Part 83

1499. VINCENT YANES PINZON sailed from Palos, in Spain, for America, with four caravals, and was the first Spaniard who ventured to cross the equinoctial line. He explored a part of the coast of South America, and named the river which is still called Amazon--so named from the Spaniards observing that the women fought with the same bravery as the men in the common defence.

1503. FRANCISCO ALMEIDA, the first Portuguese viceroy of India, having surrendered his office to Albuquerque, sailed from Cochin for Portugal.

1539. The Bible, called _Matthew's Bible_, was permitted to be read in private houses, "of the royal liberality and goodness."

1549. Pope PAUL III died, and was succeeded by cardinal de Monte, who took the name of Julius III.

1553. Arraignment of lady JANE GREY at Guildhall.

1558. Cardinal POLE, since the death of bishop Cranmer, bishop of Canterbury, died.

1620. The Plymouth colonists disembarked on cape Cod, and proceeded to make discovery of the country, and search for a convenient place of settlement. In the course of this search they found baskets of corn concealed under heaps of sand, a quantity of which they brought away in a great kettle found at the ruins of an Indian house. This gave them seed for a future harvest, and preserved the infant colony from starvation.

1624. THOMAS ERPENIUS died at Leyden; a most learned Dutch writer, and incomparably skilled in the oriental tongues.

1646. A new volcano in the island of Palma, one of the Canaries, near Teneriffe.

1647. Battle of Knockinoss, in Ireland, during the rebellion, when the Irish army of 8,500 strong, under lord Taafe and sir Alexander MacDonnel, were routed by 5,200 under lord Inchiquin. The Irish left 4,000 in the field of battle. The British parliament voted lord Inchiquin £1,000 for his conduct on the occasion.

1650. THOMAS MAY, an English dramatic poet and historian, died.

1654. WILLIAM HABINGTON, an English poet and historian, died.

1690. LEWIS DE WOLZOGEN died; a divine of Amsterdam, and a zealous partisan of the Socinians.

1712. JOHN ERNEST GRABE, a Prussian divine, died in England, where he published an edition of the _Septuagint_, and wrote some valuable works on divinity.

1712. ARTHUR MAYNWARING, a learned Englishman, died. He was a member of parliament under queen Anne, and wrote in prose and verse.

1715. Battle of Dumblane between the king's troops under the duke of Argyle, and those of the pretender under the earl of Mar, not decisive.

1715. Defeat of the pretender's forces at Preston, and many persons taken, among whom was their leader Mr. Foster.

1726. SOPHIA DOROTHY, only child of the duke of Zell, and wife of George I, of England, died. The malice of another subjected her to 32 years' captivity.

1770. GEORGE GRENVILLE, a celebrated English statesman, died. He was distinguished for his eloquence in the senate.

1771. Eruption of Solway Moss, in England. It is about seven miles in circumference, and composed of mud and putrid fibres of heath, diluted by internal springs. It burst its barrier in the night, and laid a large tract of country in ruin.

1781. JOHN MOODY hanged at Philadelphia as a spy. He intended to have seized the books and papers of congress.

1798. JEAN FRANCOIS CALLET, a French mathematician, died. It was to prevent the occurrence of errors in his tables that Didlot attempted the art of stereotyping.

1805. BONAPARTE entered Vienna; the commencement of a favorite plan of his to dictate peace to the conquered monarchs of Europe in their own capitals.

1810. JAMES ALLEN, the Northumbrian piper, died.

1812. BONAPARTE on his retreat from Moscow, quitted Smolensk for Krasnoy. His army was now reduced to 43,000.

1813. The junta, under the title of national assembly, declared the independence of Mexico.

1817. JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN, an eminent Irish barrister, died; celebrated for his eloquence and wit.

1832. A French army of 75,000 men entered Belgium and marched for Antwerp to assist in establishing the independence of the country.

1833. Remarkable meteoric phenomenon, which extended over a large portion of North America. The first appearance was that of fireworks of the most imposing grandeur, covering the entire vault of heaven with myriads of fire balls resembling sky rockets, and showers of fiery snow driven with inconceivable velocity to the north-west. Similar phenomena were witnessed in Arabia on this day the previous year. It was observed again on this day, 1837, at New York and New Haven.

1835. HENRY FREDERICK STORK died at St. Petersburg. He was an eminent writer as well on belles lettres as political economy.

1835. CHARLES AUGUSTUS BOTTIGER died; an eminent German scholar and archæologist, author of various learned works, and aulic counselor to the king of Saxony.

