82.

1844. HENRY KIFER, a soldier of the revolution, died at North Woodbury, Pa., aged 110½ years.

1856. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ, a well known American novelist, died.

FEBRUARY 12.

590. PELAGIUS II, pope of Rome, died. In his time a plague raged at Rome of so strange a nature, that persons seized with it died sneezing and gaping.

1401. WILLIAM SAWTRY, a Lollard, condemned and burned to death at London for heresy.

1448. A general poll tax of 6d. with 6s. 8d. on every merchant stranger, and 20d. on their clerks, granted by parliament to Henry VI.

1542. CATHARINE HOWARD, fifth wife of Henry VIII, beheaded. The execution of this ungrateful woman excited no commiseration, as she had been the principal instrument in the accusations against Anne Boleyn, her predecessor.

1554. JANE GREY beheaded, at the age of 17. She was the daughter of Mary, youngest sister of Henry VIII, and a woman of uncommon beauty, talents and learning, for her years, to which she added great amiability of disposition, and fortitude of mind. Her disastrous fate created an extraordinary interest in her favor, which has continued unabated. "Good Christian people, you come here to see me die; not for any thing I have offended, for I will deliver to my God a soul as pure from trespass, as innocence from injustice."

1589. BLANCHE PERRY died, chief gentlewoman to Queen Elizabeth, and a great lover of antiquities, besides a very tasteful writer.

1640. WILLIAM ALEXANDER, Lord Stirling, died; a dramatic poet and statesman in the time of James and Charles I. His poetry, for purity and elegance, is far beyond the generality of the productions of the age in which he lived.

1660. General MONK, now reconciled to the citizens of London, drew up his forces in Finsbury fields, makes an apology which is the signal of rejoicing. Burning lamps the principal pastime.

1689. The parliament of England chose William and Mary king and queen.

1706. Battle of Fraustadt, in Prussia, in which the Saxons and Muscovites under Gen. Schullemberg, were defeated by the Swedes under Marshall Renschild.

1733. The colony of Savannah commenced, under Gen. Oglethorpe. This was the first settlement in Georgia.

1744. The elector of Bavaria chosen emperor of Germany under the title of Charles VII.

1746. Birthday of THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO, the Polish warrior.

1757. Peace concluded between the English and Sourajah Dowlah.

1771. ADOLPHUS FREDERICK II, king of Denmark, died. He was the founder of the academy of belles-lettres at Torneo.

1782. The British surrendered the island of St. Christophers to the French, under the marquis de Bouille.

1787. JOSEPH ROGER BOSCOVICH, an Italian mathematician, died at Milan. He was also an elegant poet.

1789. GABRIEL BROTIER died at Paris; an illustrious and amiable Frenchman, and one of the most distinguished ornaments of the belles-lettres in that country.

1792. Battle on the plain of Morocco, between Yezid and Ishem, two brothers, contesting for the throne. The forces of the latter, about 30,000, were defeated by about half the number under the former. Both commanders were badly wounded. Ishem lost 1,300 killed, and 800 prisoners, who were all put to death by being nailed to the walls and floors and left without food.

1793. JOHN MANLEY died, aged 60. He was appointed by Washington a captain in the navy, was very successful in his captures, but was finally taken prisoner by the British and confined in the Mill prison.

1797. ANTHONY D'AUVERGNE died at Lyons. He was director of the opera at Paris, and an eminent composer.

1799. LAZARUS SPALLANZANI, an Italian writer, died. He is considered as one of the greatest naturalists of that age.

1802. A messenger from England to lord Cornwallis was attacked by two wolves near Boulogne, which tore off the lips of his horses.

1804. IMMANUEL KANT, a Prussian metaphysician, died. He was the son of a harness maker in the suburbs of Koningsberg. He continued by persevering industry to obtain a good education, and at the age of 22 successfully attacked the doctrines of the most eminent metaphysicians of the day. He was an original and profound thinker, as his numerous works attest: and his philosophy has been taught in all the German universities except some Catholic ones.

1807. Battle of Marienwerder, in Polish Prussia, in which the Prussians were defeated by the French under Lefebre.