Part 85

1555. GEORGE AGRICOLA died; a physician of Glaucen, in Misnia, known for his learning and works on minerals.

1579. THOMAS GRESHAM, an eminent London merchant, died. His knowledge of commerce was considered complete, and he acquired a great fortune. He transacted the queen's commercial affairs, and his house was sometimes appointed for the reception of foreign princes. The first royal exchange was planned and executed by his munificence.

1616. RICHARD FIELD died; an English divine, eminent for his learning, benevolence and piety.

1638. A general assembly of the Scottish church met at Glasgow. It is said that not a few of the 260 commissioners of whom it was composed could neither read nor write.

1640. JOHN, duke of Braganza, proclaimed king of Portugal. He recovered the independence of that kingdom, which had been annexed to Spain by Philip II in 1580.

1692. THOMAS SHADWELL died; an English dramatic writer, historiographer and poet laureate.

1695. HENRY PURCELL died; a very eminent English musician and composer.

1736. Battle of Porto Bello. A squadron was fitted out in England for the purpose of destroying the Spanish settlements in the West Indies, and placed under admiral Vernon. The attack was made on Porto Bello by the English, and after a furious engagement on both sides, the town surrendered.

1763. Public notice given in London that East and West Florida should be laid out into townships, and granted to those who would actually settle there.

1775. JOHN HILL, an English apothecary and writer, died. He published a system of botany, and was engaged in a great number of literary labors at the same time. He was also famous for several medicines which he prepared.

1777. Congress recalled Silas Deane from Paris, and appointed John Adams to succeed him.

1780. At the bank of England 471,000 three per cent stock was transferred to Mr. Van Otten on account of the landgrave of Hesse, so much being due on Hessian soldiers lost in the American war, at 30_l._ per man. The number of men lost was 15,700.

1781. JEAN FREDERICK PHELLIPEAUX DE MAUREPAS died; a French statesman, eminent for his genius, activity and profound sagacity.

1782. JAMES DE VAUCANSON, a celebrated mechanician, died. He constructed with wonderful ingenuity various automata, and improved and simplified the machinery of silk mills, and advanced the interests of commerce and science by many other curious and useful inventions.

1783. The marquis D'ARLANDES and PILATRE ROSIER made an aerial voyage in a machine called a _Montgolfier_, in honor of the inventors, it being the first balloon raised by rarefied air.

1803. JOHN BUCKLER (_Schinderhannes_), the famous German robber, executed, with 19 of his band. He was the son of indigent parents, and entered into the service of an executioner. His first crime was a petty theft, which grew into the most extensive and expert robberies. He never committed murder, and expected pardon on that account, to the last moment.

1806. BONAPARTE'S famous Berlin decree, declaring the British ports in a state of blockade.

1807. ABRAHAM NEWLAND died at Highburg, in England; he was 60 years cashier of the bank of England.

1812. Battle of Borisoff; the French and Poles defeated by the Russians with great loss.

1812. Fort Niagara bombarded by the British from fort George and five other batteries. Above 2000 red hot shot and 180 shells were fired; which was returned with so much spirit, that the British had the worst of the battle. American loss 4 killed, 7 wounded.

1832. The emperor of Russia issued orders for the transportation of 5000 families of Polish gentlemen from the province of Podolia to the Steppes, on the line of the Caucasus. The university of Warsaw was abolished, except the faculties of divinity and medicine, and the library and collection of medals transported to St. Petersburg.

1832. Battle of Konich, between 75,000 Turks and 40,000 Egyptians, in which the former were defeated, and the grand vizier taken prisoner.

1832. Great riots at Lyons in France, which originated in a strike for higher wages by the operatives engaged in the silk manufacture, by which 30,000 persons were thrown out of employment, and the city was for some time at the mercy of the mob.

1835. JAMES HOGG (_the Ettrick Shepherd_), a Scottish poet, died. He was the son of a very poor shepherd, but his poems raised him to a high standing as a poet, and caused his society to be sought by the learned and the great.

1835. ALEXANDER CHEMIOTTE, one of the most learned orientalists of Europe, died. He wrote a history of all the Arabian emperors under the Abassides, and other works.

1848. LYNE STABLING died; one of the original proprietors of the soil on which the city of Columbus is located, and among its earliest inhabitants. He was one of the most wealthy men of the state, and was distinguished by private charities and public munificence.

