Part 86

1783. New York evacuated by the British. The Americans under general Knox took possession of it, and received general Washington and governor Clinton, who made a public entry into it.

1785. RICHARD GLOVER, an English poet, died. He was a merchant by profession, who made a proficiency in the belles lettres; and acquired an enviable reputation as a citizen.

1785. CHARLES DE MAUR, an eminent Spanish mathematician and engineer, died. He was employed in the army, and in the construction of canals and roads.

1789. A Jamaica paper of this date states, that 2,300 negroes had been imported into that island from Africa within the four weeks then preceding.

1792. Battle of Liege; the Austrians under Staray defeated by the French under Dumourier, and compelled to cross the river.

1795. STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI, king of Poland, deposed by Catharine of Russia. He resigned his crown at Grodno, and was permitted to retire into Russia, where he died three years after.

1816. The new theatre, Philadelphia, illuminated with gas lights, under the direction of Dr. Kugler, being the first theatre on this continent thus illuminated.

1833. NICHOLAS ESTERHAZY died; prince of Este, field marshal and privy counselor of the emperor of Austria. He was at one time one of the richest subjects in Europe. The choice Tokay wine is made from his fruitful principality, upon whose estates were the largest flocks of sheep in Europe.

1835. ROBERT GOODACRE, a distinguished English lecturer on astronomy, died.

1837. St. Charles, in Canada, taken from the _patriots_ by the British troops. The Canadian force consisted of between 3 and 4,000; their loss was 200 killed, 300 wounded and 30 taken prisoners.

1840. A negro woman, in Virginia, gave birth to a lusus naturæ, in the shape of a child with two heads, four arms and two chests; but from the umbilicus downwards, the formation was that of a single child; it did not survive. A living and perfect child was born at the same time.

1851. Battle at Cerralvo; between Carvajal, with 350 men, and Jarregui, the Mexican general, with 320 men and 2 pieces of artillery. Jarregui was driven with loss into a storehouse, which he held until aid arrived, and Carvajal's troops were dispersed.

1852. The canton of Ticino, in Switzerland, suppressed the order of Capuchin monks, and expelled all of that order under 65 years of age.

1853. J. W. GUNNISON, an eminent United States topographical engineer, was killed by a party of Utah Indians, while engaged in the survey of a route across to the Pacific.

1854. JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART, an eminent Scottish author, died at Abbotsford, aged 59. He succeeded Gifford as editor of the _Quarterly Review_ in 1829, but is best known by his _Life of Walter Scott_.

1854. JOHN KITTO, author of many valuable works on Biblical literature, died at Stuttgart, aged 50.

1855. Admiral BRUAT, a noted French naval officer, died on board ship, aged 59. He had been governor of the French establishments in Oceanica, and was sent as commander of the French fleet in the Black sea.

1855. A revolution at Montevideo which lasted four days, in which 100 persons were killed, and many wounded.

1855. The town of Kars, after a siege of seven months, its garrison being reduced to extremities, surrendered to the Russians on honorable terms.

NOVEMBER 26.

380. GREGORY NAZIANZEN installed in the see of Constantinople, by the hand of Theodosius, upon the removal of Demophilus, and the fall of Arianism in the East soon followed.

1120. Prince WILLIAM, with Richard and Mary, children of Henry I, of England, with attendants and others, to the number of 180, wrecked in coming from Normandy, after which the king was never seen to laugh.

1504. ISABELLA, queen of Castile, died. Her reign was remarkable for the conquest of Grenada from the Moors and the discovery of America; but was disgraced by the introduction of the inquisition.

1678. STALEY, a catholic goldsmith, executed at Tyburn, London, for saying, as testified by a Scotchman, "Here's the hand that will kill the king."

1703. The great storm in England, the most violent on record. The Eddystone lighthouse was thrown down; 13 men-of-war and 1,500 seamen perished, with the admiral, Beaumont; bishop Kidder and a great number of persons were killed; and an immense number of animals, and a great amount of property destroyed.

