Part 57

1794. STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS, king of Poland, compelled by the Prussian, Austrian and Russian coalition to annul the Polish constitution, and deliver the army over to the Russian general Branicki.

1801. WILLIAM AUGUSTUS ERNESTI died; a distinguished German scholar and professor of eloquence at Leipsic.

1832. JOHN ANTHONY CHAPTAL, a celebrated French chemist, died. He produced numerous valuable works on chemistry and other practical branches of the arts and sciences, was made minister of the interior by Bonaparte, and successively filled many other important situations.

1839. GASPARD CLAIR FRANÇOIS MARIE RICHE DE PRONY, peer of France, died, aged 84. He was formerly professor of mechanics in the polytechnic school, an eminent engineer, and author of many scientific works.

1848. The long expected outbreak in Ireland; viscount Hardinge arrived to take command of the troops from England, the whole available force of which was sent over, supposed to be 50,000 in number.

1848. M. ELLETT, engineer of the Niagara suspension bridge, drove a two horse carriage over that part of the bridge which was laid down and partly finished.

1853. JONATHAN RICHMOND, one of the pioneers of western New York, died at Aurora, aged 79. For forty years he was actively engaged in aiding the rising fortunes of his sections of the state.

1856. A fire in Boston destroyed a block in North street, where 80 families were burnt out, and 9 lives lost.

JULY 30.

578. BENEDICT I (Bonosus), pope, died. During his pontificate the people suffered the double calamity of famine and invasion, throughout which he interested himself to alleviate their condition.

911. ABU ABDILLAH assassinated; the principal actor in the revolution which established the dynasty of the Fatimites in Africa and Egypt.

1095. LADISLAUS I, king of Hungary, died. He was an able statesman and general, and victorious in his wars with the surrounding nations. The Huns were driven from the country by him.

1388. Battle of Otterbourne, on Thursday, "about the Lammas tide," between sunrise and sunset. The youthful combatants were nearly of the same age. Douglas was slain, and the English Hotspur and his brother taken prisoners. The ancient song called _The Hunting a' the Cheviat_, refers to a private conflict 48 years after this, between the son of Hotspur and William Douglas; but _Richard Sheale_, with the license of a ballad-poet has mingled the two events together.

1540. THOMAS ABEL, a chaplain at the court of Henry VIII, executed. He incurred the resentment of the king by his attachment to the cause of the queen, Catharine. He was hanged, and then drawn and quartered.

1588. WILLIAM STUART killed in Edinburgh by earl Bothwell.

1609. Battle between Champlain and Indians in Essex county, New York.

1625. The week's plague bill in London returns 2,471.

1631. A French coin dated 1596, found in digging a well at Dorchester, Mass.

1673. New York taken by the Dutch. A small expedition, fitted out to destroy the commerce of the English in America, having effectually performed this service on the Virginia coast, made their appearance before New York, which submitted without exchanging a shot. New Jersey was also humbled.

1711. The British and colonial fleet, consisting of 12 men of war, 40 transports, and 6 store ships, with 40 horses, a fine train of artillery, and all manner of warlike stores, sailed from Boston for the conquest of Canada.

1718. WILLIAM PENN, the founder of Pennsylvania, died, aged 74. At the age of 24 he became a preacher among the quakers; but by the grant of Pennsylvania he was placed in the position of a legislator, and well did he sustain it.

1743. THOMAS EMLYN, an English dissenting divine, died. He enjoyed an imprisonment of two years' duration, as a reward for the publication of some religious opinions, which no man had a right to entertain in those days.

1746. Eight of those concerned in the pretender's rebellion hung, beheaded and disemboweled near London.

1750. JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH, a German musician, died; celebrated for his skill as an organist, and also as a composer.

1762. Moro fort, at the entrance of the harbor of Havana, stormed by the English under admiral Pococke; 400 Spaniards were either cut in pieces, or perished in attempting to escape by water to the city; the rest threw down their arms and received quarter. (See Aug. 12.)

1768. Captain COOK sailed from England in the Endeavor, on his first voyage of discovery.

1771. THOMAS GRAY, an eminent English poet, died. He was one of the most learned men of Europe, equally conversant with every department of science.

1775. Captain COOK returned from his second and most important navigation, having lost but one man by sickness, out of a crew of 118 men, during an absence of more than three years.

