Part 54

1656. Battle of Warsaw, which continued three days.

1675. The Narragansets, posted in a swamp were attacked by the colonists and defeated. They retreated to their recesses, where they remained till they discovered that it was determined to surround and starve them out, when they found means of escape.

1694. A body of 250 Indians under the sieur de Villieu fell with great fury on a village at Oyster river, in New Hampshire, and killed and captivated about a hundred persons, and burnt 20 houses.

1683. Battle under the walls of Vienna; the Turks defeated by the combined armies under John Sobieski of Poland. The vanquished fled with precipitation, leaving behind them the standard of Mahomet.

1705. The duke of MARLBOROUGH defeated the French near Tirelemont, for which victory a thanksgiving was ordered in England.

1761. THOMAS SHERLOCK, an eminent English prelate, died. His controversial works and sermons are well known. His private virtues were adorned with the purest acts of benevolence and humanity.

1775. A party of Americans under col. Ashe entered fort Johnson, on cape Fear river, in the dead of night, and burnt it, with the houses and other buildings. The governor, Martin, retired on board the king's ship Cruzier.

1782. GABRIEL FRANCIS COYER, a French writer, died. He was originally a Jesuit, but abandoned the society for literature. He wrote bagatelles, morals, history, biography, travels, &c., all in a popular style, and translated Blackstone.

1786. JOHN BASEILLAC DE ST. COSME, an eminent lithotomist, died at Paris. His instruments were much used formerly.

1790. ADAM SMITH, a celebrated Scottish philosopher, died. His _Wealth of Nations_ procured him immediate fame and emolument. His _Life of Hume_ marks him a deist.

1792. KOSCIUSKO at the head of 5,000 Poles, gave battle to the Russians, 14,000 in number, and was defeated with the loss of 1,100.

1792. JOHN PAUL JONES died in Paris. He was distinguished as a seaman. Yet though both in the United States and Russian service, he died in neglected poverty.

1794. The French under Moreau took Nieuwpoort, in Belgium; 300 emigrant prisoners taken were shot.

1802. DUMARESQ, a British admiral, died, aged 73. He boasted that he had never employed a physician or a lawyer.

1806. Sale of the Leverian museum concluded. It was pronounced by those who had visited the most celebrated museums of Europe to be superior to any of them. The sale occupied 65 days. It was founded by sir Ashton Lever.

1806. The strong fortress of Gaeta surrendered to the armies of France, after a desperate resistance.

1814. AKIM NICHOLAEVITCH MAKHIMOV, a Russian poet, died. His poem called the _Speaking Monkeys_, composed in derision of Napoleon's attempt to take Moscow, is much admired.

1817. JANE AUSTEN, an English authoress, died. Her writings were principally novels, which have lately been republished.

1820. The first chain bridge in England thrown over the Tweed, captain Brown architect. The river 437 feet wide.

1835. WILLIAM COBBETT, a powerful and original English writer, died. He was editor of the _Register_ more than thirty years, during which time he made himself sufficiently conspicuous as a violent and somewhat fickle politician. He was an extraordinary man, and the oracle of a multitude of his countrymen.

1839. Rev. WILLIAM WHITE, bishop of Pennsylvania, died. He was one of the first elected as chaplain to the United States congress.

1844. JESSE BUSHYHEAD, a person of great distinction among his tribe, and chief justice of the supreme court of the Cherokees, died. He was a correct translator.

1848. The Mexican agitator, PAREDES, defeated by Bustamente at Guanajanto, and totally routed. The belligerent priest, padre Jurauta was captured and immediately shot.

1848. The Indians, in Yucatan, repulsed at all points, and the towns in their possession retaken by the whites. The Indians at this time were waging a war of extermination against the whites.

1853. The Atlantic and St. Lawrence rail road, from Portland to Montreal, was opened throughout its whole length of two hundred and ninety miles.

1854. A tremendous hurricane prevailed at Davenport, Ill., causing great destruction of life and property.

1854. A negro woman died in Virginia, aged 140.

1855. W. R. HENRY, a late captain of the Texas volunteers, issued a proclamation to the people of Texas and the Mexicans, that he and his companions intended to cross the Rio Grande, to aid in overthrowing Santa Anna, and in establishing a government more favorable to the interests of Texas.

JULY 19.

64. The firing of Rome in the reign of Nero is placed by des Vignoles on the 19th July; the day also on which it was sacked by the Senonian Gauls. (See June 18.)

