Part 3

1738. JEAN BAPTIST LABAT, a missionary and traveler, died. He was born at Paris 1663, and became a Dominican priest in Norway, where he taught mathematics and philosophy also. In 1693 he embarked for Martinique as a missionary; and during several voyages in service of the mission, visited all the Antilles. When the English attacked the island of Guadaloupe, he rendered his country important services as an engineer. He afterwards traveled much in Europe, and published his travels. His voyage to the West Indies has been translated into several languages, and is a truly scientific work.

1763. Unsuccessful and very disastrous attack by two English ships on Buenos Ayres. The commodore and nearly 300 of the crew were drowned.

1766. The wild man PETER taken in the Hartz forest and presented to George II, was brought from Cheshunt and shewn to George III and his queen. Like Shakespeare's Caliban, he could bring wood and water but not articulate any language.

1777. The American army, under Gen. Washington, went into winter quarters at Morristown, N. J.

1781. ARNOLD detached Lieut. Col. Simcoe, from Richmond to Westham, Va., who destroyed the cannon foundry and a quantity of public stores which had been removed from Richmond.

1785. The Halsewell, East Indiaman, Capt. Richard Pearce, wrecked on the island of Purbeck; of 240 persons but 74 were saved.

1794. The duke of Brunswick resigned his command as generalissimo of the coalition against France.

1795. French frigate La Pique, 33 guns, captured off Marigalante by the British frigate Blanche, Capt. Faulkner, who was shot through the heart; also 7 of his crew killed and 21 wounded. La Pique had 76 killed, 113 wounded, and 30 were lost when her mast went overboard.

1810. JAMES RICHARD DACRES died of a fall from his horse. He was vice-admiral of the Red, and father of the Capt. Dacres captured by Hull.

1813. ALEXANDER issued his ukase at Wilna, directing the foundation stone of a new church to be instantly laid in Moscow, dedicated to _Christ our Savior_, as a perpetual monument to future generations of the deliverance of Russia from the French, and the devotion of his people.

1816. FRANCIS NORODSKY, a Polish gentleman, died at Warsaw, aged 125. The Polish government allowed him a pension of 3000 florins, which the emperor Alexander continued till his death.

1817. General THOMAS died, at Milledgeville, Georgia, of cancer in the mouth.

1823. The siege of Missolonghi raised. Mavrocordato, the commander in chief, had thrown himself into the town on the 5th of November with 380 men, and 22 Suliots under Marco Botzaris, and though almost destitute of artillery and ammunition, defended it against the Turkish forces. On the 23d November it was relieved by sea, and the enemy were repulsed in several assaults, when they finally abandoned the walls.

1831. Died at Geneva, RODOLPHE KREUTZER, a distinguished violinist and musical composer.

1836. ABRAHAM VAN VECHTEN died at Albany, aged 75. He was a highly respected man, an eminent lawyer, and one of the fathers of the New York bar.

1839. A tremendous gale or hurricane in the west of England, which did great damage at Liverpool.

1840. Madame D'ARBLAY, the well known novelist, Miss Burney, died at Bath. Lord Chancellor Thurlow said her _Cecilia_ was worth all the books in his library.

1841. Great freshet in the Hudson river and tributaries.

1849. GEORGE SINNET, a native of Germany, the last survivor of Gen. Wolfe's army, died at Brighton, Nova Scotia, aged 120.

1854. Russians defeated at Citale, near Kalafat, with a loss of 2500 men.

JANUARY 7.

1328. EDWARD II of England deposed by parliament, and his son, Edward III, proclaimed king.

1558. Calais, in France, retaken by the French after a short siege of one week, having been in the possession of the English 200 years, during which it had become a thriving place, and the seat of a considerable trade in wool.

1610. GALILEI discovered the satellites of Jupiter.

1657. THEOPHILUS EATON, first governor of the colony at New Haven, died. Before coming to America he was employed by the king as an agent at the court of Denmark. He was one of the original patentees of Massachusetts. On the settlement of New Haven he was chosen governor, for which office his integrity, dignity and wisdom peculiarly fitted him, and which he filled till his death.

1681. The commons of England resolved that till a bill be passed, excluding the duke of York from the throne, no supplies could be granted without danger to the state.

