Part 20

1657. An offensive and defensive league concluded between France and England.

1676. Warwick, R. I., destroyed by the Indians. Only one house was left unburnt.

1677. Valenciennes, in France, taken by assault by the army under Louis XIV, in person.

1681. The members of the English parliament from London came to Oxford, the place of their meeting, armed and with ribbons on their hats inscribed with "No popery, no slavery."

1695. AUGUSTIN LUBIN, an Augustine friar, died. He was geographer to the French king, and author of various works.

1715. GILBERT BURNET, bishop of Salisbury, died. He was a zealous promoter of the revolution in England, which placed the present family on the throne, and of which he wrote the history.

1740. Mrs. STEVENS received £5,000 from the English parliament for making public her medicine for the stone.

1741. JOHN BAPTIST ROUSSEAU, an eminent French poet, died. He possessed a fine genius, but an unhappy temper embittered his life by stimulating him to abuse those whose friendship would have procured him a place above dependence.

1767. Birthday of ANDREW JACKSON, seventh president of the United States.

1776. Boston evacuated by the British. By four in the morning the king's troops, with those Americans who were attached to the royal cause, began to embark, and before ten all of them were under sail. As the rear embarked, General Washington marched into the city, where he was joyfully received as a deliverer. The British left 250 cannon and 25,000 bushels of wheat.

1781. JOHANNES EVALD died: the most distinguished poetical genius of Denmark, in the eighteenth century. Being left to his own reading by his tutor, his imagination was captivated with _Tom Jones_ and _Robinson Crusoe_. Proposing to himself the latter hero for a model, he eloped at the age of thirteen with a view of proceeding to Batavia, but was overtaken, and his project frustrated. He next conceived the scheme of entering the Prussian army, and enlisted at Magdeburg; but being received only as a foot soldier, instead of a hussar, he deserted to the Austrians. On quitting the army he devoted himself to the study of theology, but having suddenly become violently enamored with a young lady, who regardless of his passion, bestowed her hand on another, a permanent melancholy settled upon his mind, and under this influence he took up his pen. His first work _Fortune's Temple_, a vision, at once stamped his reputation. In 1772 he executed his literary chef-d'œuvre, _Balder's Död_, a drama of extraordinary poetical beauty, and greatly superior to anything which had then appeared in the Danish language. His after life was embittered by poverty and sickness; and it was under the hospitable roof of Madame Skou that he breathed his last, after having been confined to his bed or armchair two years, and almost deprived of the use of his limbs.

1782. DANIEL BERNOUILLI, a German philosopher, died. He studied medicine as a profession, but was at the same time engaged with mathematics. At the age of twenty-four, he was offered the presidency of an academy at Genoa, but gave the preference to an invitation from St. Petersburgh. He returned to Basle in 1733, where he spent the remainder of his days, so much respected by the inhabitants, that to bow to Daniel Bernouilli, when met in the street, was one of the first lessons which every father gave his children.

1790. The government of France issued assignats to the amount of 170,000,000 francs. This system of assignats, while it gave more strength to the public, yet was the source of more private suffering than any other measure during the French revolution.

1793. Battle of Neerwinden, or Linden, between the French under Dumourier, and the Austrians under Coburg and Clarifayt. Dumourier was obliged to retreat.

1794. French sloop Avenger, 16 guns, taken by Admiral Jervis's squadron off Martinique.

1795. A number of the Parisians complained to the national convention of the _scarcity of bread_ in Paris.

1798. THOMAS JACKSON, an English actor, died. His epitaph is ingenious: "Sacred to the memory of Thomas Jackson, comedian, who was engaged 21st December, 1741, _to play a comic cast of characters_ in the great theatre, the world; for many of which he was _prompted_ by nature to excel. The _season_ being ended, his _benefit_ over, the charges all paid, his account closed, he made his _exit_ in the _tragedy of Death_ on the 17th of March, 1798, in assurance of being called once more to _rehearsal_, where he hopes to find his _forfeits_ all cleared, his _cast of parts_ bettered, and his situation made agreeable by him who paid the great _stock debt_, for the love of _performers_ in general."