1836. CHARLES SIMEON, a most able and zealous English prelate, died at Cambridge. His works were published in 21 large octavo volumes. His funeral was attended with great solemnity by the whole town; the shops were closed and 1,300 persons joined the procession in the deepest mourning.

1839. The town of Kelat, in Beloochistan, taken by the British army. Mehrab Khan was killed, his principal sirdirs killed or taken, and hundreds of others captured.

1854. A great tempest raged over the Black sea, which continued several days; 18 British and 12 French ships were lost near Balaclava, together with 340 men and a large amount of property.

NOVEMBER 14.

332. B. C. Era of the accession of Alexander the great to the Persian rule.

565. JUSTINIAN I, emperor of Rome, died. He built St. Sophia's church at Constantinople, and reduced the Roman laws into a code, which was called the Digests or Pandects.

1318. The greatest earthquake ever known in England.

1524. FRANCISCO PIZARRO sailed from Panama for the conquest of Peru. Diego de Almagro, and Hernando de Luque a priest, associated with him under bonds and oaths for mutual protection. This expedition was a failure; they were repulsed and compelled to leave the country. More than six years afterwards the attempt was renewed with success.

1556. JOHN DE LA CASA, an Italian writer, died. Besides some beautiful Italian poems, he wrote the lives of cardinals Contarini and Bembo, and various other works.

1574. An aurora borealis appeared in England.

1672. FRANCIS DE LA BOE SYLVIUS, an eminent Dutch physician, died. He was professor of medicine at Leyden, where he ably demonstrated the truth of Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood.

1690. Capt. JAMES CAMPBELL, brother of the duke of Argyle, with the assistance of sir J. Johnstone, seized a rich heiress and married her, for which Johnstone was afterwards hung and Campbell divorced.

1716. GODFREY WILLAM LEIBNITZ, a German philosopher, died. He had in his life the singular felicity of being esteemed the greatest and most learned man in Europe.

1736. GEORGE SALE, a learned Englishman, died. He was well skilled in oriental literature, and contributed much to the completion of the _Universal History_, but his chief work is a translation of the _Koran_.

1770. Bruce discovered the sources of the mighty Nile.

1785. A chebeck with 19 men and 23 passengers, passing from Majorca to Ivica, was attacked by an Algerine pink, and boarded by about 100 men, in spite of the firing of two cannon and the musketry. A bloody engagement ensued, in which all the Moors but 6 or 7 were killed. These were assaulted by a volley of hail shot, which fired some powder casks, and blew up the vessel, destroying all on board but the captain and 3 passengers, who got to Ivica in a boat, badly wounded.

1800. MARQUIS DE BOUILLE, a celebrated French general, died; during the American war he served with credit in the West Indies, but being opposed to the enormities of the French revolution he was compelled to seek an asylum in England.

1804. JACOB BRYANT, an English philologist and antiquary, died. He was a learned and indefatigable writer, but fond of paradox.

1809. BONAPARTE was congratulated on his return from Austria, by the public bodies of Paris, as "the greatest of heroes, who ever achieved victories but for the happiness of the world."

1809. FREDERICK MORTON EDEN, an English diplomatist and writer on political economy, died.

1812. Battle of Smolnya; the French under Victor and Oudinot defeated by the Russians under Wittgenstein, with the loss of 1,500 dead on the field, and 800 prisoners. Russian loss 1,000.

1825. JEAN PAUL FREDERICK RICHTER, a German writer of the first rank in belles lettres, died. He is known as Jean Paul among the Germans, and his numerous works are held in very high repute.

1827. THOMAS ADDIS EMMETT, an eminent Irish lawyer, died in New York, aged 63.

1828. ANDRE JOSEPH ABRIAL died; a French statesman under Napoleon and his successor.

1831. GEORGE WILLIAM FREDERICK HEGEL, the distinguished German philosopher, died by cholera at Berlin. His philosophy partakes of much of German mysticism.

1832. CHARLES ABBOTT, lord Tenterden, died, aged 70. He was the son of a London hairdresser, who by great application became one of the most learned jurists of England.

1832. CHARLES CARROL died, aged 96; the last of the signers of the declaration of independence. He studied the law in France and England, and returned to America at the age of 27, where he was soon known as an advocate for liberty, and as one of the best political writers in Maryland. He quitted public life in 1810.

