Part 29

66. The massacre and crucifixion of 3600 Jews took place at Jerusalem, on the 16th Artemisius, (Jiar) under the procuratorship of Gessius Horus.

1546. Paul III excommunicated the bishop of Cologne for heresy in countenancing Lutheranism. The bishop resigned rather than expose his people to the miseries of war.

1548. Evening prayer began to be read in English in king Edward VI's chapel.

1551. A pestilence broke out at Shrewsbury, in England. It reached London in July, and the weekly mortality was upwards of 700. It ravaged the eastern and northern parts of the kingdom till September, when it stopped suddenly.

1564. Birthday of WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, at Stratford-upon-Avon.

1629. The lord treasurer's warrant issued, giving liberty for 60 women and maids, 26 children, and 300 men, with victuals, arms, apparel and tools, 140 cattle, some horses, sheep and goats, to go to America. They sailed in 6 ships, and landed at Naumkeak, in Massachusetts, now Salem, a name which was chosen in place of the aboriginal one, as expressive of the peaceful asylum they found in the American wilderness.

1634. Of seven sailors left by the Dutch on the coast of Greenland, for the purpose of establishing a wintering place, the first one died. These sailors were amply supplied with every article of clothing, provisions and utensils thought necessary or useful in such a situation. A journal was kept by them, by which it appears that on the ninth October they began to make a constant fire to sit by; and soon after it was remarked that they experienced a considerable change in their bodies, with giddiness in their heads. At the time of the death of this man, they were all disabled but one person. This poor wretch continued the journal till the last day of April, when they were praying for a speedy release from their miseries. On the return of their countrymen in the spring, they were all found dead. (See Jan. 14th for a similar event.)

1639. WILLIAM KIEFT having become governor of New Netherland, took the affidavit of sundry persons to the effect that under the administration of his predecessor the public interests had been neglected, and the fortifications allowed to go to decay.

1644. WILLIAM BREWSTER, one of the leading members of the Plymouth colony, died. He possessed a large property in England, which he lost in escaping from ecclesiastical tyranny, and supported himself in Holland by teaching a school.

1662. Three of the judges who condemned Charles I, namely Miles Corbet, John Ohey and John Barstead, were arrested in Holland, and sent to England for execution.

1681. The province of New Jersey offered for sale, at about $25,000. An original letter is still in existence, from the earl of Bath to lord Norbury, since sold by auction as a curious manuscript, containing a proposal for the sale, in which it is represented as "a country almost as large as England, belonging to the late George Carteret."

1689. APHARA BEHN (alias _Astrea_) an English authoress, died. At Surinam, where her family resided, she became acquainted with the African prince Oroonooko, on whose story she founded a novel, which Southey has dramatized. Her works consist of novels, poems and 17 plays.

1743. CORNELIUS VAN BYNKERSHOEK, an eminent Dutch lawyer, died. He published several law works, which display great talents and research, and is characterized as "one of the most learned among modern civilians."

1746. Battle of Culloden, which terminated the Scottish rebellion. The forces of the pretender were defeated, with the loss of 1,200 slain, by the English under the duke of Cumberland, second son of George II, and the pretender himself compelled to flee to France.

1781. Naval action in the harbor of St. Jago, Cape de Verde, between the British fleet under Johnstone, and the French under admiral Suffrein, in which the latter were compelled to retire with considerable loss.

1788. GEORGE LOUIS LECLERC, count de Buffon, died. He was the greatest naturalist of the 18th century. His _Natural History_, to which he devoted fifty years of his life, was published in 36 vols. and opened a new science to the world.

1796. SAMUEL PINNOCK, a negro, died at Kingston, Jamaica, aged 125.

1796. Battle of Cera; the entrenched Piedmontese camp attacked by the French under Augereau and Joubert; the former fought all day, and then evacuated their camp.

1799. Battle of Esdrelon and Mount Tabor; the Syrian army defeated by Bonaparte, with the loss of 5,000 men.

1811. A plantation at Port-Royal mountains, Jamaica, on which were about thirty acres of coffee, sunk down and disappeared, so that only the ridge of the house was discernible.