1692. The philosophical ROBERT BOYLE died leaving a sum of money for a monthly sermon against atheism.

1715. FRANCOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTTE FENELON, died. He preached his first sermon at the age of 15; and he was distinguished for learning and piety. The celebrated romance, _Telemaque_, was published against his will by the treachery of his servant, and involved him in difficulties with the king, who considered it a satire upon his reign. During the revolution of 1793 his coffin was dug up to furnish lead for bullets. In 1819 a monument was erected to his memory by public subscription, and in 1826 a statue by the sculptor David was placed at Cambray. The age in which he lived could not appreciate his worth.

1740. A rock fell on a large number of young people while at play on the first Monday of the year, at Kirkaldy, Scotland.

1758. ALLAN RAMSAY, a Scottish poet and author of the _Gentle Shepherd_, died.

1767. THOMAS CLAP, an American mathematician and natural philosopher, died. He graduated at Harvard college, and by singular industry made great acquisitions in almost every branch of learning. In 1739 he was elected president of Yale college, and continued in that office till the year before his death. He constructed the first orrery in America.

1779. LAFAYETTE embarked at Boston, in the frigate Alliance, for France.

1779. _The Mirror_, appeared at Edinburgh, to which Mackenzie the novelist was a principal contributor.

1782. The Bank of North America opened for business in Philadelphia. It was the first bank regularly established in America.

1785. Mr. BLANCHARD, the æronaut, accompanied by Mr. Jeffries, an American gentleman, made the bold attempt to cross the British channel, from Dover to Calais, in a balloon filled with inflammable air, then beginning to be used. They left the English coast at 10 o'clock, and at half-past two, reached the French side, a distance of twenty-three miles.

1798. The French army under General Menard, entered Switzerland with a design to revolutionize the cantons after the model of the French republic.

1806. PAULINUS, better known as John Philip Werdin, died at Rome. He was one of the first Europeans who acquired a knowledge of the Sanscrit language.

1807. British order in council prohibiting neutrals from trading from one port of France or her allies to another, or to any other where Great Britain was refused that privilege.

1811. Ship Rapid, of Boston, Capt. Dorr, with $280,000 on board, totally lost off the coast of New Holland; captain and crew saved.

1812. JOSEPH DENNIE, an American editor, died. He was born at Boston 1768, and educated for the bar; but his literary taste and habits interfered with his profession, which he resigned and established at Boston a weekly paper called _The Tablet_; and subsequently edited the _Farmer's Museum_ at Walpole, in which he published a series of popular essays under the signature of The Lay Preacher. He was afterwards editor of the _Port Folio_ at Philadelphia, where his superior endowments would have procured him an independence, but for some unfortunate propensities which deprived him of health and happiness.

1817. First paper in Chautauque co., N. Y.

1822. Liberia in Africa colonized under the direction of Dr. Ayres. Cape Montserado with a large tract of adjoining country was purchased of the natives by the American colonization society, and a settlement commenced by 28 colonists; in six years the number had increased to 1200 under the care of Ashmun.

1830. THOMAS LAWRENCE, a distinguished English portrait painter, died. By industry and force of talent he rose in his profession, till on the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds he was made painter to the king, and in 1815 was knighted. His income for the last twenty years of his life was from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds; but he died poor, owing to his purchasing the best productions at the most extravagant prices.

1841. LOUIS EDWARD BIGNON, Napoleon Bonaparte's historian, died.

1843. Mrs. WINGATE, died at Stratham, N. H., aged nearly 101 years.

1850. JOHN H. KYAN, a native of England, and inventor of Kyanized wood, died at New York.

1850. SAMUEL MILLER, an eminent American theologian and sometime president of Princeton college, died, aged 91.

JANUARY 8.

1167. EDGAR, king of Scotland, died, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Alexander I.

1536. CATHARINE OF ARRAGON, died; queen of Henry VIII and mother of Mary, queen of England.

1642. GALILEO GALILEI, the astronomer, died, aged 78.

1676. French Admiral Duquesne defeated the Dutch and Spanish fleets under De Ruyter, who had both legs shattered.

1704. LAURENTIO BELLINI, a Florentine anatomist, died, aged 61. He was held in great estimation by prince and pontiff. His theory and practice are out of date now, and his works also, in consequence of the vast improvements in medicine and surgery since his day.