1835. JAMES FREEMAN, pastor of the Stone chapel society, in Boston, died. He was chosen pastor of the episcopal society that worshiped there in 1783. Having rejected the trinitarian doctrine, the greater part of his hearers responded to his sentiments and resolved to alter their liturgy and retain their minister. Thus did the first episcopal church in New England become the first unitarian church in the new world. He was a man of talent and learning, and one of the founders of the Massachusetts historical society.

1840. JOHN A. G. DAVIS, professor of law in the university of Virginia, died of a pistol shot discharged by a disguised student. He was a man of extraordinary intellect, of untiring industry, of amiable and philanthropic character. He published a valuable treatise on criminal law.

1840. ZACHARIAH LEWIS, senior vice-president of the American Bible society, died at Brooklyn, N. Y. He was educated for the ministry, and was for 17 years editor of the _Commercial Advertiser_ and _New York Spectator_.

1855. TOBIAS WATKINS died at Washington, aged 75. He was a physician by education, had contributed largely to the public press, and figured as a politician.

NOVEMBER 15.

26. AGRIPPINA, the mother of Nero, perished by order of her ungrateful son. She married the emperor Claudius, whom she poisoned to raise Nero to the throne.

1213. The first regular English parliament assembled by writ at Oxford.

1280. ALBERTUS MAGNUS, a Swabian philosopher of extraordinary genius, died. His writings have been collected in 21 vols. folio.

1577. FRANCIS DRAKE sailed from England with five ships and 164 men, professedly on a voyage to Egypt, but really with the intention of sailing into the Pacific, where no English flag had ever been.

1591. BARNABAS BRISSONIUS strangled at Paris. He was an eminent French lawyer, and ambassador to England.

1647. JOHN VICTOR ROSSI (_Janus Nicius Erythræus_) died; a Roman of noble birth, who devoted himself to literary pursuits.

1653. ALOYSIUS JUGLARIS, an Italian Jesuit, died. He wrote 100 panegyrics on Jesus Christ, and 40 on Lewis XIII!

1680. The bill excluding JAMES, duke of York, from the succession to his brother's throne, passed by the commons, was defeated in the house of lords, all the bishops voting against it.

1695. In the neighborhood of Limerick and Tipperary, Ireland, a shower of matter fell resembling butter or grease, and was gathered into pots by some of the inhabitants. When laid on the hand it melted, but placed by the fire it dried and became hard, emitting an offensive odor.

1712. A duel was fought in Hyde Park, London, when the duke of Hamilton and lord Mohun were both killed.

1745. The town of Carlisle surrendered to the troops of the pretender to the English throne.

1747. JOHN PETER DE MENDAJORS, a French historian, died. He wrote a history of Gaul.

1751. HENRY SAINT JOHN, viscount Bolingbroke, a celebrated English politician and philosopher, died, aged 80. A panegyrist has observed that in his writings he united the wisdom of Socrates, the dignity and ease of Pliny, and the wit of Horace.

1761. JOHN SAUVE DE LA NOUE, a French actor and dramatic writer, died. It was on his account that Voltaire wrote the _Princess of Navarre_, that he might act the chief character.

1763. The British parliament by a vote 273 to 111, resolved that the _North Briton_, a paper conducted by the noted Wilkes, was a scandalous and seditious libel, and ordered it to be burned by the common hangman. Great riot in consequence.

1777. Fort Mifflin evacuated by the Americans, after a most noble and gallant defence. The British fired 1,030 cannon shot at the fort during the day.

1787. CHRISTOPHER GLUCK, an eminent German musical composer, died. He introduced a new style of music into Paris.

1793. JOHN NICHOLAS HOUCHARD guillotined at Paris. He raised himself to the highest rank in the army, and displayed his abilities in several important victories.

1793. JEAN MARIE BAPTISTE ROLAND DE LA PLATIERE stabbed himself to the heart on receiving news that his wife had been guillotined. His knowledge of commerce and political economy led to his appointment of minister under Louis, and under the republic.

1793. Fort Lewis taken by the Austrians under Wurmzer, and 4,000 French and 112 cannons captured.

1794. JOHN WITHERSPOON, a signer of the declaration, died. He was a Scotchman, who came over to take the presidency of Nassau Hall. His influence upon literature was greatly beneficial, and his talents as a preacher of the most popular kind.

1797. JOSEPH MILNER, a learned Scottish divine and historian, died, aged 54.

1802. GEORGE ROMNEY died; an eminent English painter.

1811. FREDERICK JAMES BAST, an eminent German scholar, died. He took advantage of a diplomacy at Paris to make some valuable researches among the treasures of the Vatican which had recently been transported there.