1851. JAMES E. DE KAY, an eminent geologist, died at Oyster bay, aged 59. He was educated for a physician, but devoted himself from early years to natural history, and contributed the department of zoology to the publication of the New York survey.

1852. MARY BERRY, an English authoress, died aged 90; embalmed to posterity by the personal attentions and epistolary intercourse of Horace Walpole.

1856. SAMUEL SWARTWOUT died, aged 73. He was a noted politician, and during the presidency of Jackson was collector of the port of New York.

NOVEMBER 22.

1200. King JOHN, of England, held a famous parliament at Lincoln, where William, king of Scotland, did him homage in the sight of the people.

1419. BELTHAZAR COSA (John XXIII), pope, died. There was much opposition to his elevation, by rival claimants, and he was finally deposed and imprisoned three years. His liberty was purchased by acknowledging the election of Martin V.

1586. Sentence of death was announced to MARY queen of Scots, by lord Burkhurst, at Fotheringay.

1633. LEONARD CALVERT, brother of lord Baltimore, with 200 persons of good families, Roman catholics, embarked at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, for America, to settle Maryland.

1652. The province of Maine was, by the request of its inhabitants, taken under the protection of Massachusetts; it was made a county, by the name of Yorkshire, and sent deputies to the general court at Boston.

1680. A brilliant comet appeared in England. First seen at Bristol.

1685. CLAUDE NICOLE, a French lawyer, died. He was a good linguist and poet, and translated several of the classics.

1714. SAMUEL REYHER died; professor of mathematics and jurisprudence at Kiel, and counselor of state to the duke of Saxe Gotha. His writings are theological.

1723. PHILIP, regent of France, duke of Orleans, &c., died at Versailles, aged 50.

1747. JOSEPH TRAPP, an able English divine, died; leaving behind him an excellent character as a critic, a scholar, a preacher and a man.

1771. Mr. STEPHEN was expelled from the Temple in London, by the benches, for writing a book on the impolicy of imprisonment for debt.

1774. ROBERT CLIVE, baron Plassy, a wealthy English nobleman, died by suicide; a striking instance of the insufficiency of wealth or external honors alone to produce happiness. While a colonel in the service of the East India company, he retook Calcutta from the nabob Surajah Dowlah, and defeated his immense army in the plains of Plassy, and thereby laid the foundation of the present extensive British empire in Hindostan. He was made governor of India, and died immensely rich.

1775. CHARLES HENRY DE FUSSE DE VOISENON, a French ecclesiastic, died. He abandoned his profession for the pleasures of the world and of authorship, and his works were collected in 5 vols.

1775. The Americans, about 1000 in number, took possession of Cobble or Miller's hill, near Boston, and erected entrenchments on it.

1784. PAUL FRISI, an Italian mathematician and philosopher, died at Milan. He was self-taught; and introduced into the Milanese the use of conductors to secure buildings from lightning, and contributed greatly to root out the superstitious notions of the people respecting sorcerers and magic. His works on hydraulics, astronomy, and many other sciences, are numerous and valuable.

1795. Battle of Loano, in Italy; the French under Scherer defeated the Austrians and obliged them to retreat with the loss of 8,000.

1798. THEOBALD WOLFE TONE, an Irishman having a commission in the French army, committed suicide in prison. He had been taken in arms against the British government, tried by a court martial, and sentenced to death.

1807. British Admiral SMITH declared Lisbon and the river Tagus in a state of blockade.

1812. Action between the United States brig Vixen, 14 guns, 120 men, Lieut. Reed, and British frigate Southampton, 32 guns, Capt. Yeo. The Vixen was captured, and Lieut. Reed died in the West Indies before he could be exchanged.

1814. LAVALETTE, the French general, sentenced to death for joining Bonaparte the preceding March.

1814. EDWARD RUSHTON, an independent politician, bookseller and elegant writer, died. He nearly lost his sight on the west coast of Africa.

1815. JAMES LACKINGTON, a celebrated London bookseller, but chiefly distinguished for his work on the evil consequences of girls being educated at boarding schools, died.

1821. ANSELM MARIE FUGGER, prince of Babenhausen, died. He was one of that great German family whose ancestor was a weaver, and which now consists of counts and princes, and whose property amounts to about 440 square miles, with 40,000 inhabitants.