1799. The French army arrived before St. Jean d'Acre, and to their no small chagrin and astonishment, beheld the town prepared for a siege, and the English colors flying in the harbor.

1800. The British ship Queen Charlotte, 110 guns, destroyed by an explosion off Leghorn. More than 800 persons perished with her.

1806. WILLIAM ROWLEY, an eminent British physician, died. He was a man of great skill and experience in his profession, and his benevolence and humanity were conspicuous; yet was he one of the most obstinate opponents to the introduction of vaccination as a preventive of small pox that ever impeded the might of his authority to that experiment.

1808. Rupture of the negotiation at Washington between the British minister and the American government.

1811. Charles IV, of Sweden, resigned the government of his kingdom in favor of his adopted son, Bernadotte.

1828. JAMES EDWARD SMITH, an eminent English naturalist and physician, died. He was one of the founders of the Linnean society, and published several valuable works on natural history and botany.

1843. GEORGE TURNER, aged 93, died at Philadelphia. He was a native of England, but joining the American revolutionary army, he distinguished himself in many severe actions and endeared himself to Gen. Washington.

1849. WILLIAM II, king of Holland, died.

1855. The French and Russians at Sebastopol contended fiercely for the rifle pits which the latter had established between the French advance and the Mamelon.

MARCH 18.

251. ST. CYRIL, archbishop of Jerusalem, died.

979. EDWARD THE MARTYR, died. He was the son of Edgar, and succeeded his father as king of England at the age of 15. The young king paid little attention to any thing but the chase; and hunting one day, he got separated from his attendants, and repaired to Corfe castle, where his step-mother, Elfrida, resided. Having procured a draught of liquor, he was drinking it on horseback, when one of Elfrida's servants gave him a deep stab behind. He immediately spurred his horse, but fainting from loss of blood, was dragged in the stirrup till he died. The pity caused by his innocence and misfortune induced the people to regard him as a martyr.

1350. In the national roll of accounts for glazing St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster, Edward III ordained that the wages for artists be from 5d. per day to one shilling, except for John Barnaby, his wages should be twopence.

1552. MAURICE of Saxony took up arms against the emperor Charles V.

1629. CHARLES JAMES, prince of Great Britain, born, baptized and died.

1629. CHARLES I, of England, issued a proclamation that he would account it presumption in any one to prescribe a time for him to call a parliament.

1635. PATRICK FORBES, a Scotch prelate, died. He was a great and a good man; a benefactor particularly to Aberdeen university, of which he revived the professorship of law, physic and divinity.

1696. BONAVENTURE BARON, professor of divinity at Rome, died. He was a native of Ireland, but spent 60 years of his life in Rome; and was a learned and voluminous writer.

1718. MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE made the first experiment of inoculation for small pox upon her own son at Belgrade, in Turkey. It was tried in England upon criminals, with complete success, about nine years after. This disease first made its appearance at Mecca, where it is stated to have destroyed the invading Ethiopian army, and thus terminated in 360, what is denominated _the war of the elephant_.

1728. GEORGE STANHOPE, an able English divine, died. His theological works were numerous and popular.

1741. Conflagration of the chapel and buildings in the fort at New York, which was followed immediately by the _negro plot_.

1745. ROBERT WALPOLE died, aged 69. He became heir to the family estate by the death of his elder brother, and in the jovial life of a country gentleman, soon lost his early inclination to literature. In 1700 he was returned to parliament, and warmly espousing the whig interest, rose to a high promotion in the offices of the government, and in 1742, was created earl of Oxford, on his resignation of the premiership. He is the reputed author of the saying that "all men have their price."

1754. The first theatre established in the city of New York, closed with the _Beggar's Opera_ and the _Devil to Pay_, when the following notice appeared in the prints, which managers now-a-days have little occasion to repeat: "Lewis Hallam, comedian, intending for Philadelphia, _begs the favor_ of those who have any demands against him to bring in their accounts and receive their money."

1766. Stamp act repealed by the British government, reserving however, the right to make laws binding on the colonies in all cases whatsoever. News of this repeal excited great joy in America, where it was celebrated by the ringing of bells, fireworks and festivals.