1203. Fall of Constantinople to the Venitian crusaders, when Isaac Angelus, feeble and blind, was solemnly reseated, with his son Alexius, upon the imperial throne.

1242. Battle of Taillebourg, upon the Charente, in France. The French king, at the head of a vast and superior force, carried the bridge, and the English under Henry, the royal palmer, after a desperate stand, gave way, and were driven with rapidity to Saintes.

1333. EDWARD III defeated the Scots at Halidown with great slaughter, which defeat was followed by the surrender of Berwick which Edward annexed to England.

1374. FRANCESCO PETRARCA, the celebrated Italian poet, died, aged 70. His talents and learning contributed greatly to the revival of literature, and he has been justly styled the father of modern poetry.

1573. JOHN CAIUS, an English physician, died. He visited the most learned institutions in Europe to improve himself in his profession, and when he finally settled in London became extremely popular as a practitioner. He endowed a college, which bears his name.

1610. The foundation of the famed and valuable Bodleian library was laid at Oxford.

1629. Quebec capitulated to the English under Louis and Thomas Kerth. This was 130 years before its final conquest by Wolfe.

1693. Battle of Landon in which the confederates were defeated by the French with great slaughter.

1701. The confederated tribes of Indians surrendered to the English, at Albany, their beaver hunting country, lying between lakes Ontario and Erie, to be by them defended for the said confederated Indians, their heirs and successors forever.

1743. WILLIAM SOMERVILLE, an English poet, died. On the completion of his education he settled on his paternal estate, became known as a magistrate and a country gentleman, and devoted his leisure to the muses.

1763. NATHANIEL HOOKE, an English historian, died. He is little known, except by his _History of Rome_, 4 volumes 4to.

1777. Logan's fort, Kentucky, besieged by 200 Indians. The garrison consisting of 16 men, who repelled the savages.

1779. Battle of Paulus Hook; the British garrison surprised and made prisoners by the Americans under general Lee. The commandant of the fort and a few Hessians escaped; 30 were killed and 161 taken. American loss 6 killed or wounded.

1783. JOB ORTON, an excellent English dissenting divine, died; author of many valuable works, among which is a life of Dr. Doddridge.

1794. A revolution commenced at Geneva in Switzerland, headed by two commissioners of the French revolution residing there.

1806. Action off Feroe islands, between British frigate Blanche and French frigate Guerrier, 50 guns, 317 men. The latter was captured in 45 minutes, with the loss of 26 killed, 30 wounded; British loss, 4 wounded. The Guerrier was taken from the British by captain Hull, in 1812.

1808. Battle of Baylen, in Spain; the French under Dupont defeated by the Spaniards. Dupont and 2,600 fell, after a desperate action from 3 o'clock in the morning till noon, when the French sued for terms. A convention was agreed upon, by which they were to lay down their arms, and be conveyed to France; accordingly 14,000 soldiers defiled before the Spanish army, laid down their arms, and all their military accoutrements, and were conducted to Cadiz. The officers were sent home, but the soldiers were placed in hulks, where they remained some years; until the few that survived the miseries of their confinement, driven to despair, cut the cables of their prison-ships, drifted out of the harbor, and were saved by their countrymen then besieging Cadiz.

1810. The king of Prussia issued a decree forbidding American vessels to enter his ports.

1812. Battle at the bridge Aux Canards. 150 volunteers under colonel M'Arthur while reconnoitering fell into an ambush and were fired upon by a party of Indians under Tecumseh. The Indians were routed.

1812. United States brig Nautilus, 12 guns, captured by a squadron of British frigates.

1814. Action off Sandy hook, between the United States privateer Gen. Armstrong and British sloop Henrietta; the latter was captured, laden with stores for the fleet in Chesapeake bay.

1814. MATTHEW FLINDERS, an English navigator, died. He explored a part of the coast of New Holland; but lost his ship in that enterprise, and on his return home was held a captive in the isle of France 6 years, and deprived of his papers.

1824. AUGUSTIN ITURBIDE, emperor of Mexico, shot. He entered the army at a very early age. In 1820 he took up arms for the cause of freedom, and led his army on to a series of splendid victories. He became suddenly popular, and was raised to the throne; but was as suddenly deposed and banished. His execution was occasioned by his return.

1836. LEFEBURE DE CHEVERUS, arch bishop of Bordeaux, died. He came to America after the French revolution, and was consecrated first catholic bishop of Boston, 1810. He was a man of distinguished talents, and extensive scientific and literary acquirements. He returned to France at the invitation of Louis XVIII.