1824. FRANCIS LEVAILLANT, the celebrated traveler, died at Paris, aged 70. He was born in the Dutch colony of Surinam. He early manifested a passion for the study of ornithology, and was encouraged by the patronage of Tenemink, of Amsterdam, to proceed to Africa in pursuit of that science. His long life was spent in research, and though he has added much to the stock of knowledge in that department, he was so unfortunate as to lose a great part of his valuable collections at sea.

1848. Great battle fought between the English and Seikhs near Ramuggur, in India, the British claiming the dearly bought victory.

1852. The shock of an earthquake was felt very severely at Exeter, N. H., and along the valley of the Merrimack, and in Salem and Newburyport, Mass., and in other places.

1852. The voting concluded throughout France and Algeria, upon the decree of the senate, relative to the reestablishment of the empire. The result was 7,824,189 votes in favor of the same, and 253,145 in the negative, and 63,326 void ballots.

NOVEMBER 23.

100. CLEMENS ROMANUS (_St. Clement_) died; a pupil of St. Paul and one of the fathers of the church. His epistle to the church of Corinth, though valuable for its antiquity, is excluded from the canon.

946. EDRED, the successor of Edmund I of England, died of quinsy.

1585. THOMAS TALLIS died; "one of the greatest musicians that England ever bred."

1610. BERNARD DE GIRARD DE HAILLAN, a French historian, died. His history reaches from Pharamond to the death of Charles VII, and he was the first who composed a body of French history in French.

1616. RICHARD HAKLUYT died; famous in English history for his naval skill. He is author of a collection of voyages and discoveries in 3 vols. folio, and of several other useful works.

1665. VALENTINE GREATBREAKES, an Irishman, appeared in England announcing his power to cure many diseases by stroking the patient. Flamstead, the astronomer, is said to have, when young, submitted to his art.

1679. WILLIAM WILDE, an eminent English lawyer, died. He published _Yelverton's Reports_, was created baronet, and made a judge of the common pleas, and afterwards promoted to the king's bench.

1683. A partition line agreed upon by governor Dongan and governor Treat, between New York and Connecticut, beginning at the mouth of Byam brook, in the sound, thence running up the brook to the road across the same, thence in a northerly line into the country, keeping at a distance of 20 miles from Hudson's river. (See May 14, 1731.)

1709. WILLIAM BENTINCK, earl of Portland, favorite of William III, and an eminent statesman, died.

1758. Battle of Crefelt; the French under St. Germaine defeated by the allies under the duke of Brunswick, with the loss of 6,000, among whom was the count de Gisors. The allies lost 1,500.

1763. ANTHONY FRANCIS D'EXILES, a French writer, died. He was educated among the Jesuits, but entered the army. He translated Richardson's novels into French.

1775. The British lieutenant-colonel JOHN CONNELLY captured near Hagerstown by the Americans, on his way to Detroit with papers and despatches of great importance.

1794. JOACHIM IBARRA, an eminent Spanish printer, died. He raised the art of typography to an excellence before unequaled in Spain. As he never left his country, most of the improvements he introduced were of his own invention.

1794. Fort St. Fernando de Figueras capitulated to the French; 9,107 prisoners, 171 cannon, and great quantities of ammunition and stores were taken.

1795. Manheim surrendered to the imperialists under Wurmzer with more than 10,000 men.

1795. Battle of Geresio, in Italy; the Austrians defeated by the French under Angereau and Chastel.

1796. Battle of Castella Nuovo, in Italy; the Austrians defeated by the French under Massena, with the loss of 6,000. This closed the campaign, Bonaparte having defeated three armies and four generals.

1798. The king of Naples accompanied by the Austrian general Mack and 80,000 men, entered the Romish territories, but were soon compelled to retreat and act on the defensive.

1804. STEPHEN BORGIA, an Italian cardinal eminent for his piety and learning, died at Lyons, while attending the pope on his journey to Paris.

1808. Battle of Tudela, in Spain; the French under Lannes, attacked and defeated the Spaniards under Castanos.

1812. American privateer Tom, of Baltimore, captured British packet Townsend. The British captain and 4 men were killed.

1812. The northern army under Gen. Dearborn went into winter quarters at Plattsburgh, Burlington and Greenbush.

1814. ELBRIDGE GERRY, vice-president of the United States, died at Washington, aged 70. He was a signer of the declaration of independence, a member of the congress of 1776, and of the convention which formed the constitution. He transacted business as usual in the morning, was attacked about 10 o'clock, and died in 15 minutes.

