Part 59

1846. JOHN WARD (_Father of the City_) died at St. Johns, New Brunswick, aged 92. He was born near New York, and adhering to the British interest, entered the army in 1776, and was frequently in action. At the peace of 1783, he embarked with his regiment, the Loyal Americans, to New Brunswick, where the corps was disbanded. He then embarked in commercial pursuits, and at the time of his death was the senior half pay officer, as well as the oldest merchant in the province. He filled several civil offices, and sustained an estimable character.

1849. The number of births in Connecticut for the year ending this day was 7,373; marriages 2,757; deaths 5,016.

AUGUST 6.

1577. Queen ELIZABETH granted a license to John Day, and Richard Day, his son, during their lives, and that of the longest liver, to print the _Psalms of David_ in metre.

1580. ANDREA PALLADIO, a very distinguished Italian architect, died; many specimens of his designs yet remain.

1585. DAVIS, the navigator, reached the strait which bears his name, and cast anchor in Exeter bay, "beneath that brave mount, the cliffs whereof were orient as gold."

1637. BENJAMIN JONSON, the English poet and dramatist, died, aged 63. He was a bricklayer at the outset of life; but his inclinations turned to the building of monuments more imperishable than those of brick and stone. (16th, N. S.)

1638. Birthday of NICHOLAS MALEBRANCHE, a distinguished French philosopher. His works were highly esteemed for their genius and style; and for his manners, which were amiable and simple, he was greatly venerated.

1660. DON DIEGO VELASQUEZ DE SILVA died; a distinguished Spanish painter.

1662. METACOM, sachem of Pokanoket, afterwards celebrated under the English title of king Philip, made his appearance at the court of Plymouth, and solicited the continuance of the amity and friendship which had subsisted between the governor of Plymouth and his father and brother; and promised for himself and his successors to remain subjects of the king of England.

1674. THOMAS WILLETT, the first mayor of New York, died. He is buried at Seekonk, Mass.

1695. FRANCIS DE HARLAY died; archbishop of Paris, the favorite of Louis XIV.

1701. ULRIC OBRECHT, a learned German critic and Latin historian, died. So extensive and various was his learning that he has been styled "the epitome of human science."

1706. JOHN BAPTIST DU HAMEL died; a celebrated French philosopher and divine.

1725. THOMAS RAWLINSON (_Tom Folio_), an English antiquary, died. The sale of his collection of books and manuscripts, which were put up at auction after his death, occupied several weeks.

1745. DAVID WILKINS died; an English librarian and antiquary, and a learned author.

1756. EUGENE ARAM, a self-taught English scholar, executed near York, for murder, and hung in chains on Knaresborough forest. He was a man of consummate abilities and wonderful erudition, but appears to have been a victim to covetousness.

1777. General HERKIMER, marching with the forces of Tryon county to relieve Gen. Gansevoort at fort Schuyler, was ambushed by a strong detachment of British and Indians, and defeated with the loss of 400. The Indians lost several of their great chiefs and 70 warriors.

1778. Sieur GERARD, ambassador from France, introduced to congress. He was the first ambassador from any nation to the United States.

1780. Battle of Hanging-rock; 600 Americans under Sumpter attacked and defeated the British, consisting of the prince of Wales' regiment and a large body of tories. The regiment was almost entirely destroyed; from 278 it was reduced to 9 men.

1788. The last _lit de justice_ in France, assembled at Versailles, by Louis XVI, to enforce upon the parliament of Paris the adoption of the obnoxious taxes proposed by Calonne.

1796. Battle of Roveredo; the French under Bonaparte defeated the Austrians under Wurmzer, after an action of 16 hours, and entered Trent. Austrian loss 6,000 men.

1796. JAMES PETTIT ANDREWS died; author of several English histories and other works of merit.

1799. MARIE ELIEZER BLOCK, an able German naturalist, died. He was of obscure parentage, and self-taught. Besides other valuable works on natural history and medicine, he published a _History of Fishes_, 6 vols. folio, colored plates.

1806. FRANCIS II, emperor of Germany and king of Rome, resigned his titles and annexed his possessions in Germany to the Austrian empire. The _millenium_ of the empire, founded by Charlemagne, fell upon the holiday of Christmas, 1800.