1719. JOHN HUDSON died; an eminent English critic and keeper of the Bodleian library.

1763. ROBERT BOLTON, an English puritan, died; distinguished for his learning and eloquence, and the excellence of his writings.

1780. JEROME DAVID GAUBIUS died; a German professor of medicine, and lecturer on botany and chemistry.

1793. The French republican calendar was first used, but discontinued 31st Dec., 1805. The decade was seldom used in dates.

1799. JOSEPH BLACK, a celebrated Scottish chemist, died. He was professor of chemistry in the university of Edinburgh, and made important discoveries in that science.

1807. OLIVER ELLSWORTH, chief justice of the United States, died.

1812. Battle of Staroy-Borizoff, in Russia; a most sanguinary conflict, in which the French were defeated with great slaughter, after a conflict of four hours; 8,000 prisoners and a vast quantity of baggage were captured by the Russians; but the greatest trophy was two whole regiments of Saxon cavalry, fresh, and in excellent order.

1817. First newspaper in Wayne county issued.

1818. Field marshal COLLOREDO, Austrian minister of state, and director-general of artillery, died at Vienna, aged 84.

1826. JOHN NICHOLS, printer and editor of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, died at London.

1827. JOSE ALVAREZ, a famous Spanish sculptor, died at Madrid.

1829. BUSHROD WASHINGTON died; one of the judges of the supreme court of the United States.

1829. Great inundation of the Nile began, by which 30,000 persons perished.

1836. JOHN LOUDON MCADAM, died in Scotland, aged 80; the celebrated introducer of the system of road making which bears his name. He was 60 years of age when he commenced his public career as a reformer of roads; yet he became so great a benefactor that the British government made him a grant of nearly $50,000.

1842. ROBERT SMITH, a cabinet minister under presidents Jefferson and Madison, died at Baltimore, aged 85.

1851. PREISSNITZ, founder of the system of hydropathy, died at Graefenberg, in Bavaria, aged 52.

1851. Marshal SOULT, duke of Dalmatia, died in France, aged 82; terminating a long public career, both military and civil.

1852. An earthquake greatly damaged the city of St. Jago de Cuba.

1852. At Stafford house, in London, some English ladies, headed by the duchess of Sutherland, adopted an address to the women of America on the subject of negro slavery, which subsequently received 576,000 signatures.

NOVEMBER 27.

226 B. C. A solemn annual feast instituted at Rome, derived from the barbarians, when two Greeks and two Gauls, one of either sex, were inhumed alive, in the ox-market. It was instituted upon the invasion of the Boian Gauls, in order to _fulfill_ a sybilline prophecy, that those terrible nations should one day be masters of the capitol. At this period the city inrolled 770,000 infantry.

222 B. C. MARCELLUS carried off the _spoils_ of Viridomarus, which is the last single handed triumph.

8 B. C. QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS (_Horace_), an ancient lyric and satiric poet, died. He became the friend of Augustus, who offered him preferments, but he had the greatness of mind to refuse them all, and lived in retirement and study, free from the noise and hurry of ambition.

602. MAURITIUS TIBERIUS, emperor of Rome, died. He was a Cappadocian, distinguished himself at the head of the Roman armies, and was made emperor. But though valiant and successful, he was defeated by his own general Phocas, and put to death, together with his five sons.

1520. The Castilian insurgents under De Acuna, consisting of priests and men in holy orders, offered the royalists battle at Rio Seco; but the latter sued for terms, which not being accepted, the royalists struck a blow which turned the scale of fortune in their favor.

1520. FERNANDO MAGALHAENS entered the Pacific ocean, through the straits which bear his name. He navigated its waters three months and twenty days without finding an island; but during this course he enjoyed continuous fair weather, with such favorable winds, that he bestowed on the ocean the name of Pacific, which it still bears.