1833. JEAN BAPTISTE JOURDAN, a celebrated French general of the revolution, died. In 1794 he conquered Belgium, and in 1796 subdued Franconia. "Jourdan," said Napoleon at St. Helena, "is a poor general, but he possessed the virtues rare among his competitors, of honor, integrity and humanity."

1849. The bones of Col. JOHN DIXWELL, the regicide, were removed from the grave of the centre churchyard, New Haven, where they were deposited in 1688, and reinterred with a view to the erection of a monument over them. The skeleton was in a good state of preservation.

1852. JOHN SERGEANT, an eminent Philadelphia lawyer, died, aged 73. For more than half a century he was known and honored for his ability and integrity.

NOVEMBER 24.

30. Eclipse of the sun in Palestine, accompanied by an earthquake, which overthrew several edifices at Niceas, in Bythinia. By the calculations of several eminent astronomers, it is demonstrated that this great eclipse, which is mentioned by Phlegon, and in the Grecian monuments, as having happened in the 202d Olympiad, took place on this day and year. Phlegon says, the day was changed into night at the 6th hour (noon), and the stars were seen. Between Cairo and Jerusalem it was wholly obscured for about two minutes, and by calculation, it is supposed, the middle of the eclipse happened at Jerusalem, an hour and fifteen minutes after noon.

62. AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS, a Roman satirist, died, aged 28. He was a native of Etruria, studied at Rome, and imbibed the stoic philosophy of Cornutus, to whom he bequeathed his library and 25,000 crowns. His satires, animated and often beautiful, have been translated by several of the British poets.

1213. The possessions of the knights templars, in England appropriated by the crown, in obedience to a papal mandate, in trust for the knights hospitalers. That distinguished order was instituted in 1118, and consisted originally of nine poor knights, who for _Christ's love_ protected the avenues of his shrine from infidels and robbers.

1230. MATTHEW DE MONTMORENCY, constable of France, died. He distinguished himself on many important occasions in the field, and proved himself equally capable as a statesman.

1516. JAMES V'S charter of the town of Maybole, in Ayrshire, Scotland, bears this date. A room in the Red Lion inn in this town, is shown as having been that in which John Knox and the abbot Kennedy had the debate on the mass.

1567. The laird of Airth and the laird of Wemyss met upon the high street of Edinburgh, with their followers, when a furious encounter took place, "many being hurte on both sides by shote of pistoll." Three days afterwards a strict proclamation was issued, forbidding "the wearing of guns or pistolls, or aney sick like fyerwork ingyne, under ye paine of death, the king's guards and shouldours only excepted."

1572. JOHN KNOX, the celebrated Scottish reformer, died. He fiercely inveighed against the established religion, and succeeded in reforming the doctrines of the church in his country.

1638. Quinnipiack, now New Haven, purchased of Monauguin, sachem of the country, in consideration of protection from hostile Indians, and a payment of 12 coats of English cloth, 12 alchymy spoons, 12 hatches, 12 hoes, 2 dozen knives, 12 porringers, and 4 cases of French knives and scissors.

1675. Tea and coffee houses in London permitted by royal proclamation to be reopened, on condition that the keepers should prevent sedition, and the reading of libels in them.

1694. JOHN TILLOTSON, archbishop of Canterbury, died, aged 65. He was a popular preacher, who exerted himself strenuously against popery, and was finally elevated to the highest dignity in the church.

1704. LANDAU surrendered to the imperialists after a loss of 4,000 men.

1728. FRANCIS MASCLEF, a French ecclesiastic, died. A difference in theological opinions from his bishop led to his dismissal. From this time he devoted himself to study with so much application as to bring on a disease that hastened his death. His principal work was a Hebrew grammar, in which he discarded the vowel points, and embodied an elaborate argument against them.

1732. OTTOMAR ELLIGER, a distinguished Prussian painter, died by intemperance.

1751. GEORGE GRAHAM, an ingenious watch maker, died. He was not only the most eminent of his profession, but the best mechanic of his time, and had a complete knowledge of practical astronomy.

1755. LAWRENCE RICCI, an illustrious Florentine, died. He embraced the order of the Jesuits, of which he was general at the time of its suppression; was imprisoned by the pope, and died in confinement.

1758. Pittsburgh evacuated by the French.

1759. Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, taken by general Forbes.