1815. Commodore DECATUR arrived with his fleet off Tripoli.

1817. PIERRE SAMUEL DUPONT DE NEMOURS, a French statesman, died. He was distinguished for his knowledge and talents, as well as his excellent character and principles. On the return of Bonaparte from Elba he came to America, where he died.

1818. DAVID FERGUSON, a Scottish soldier, died at Dunkirk, aged 124, very much respected and beloved.

1824. Battle of Junin, in Peru; the royalists defeated by the united Peruvian and Colombian forces, under Bolivar. The combatants fought hand to hand, with lance and sabre, those engaged being cavalry only.

1840. LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, son of the late king of Holland, accompanied by about 60 men, made an attempt to effect an hostile descent upon France. The party landed about two leagues from Boulogne, directed their march to that city, and were soon taken prisoners. The prince was soon after placed in the castle of Ham.

1843. The _Thousand Years' Jubilee_ celebrated in Germany, in commemoration of the settlement by which the empire was divided between the three brothers, sons of Philip _the Devout_. The festival occurred on Sunday, and was very generally and appropriately celebrated, more particularly in the Prussian states.

1846. A revolution took place again in Mexico, in favor of the exiled Santa Anna. The troops in Vera Cruz and its vicinity first declared in his favor, and were soon followed by those at the capital, who deposed and imprisoned general Paredes, the president of the republic, and proclaimed Santa Anna, and the constitution of 1824.

1849. A treaty of peace was signed between Austria and Piedmont.

1851. An eruption having taken place in the volcanic mountains of Martinique, columns of smoke were seen to issue from eight distinct craters.

1855. A riot at Louisville, Ky., between the Americans and foreigners; several were killed on both sides, and rows of houses belonging to the foreign population were torn down and burnt.

AUGUST 7.

480 B. C. The immortal battle in the pass of Thermopylæ is placed upon this day; when Leonidas with 300 Spartans withstood the army of Xerxes. There was a skirmish also with the Grecian fleet at Artemisium. Diodorus fixes the victory of Gelon, under the walls of Himera, in Sicily, upon the same day.

445 B. C. Dedication of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, on the 7th of Elul, in the 21st year of Artaxerxes.

44. HEROD AGRIPPA, king of Judea, died suddenly upon his throne. He was a great builder, whose expenses exceeded his income, for his generosity was boundless, saith Josephus. He persecuted the Christians, and was one of those scourges of mankind who have been cut off with their vices.

461. JULIUS VALERIUS MAJORIAN, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was successful in his war with the Vandals, and universally respected for his virtues.

1106. HENRY IV, emperor of Germany, died. He was a brave, but unfortunate prince, who, having humbled his enemies in 66 battles, was finally dethroned and reduced to indigence by his own sons.

1485. HENRY TUDOR, earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII, landed at Milford haven from Normandy, for the invasion of England, with 2,000 men.

1588. The Spanish armada, becalmed before Dunkirk, completely discomfited by the appearance of eight ships filled with pitch, sulphur and other combustibles, and having been set on fire as the breeze sprung up were directed by the English admiral against the different divisions of the Spanish fleet. The darkness of the night lent terror to the awful appearance of the approaching flames; and the crews, anxious only for their own preservation, weighed anchor or cut their cables, and suffered their ships to drive before the wind. In this confusion many of them ran afoul of one another, and several of them received such damage as to be unfit for future use.

1613. Dorchester, in England, destroyed by fire.

1667. JOHN WILSON, first minister of Boston, died. He came over with governor Winthrop, 1630, and was ordained under a tree in Charlestown.

1679. LA SALLE sailed from the foot of lake Erie in the first vessel built upon that lake, with a crew of thirty men. His vessel was lost on its return from Mackinaw with its crew of six men, and a cargo of peltries, valued at fifty thousand francs.

1771. JOHN DANIEL SCHOEPFLIN, an eminent German philosopher, historiographer and antiquary, died. His reputation was so great, that his residence was solicited by the sovereigns of different countries.

1793. The first patient of yellow fever in Philadelphia, which raged there with great fury this year, died on this day. The number that died of the disease during its prevalence was about 3,500.

1804. Second attack on Tripoli by the United States squadron under Com. Preble. One of the prizes previously taken was blown up by the passage of a red hot ball through her magazine.

1806. ELIZABETH SMITH, an accomplished English lady, died. She understood most of the learned languages, and had a knowledge of the sciences.