1627. The fall of a luminous stone or meteorolite, weighing 57 pounds, on Mt. Voisin, in Province, under a clear sky, observed by Gassendi.

1630. Great earthquake at Peru.

1666. Battle of Pentland hills, in which the persecuted covenanters were defeated by the king's troops.

1707. FITZ JOHN WINTHROP, governor of Connecticut, died. He was distinguished for his knowledge in philosophy and his skill in politics, and took a conspicuous part in the affairs of the colonies, both in peace and war.

1710. The British general Stanhope surprised at Briheuga, and compelled to surrender to the Spaniards with 2,000 men.

1714. Several persons tried for insulting the dissenters and breaking their windows at Bristol. This seemed to be an omen of the dawn of a more liberal day.

1754. ABRAHAM DEMOIVRE, a noted French mathematician, died. His abilities were so highly admired by the Royal society of London that they judged him a fit person to decide the famous contest between Newton and Leibnitz.

1778. General WASHINGTON broke up his camp and marched to Middlebrook, to go into winter quarters. The British expedition against Georgia, under colonel Campbell, 2,500 troops, sailed from Sandy Hook on the same day, escorted by a squadron under sir Hyde Parker.

1779. THOMAS, lord Lyttleton, a statesman of some merit, died in his 36th year. It is storied of him, that three days previous to his death a ghost admonished him that it would happen.

1781. Sortie from the garrison of Gibraltar, at 2 P. M., under Gen. Ross. They took and destroyed two mortar and three heavy cannon batteries, blew up several Spanish magazines, and returned before daylight with the loss of 4 killed, having destroyed property estimated at three millions.

1788. THOMAS HARMER died; an eminent English dissenting divine, and critical writer on Biblical literature.

1792. The national convention of France erected the duchy of Savoy into an 84th department of the French republic.

1807. The royal family of Portugal to avoid being made prisoners by Gen. Junot, who was approaching their capital, embarked at the mouth of the Tagus for Brazil.

1811. GASPAR MELCHIOR DE JOVELLANOS died; one of the most distinguished Spaniards of modern times, both as a statesman and a writer. The wretched state of the Spanish book trade does not allow a complete collection of his works to appear.

1812. Battle of Berezina; the Russian general Wittgenstein forced the French across the river, who were killed and drowned in great numbers in their flight. It is scarcely possible to calculate the loss of the French on this occasion. Cannon, bayonets, fire and water contributed to their destruction. A vast quantity of booty from Moscow fell into the hands of the Russians.

1812. British frigate Southampton, Capt. Yeo, and her prize the U. S. brig Vixen, totally lost on a reef of rocks 9 miles from the island of Conception. The officers and crews of both vessels were saved.

1812. A detachment of United States troops in ten boats made a successful attack upon the batteries opposite Black Rock, in Canada, spiked the cannon, and returned.

1814. Unsuccessful attack of the British on fort Kalunga, in the East Indies. British loss about 500.

1827. Eruption of the mud volcano of Jokmali, on the Caspian sea. The flames burst forth and blazed up to an extraordinary height for a period of three hours, so as to be seen at the distance of six German miles (31 Eng. ?), after which they scarcely rose three feet above the crater which discharged the mud.

1836. ANTOINE CHARLES HORACE VERNET died at Paris. He has produced some of the best paintings of the age. That of the battle of Fontenoy is much admired.

1838. The castle of San Juan de Ulloa at Vera Cruz, Mexico, taken by a French naval force. The castle was reputed a very strong one, but was taken after a bombardment of 5 hours. The French lost 4 men killed; loss of the Mexicans upwards of 400.

1843. SUSAN JOHNSTON, widow of the late John Johnston, Esq., of Ireland, died at Sault St. Marie. She was daughter of Wabojeeg, chief of the Chippewa nation.