1848. ROBERT SWARTWOUT died; quartermaster general in the war of 1812, and afterwards known as a politician.

1849. HARMANUS BLEECKER, a prominent and universally respected citizen of Albany, died, aged 70. He was minister for the United States at the Hague for several years.

1849. GEORGE TIBBITS of Troy, well known in the councils and commerce of the state of New York, died.

1849. The excavation for the passage of the double track of the Utica and Schenectady rail way through the rock at Little Falls, Herkimer county, New York, was completed. 30,000 yards of granite were taken out and 1,600 kegs of powder consumed in the operation.

1853. The Danish parliament was prorogued, and a fundamental law issued, by which the government became an absolute one.

1854. The insurrection at Madrid (see 17th) triumphed, and the Rivas ministry resigned.

1855. JOSEPH L. FOLSOM, first collector of the customs at San Francisco, died, aged 38. He was educated at West Point, and after serving in Florida, went to California with a New York regiment in 1847. He was reputed the richest man in California.

1857. A fire broke out in Taiefa, Portugal, which spread over an immense district of agricultural country, consuming a vast quantity of standing grain, country houses, barns, &c.

JULY 20.

1322 B. C. The great Canicular cycle of the Egyptians, consisting of 1460 years, began with the sun in Cancer, 15 days after the summer solstice. Its first revolution was just completed with the reign of Adrian, 138 A. D.; its second in the time of Shakspeare, 1598. The famous expedition of the Argonauts, and the foundation of the Pythian games, are events which chronologists have placed _sixty years_ afterwards.

44 B. C. The customary games in memory of Cæsar's victories were exhibited by Octavius upon this day, dedicated to Venus Mater, when he produced the hero's golden spectatorial chair. The anniversary is interesting from the fact of a comet having appeared near the _Great Bear_, which was visible for seven days.

1031. ROBERT (_the Wise_), king of France, died. He refused the crown of the empire and of Italy, satisfied to rule his own subjects, for whose happiness he labored earnestly.

1164. PETER LOMBARD, bishop of Paris, died; called _Master of the Sentences_, from a work of his by that name, which has been ably commented on by succeeding divines.

1546. The emperor CHARLES V placed the protestant confederates under the ban of the empire; whereupon they declared war upon him. (See July 15.)

1553. Lady Jane Grey's _nine days' usurpation_ terminated.

1620. Massacre of the protestants in the Valteline in Switzerland. It began on this day and extended to all the towns of the district; it was a labor of three days.

1650. JOHN PRIDEAUX, an English prelate, died. He rose from the ranks of poverty and dependence to be bishop of Worcester; and sunk back again to his original level rather than compromise with the republicans.

1655. ROBERT BROOKE died; he was the first settler in Patuxent, Maryland.

1691. ADRIAN AUGUSTIN DE BUSSY DELAMET, a French ecclesiastic, died. He was of a noble family, and wrote among other things a _Dictionary of Cases of Conscience_, 2 volumes folio.

1704. PEREGRINE WHITE, the first-born of Plymouth colony, died at Marshfield, aged nearly 84.

1752. JOHN CHRISTOPHER PEPUSCH, an eminent Prussian musician, died in England. His abilities were so early displayed, that at the age of 14 he was employed to teach music to the prince royal at Berlin.

1759. The English general, PRIDEAUX, commanding the enterprise against Niagara, while directing the operations of the siege, was killed by the bursting of a cohorn.

1779. DOUGAL GRAHAM (_the Rhymer_), chronicler of the events of the rebellion of 1741, died.

1788. Action off Hoogland between the Russian fleet of 17 ships, and Swedish fleet of 15. It continued from 5 P. M. till near midnight, and ended in the defeat of the Russians, who had one ship sunk and one of 74 guns and 780 men captured. The Swedish fleet was inferior to the Russian in the size of the vessels as well as in number.

1794. A revolutionary tribunal established at Geneva, in Switzerland; about 2,000 persons arrested; 200 on the proscription list escaped.

1814. General BROWN moved his whole force upon fort George, but not being supported by the fleet on account of Com. Chauncey's illness, fell back on the 22d to Queenstown.

1814. The British fort St. Joseph taken possession of by colonel Croghan.

1814. Privateer general ARMSTRONG arrived at New York, having captured 11 vessels.

1819. JOHN PLAYFAIR, a celebrated Scottish mathematician, died. He was also eminent as a geologist and geographer. His largest work is a system of geography in 5 volumes.