1812. The Cossacks under Platoff fell in with 12 pieces of French cannon, and an immense train of carriages filled with plunder, abandoned by the French army. The horses lay dead in their harnesses, and mingled with them lay hundreds of human bodies, which had perished from the intense severity of the cold, from hunger and fatigue, in their retreat from Moscow.

1816. The bells of Notre Dame, Paris, were _formally baptized_ under the names of the duke and Duchess of Angouleme.

1827. GEORGE TOMLINE, an eminent English bishop, died. His works display great erudition.

1828. Cayuga and Seneca canal completed.

1848. General MESSENHAUSEN, the commander of the national guard at Vienna, executed.

1849. The steam boat Louisiana exploded her boilers at New Orleans, when 60 persons were killed, and a great many wounded who afterwards died.

1852. The Lobos islands difficulty between the United States and Peru was settled, by the withdrawal of the American pretensions.

1852. JOHN HAMILTON REYNOLDS, an eminent English poet, contemporary with Byron, died in the Isle of Wight, aged 56.

NOVEMBER 16.

534. JUSTINIAN published his immortal _Code_ of civil ordinances, amended in conformity with the Pandects which issued from the legal armory in the year preceding. It is called the second edition, although enriched with two hundred of his own laws, and fifty decisions of obscure points in jurisprudence.

1093. MARGARET, of Scotland, died. She was the sister of Edgar Atheling, fled to Scotland on the invasion of William the Conqueror, and married Malcolm, king of the country. She was an amiable and benevolent princess.

1272. HENRY III, eighth king of England, died. He succeeded John; was defeated in his wars abroad, and imprisoned by his barons at home.

1272. EDWARD I, of England, commenced his reign, and immediately expelled the Jews from the kingdom; their libraries were dispersed, their goods seized, and many of them barbarously murdered.

1326. EDWARD II, king of England, taken prisoner and delivered into the hands of his queen Isabella, by whom he was imprisoned and finally put to death.

1499. PERKIN WARBECK, an aspirant to the crown of England, executed at Tyburn. He gave himself out as the second son of Edward IV, who was supposed to have been murdered in the Tower by Richard III, and made a descent upon England, but was worsted and captured.

1538. Proclamation of HENRY VIII, following the formal trial and condemnation of the shrine and goods of Thomas Becket, declaring that he was no saint, but a rebel to his prince, and his bones were caused to be burnt by the hangman.

1603. PETER CHARRON, a learned French ecclesiastic, died. His _Book of Wisdom_, spread his fame through the country, and has been twice translated into English.

1613. TRAJAN BOCCALINI, an Italian wit, died at Venice; probably assassinated by the emissaries of the court of Spain. His works have been translated into several languages.

1644. HUGH MCMABONE executed at Tyburn for conspiring the Irish massacre.

1695. PETER NICOLE, an eminent French divine, died. He is the author of more than one hundred works.

1745. WILLIAM BROOME, a celebrated English poet, died.

1745. A party of French and Indians from Crown Point surprised the village of Saratoga, leaving the country uncovered to Schenectady and Albany.

1773. Destruction of the tea in Boston harbor. The duty imposed by the British parliament was 3 cents per pound; the quantity destroyed 342 chests.

1773. JOHN HAWKESWORTH, an English writer, died. He compiled a narrative of the discoveries in the South seas, and wrote the _Adventurer_.

1773. JOHN BRADLEY BLAKE, an English chemist, botanist and mathematician, died. He went to China, from whence he sent home all the valuable seeds and plants of the country, and began a collection of its ores and fossils, but his application destroyed his health.

1776. JAMES FERGUSON, the celebrated Scottish astronomer, died. He was an extraordinary instance among self taught men, having emerged from a shepherd's boy, to the highest rank in science.

1776. Fort Washington surrendered to the British under general Cornwallis. Col. Magaw, finding the fort too small to contain all the men, the ammunition nearly exhausted, and the force of the assailants too great to be resisted, surrendered the garrison, 2,800 men, prisoners of war. It is supposed that 1,200 of the British were killed or wounded.

1796. Battle of Arcola, which lasted two days, terminated in favor of the French. This determined the fate of Mantua.

1806. SCHAH ALLUM, the great mogul or emperor of Delhi, died, aged 82.

1811. Serious riots in Nottingham, Eng.; the journeymen weavers destroyed the articles of machinery which diminished labor.