1777. General BURGOYNE reached fort Edward, on the Hudson river, having with incredible labor and fatigue conducted his army through the wilderness. General Schuyler, whose forces did not exceed 4,400 men, retreated over the river to Saratoga.

1780. Rocky mount, a British post on the Catawba, stormed and taken by Gen. Sumpter, after three repulses.

1784. Earthquake at Port Royal and Kingston, Jamaica. Of 150 vessels in the harbors but 6 or 8 were saved, and the sugar works were blown down. A scarcity of provisions attended the calamity.

1789. Battle of Putna; the Turkish army of 30,000 defeated with the loss of 1,500 men and all their artillery, camp equipage, &c., by the Austrian and Russian army, whose loss did not exceed 200.

1800. The grand jury of York, England, recommended the enclosing of 7,800,000 acres of waste lands as the best preventive of future famines.

1809. The British under lord CHATHAM invaded Holland with 40,000 troops.

1813. Fifth day's battle of the Pyrenees. The French under Soult defeated by the allies under Wellington, after an obstinate engagement. Loss supposed to have been about 8,000 on each side.

1844. ZECHARIAH POULSON, for many years editor of _Poulson's Daily Advertiser_, died. He was the last link connecting the fraternity of publishers with those of the days of Franklin.

1845. LYNTHIA BROWNING, the Kentucky giantess, died at Flemingsburg, Ky. She was seven feet high.

1855. GEORGE JOHNSTON, an eminent British surgeon, died, aged 58. While engaged in the practice of his profession, he devoted his leisure to natural history, in which he attained great eminence.

1855. JOHN WOODS, an eminent Ohio lawyer, died at Hamilton, aged 61. As state auditor he did much to preserve the public credit at a time of general depression.

JULY 31.

1423. Battle of Crevant, in France, in which the armies of the infant king of England were victorious.

1481. FRANCISCUS PHILADELPHUS, a learned Italian, died. He was at the head of the learned men of the day, professor of eloquence at Venice, and the personal friend of Lorenzo de Medici.

1498. COLUMBUS discovered the island of Trinidad, resembling three mountains.

1556. IGNATIUS LOYOLA, founder of the Jesuits, died. He was a brave officer in the Spanish army, and while under the hands of a surgeon his mind was directed to the subject of religion by reading. After having made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and studied theology he went to Paris, and laid the foundation of an order, which in time became sufficiently powerful and corrupt.

1592. Sir WALTER RALEIGH disgraced, and sent with his lady to the tower.

1602. CHARLES GONRAULT DE BIRON, a French admiral, beheaded in the bastile. He distinguished himself by flood and field, and was a great favorite at the court of Henry IV. His fondness of pleasure led to error and ruin.

1627. A terrible earthquake in Apulia, by which many thousands lost their lives.

1712. Marchiennes surrendered to the French.

1718. JOHN HUGHES and SARAH DREW, two rustic lovers, struck dead by lightning, under the shelter of a hay cock, in England. Pope, Thomson and Gay, have scattered flowers upon their graves.

1718. Fifteen Spanish ships destroyed near Syracuse, by admiral sir George Byng.

1719. Colonel HUNTER, departing the province of New York, the chief command devolved on Peter Schuyler, as the oldest member of the board of council.

1750. JOHN V, of Portugal, died. He devoted himself to the encouragement of commerce, literature and industry among his subjects.

1760. Battle of Warburgh; the allies under the hereditary prince Ferdinand, defeated the French, who lost 1,500 killed, and about the same number taken prisoners.

1777. The marquis LAFAYETTE received, by a vote of congress, the appointment of major-general in the American army, being then but 20 years of age.

1786. A booth, at Montpelier, France, where a play was performing, fell and killed 500 persons.

1790. JOHN EDWIN, an English comedian, died. It was to his extraordinary talents that O'Keefe's dramas were greatly indebted for their success.

1807. The fortress of Mongal, in Spain, carried by storm and destroyed by the British under Cochrane.

1808. JOSEPH BENCIRENNI, an Italian writer, died. He distinguished himself in the belles-lettres and public affairs.

1813. Plattsburgh taken by the British without opposition, all the public and much private property was destroyed.

1813. Com. CHAUNCEY took York, U. C., destroyed the public property and brought away the stores and provisions.

1831. London bridge completed, having occupied nearly 8 years in its construction. It is built of granite, 928 feet in length. The old bridge had stood, with propping and patching, six centuries.