1807. IGNATIUS MOURADGEA D'OHSSON, an Armenian diplomatist, died. He was in the service of the Swedish embassy at Constantinople, where he conceived the plan of a work on the Ottoman empire. It was completed, after a labor of 45 years, in 7 vols., and published at Paris.

1812. United States frigate Essex captured British king's brig George.

1819. Battle of Bojaca; the revolutionists of Venezuela and New Granada, under Bolivar, totally defeated the Spaniards, whose destruction was so complete that the viceroy fled, leaving the public treasure a prey to the conquerors. This battle decided the independence of New Granada.

1820. ELIZA BACCIOCCHI, sister of Bonaparte, died. She married a captain in the army, who on the conquest of Italy was created prince of Lucca and Piombino; but she was the actual sovereign, and when she reviewed the troops, her husband discharged the office of aid-de-camp.

1821. CAROLINE AMELIA ELIZABETH, wife of George IV, of England, died, aged 53. She was abandoned by her husband, then prince of Wales, soon after their marriage, and the nation was repeatedly agitated by their disputes, for more than 20 years.

1830. The throne of France declared vacant by the chamber of deputies; after making various important modifications in the charter, they called to the throne Louis Phillippe, and his male descendants for ever.

1848. The great comet, whose revolution occupies 292 years, passed its perihelion in July, and was first seen on this day by a gentleman in Altona.

1854. The Turks entered Bucharest, which the Russians had previously evacuated.

1855. A severe and bloody riot occurred at St. Louis, Missouri, between the Irish and Americans, which continued for 48 hours, and resulted in the death of 10 persons, and the severe injury of 30 more.

1855. While two companies of militia were conducting to jail a prisoner named Debar, for the murder of a negro, at Milwaukie, the mob seized him and killed him without resistance.

1855. RICHARD SHEEPSHANKS, a British astronomer, died, aged 61. He made great efforts in determining the latitude and longitude of places in England and Ireland, and contributed a series of papers to the _Penny Cyclopedia_ on the science of astronomy.

AUGUST 8.

70. Capture of Jerusalem by Titus, the 8th day of the month Gorpieus, (Elul) upon his daughter's birthday.

1419. PETER D'AILLY, a French ecclesiastic, died. He was of an obscure family, and rose by his merit to the office of cardinal.

1503. ALEXANDER VI (_Roderick Borgia_), pope, died. He was of infamous notoriety before his elevation to the pontificate, and is supposed to have been poisoned by a draught which he had prepared for some of his guests.

1540. Nuptials of HENRY VIII and CATHARINE HOWARD, his fifth spouse. By "a notable appearance of honor, cleanness and maidenly behavior," she won the heart of old Harry, whose marriage with Anne of Cleves was annulled the 9th of July previous.

1588. EDWIN SANDYS, archbishop of York, died. He assisted in the translation of what is called the _Bishop's Bible_, and was one of the nine divines appointed by Elizabeth to dispute with nine catholics before the parliament.

1588. The English fleet under lord Howard attacked the Spanish armada. The engagement began at 4 o'clock in the morning and continued till 6 at night, and resulted in a total defeat of the armada. The Spanish admiral, apprehending the entire destruction of his fleet, resolved to sail northwards and make the circuit of the British isles. When he had rounded the Orkneys, the fleet was dispersed by a storm; horses, mules and baggage were thrown overboard to lighten the ships, some of which were wrecked, some sunk in the North sea, others wrecked on the coast of Scotland, and more than thirty were driven by another storm upon the coast of Ireland, where many of the crews were barbarously murdered. The duke of Medina finally reached Santardu with sixty-five sail in a shattered condition, out of 150 sail of noble vessels which entered the British channel, many of them of the largest class.

1641. Though Sabbath, both houses of the English parliament sat to prevent the king from going to Scotland.

1776. Force of the northern American army, under Washington, 10,514 fit for duty, 3,668 sick, 2,946 on command, 97 on furlough--total, 17,225. The small pox was committing great ravages at this time, 5,500 having died of it since April; inoculation being prohibited in general orders.

1778. Fort Boonesborough invested by 450 Canadians and Indians. The fort was garrisoned by 50 men, who defended it with great spirit against every stratagem till the 20th, when the siege was abandoned, and its capture never again attempted.

1780. The combined fleets of France and Spain captured five East Indiamen and fifty merchant ships bound for the West Indies.