1812. The French under DAVOUST left Smolensk, having set fire to it in every quarter, and blown up the fortifications; and amidst this immense burning shower they issued forth like destroying angels, to join Bonaparte at Krasnoy.

1813. WILLIAM FRANKLIN died in England, aged 82. He was the son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and formerly British governor of New Jersey.

1838. Battle near Prescott, Canada, between 100 insurgents posted at a windmill, and 1,000 British troops. The former surrendered unconditionally. Their loss in 4 days was 102 killed, and 162 taken prisoners; the rest escaped into the woods.

1847. Poland blotted from among the nations of Europe, by Prussia, Austria and Russia.

1848. Great popular movements in Italy. Count Rossi, the prime minister, slain, as he entered the senate chamber at Rome. The pope's palace besieged.

1855. The powder in the French siege train, at Sebastopol, 100,000 pounds, exploded, killing and wounding a great number.

NOVEMBER 17.

375. VALENTINIAN I, emperor of Rome, died. He rose by his merit to the throne, and divided the empire with his brother Valens. He defeated the Germans, and restored tranquility to his African provinces. In giving audience to the ambassadors of the Quadi, whose country he had subdued, he ruptured a blood vessel in a fit of passion, which proved fatal.

537. BELISARIUS, who was then defending Rome against the Goths, exiled pope Sylverius for treachery.

1292. The government of Scotland was adjudged to John Baliol, by the forty peers assembled at the congress in Berwick castle.

1307. The Swiss patriots met at night in the field of Rutli, to concert measures for their independence.

1338. EDWARD III, of England, issued a writ, permitting the coinage of money by the abbots of Reading.

1372. JOHN DE MANDEVILLE, the English warrior and traveler, died, aged 72. He received an education unusual for those times, and in 1327, went to Palestine, and joined the Turks. He afterwards served in India under the Sultan, and in Southern China, under the khan of Cathay. He resided three years at Pekin, and appears to have traveled over a large part of Asia. On his return to England, after an absence of about 33 years, he wrote a narrative of his travels.

1494. JOHN PICUS, earl of Mirandula, an Italian nobleman, and a prodigy of learning, died, aged 32. At the age of 23 he published 900 propositions in logic, mathematics, physics and divinity, drawn from classical, Jewish and Arabian authors, and challenged through Italy any philosopher or divine to enter the lists with him in disputation. He declared war against the astrologers, because they had foretold his death at the age of 32, which proved true.

1558. MARY, queen of England, died. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catharine of Arragon; was learned, but bigoted, jealous and resentful. Her memory is rendered detestable by the blood of the protestants whom she caused to be burnt.

1562. ANTHONY OF NAVARRE (_Pantagruel_), a Spanish prince, died of a wound received in battle. He was weak and irresolute; his son was afterwards the celebrated Henry IV, of France.

1604. Trial of sir WALTER RALEIGH for treason.

1615. THOMAS CHALONER, an English nobleman, tutor of the prince of Wales, died. He is celebrated for the discovery of the first alum mines known in England.

1640. HENRY DE SCHOMBERG, a distinguished French officer, died. For his distinguished services he was promoted; and also figured as a minister to Germany and England, and as a historian.

1664. NICHOLAS PERRET, a learned Frenchman, died; celebrated for his excellent translations of the Greek and Latin classics.

1664. A comet visible in New England, which appeared first in the east _bearded_, and disappeared in the west with a _tail_.

1665. JOHN EARLE, an English bishop, died; known by a work called the _Microcosmography, or a Piece of the World_, which has often been reprinted.

1679. In commemoration of queen Elizabeth's birth, the effigies of the pope, the devil, sir George Jeffries, Mr. L'Estrange, &c., were carried in procession, and burnt in Temple bar, by a _whig mob_, as it was then called.

1690. FABIAN PHILLIPS, a learned English antiquary, died.

1708. JEAN FRANCOIS FOY VAILLANT, a French antiquary and medalist, died. His father was the founder of the medalists in France, to whom Louis XIV was indebted for half his cabinet.

1747. ALAIN RENE LESAGE, the French novelist and dramatic writer, died.

1747. Great tumults in Boston, on account of the British commodore, Knowles, having ordered several inhabitants of that city to be impressed there.

1768. THOS. PELHAM HOLLES, duke of Newcastle, died in his 76th year. He played a bustling if not a brilliant part in the political movements of his day.