1840. MULLER, the distinguished antiquary and historian, died at Castri Levadia.

1848. EDMUND SIMPSON died; thirty-eight years manager of the Park theatre, New York, during which time he paid John Jacob Astor half a million dollars rent.

1850. The great diamond called Koh-i-noor, or mountain of light, was brought to England. It is valued at $2,000,000.

1854. The defenders of the barricades, at Madrid, 3,000 in number, defiled before the queen's palace, her majesty appearing on the balcony, with the king on one side, and Espartero, who had entered the city the day before, on the other.

1855. The official announcement was made of the removal of governor Reeder, of Kansas, and the appointment of John L. Dawson as his successor.

AUGUST.

AUGUST 1.

30 B. C. Defection of the entire fleet of Marc Antony, at Alexandria, which suddenly passed over to Octavius, afterwards Augustus Cæsar.

117. MARCUS ULPIUS TRAJAN, emperor of Rome, died. He admired and copied the virtues of Nerva, his predecessor, and reigned nearly twenty years in the hearts of his people, when Hadrian received his mantle.

432. CELESTINE I, pope, died. The doctrines of Nestorius were condemned by him.

643. OSWALD, king of Northumberland, slain at Maserfield. Bede says he erected in the shape of a wooden cross the first altar to Christ among the Bernicians.

725. The old English tax called _Peter's pence_, was first laudably imposed by Ina, king of the west Saxons, for the support of an English college at Rome, but afterwards appropriated by the church for very different purposes.

1137. LOUIS VI, king of France, died. He was a wise and popular monarch, but during his reign, which continued nearly thirty years, the country was disturbed by external quarrels and internal factions.

1202. King JOHN of England obtained a victory over his nephew Arthur, whom with his sister Eleanor he took prisoner.

1221. The convent belonging to Westminster abbey destroyed; which issued in several individuals being severely punished.

1464. COSMO DE MEDICIS, a Florentine merchant, died. He bestowed vast expense and attention in the promotion of learning, and presided over the commonwealth 34 years, with so much wisdom and popularity, as to acquire the title of _Father of the People_. (See Oct. 4, 1434.)

1498. COLUMBUS, on his third voyage, first set his foot upon the continent of America at Terra-Firma, mistaking it for an island. This was more than a year after the English expedition under the Cabots had reached its shores.

1560. The Scottish parliament assembled which overturned the Roman church in Caledonia, and established a new ecclesiastical system on a Calvinistic and presbyterian model.

1589. HENRY III, of France, assassinated. He was a weak and vicious prince, during whose reign the country was desolated with factions and civil and religious wars. He was the last of the house of Valois.

1605. EDMUND ANDERSON, an eminent English lawyer, died. He was one of the ablest and most learned of queen Elizabeth's judges; his law works are of great authority.

1625. The first parliament of Charles I, of England, on account of the plague, met at Oxford.

1714. ANNE, queen of England, died, in the 50th year of her age.

1716. JAMES BOILEAU, a celebrated French theologian, died; a doctor of the Sorbonne, and a man of great wit and learning.

1720. JOHN LEAKE, a brave English admiral, died. He signalized himself in many important victories in different parts of the world.

1732. WILLIAM COSBY arrived at New York as governor of that province and New Jersey.

1743. RICHARD SAVAGE, an eminent English poet, died in prison, aged 46. His great natural abilities were over-balanced by vices and follies which rendered him an unhappy man.

1759. Battle of Minden; the British and German forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated the French, who met with great losses.

1766. France stipulated not to aid the Pretender if England would suffer a Romish bishop to be sent to Canada; it was acceded to.

1768. The merchants and traders of Boston entered into a non-importation agreement against Great Britain.

1769. JEAN CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, a French astronomer, died at California, whither he had gone to make an observation. He was distinguished for learning and abilities.