1792. JOHN LEAKE, an English physician, died; founder of the Westminster lying-in hospital, and an esteemed author.

1794. The entrenchments of Pellingen, a series of redoubts raised by the Austrians in the most advantageous situations, in order to cover Treves, were carried by the French.

1804. ROBERT MACFARLANE, a Scottish miscellaneous writer, died. He translated Ossian into Latin.

1805. RICHARD WORSLEY, governor of the isle of Wight, died. During a tour in Europe he made a fine collection of statues and antiques, of which he published a description.

1808. JOHN BROOME, lieutenant-governor of the state of New York, died, and was buried in the presbyterian church yard in Wall street, in the city of New York.

1811. British under admiral Stopford took Batavia and a great part of the island of Java.

1812. The United States troops under general Hull evacuated Canada and entered Detroit.

1814. First meeting of the British and American commissioners at Ghent, to treat for peace.

1816. The meetings of freemasons and other secret societies prohibited by the king of Naples under penalty of banishment, fine and imprisonment.

1827. GEORGE CANNING, an eminent English statesman, died. He was of humble origin, but rose to the premiership by his great talents, and sustained himself against a powerful opposition.

1828. FREDERIC BOUTERWEK, a German litterateur, died; author of _Geschichte der neueren Poesie und Beredsamkeit_, containing separate critical histories of the belles-lettres of Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, England and Germany, from the revival of letters to the close of the 18th century, 12 vols.

1836. FREDERICK CARL LUDWIG SICKLER died at Heldburghausen; an eminent archæologist, and author of various learned works on archæology, antiquities and philology.

1838. The Chilian squadron of 32 vessels landed 5000 men at Ancon, and demanded two millions of dollars, which not being granted, they advanced and took Callao and Lima, after an action in which 2000 were killed. Gomarra was proclaimed president, and Orbegozo fled to the mountains. (See July 26.)

1840. CHARLES OTTFRIED MULLER, of Gottingen, died at Athens, from an illness brought on by fatigue and exposure in copying inscriptions, and making excavations at Delphi. The object of his investigation was connected with a great work on which he was engaged, upon the general history of Greece. He was buried on the summit of a little hill above the academy. (July 31.)

1851. SAMUEL EMERSON, an eminent physician, died at Kennebunk, Me., aged 87.

1853. A strike at Stockport, England, for an advance of ten per cent in wages, ceased, 20,000 workmen resumed their labors, having accomplished their object.

1856. Mrs. MATTHEWS (madame Vestris), long a celebrated dancer and pantomimist, died in England, aged 59. Her maiden name was Lucia Elizabeth Bartolozzi; she married Armand Vestris in 1813, and it was under this name that she was well known in Europe and America. She married Matthews in 1838.

AUGUST 9.

357 B. C. An eclipse of the moon which preceded the departure of Dion from Zacynthus (Zante) upon his celebrated expedition against the tyrant Dionysius the Younger. He entered Syracuse with his little band of 800 veterans in September, and in three days became master of the empire. The deaths of Democritus and Hippocrates, each 104 years old, and of Timotheus, the Milesian poet and musician, took place in that year.

378. The great and disastrous battle of Adrianople, second only to that of Cannæ, in which the Roman legions under Valens, were for the first time defeated by the Cythian Goths. The wounded emperor was removed to a cottage, which was fired, and he perished in the flames.

1342. Sir WALTER MANNY raised the siege of Hennebon in Brittany, so nervously and heroically defended by Jane, countess of Montford, against the power of France.

1611. JOHN BLAGRAVE died; an early English mathematician of considerable eminence and a laborious author on his favorite science.

1634. NOY, attorney-general to Charles I of England, died at London. He is supposed to have devised the plan of levying ship money, which went into operation the day after his death.

1641. DAVID BAKER, an English Benedictine monk and ecclesiastical historian, died. He collected the records of the ancient congregation of the black or Benedictine monks in England, 6 vols. folio, and his religious treatises filled 9 folio vols. in manuscript.

1694. ANTHONY ARNAULD, a French theological and philosophical writer, died. He was one of the most learned men of his age, and did much for the improvement of morality in the catholic church. His works were printed in more than 100 volumes of various sizes.

1710. French and Spaniards defeated at Saragossa, with the loss of 5,000 killed, 7,000 prisoners, and all their artillery, and the allies entered the city.