1759. One of the most violent eruptions of mount Vesuvius ever known, which took place without any of the usual preceding symptoms.

1776. THEOPHILUS BORDEN, an eminent French physician, died. He gained great reputation at Paris, where he published nine medical works.

1789. Assignats, the name given to paper money, first issued in France.

1790. ROBERT HENRY, a Scottish clergyman, died; author of a history of Great Britain "on a new plan."

1814. Treaty of peace signed at Ghent, between the United States and Great Britain.

1819. Champlain canal declared to be navigable.

1828. CLARKE ABEL, a medical officer and naturalist, who accompanied the embassy of lord Amherst to China in 1816, died.

1835. WILLIAM DUANE died at Philadelphia; many years editor of the _Aurora_, one of the most able and distinguished papers which supported Mr. Jefferson and his measures.

1848. Pope PIUS IX, after a week's imprisonment in his palace, escaped in disguise to Mola di Geta.

1852. WALTER FORWARD, an eminent American statesman, died at Pittsburgh, aged 66. He was a native of Connecticut, but achieved his reputation at the west.

1854. The steamer Ocean, from Boston, for the Kennebec, came in collision in Boston harbor, with the Atlantic steamer Canada, took fire and was destroyed.

1855. LOUIS MATTHIEU, count Mole, formerly prime minister of Louis Philippe, died, aged 75. His abilities attracted the attention of Napoleon, and he filled various offices under the different rulers of France till his decease.

NOVEMBER 25.

165 B. C. Feast during eight days, commencing on the 25th of the Hebrew month Casleu, of the dedication of the temple, repaired and purified by the care of Judas Macabæus, being the anniversary of its profanation three years before by the order of Antiochus Epiphanes.

1185. LUCIUS III (_Humbaldo Allineigoli_), pope, died. He was twice compelled to fly from Rome to avoid the popular tumult. He established, with the countenance of the emperor Frederick, constitutions for the punishment of heretics, which may be considered as the origin of the inquisition.

1542. Battle of Solway Moss; the Scottish army under Sinclair defeated by an inferior force of English under Dacres and Musgrave.

1547. HENRY II, of France, caused the following to be proclaimed: "We forbid all booksellers, printers, &c., under pain of confiscation, to print any book relating to the holy scriptures."

1560. ANDREW DORIA, the famous Genoese admiral, died. He distinguished himself in the service of several Italian princes, and finally achieved the liberty of his own country, of which he refused to accept the sovereignty.

1624. RICHARD CRACKANTHORP, an eloquent English preacher, died. He was also an author of merit.

1626. EDWARD ALLEYN died; an actor of great reputation in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I, and founder of Dulwich college.

1651. HENRY IRETON, a republican general in the English civil war, died. He possessed great abilities and uncommon valor, and deserved the friendship of Cromwell, whose daughter he married. He died at the siege of Limerick, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster abbey; but at the restoration was dug up and exposed on Tyburn gibbet with Cromwell and Bradshaw.

1687. NICHOLAS STENO, an eminent Danish anatomist, died.

1694. ISMAEL BULLIALDUS, an astronomer of the isle of France, died.

1748. ISAAC WATTS, an English dissenting divine, died; author of several valuable works on subjects of divinity, and whose hymns and poetical version of the psalms are still in general use.

1758. Fort du Quesne taken by the British and provincial army, 8,000 men, under general Forbes; the French garrison, deserted by the Indians, being unequal to its maintenance. In compliment to the popular minister, William Pitt, it was named Pittsburgh, and has become an important place at the head of the Ohio.

1759. Battle of Chinchura, in the East Indies; the Dutch defeated by the British under colonel Forde.

1760. Tripoli nearly destroyed by an earthquake, shocks of which had continued nearly a month. Balbec was entirely ruined.

1766. ZACHARY GREY, an English scholar and divine, died. He was the author of thirty publications, the best known of which is an edition of _Hudibras_, with curious and interesting notes.

1770. PHILIP MORANT died; a learned and indefatigable English antiquary and biographer.

1774. HENRY BAKER, an ingenious English naturalist, died, aged 70.

1775. EUSEBIUS AMORT died; a distinguished Bavarian ecclesiastical and theological writer.

1780. NAPHTALI DAGGETT, fifth president of Yale college, died. He had previously been professor of divinity; was a good classical scholar and a learned divine.