1770. Battle of Cahal; the Turkish army of 150,000 defeated by 18,000 Russians under marshal Romanzow.

1772. A revolution was effected in Sweden by the army, and dissimulation of the crown.

1774. Dr. PRIESTLY discovered _dephlogisticated air_, which has been called the birth day of pneumatic chemistry.

1780. The village of Canajoharie laid waste by the Indians.

1790. JOHN KNOX, the book seller, and the improver of the herring fisheries in Scotland, died.

1793. Action without the harbor of New York between the French frigate L'Ambuscade, and British frigate Boston. The battle was severe, and both vessels were greatly damaged; but the Boston would have been captured if she had not been enabled to retreat. The Ambuscade had 6 killed, 20 wounded. The British lost their captain and nearly all their officers killed. The crews of the two frigates were about the same, 350 each.

1798. Battle of the Nile; the French fleet of 13 sail and 4 frigates defeated by the British, 13 ships of 74s, and a 50 gun ship under Nelson. Nine of the French ships were taken and 2 burnt, and 2 of the frigates destroyed. Admiral Brueys was mortally wounded and blown up in the Orient, 120 guns and 1070 men. Of the French 3,105 were put on shore by cartel, and 5,225 perished.

1801. JONATHAN EDWARDS, president of Union college, died; a man of uncommon powers of mind.

1803. WILLIAM WOODFALL, an English printer, died. He possessed a remarkably retentive memory, and was the first who gave a full and immediate detail of the proceedings of parliament.

1807. JOHN WALKER, the English lexicographer, died.

1819. JAMES FORBES died; a civil servant in the East India company, and creditably known as the author of _Oriental Memoirs_, which were selected from a mass of manuscripts written during 17 years' residence in India, stated to occupy 52,000 folio pages, in 150 vols. The plates, from drawings of plants and animals made by the author, have rarely been surpassed in spirit and beauty.

1821. WILLIAM FLOYD, one of the signers, died.

1821. ELIZABETH INCHBALD, an English dramatic writer and actress, died. She possessed great beauty and talent, and an unsullied reputation; many of her pieces are still _stock plays_.

1829. Capture of Jambouli and destruction of the Turkish camp by a brigade of Hulans and Cossacks, after having defeated on the road a body of 15,000 Turks.

1834. ROBERT MORRISON, an eminent English orientalist, at Canton, died. He was considered the best Chinese scholar in Europe. He translated the whole of the _New Testament_ into Chinese, which was printed in 1813; but the great monument of his literary fame is his _Dictionary of the Chinese Language_, 6 vols. quarto.

1834. The slaves in the British colonies emancipated, and a temporary apprenticeship commenced.

1834. The bill admitting dissenters to the honors of the English universities, which had passed the house of commons, rejected in the house of lords by a majority of 102--a grand halt to the march of mind in England.

1838. JOHN ROGERS died; a distinguished naval officer, and senior commander in the American navy. He had been fifteen months a resident of the naval asylum, and the greater part of the time in close confinement as a confirmed lunatic.

1838. The entire emancipation of the negro apprentices in the islands of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Chevis, Montserrat, St. Christophers, St. Vincent and Tortola, took place, in compliance with the acts of the colonial legislatures.

1848. The city of Vera Cruz delivered up to the Mexicans by the United States; general Smith embarked for home.

1849. HENRY A. BRECKINGHAM, known as the author of several historical sketches and other interesting reminiscences of the early days of the American colonies, died at Brooklyn, of cholera.

1849. Queen VICTORIA embarked at Cowes on her visit to Ireland.

1851. HARRIET LEE, an English authoress, died, aged 95. Jointly with her sister Sophia, they were the authors of various works, chiefly novels or dramas. Harriet was almost the exclusive author of the _Canterbury Tales_, 5 vols., perhaps the best known of their labors.

1853. The Austrian government, in a circular addressed to the European courts, protested against the proceedings of Capt. Ingraham, in the port of Smyrna, in rescuing Martin Koszta, claiming to be a citizen of the United States.

1854. KENNETH MURCHISON formerly governor of Penang and Singapore, died in London, aged 60.

1854. The yellow fever became epidemic at New Orleans. It disappeared in November, when the number of deaths was 2441. There were 600 deaths in Savannah from the same disease.

AUGUST 2.

338 B. C. Battle of Cheronea, on the Cephisus, and defeat of the Athenians and Thebans by Philip of Macedon.

338 B. C. The army of Archidamus, the Spartan, overthrown in Lucania, and himself killed.

322 B. C. Joint victory of Antipater and Craterius, near the walls of Cranon, in Thessaly.

10. Three Roman legions under Varus cut off in Germany. "Quintilius Varus, give me my legions again," exclaimed the father of his country. Varus, however, had shared the fate of his legions.