1718. Action off cape Passaro, between the British fleet, 20 sail, admiral Byng, and the Spanish fleet, 27 sail of the line. The Spaniards were defeated with the loss of 21 of their ships, either taken or destroyed.

1719. DOMINICO DE ANGELIS, an Italian scholar, died. He made the tour of France and Spain, and was everywhere received with honor by the learned.

1720. SAMUEL OCKLEY, an English divine, died; a very learned man, and well skilled in oriental literature.

1744. JOHN BRIDGES, duke of Chandos, died. Few particulars are known of this peer, except of his munificence. The earlier part of his manhood was spent in reflection and observation; his middle age in business, honorable and useful; and his advanced years in deeds of benevolence. He erected the princely seat of Canons, near London, where he lived in a splendor to which no other subject had ever aspired. His liberality was equaled only by his generous forgiveness of injuries. Pope made him the subject of his satire, which Hogarth punished by representing the poet on a scaffold whitewashing Burlington house, and bespattering the duke of Chandos's carriage as it passed. Yet Pope's verse respecting the short-lived magnificence of Canons was prophetic:

Another age shall see the golden ear Embrown the slope, and nod on the parterre: Deep harvests bury all his pride has planned, And laughing Ceres reassume the land.

Three years after his death the stately mansion was sold by auction, piecemeal, such was the rage to buy something at Canons. Its site was soon an arable.

1746. Battle of Rotto Fredo, between the allies and the Austrians; the former defeated with the loss of 8,000; Austrian loss about half that number.

1748. ALEXANDER BLACKWELL, a Scottish physician, beheaded in Sweden, on suspicion of treason. His wife, to support him in prison, published a _Herbal_ in two vols. folio, containing 500 plates, drawn, engraved and colored by herself.

1757. Fort William Henry with a garrison of about 2600 men under Col. Monroe, capitulated to Montcalm, who had invested the fort with an army of 11,500. The garrison was to be allowed the honors of war, and protected from the Indians; but with the characteristic perfidy of the French in all these colonial wars, the Indians were allowed to pillage and massacre the defenceless soldiers, so that their baggage was lost and 1500 slain or made prisoners.

1759. Birthday of JEAN BAPTIST ANNIBAL AUBERT DUBAYET, in Louisiana. He served in the American army during the war of independence, and went to France on the breaking out of the revolution there. He was appointed minister of war, and the next year ambassador to Constantinople, where he died.

1775. Captain LINZEE, of the British sloop of war Falcon, attempted to take an American schooner in Gloucester harbor, cape Ann, in two barges, a whale boat, schooner and cutter, all of which were captured by the Americans; in consequence of which he bombarded the town. American loss 1 killed, 2 wounded.

1778. General GREENE'S army crossed over from Tiverton to the north end of Rhode Island.

1778. Lord HOWE'S fleet arrived off Newport, in quest of count d'Estaing, who put to sea the next morning.

1782. DE LA PEROUSE, with a considerable French military and naval force, took fort Prince of Wales, at Hudson's bay, and soon after forts York and Severn; the settlements and forts were destroyed.

1787. The ship Columbia, captain GRAY, and sloop Washington sailed from Boston for the north west coast of America and China. They returned in 1790, being the first American vessels that circumnavigated the globe.

1793. ALEXIS BRULARD DE GENLIS, marquis de Sillery, a French general, guillotined at Paris. He was a deputy to the states-general, and an avowed enemy to the king, on whose trial he voted for detaining the royal family until the peace, and for their perpetual banishment after that event.

1796. Elba surrendered to the British under commodore Nelson.

1804. ROBERT POTTER, an English prelate, died; known by his elegant translations of Æschylus, Euripides and Sophocles, the three great dramatists of ancient Greece.

1805. Lieutenant ZEBULON M. PIKE commenced his voyage to the sources of the Missouri river, with a party of 22; they were taken by the Spaniards, and returned the next year.

1808. ROMANA, with 10,000 Spanish troops, deserted the French army under Bernadotte, and were conveyed to Spain in British transports.

1809. The president of the United States, THOMAS JEFFERSON, received official information of the non-ratification of the British treaty, and suspended all intercourse with that country.

1811. Battle of Baza; the Spaniards under Blake defeated by the French under Soult; of 20,000 Spaniards not more than 7,000 rallied again.