1775. JOHN BASKERVILLE, an English printer and type founder, of rare celebrity, died. As a philanthropist he was also well known to large circles.

1777. British evacuated Elizabethtown, N. J.; Gen. Maxwell fell on their rear, and took 70 prisoners and a schooner loaded with baggage.

1780. British Admiral Rodney captured 22 sail of Spanish ships. One of these, the Guipuscaio, of 64 guns, was named the Prince William, from a son of George III who was in the action.

1784. Whitestown, N. Y., settled about this time.

1795. French ship Esperance, 22 guns, captured off Cape Henry by British ship Argonaut, Capt. Ball.

1796. SAMUEL HUNTINGDON, governor of Connecticut, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, died aged 64.

1796. French took by surprise the British camp at Mount William, island of St. Vincent, West Indies. British lost 54 killed, Brig. Gen. Strutt and 109 wounded, and 200 missing.

1799. French privateer cutter La Rancune, from St. Maloes, captured, by the British cutter Pigmy, Capt. Shepheard, who at the same time recaptured two British brigs, prizes to La Rancune.

1815. Battle of New Orleans. The city was attacked by the British under Packenham, consisting of 15,000 disciplined troops, and was defended by 6000 militia and volunteers, under Gen. Jackson, prepared to die in its defence. The result was a brilliant victory over the British. Packenham was killed, and 5,000 men surrendered--the rest fled to their vessels. The loss of the Americans was trifling, 13 killed and wounded, that of the British 2,600.

1815. Total loss of the Americans in this war up to the last battle, 1344 killed, 2673 wounded, 651 missing, 1351 taken prisoners.

1817. Two shocks of earthquake at Charleston, S. C, and at Savannah, Ga.

1825. ELI WHITNEY, inventor of the cotton gin, died.

1848. The lives of thirty persons lost by the bursting of the boilers of the steamer Blue Ridge on the Ohio river. The boilers had been in use nine years.

1849. The pope threatened all who should take part in electing a new assembly, with excommunication.

1850. First ship in the United States dry dock at Brooklyn.

1853. CHARLES HUMPHREY ATHERTON, an eminent New Hampshire lawyer, died, aged 79.

1854. WILLIAM CARR BERRESFORD, a distinguished British field officer and nobleman, died, aged 85.

1854. Metropolitan hall and Lafarge hotel, two of the finest buildings in New York destroyed by fire.

JANUARY 9.

1514. ANNE OF BRETAGNE, queen of France died, aged 37.

1584. WILLIAM CARTER, a daring London printer, hanged, boweled, and quartered at Tyburn, for printing lewd pamphlets, popish and others, and particularly a _Treatise on Schisme_.

1596. FRANCIS DRAKE, the English navigator, died. He served with distinction under his relative Sir J. Hawkins; and having lost all his property in an action with the Spaniards, he conceived an inveterate hatred against them. He signalized himself in the destruction of the Spanish Armada; and finally died on the coast of America in a war against the Spanish settlements. He made the first voyage round the world. To him is attributed the introduction of the potatoe into Europe. The day of his death is differently stated.

1621. The Plymouth colonists commenced the erection of their projected town, which they built in two rows of houses for greater security. The same street still exists, leading to the water side.

1658. Birthday of NICHOLAS COUSTON, a famous French sculptor, from whose labors the art of statuary received a noble impulse. He died at Paris 1733.

1757. BERNARD LE BOVIER DE FONTENELLE, a French author of great repute, died. He was born at Rouen 1657; his mother was the sister of Corneille. Although his works are now obsolete in consequence of the advancement of science, no learned man exerted a more decided influence on the age in which he lived than Fontenelle.

1766. THOMAS BIRCH, an English historian and biographer, died. He was of quaker parentage, and by unwearied industry educated himself. His literary labors were prodigious, which early rising and a strict economy of time enabled him to perform. He bequeathed his library to the British museum; it contained an incredible number of MSS. in his own handwriting.

1770. CATHARINE TALBOT, authoress of _Reflections on the Seven Days of the Week_, and a contributor to the _Rambler_, died.

1779. JOHN REINHOLD FOSTER, author of _Northern Voyages_, and who circumnavigated the globe with Cook, died in his 70th year.