1812. HUGH WHITE, founder of Whitestown, near Utica, New York, died.

1813. Part of the British squadron anchored off Petapsco river, within sight of Baltimore.

1814. CHARLES PHILIP, count d'Artois, declared the Capetan, or French monarchy, to be re-established.

1820. ARTHUR YOUNG, a celebrated English agriculturist, died. He traveled extensively in Great Britain and on the continent with a view to the improvement of husbandry. Besides his works on agriculture he published his tours.

1823. WILLIAM ASPINWALL, an American physician, died, aged 80. He was a surgeon in the revolutionary army, and was famous for his skill in the treatment of smallpox. He erected hospitals, where he received patients to be inoculated for the disease; but on becoming convinced of the efficacy of vaccination, he closed them.

1830. Earthquake in Central America; several towns destroyed.

1831. National congress of Belgium dissolved.

1832. MUZIO CLEMENTINO, the father of pianoforte music, died in England. He was born at Rome, 1752, and practiced in his profession as a musician with great applause in the principal cities of Europe.

1840. WILLIAM PITTS, an eminent sculptor, died at London, aged 50.

1847. JOHN BURNHAM, aged 93, and his wife, Mehitable, aged 90, died in Essex, Mass., and were buried in one grave. Two days previous Benjamin Burnham, aged 92, died at the same place. They were the three oldest inhabitants of that town.

1854. The city of San Salvador was wholly destroyed by an earthquake, causing the loss, in less than one minute, of more than 200 lives, and four millions worth of property.

1854. The ship Powhatan, from Havre for New York, having on board 311 emigrants, went ashore in a gale on Long Beach, near Egg Harbor, was totally wrecked, and not a single passenger was saved.

1856. THACHER MAGOUN, a noted American ship builder, died, aged 81. He laid the first keel of a ship at Midford, Mass., in 1802, and during half a century built a fleet.

APRIL 17.

1013. ABDULLAH, a Moorish historian, was killed at the taking of Cordova, his native city.

1421. An inundation of the rivers at Dort, in Holland, which swept away 100,000 persons, and destroyed 72 villages.

1434. The ice broke up at Paris, which had continued from the first of January. Snow fell in Holland forty days successively during the same winter.

1492. The Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, signed at Granada their grant to Columbus, constituting him hereditary admiral and viceroy over all the islands and continents he should discover during his expedition, with the benefit of a tithe of the profits arising from the merchandise found within his admiralty.

1537. The river Simeto, in Sicily, overflowed its banks, and destroyed 500 houses with the neighboring castles, and all the wood was uprooted by a storm.

1575. WILLIAM DAVENANT, a learned German, died. He was the friend and confidant of the leaders of the reformation, as well as of every man of learning and consequence of the age. His works are numerous.

1610. HENRY HUDSON sailed on his last voyage.

1613. A "prodigious monster" born at Adlington, England, with two bodies joined to one back. It was described by a reverend gentleman, in a pamphlet entitled _Strange News_.

1670. ERIC DANIEL ACHRELIUS, a Swedish philosopher and professor at Abo, died, aged 66.

1688. GEORGE VILLIERS, duke of Buckingham, died. He distinguished himself as a statesman, a poet and dramatic writer; but his character both in public and private life was extremely reprehensible.

1697. CHARLES XI, king of Sweden, died; successful as a warrior and accounted a just prince.

1704. _The Boston News Letter_, the first newspaper printed in the North American colonies, was commenced at Boston, by John Campbell, who was a bookseller and postmaster, and printed by B. Green.

1711. JOSEPH I, 15th emperor of Austria, died. He was crowned king of Hungary, 1687; elected king of the Romans, 1690, and succeeded to the empire of Germany, 1705.

1761. BENJAMIN HOADLEY, bishop of Winchester, died, aged 85. He was a great controversialist, and started a question which occupied the press a number of years. His works comprise 4 volumes folio.

1765. Lord BYRON convicted before the house of peers in London of manslaughter in slaying Mr. Chaworth in a duel. Being a privileged peer, burning in the hand was dispensed with, and he was discharged on the payment of fees.

1770. Great illumination of the city of London, on account of the liberation of the celebrated politician, Mr. Wilkes, from prison.

1777. HENRY WOODWARD, a celebrated English comedian and harlequin, died, aged 60. His death was occasioned by an accident as he was jumping upon a table in the character of Scrub!