44. King AGRIPPA (_the Great_), smitten with disease in the public theatre at Cæsarea, on the second day of the games exhibited in honor of Claudius.

1100. WILLIAM II (_Rufus_), king of England, killed by an arrow. He possessed vigor, decision and policy, and acquired great wealth, by which he was enabled to purchase two French provinces. He founded Westminster hall.

1553. The _peace of religion_ signed at Passau, on the Danube, between the confederates under Maurice of Saxony and the emperor Charles V, which established the protestant church in Germany.

1563. That great scourge, the plague, began in London.

1651. CROMWELL, after a week's siege, erected the colors of the commonwealth on the walls of Perth.

1675. Brookfield destroyed by the Indians. This town was situated in the country of the Nipnets, whom Philip finally succeeded in engaging to himself in his plan of a general extermination of the English colonies. The inhabitants being alarmed had scarcely time to flee to the principal house in the village, before the savages came pouring in, and fired every other house. The whole number of people thus collected together was about seventy. They withstood the assaults of the Indians two days, who kept up the attack night and day, and endeavored to fire the house by means of poles with firebrands and rags dipped in brimstone tied to their ends. They also filled a cart with hemp and flax, and other combustibles, and having set it on fire thrust it backward with poles spliced together to a great length. A storm of rain defeated this last scheme; and several companies of soldiers came to the relief of the besieged so unexpectedly that the Indians, although they had surrounded the town to cut off assistance, were disheartened and fled.

1676. King PHILIP, the Wampanoag, surprised in his quarters by a party of the colonists under captain Church; 150 of his men were killed, his wife and sons were taken prisoners, and he narrowly escaped with his life.

1684. A treaty of peace concluded at Albany, between the colonists and the Five Nations, who, since the peace of 1761, had extended their arms southward, and conquered the country from the Mississippi to the borders of the plantations; involving Virginia and Maryland in the calamities of their Indian allies, whom they were unable to protect.

1689. INNOCENT XI died. He has been called the protestant pope.

1704. Battle of Blenheim, in Bavaria; the English and Austrians under the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene, obtained a famous victory over the French and Bavarians, who lost 12,000 killed and drowned, and 13,000 prisoners, including marshal Tallard. (13th by some authorities.)

1713. MENSEN ALTING, a Dutch writer, died; author of an excellent description of the Low Countries.

1732. RIP VAN DAM, upon whom the government of the province of New York devolved, finished his administration, on the arrival of William Cosby, with a commission over New York and New Jersey.

1748. Attack on fort Massachusetts by 300 French and Indians. Captain Williams sallied with 30 men and drove the enemy before him, when an ambuscade arose and attempted to cut off his retreat to the fort. By a quick movement he regained the place, and returned their fire with so much spirit that the enemy withdrew, carrying off their dead and wounded.

1763. Battle of Nuncas Nullus; the English defeated the troops of Mir Cossim, 28,000, took all their artillery and 150 boats laden with grain and stores.

1770. The Russians under Romanzow, defeated the Turks with great slaughter on the Pruth.

1776. MATTHEW MATY, an English writer, died. He published at the Hague, during six years, the _Journal Britannique_, containing an account of the productions of the English press, in French.

1786. MARGARET NICHOLSON, supposing herself to be queen of England, made an attempt to assassinate George III. She was afterwards confined as a lunatic.

1788. THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH died; one of the most celebrated English landscape painters of the last century.

1793. MARIE ANTOINETTE, queen of France and daughter of an emperor, taken from the temple prison in the night, and removed to a cell in the Conciergerie, 8 feet square, and partly under ground. As a matter of favor she was permitted to take under her arm a small bundle of clothing.

1798. JOHN PALMER, a popular English actor, died on the stage during a performance, immediately on uttering the words, "There is an other and a better world."

1802. BONAPARTE declared consul of France for life.

1803. JOHN HOOLE, an ingenious English poet, died. He translated some of the best Italian poets, wrote three tragedies, and several other works.

1811. WILLIAM WILLIAMS, one of the signers died, aged 81. He advanced money and obtained supplies for the army, and also contributed by his writings and speeches to arouse the spirit of freedom in his countrymen.