1788. Connecticut, the fifth state which adopted the constitution of the United States without amendments.

1792. Treaty of peace signed at Jassy between Russia and Turkey.

1793. MR. BLANCHARD, the French æronaut, made the first balloon ascension in the United States, at Philadelphia, in the presence of General Washington.

1795. Thiel in Holland taken by the French under Macdonald.

1799. The habeas corpus act suspended in Great Britain.

1805. NOBLE WIMBERLY JONES, a revolutionary character, died. He came to America under Gen. Oglethorpe, and at the breaking out of the war was a practicing physician in Savannah. He was elected to the Georgia legislature a number of years and then resumed his practice again, at the solicitation of many of his former patients.

1809. Congress passed laws to enforce the embargo.

1810. The Diocesan court of the officiality of Paris pronounced a nullity of marriage between Bonaparte and Josephine.

1811. The Spanish cortes published a manifesto declaring their determination not to enter into a treaty with Bonaparte until his troops should have entirely evacuated the Peninsula.

1811. The whole militia of New Orleans ordered into immediate service by Gov. Claiborne to suppress a negro insurrection.

1812. Valentia in Spain surrendered to the French under Suchet, with 374 cannons, 18000 troops and stores of all kinds.

1813. British manifesto against the United States.

1815. Truce between Gen. Jackson and Gen. Lambert to bury the dead of the battle of the previous day.

1815. The British began the bombardment of the American fort St. Philip, defended by Major Overton, which was kept up daily until the 17th.

1816. A society instituted at Trenton, N. J., for forming a colony of blacks.

1818. OLD JOHN died. During eighty years, from the premiership of Walpole to that of Liverpool, he acted as messenger in the Royal printing office, London. He styled himself King's messenger.

1827. ELIZABETH OGILVY BENGER, an English authoress, died. In her 13th year she wrote a poem, and afterwards attempted the drama. Her reputation is based upon her _Historical Biographies_, which were originally published in 10 vols.

1828. FRANCIS DE NEUFCHATEAU, a French statesman, died. He was born 1750, and in his 13th year published a volume of poems, which indicated more for the future than was realized. He took part in the affairs of the revolution, but was condemned for his moderation. Napoleon took him into favor; his pursuits were chiefly literary, however.

1843. Great fire at Port-au-Prince; 600 houses burnt and property to an immense amount destroyed. The blacks who inhabited the mountains rushed down and completed the work of destruction, by firing and plundering such houses as the fire had not reached, and committing every sort of excess.

1854. The Astor library in New York opened to the public.

JANUARY 10.

1640. MAURICE ABBOT, a distinguished London merchant, died. He acquired great consequence by his own efforts in commercial affairs, and was employed in 1624 in establishing the settlement of Virginia. At the time of his death he was mayor of London.

1645. WILLIAM LAUD, archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded on Tower hill, aged 70. Sentenced to be hung for political misdemeanors, he was pardoned by the king; but parliament overruled the pardon, and substituted the _privilege_ of being beheaded instead of hanging. He acquired so great an ascendency over Charles as to lead him, by the facility of his temper, into a conduct which proved fatal to that prince, and by which he lost his kingdom, and met the same fate four years after at Whitehall.

1661. A proclamation issued by the king of England prohibiting conventicles for religious meetings.

1661. The fifth monarchy men, headed by Venner, a wine cooper, arose to proclaim "King Jesus against all the powers of the earth." But King Charles's power was found too strong for them.

1754. EDWARD CAVE died, an English printer and founder of the _Gentleman's Magazine_. When his indentures expired as a printer's apprentice, he was employed in the post office, and occupied his leisure in writing for the newspapers. In 1731 was first published the Magazine, and it has continued to this day, more than a century, amid the crowd of magazines which have perished around it; and is one of the most successful and lucrative periodicals that history has upon record.

1756. FRANCOIS, marquis de Beauharnois, died at Paris. He was a member of the national assembly, and took part in the king's favor; subsequently joined the army under Conde; and was banished by Napoleon in 1807. The heroic wife of Lavalette was his daughter.

1757. The British under Admiral Watson took by assault, Houghley, situated about thirty miles above Calcutta.

1761. EDWARD BOSCAWEN, the English admiral, died. He was born 1711, and entered the navy at an early age. He acquired honorable distinction under Vernon, and afterwards signalized himself in many important contests with the French, in which he had the singular fortune to take the French commander, M. Hoquait, a prisoner three times, viz. in 1744, 1747 and 1755. On his return to England in 1759, after destroying the Toulon fleet in the Mediterranean, he was rewarded with a pension of £3000 a year.