1780. Engagement between the British fleet under Rodney, and the French, admiral De Guichen, in the West Indies. The French took shelter under Guadaloupe, where the British were too much crippled to follow.

1784. Universal religious equality created by law in New York.

1790. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, the American printer, statesman and philosopher, died. He was born at Boston, 1706, and went to Philadelphia at an early age, where he spent the remainder of his life. His public career is well known; his private life, written by himself, is full of counsel, and cautions, and examples of prudence and economy, and is the largest work he ever composed.

1794. The Russians expelled from Warsaw by the Poles.

1796. The French convention decreed that all printers of journals should be personally liable for the contents of their papers, as well as the hawkers, sellers and posters of periodical papers.

1816. An act for improving the internal navigation of the state of New York, embracing the Erie and Champlain canals, became a law. Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Samuel Young, Joseph Ellison, and Myron Holley, were created commissioners, and seventy thousand dollars appropriated to the purpose.

1817. Seven Luddites hanged at Leicester, England. Luddites was a name given to malcontents who went about destroying labor-saving machinery.

1830. Navigation of the Black sea opened to American vessels.

1834. IVAN PETROVITCH MARTOS, died; formerly director of the academy of fine arts at St. Petersburg, and one of the most eminent sculptors of the age. His works are found in the principal cities of Russia.

1835. WILLIAM HENRY IRELAND died. He rendered himself notorious by an attempt to impose on society some dramatic compositions of his own, as relics of those of Shakspeare. He confessed himself the author, and fully exonerated his father who had been implicated in the fraud.

1837. JOSEPH ANDERSON, an American statesman, died at Washington, aged 80. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and served in the New Jersey line throughout the revolutionary war.

1837. HENRY VOSE died at Woodville, Mississippi, of small pox. He was distinguished at the West Point school as a proficient in mathematics, and was subsequently connected with the press in Mississippi, to which he contributed extensively in geography, statistics and history.

1837. United States sloop of war Natchez captured a Mexican brig of war, after having made a formal demand upon the Mexican authorities to release six American vessels which had been illegally captured.

1838. JOHN REILAY died at Troy, aged 104.

1843. ALEXANDER PROUDFIT, pastor of the Associate reformed church at Salem, Washington co., N. Y., and secretary of the New York Colonization society, died, aged 75.

1849. The steamer General Pike burnt on the Mississippi, when Col. Butler of Texas, with several others, perished in the flames.

1850. JAMES THOM, the sculptor, died at New York.

1852. ETIENNE MAURICE GERARD died in Paris, aged 74. He entered the army in 1791, and was engaged in the battles of Fleurus and Austerlitz, and in those of the disastrous Russian campaign; became a marshal and peer of France, and twice held the place of minister of war.

1854. Riot at Saginaw, Michigan; some 300 armed men attempted to burn the jail, and rescue certain prisoners. The sheriff and others were killed.

1854. The Winchester, an emigrant ship from Liverpool for Boston, was wrecked, and a large number of passengers lost.

1855. A new planet of the eleventh magnitude was discovered by Luther, at the observatory of Bilk, near Dusseldorf.

1855. Petropaulowski deserted by its inhabitants, and its fortifications destroyed, and what stores could not be removed were burned.

1856. The peace conference at Paris terminated, for the settlement of the war in the Crimea between Russia on the one side, and England, France and Turkey on the other.

APRIL 18.

515 B. C. The Jewish passover, a festival in commemoration of the destruction of the first born of the Egyptians, while the houses of the Jews were spared, was celebrated in the new temple.

1551. NICHOLAS UDALL obtains a patent to print the works of Peter Martyr and the English Bible.

1552. JOHN LELAND, styled the father of antiquaries, died in London. He applied himself to his favorite pursuit with so much ardor as to impair his reason. He was the most accomplished writer of the age.

1556. LEWIS ALEMANNI, a Florentine statesman, died. He was at the head of the faction that sought to expel the Medici; but finding himself unable to keep his popularity, he fled to France, where he was employed as a diplomatist.

1587. JOHN FOX, the martyrologist, died, aged 70. His attention was early turned to the reformation, and he studied the early writers with so much devotion that his seclusion and frequent absence from church excited the persecution of his enemies, and occasioned him a great deal of misfortune.