1768. LAURENCE STERNE, an eccentric English author and divine, died. His romance of _Tristram Shandy_ and the _Sentimental Journey_, are well known.

1775. British Gen. GAGE seized 13,425 musket cartridges and 3000 pounds of ball, all of it private property, stored on Boston Neck.

1776. The British troops having evacuated Boston, Sir Archibald Campbell, unaware of this movement, on entering the harbor with 1700 men, was made prisoner by Washington.

1780. Congress resolved to call in by taxes in one year and burn all the continental money emitted prior to that time, and to issue ten million dollars new money, redeemable in specie within six years.

1781. ANNE ROBERT JAMES TURGOT, an eminent French statesman, died. He studied divinity, but his talents recommending him to the notice of the government, he was appointed to a civil office, where he displayed so great ability that he was appointed comptroller of the finances. His measures were grand, liberal and useful: but being ridiculed by the profligate and the vicious, who rioted on the miseries of the people, he retired from public life.

1796. Steuben county erected in south western New York.

1797. Palma Nuova, a frontier town in Italy, evacuated by the archduke Charles, who had wrested it from the Venitians only ten days before. The French under Bernadotte and Serrurier, on entering it found 30,000 rations of bread, and a million quintals of flour.

1805. BONAPARTE assumed the title of king of Italy.

1814. JOHN VINT, editor of the _Isle of Man Gazette_, and a distinguished philanthropist, died.

1817. An earthquake in Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, destroyed whole villages.

1817. CHARLES COMBE died; an eminent English physician and critic, and highly distinguished as a medalist.

1836. ABATE FEA, a celebrated archæologist, died at Rome, aged 88. He is known as the translator of Winckelman.

1839. The Chinese imperial commissioner, Lin, issued a proclamation at Canton, ordering the foreign opium dealers to deliver up all the opium in their possession, to have it burnt and destroyed, and forbidding its importation to all eternity, under pain of death.

1840. Dr. PARISH, favorably known to the medical world, died in Philadelphia.

1846. First steam boat arrived at Austin, Texas.

1846. WILLIAM M. CRANE, of the United States navy, died by his own hand.

1848. The emperor of Austria published by proclamation, at Milan, abolition of censorship, and a convention of the states. But the people wanting more, troubles began.

1854. A terrible gale at Albany, N. Y.; fifty houses unroofed, many chimneys and walls blown down, and great damage done.

1856. HENRY POTTINGEN, lieutenant general in the East India company's service, died aged 67. He distinguished himself in the Afghanistan war, and settled the opium difficulty with the Chinese.

1856. The Cunard steamer Curlew, from Halifax, ran on a reef north of the Bermudas, and was lost, with a part of her mail.

MARCH 19.

720. B. C. The first eclipse of the moon on record (by Ptolemy) happened on this day.

478. B. C. The history of Herodotus terminates with the siege of Sestos.

235. ALEXANDER SEVERUS, emperor of Rome, murdered by his soldiers. He was a Phœnician by birth, led an exemplary life, and governed ably both in peace and war.

717. CHILPERIC, king of France, surprised in his camp, in the forest of Arden, by the duke of Austrasia, afterwards Charles Martel.

1355. Pressing for seamen to man the English navy, commenced in the reign of Edward III.

1521. Insurrection and massacre in the island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean sea.

1584. IWAN IV, VASSILIVITZ, first czar of Muscovy, died. He was denominated by the Russians the terrible, and by foreigners the tyrant.

1621. The complaint against lord BACON for corruption, drawn up by Sir Edward Coke and others, presented to the house of lords. The chancellor was sick, but addressed a letter to his peers, requesting them not to prejudge his case from "any number of petitions against a judge that makes two thousand decrees and orders in a year; but that he may answer them according to the rules of justice, severally and respectively."

1626. PETER COTON, a French Jesuit, died. He was confessor to Henry IV, whose confidence he possessed, and it was a common expression that the king was good but that he had _cotton_ in his ears. He was distinguished for eloquence and zeal.

1628. Patent for Massachusetts sold to Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young and "four other associates in the vicinity of Dorchester, England."

1631. The original patent of Connecticut made by Robert, earl of Warwick, to William, Viscount Say and Seal, Robert lord Brook and their associates.