1763. CASPER ABEL, a voluminous German historian and antiquary, died.

1765. Stamp Act passed the British Parliament. How little did that body anticipate the consequences that were to follow their decision on that subject.

1776. The New Hampshire convention dissolved itself and assumed legislative powers, chose twelve counselors as an executive branch, and delegates to Congress, which were recognized.

1782. GEORGE COSTARD died. A classical, mathematical and oriental scholar, whose reputation as an author is chiefly derived from a _History of Astronomy_, highly appreciated in Europe.

1791. Vermont, the last of the thirteen original states which composed the Union, adopted the constitution and took her place in the confederacy.

1795. The French frigate Iphigenie, 32 guns, captured by the Spanish fleet off Catalonia.

1797. French sloop Atalante, 16 guns, captured off Scilly by the British frigate Phœbe, 36 guns, Capt. Barlow.

1800. The first soup establishment for the poor was opened at Spitalfields, London.

1806. The Dutch surrendered the cape of Good Hope to the British.

1808. PHILLIPS COSBY, British admiral of the Red, died aged 78.

1809. Samana taken by the British, together with two privateers, and four vessels laden with coffee.

1812. London involved for several hours in impenetrable darkness. The sky, where any light pervaded it, showed the aspect of bronze. It was the effect of a cloud of smoke, which, from the peculiar state of the atmosphere, did not pass off. Were it not for the peculiar mobility of the atmosphere, this city of a hundred thousand chimneys would be scarcely habitable in winter.

1815. The British under Gen. Lambert having abandoned the enterprise on New Orleans began to re-embark their artillery and munitions, preparatory to a general retreat.

1816. The schooner Eliza cast away near Newport; the captain and crew saved by Com. Perry, who with part of the crew of the frigate Java, went five miles in a boat to their relief.

1824. THOMAS EDWARD BOWDITCH, the African traveler, died. He went to Africa at the age of 21, and engaged in a series of expeditions into the country. In 1822 he went out from England with a view of devoting himself to the exploration of the African continent. He had only arrived at the mouth of the Gambia when a disease occasioned by fatigue and anxiety of mind put an end to his existence.

1833. ADRIEN MARIE LEGENDRE, so well known as a profound mathematician, died at Paris. His life work on geometry is much used.

1840. The uniform penny postage commenced in England; the number of letters despatched from London on this day being 112,000; the average, for January, 1839, being 30,000.

1840. Battle between the Russian and Khivian cavalry; the latter commanded by the khan in person were completely routed and pursued to the city of Khiva.

1848. MISS CAROLINE HERSCHEL, member of the Royal astronomical society, London, died at Hanover.

1855. MARY RUSSEL MITFORD died, aged 68; a distinguished English authoress.

1856. THOMAS H. PERKINS, a wealthy and liberal Boston merchant, died aged 89. His was the first American firm engaged in the China trade.

JANUARY 11.

395. THEODOSIUS THE GREAT, emperor of Rome, died. He was born about the year 346, and on coming to the throne distinguished himself by his orthodoxy, and his zeal against heresy and paganism. His public and private virtues, which procured him the name of _The Great_, will scarcely excuse the fierceness of his intolerance, or the barbarity of his anger and revenge.

1569. The first English lottery drawn at London. It continued day and evening four months. The prizes were money, plate and merchandise. It had been advertised two years at the time it took place.

1698. PETER, the czar of Russia, arrived in England and wrought as a mechanic in the dockyard at Deptford, as well as in the workshops of various mechanics, with view of carrying the English arts into his own country. He was well received by William III.

1751. A globular bottle of glass was made at Leith measuring 40 by 42 inches, the largest ever made in Britain.

1753. SIR HANS SLOANE, the eminent English naturalist, died, aged 93. He was born at Killileagh in Ireland; studied medicine in London, and settled there in the practice of his profession. He was the second learned man whom science tempted to America. His museum, composed of the rarest productions of nature, he bequeathed to the public, on condition of the payment of £20,000 annually to his family, and was the foundation of the British Museum.

1775. The first provincial congress of South Carolina met at Charleston.