1825. WILLIAM BROWN, a celebrated gem engraver, died. He was first patronized by Catharine of Russia, and subsequently by the king of France; but the storm of the revolution drove him from Paris to London, where he executed many excellent works.

1843. The Chinese city Chin-keang-foo was captured by the British forces under sir H. Pottinger.

1844. JOHN HALSAM, a British author on insanity, died in London.

1852. The obsequies of Henry Clay celebrated with the greatest pomp and magnificence in New York. The city was shrouded in mourning, business was suspended, and the shipping wore their colors at half-mast.

1854. CAROLINE BOWLES, widow of Southey, died at Buckland, England; a poetess of some merit.

1855. A great portion of the village of Chamouni, in Savoy, destroyed by fire.

1857. THOMAS DICK, a Scottish astronomer, died near Dundee, aged 83. His _Christian Philosopher_ and some other works are popular in both continents.

JULY 21.

1756 A. M. The window of the ark opened 40 days after the appearance of the tops of the mountains, 1st of 10th month, (June 11). See Nov. 2.

330 B. C. DARIUS III (_Codomanus_), the last king of the ancient Persian empire, assassinated. He was conquered by Alexander the Great, and treacherously slain by Bessus, governor of Bactria, his own general, who hoped to succeed to the sovereignty. With his death the Persian empire became extinct, after a lapse of 228 years from its establishment by Cyrus.

365. A memorable earthquake which shook the greatest part of the Roman world, and deluged the lower shores of the Mediterranean. The city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, in which 50,000 inhabitants lost their lives in that inundation.

1403. Battle of Shrewsbury, between Henry IV and Henry Percy (Hotspur). Their numbers were matched and the mutual slaughter was immense; several earls, 2,300 gentlemen, and 6,000 privates were slain. Hotspur was brained by an English _cloth yard_, and his rival in execution, Douglas, was taken prisoner. But for the disparity in prudence, the dynasty upon the English throne would probably have been reversed. (20th? 22d?)

1575. FRANCIS MARULLO, or Maurolico, abbot of Messina and an eminent astronomer, died. Owing to the illiberality of the age in which he lived much of his treatise on comets was suppressed.

1586. THOMAS CAVENDISH sailed upon an American expedition, at his own expense, in three ships, with 123 persons, victualed for 2 years, and circumnavigated the earth. It was the second English voyage round the world, and was effected in two years and two months, with the loss of two of his ships. On his voyage he pillaged and burnt several Spanish settlements on the west coast of America.

1667. Treaty of Breda, between the English, French and Dutch, when New York was exchanged for Surinam, and Antigua and Montserrat restored to the British.

1601. PETER AIRAULT died; a magistrate of Paris of great integrity and firmness, by which he acquired the title of _the rock of the accused_.

1637. DANIEL SENNERTUS, a learned German physician, died. He was the son of a shoemaker, rose to great celebrity, and was one of the first to introduce the study of chemistry among his pupils.

1683. WILLIAM RUSSEL, duke of Bedford, executed. This was one of the arbitrary measures of the reign of Charles II. An attempt was afterwards made to satisfy the ends of justice in this affair by seeking out the instigators of the deed, and restoring his family to their privileges and estates.

1688. JAMES BUTLER, duke of Ormond, died; a celebrated statesman and warrior in the reign of Charles II, to whose restoration he materially contributed.

1772. PETER BARRAL, a French ecclesiastic, died. He distinguished himself by the production of several useful works, and among them a historical dictionary.

1773. Pope CLEMENT XIV signed the famous bull which pronounced the extinction of the society of Jesuits.

1788. GAETANO FILANGIERI died at Naples; one of the most celebrated political economists of the last century.

1789. M. FOULON and his son-in-law, BERTHIER, massacred at Paris; they are numbered as the 8th and 9th victims of the revolution.

1796. ROBERT BURNS, the Scottish poet, died. In the humble employment of a ploughman, he discovered a most extraordinary genius, which has given to his productions an enduring fame.

1797. PETER THELLUSON, a Swiss resident in London, died. He accumulated an immense property, the bulk of which he left to be funded till it should amount to £140,000,000, when, if he should have no lineal descendants, it was to be applied to the _sinking fund_ of Great Britain.