1643. Battle of Hopton-Heath, between the forces of Charles I, and those of the parliament, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of a great part of their artillery.

1643. SPENCER COMPTON, the friend of Charles I, killed at the battle of Hopton-Heath. He was the only son of William, first earl of Northampton; and refusing to accept quarter, was despatched by the parliament forces.

1687. DANIEL GOOKIN died; for many years superintendent of the Indians in Massachusetts, whose interests he watched with so much zeal as to draw upon himself the abuse of the populace, whose outrages he constantly opposed. He published some historical collections of the Indians in New England.

1688. JOHN DENHAM, one of the minor British poets, died. He was born at Dublin, in 1615, and first became known in 1641 by his tragedy of _The Sophy_. In 1643 appeared his first addition of _Cooper's Hill_, a justly celebrated poem, of which Dryden says, for majesty of style is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing.

1691. Col. HENRY STOUGHTER published his commission from the Duke of York, appointing him governor of the province of New York.

1711. THOMAS KEN, chaplain to Charles II of England, died. He survived several reigns, and in all, his firmness and consistency, added to his piety and learning, procured him respect and patronage.

1719. An extraordinary meteor seen from all parts of Great Britain about 8 o'clock in the evening. Its light exceeded that of the sun at noon-day. It exploded over the sea near the coast of Britany, at an altitude it is supposed of about 30 miles. It broke like a skyrocket into sparks of red fire, and was succeeded by a tremendous report.

1736. NICHOLAS HAWKSMOOR, died; an English architect of fame, pupil of Sir C. Wren.

1755. A cluster of houses in the village of Bergemoletto, near Piedmont, Italy, was overwhelmed by two vast bodies of snow that fell from the neighboring mountain. Three women, the only occupants of the houses at the time of the catastrophy, were dug out alive seven days after.

1759. NICHOLAS VERDIER, a French anatomist, died. His character as an author and a man, are entitled to respect.

1781. CORNWALLIS retreated from Guilford court house, where he had defeated Greene on the 15th; leaving at the quaker meeting house all the wounded Americans he had taken, and about 70 wounded British officers.

1786. HUGH PELLISER, an English admiral, died. He was at the storming of Quebec; and at the battle of Ushant, 1778, on which occasion a dispute between him and admiral Keppel saved the French fleet from destruction.

1788. FRANCIS JOSEPH DESBILLONS, a French Jesuit, died. He devoted many years to study, and at the abolition of his order published his _Fables_, and some other works, and left in manuscript a history of the Latin tongue.

1796. STEPHEN STORACE, an English music composer, died. His productions are confined to the drama, and are remarkable for their spirit.

1797. Gradisca, a strong town in Austria, capitulated to the French under Bernadotte and Serrurier; 3,000 prisoners, 60 cannon and 8 standards fell into the hands of the French.

1801. NOVALIS, (the literary name assumed by Frederick Von Hardenberg,) died. He belonged to the religious society of Hernhutters.

1808. CHARLES IV, abdicated the throne of Spain in favor of his son Ferdinand VII.

1809. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS IV, the deposed king of Sweden, signed a formal deed of abdication. He assumed the title of count Gottorp.

1812. Constitution of the Cortez signed and proclaimed in Spain.

1814. SIMON SNYDER, governor of Pennsylvania, rejected the bill establishing 40 banks. It however became a law, two-thirds of the legislature having agreed to it.

1814. Rheims, in France, taken by the Russians.

1842. First newspaper at Flushing, Long Island.

1853. Nankin taken by the rebels; the Tartar garrison of 20,000 men massacred, except 100, who effected an escape.

1853. Battle of Donabew, Burmah; the British under Gen. Cheape defeated Mea Toon.

1855. An explosion took place in the Midlothian coal pits in Virginia; of fifty persons in the pits 35 were killed and 10 wounded beyond recovery.

MARCH 20.

268. PUBLIUS GALLIENUS, emperor of Rome, assassinated at Milan.

1413. HENRY IV of England, died. He usurped the throne 1399, and thereby excited the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster, called the war of the roses.