1593. Shakspeare's poem of _Venus Adonis_ entered in the books at Stationer's Hall.

1610. ROBERT PARSONS, an English Jesuit, died at Rome. His abilities procured him the patronage of the pope, and he was employed in educating missionaries to convert protestants in England. He possessed the elements of turbulence and intrigue to a great extent, but his operations were entirely unsuccessful.

1630. Manors in America created.

1640. PETER KIRSTENIUS, a German physician, died at Upsal. He applied himself with great assiduity to literature and science, acquired 26 languages, and published among other things an Arabic grammar.

1676. Sudbury, Mass., attacked by the Narragansetts. Several houses and barns were burnt, and a small party who had hastened from Concord to their relief were intercepted and cut off. Another party of 50, sent from Boston for the relief of Marlborough, which the Indians had totally destroyed the day before, went in pursuit of the enemy, were drawn into an ambush and suddenly surrounded by a body of 500. The gallant leader and his brave band fought with desperate valor to the last man: but they fell a prey to the numbers, the artifice, and the bravery of their enemies. The Indians lost about 120.

1689. Sir EDMUND ANDROS, governor of Massachusetts, seized and imprisoned by the people, and the old magistrates reinstated. This revolution was brought about after the colonists had borne the impositions of the new administration about three years, on the circulation of a rumor that a massacre was intended by the governor's guards.

1689. GEORGE JEFFREYS, baron Wem, the infamous lord chancellor under James II, died. He was never formally admitted to the bar, yet continued to practice unrestrained until he attained the highest employments in the law. He was one of the advisers and promoters of all the oppressive and arbitrary measures of the reign of James II, till the revolution transferred him to the tower, where he died.

1710. ALEXANDER LAINEZ, a French poet, died. His pieces possess great vivacity and elegance.

1710. Four Indian chiefs from eastern New England and Canada, arrived at London and were carried in the royal coaches to their audience with the queen.

1768. Madame BONTEMS, a French poetess, died at Paris. She was respected for her wit and knowledge; she published a translation of Thompson's _Seasons_.

1781. British evacuated Camden, S. C., after burning the jail, mill, several houses, the greater part of their baggage and stores, and a large quantity of private stores. They left 31 American and 58 British soldiers, and 3 officers, all too badly wounded to be removed.

1782. Naval action between the French and British fleets, in which Rodney of England defeated and took prisoner Count de Grasse of France.

1791. LOUIS XVI and the royal family arrested by the populace, while on their way to St. Cloud, and compelled to return to Paris.

1794. CHARLES PRATT, earl of Camden, died, aged 80. He was an eminent English statesman and judge, and particularly distinguished himself by his animation and eloquence in parliament.

1794. JEAN JOSEPH DE LABORDE, a wealthy French merchant, guillotined. At the breaking out of the American revolution, he alone furnished the government with twelve million livres in gold at Brest, which enabled the expedition under Rochambeau to set sail. He sustained an admirable character and bestowed immense sums for charitable and benevolent objects. He fell a sacrifice to the fury of the revolution, at the age of 70, for no offence but that of being rich.

1796. SIDNEY SMITH was taken prisoner on the French coast, and sent strongly guarded to Paris.

1797. Austria made peace with France, ceding the Netherlands, free navigation of the Rhine, &c., to France.

1802. ERASMUS DARWIN, an English poet, died. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and first appeared before the world as a poet in 1781, by the publication of the _Botanical Garden_. He has left behind him the character of an able man of great eccentricity. His publications tended to materialism, and although popular for a time, have nearly fallen into oblivion.

1831. JOHN ABERNETHY, an eminent English surgeon, died. During his studies he was remarkable rather for the oddity of his conversation and manners, than for any indications of genius; and passed by the name of the _ostler_, on account of his attending the lectures in the dress of a groom. His medical and surgical works are numerous, and his eccentricity was proverbial.

1838. Enactment of the New York general banking law.

1842. CHARLES BELL, a distinguished medical author, and brother to the anatomist, John Bell, died at Edinburgh.

1847. The American army carried the heights of Cero Gordo with much loss, but took many prisoners.

APRIL 19.