1798. Battle of the Pyramids in Egypt. Murad with 22 other beys were defeated by the French under Bonaparte, with the loss of 40 cannon, 40 camels, and their whole baggage and provisions. Cairo surrendered to the _king of fire_, as the Mamelukes termed the combative Corsican, and the whole of Lower Egypt submitted to his arms.

1814. The inquisition reestablished in Spain by Ferdinand. It had been suspended during the reign of Bonaparte.

1815. HARRIET ACKLAND died in England, aged 66. Her husband was wounded and taken prisoner at Saratoga in 1777, and the interest felt for her on the occasion, and the hardships and dangers she encountered have made her the subject of history.

1827. ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, if not the most fortunate by far the most eminent publisher that ever adorned the Scottish capital, died. He directed the printing and publishing of the _Edinburgh Review_, &c.

1831. LEOPOLD, king of Belgium, made his entry into Brussels, and took the oath of the constitution.

1832. The sultan of Turkey gave his assent to the extension of the Greek frontier, as required by the London conference, from the gulf of Arta to that of Volo, and recognized the independence of the Greek states.

1838. JOHN MAELZEL, an ingenious German mechanist, died. He visited many countries of Europe and America with Kempelin's automaton chess-player, which he improved by giving it the powers of speech. He also invented several automata of surprising powers, which are familiar throughout the country.

1848. The cities of Dublin and Waterford proclaimed by the lord lieutenant of Ireland to be under the coercion act.

1849. ELIZABETH DODD died at Stephens, New Brunswick, aged 111.

1849. EBENEZER MACK, long and favorably known as a distinguished printer and the conductor of the largest book establishment in western New York, died at Ithaca.

1853. THOMAS P. MOORE died at Harrodsburg, Ky., aged 57; an officer in the war of 1812, member of congress, minister to Colombia in 1829, and lieutenant-colonel in the regular army in Mexico.

1855. The fortress of Frederickshamm was attacked by the allied fleet, and its garrison driven out.

JULY 22.

310 B. C. The Carthaginians defeated Agathocles, who nevertheless carried the war into Africa.

711. RODERICK, the last of the Goths, is overthrown by Tarik, or Xeres, upon the Guadelete, in Spain.

1298. Battle of Falkirk; the Scots under Wallace defeated with great slaughter by the English under Edward I. Wallace escaped, but his sun had now sunk forever, and the remainder of his life was spent in his native forests, a fugitive. The number of slain in the Scottish army is by some represented as high as 50,000. Guy, earl of Warwick, "the black dog of Arden," then a young adventurer for fame, signalized his prowess in the ranks of Edward on this occasion.

1403. Battle of Shrewsbury, in which the forces under Douglas, Percy and Owen Glendower were defeated, and the earl of Northumberland's son, Henry Hotspur, slain.

1461. CHARLES VII, king of France, died. He succeeded in driving the English from his kingdom, by the assistance of Joan of Arc; but having restored peace he relapsed into sensuality, and died of anguish and starvation at the undutiful conduct of his son.

1534. JOHN FRITH and ANDREW HEWET burnt at Smithfield for heretical opinions relative to the sacrament; Henry VIII king.

1575. PETERS and TURWERT, two anabaptists, burnt at Smithfield, in presence of an immense crowd of spectators.

1581. RICHARD COX, bishop of Ely, died. He was the chief framer of the liturgy, and translator of the Bible, called _The Bishop's Bible_, made in the reign of Elizabeth.

1589. HENRY III, of France, assassinated. His reign was distracted by the quarrels between the catholics and protestants, till he fell a victim to the zeal of a priest named Clement, and the house of Valois became extinct.

1674. GERBRANT VANDEN EECKHOUT, a Dutch painter, died. He was a pupil of Rembrant, whom he rivaled in merit and popularity.

1676. Pope CLEMENT X died. He was a Roman, and in disposition mild.

1686. City of Albany incorporated.

1698. CLAUDE BOYER, a dramatic writer, died at Paris.

1704. Gibraltar (_Gebel al Tarik_, the mountain of Tarik, where the Saracens landed), taken by the British under sir Geo. Rooke, in whose possession it has ever since continued.

1706. Treaty for the union of Scotland with England signed. It was ratified by parliament and queen Anne, and went into operation May 1, the following year.

1734. PETER KING, chancellor of England, died. He was a grocer and salter in his boyhood, that being the trade of his father; but his genius soared to higher occupations, and he became a student. His abilities were appreciated and rewarded by a succession of high and responsible offices.