1516. BAPTIST SPAGNOLI, a general of the Carmelites, died. He was a native of Mantua in Italy, and distinguished himself by the sound and virtuous regulations which he attempted to introduce among the corrupted members of his order. His works have been published in 4 vols.

1549. THOMAS SEYMOUR, lord high admiral of England, attainted and beheaded without being heard. His offence was alleged to be equal if not superior in power to his brother the protector.

1586. RICHARD MAITLAND, lord of session in Scotland, died. He reported the decisions of that court till he became blind at about the age of 60; when he commenced writing and collecting Scottish poetry. He sustained the character of "a maist unspotted and blameless judge, and valiant, grave and worthy knight;" but it is in his character of a writer and collector of Scottish poetry that he is now chiefly remembered.

1643. JOHN KIRCHMAN, a learned German, died at Lubeck.

1677. GEORGE DIGBY, an English nobleman of great ability, died. During the civil wars he espoused the cause of Charles I; but though romantically brave, was always an unsuccessful commander.

1687. SAMUEL PARKER, an English prelate, died. He was educated a puritan, but for the reward of place, it is believed, became an anti-puritan and was made bishop of Oxford. He wrote a history of his own times, which appeared in Latin and English.

1727. ISAAC NEWTON, the celebrated philosopher and mathematician, died, aged 84. He was so small and weak at the time of his birth, that his life was despaired of; and in his youth, his mother, finding him of no service in the management of the farm, sent him to finish his studies. From the success of his pursuits in after life, he has been styled the _creator_ of natural philosophy. The last few years of his existence were spent in utter neglect of those studies which had engrossed fifty years of his life.

1730. ADRIENNE LA COUVREUR, a French actress, died. She is one of the few of her profession whose reputation has survived the age in which they lived.

1737. NICHOLAS HOOKER, _gentleman_, died at Conway, North Wales; celebrated as being the forty-first child of his father; and being himself the father of twenty-seven children. His tombstone, attesting the above facts, is to be found in the churchyard adjoining Conway castle.

1741. PETER BURMAN the elder died. He was professor of history and eloquence at the university of Leyden, and published editions of many of the Latin classics.

1744. France declared war against England.

1750. The first No. of the _Rambler_, by Dr. Johnson, appeared.

1750. FREDERICK, prince of Wales, and father of George III, died suddenly in his 45th year. He died in the arms of his violin player, who was playing for his amusement.

1767. FIRMIN ABAUZIT, a learned French writer, died. He became distinguished for his superior progress in every branch of polite learning, but particularly in mathematics and natural history; and was consulted in difficult questions by the most learned men of the age.

1775. DANIEL BOONE, employed, in forming a settlement in the then wilderness of Kentucky, was attacked by the Indians, near where Boonsborough now stands, and two of his men killed and two wounded.

1780. Action between the French fleet, admiral Piquet, and 3 British ships, off Monte Christie. The action continued till the next day, when the French suffered so much that they were compelled to lie by and repair.

1792. The French government adopted the instrument since known as the guillotine; it had been in use in various countries several centuries before.

1793. WILLIAM MURRAY, lord Mansfield, died. He was eminent as a lawyer, and dignified as a judge; 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 outrivaled his predecessors, and has not been excelled by any successor in the high office he held.

1797. Battle of Larvis, between the Austrians and the French under Joubert, in which the former were defeated, after an obstinate battle. Austrian loss 2,000 k., 4,000 taken.

1799. BONAPARTE opened the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, in Palestine.

1799. Battle of Pfullendorf, in Germany, in which the French under Jourdan sustained the attack of the Austrians under the archduke, who had the advantage in point of numbers and artillery, having no less than 300 pieces.

1800. Battle of Heliopolis, Egypt, in which the French under Kleber defeated the Turks under the grand vizier.

1801. The British, under admiral Duckworth, took the island of St. Bartholomews, in the West Indies. It was again restored on the dissolution of the armed neutrality.

1809. The populace rose and plundered the French in the Havana.

1811. MASSENA gave up the command of his army to Marmont, and retired into France.

1811. Birthday of NAPOLEON, duke de Reichstadt, son of the emperor of France. He was christened emperor of Rome.