481 B. C. An eclipse of the sun noticed by Herodotus.

1110. ROBERT, abbot of Molesme, founder of the Cistersians, died. The Cistersian monks allotted several hours of the day to copying books, or sacred studies and manual labor. (See March 28, 1134.)

1390. ROBERT II, of Scotland, died, aged 84. He was the first of the house of Stuart who reigned, and was crowned in 1371. On the accession of Richard II of England a war commenced which continued during the greater part of his reign.

1529. The elector of Saxony, marquis of Brandenburg, landgrave of Hesse, dukes of Lunenburg, prince of Anhalt, together with 14 imperial cities, entered a solemn protest against the decree of the diet of Spires condemning their nonconformity to the Romish church by abolishing the mass, &c., declaring the decree unjust and impious. Hence they were distinguished by the name of _protestants_.

1560. PHILIP MELANCHTHON, a celebrated German divine, died. He was a coadjutor with Luther in the reformation, and one of the wisest and greatest men of his age.

1593. GILES BAYS died; a celebrated Parisian printer, and the first after Ramas to make a distinction between j & i and u & v in printing.

1598. HENRY IV of France published the memorable edict of Nantes, by which protestantism was tolerated in his dominions.

1608. THOMAS SACKVILLE, an English statesman and poet, died. He distinguished himself as a writer by the tragedy of _Gorboduc_, the first regular play on the English stage. As a statesman he has left a fair character.

1618. THOMAS BASTARD died, a poet and preacher of England, of considerable learning and ability.

1669. GEORGE BATE, an English physician, died. He had the talent and address to keep his situation as court physician to Charles I, Cromwell and Charles II. He wrote an account of the civil wars in Latin.

1684. The Synod of Edinburgh changed the year of confirmation for children from 8 to 16 years.

1689. CHRISTINA, queen of Sweden, died. She resigned the sceptre, 1654, became a catholic, and resided at Rome. She was a woman of great abilities and learning, and corresponded with the learned men of the day in different languages.

1689. The toleration act, so famous among dissenters and others in England, was passed.

1710. The 5 Mohawk chiefs, who were taken to England by Col. Schuyler, attended an audience of great state with the queen, and made a speech.

1739. NICHOLAS SAUNDERSON, an English mathematician, died. He lost his sight from smallpox, at the age of one year; notwithstanding which he acquired a knowledge of Greek and Latin, pursued his studies with the assistance of friends, and was sent to Cambridge University, where he became acquainted with Newton, and was finally chosen professor of mathematics. His eminence in the science of certainties has rarely been equaled.

1747. THOMAS COXETER, an English antiquary, died. He was a faithful and industrious collector of old English literature, amassed materials for a biography of the English poets, and assisted Ames in his _History of English Typography_.

1751. JOHN BANKS, an English author, died. He was originally a weaver's apprentice.

1751. LA CAILLE arrived at the cape of Good Hope, for the purpose of observing the southern hemisphere. He remained there three years, during which period he determined the exact position of ten thousand stars, and fixed the situation of the isles of France and Bourbon.

1765. While at dinner with his family at Redriffe, in England, a blacksmith was killed by a cannon ball projected from an old cannon thrown into a neighboring furnace for fusion.

1775. Battle of Lexington, which commenced the revolutionary war. About 800 British grenadiers and light infantry, proceeding to destroy the military stores at Concord, fell in with about 70 militia, upon whom they fired and killed 8. The British proceeded to Concord, where they partially effected their purpose, but were compelled to retreat before the gathering provincials, although reinforced by 900 men and 2 pieces of cannon. In this excursion the British lost 65 killed, 180 wounded, and 28 prisoners. The provincials lost 88 killed, wounded and missing.

1779. Col. VAN SCHAICK marched from fort Schuyler and destroyed Onondaga, N. Y., killed 12 Indians, took 34 prisoners, together with a large quantity of stores, arms, horses, &c. He returned without losing a man.

1782. Holland acknowledged the independence of the United States.

1783. Cessation of hostilities was proclaimed in the American army, just eight years from the day on which the war commenced. The loss of lives to the Americans during this war was estimated at 70,000 men, vast numbers of whom died on board of prison ships; not less than 11,000 died in the Jersey prison ship alone.

1787. Dr. HERSCHEL observed three lunar volcanoes.