1850. HARDIN BIGELOW, mayor of Sacramento, died of cholera. He had distinguished himself by his vigor and bravery in quelling the squatter riots in Sacramento, and in enforcing the laws, by which he was wounded, and lost an arm.

1852. ADA AUGUSTA, countess of Lovelace, and daughter of Byron, died, aged 37. Her tastes turned to metaphysics and mathematics.

1855. ROBERT BUNYAN died at Lincoln, England, aged 80; the last male descendant in a direct line from the author of _Pilgrim's Progress_.

1856. H. TOLLENS, the great national poet of Holland, died at Ryswick, aged 77. His poetry, remarkable for its ardent patriotism, enjoyed extraordinary popularity among all classes of his countrymen.

NOVEMBER 28.

411. FLAVIUS JULIUS CONSTANTINE put to death by order of Constantius. He was a private Roman soldier, who invested himself with the imperial purple in Britain, and added Gaul and Spain to his dominions.

741. GREGORY III, pope, died. He was a charitable but magnificent pontiff, who added great splendor to the holy see.

1285. PETER III, king of Arragon, died. He is notorious for the massacre of the French in the island of Sicily, called the _Sicilian Vespers_, by which he became master of the kingdom.

1443. Revolt of Scanderbeg from the Turkish power, holding the standard of his native mountains.

1499. EDWARD PLANTAGENET, earl of Warwick, beheaded.

1523. Election of CLEMENT VII (_Julius de Medici_), to the disappointment and deep resentment of cardinal Wolsey; an event which had its weight in the establishment of the English reformation.

1631. EDMUND RICHER, an eminent French theological writer, died. He possessed great powers of mind, and a lively imagination; but his writings became obnoxious to the pope's legate, and drew on him persecution.

1655. Peace between England and France proclaimed.

1680. GIOVANNI LORENZO BERNINI died; an Italian famous for his skill in painting, sculpture, architecture and mechanics. He left a large fortune and was buried with great magnificence.

1708. ANTHONY VANDALE died; an eminent Dutch physician and critic.

1776. WASHINGTON retreated across the Passaic before Cornwallis. The diminution of the American army by the departure of those whose terms of service had expired, encouraged the British to pursue the remaining force with the prospect of annihilating it. The pursuit was urged with so much rapidity, that the rear of the army, pulling down bridges, was often within sight and shot of the van of the other, building them up.

1778. EDWARD ROWE MORES, an able English antiquary, died.

1782. Edict of the emperor JOSEPH II, absolving religious orders in the Low Countries from all foreign dependence whatever.

1785. WILLIAM WHIPPLE, one of the signers, died. He was a native of New Hampshire, and employed several years in commercial voyages. In 1775 he was a representative from Portsmouth, and in 1777 was placed at the head of a brigade raised to oppose Burgoyne, which he commanded at the battle of Saratoga.

1789. The iron, lead and woodwork of the Bastile were sold at Paris by auction.

1794. FREDERICK WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, baron Steuben, died at Steubenville, N. Y., aged 61. He came to America from France in 1777, and joined the revolutionary army. His sound judgment and experience, attained in the army of Frederick the Great, was of incalculable advantage to the Americans in establishing discipline and a uniform system of manoeuvres.

1799. KIEN LONG, emperor of China, died, aged 90. He received addresses from Voltaire and Peter Pindar.

1800. MATTHEW YOUNG, an Irish bishop and mathematician, died.

1801. DEODAT GUY SILVAIN TANCREDE DE DOLOMIEU, an eminent French geologist, died, of a disease taken during an imprisonment. He was indefatigable in the pursuit of his favorite science.

1806. The French under Murat entered Warsaw, the capital of ancient Poland, which had been overawed by the Russian soldiery, kept there for the purpose.

1812. LOGAN, the Mingo chief, died; so well known by his misfortunes.

1812. Battle of Tchatchovo; the Russians again defeated the French on the left bank of the Berezina. This was the last battle of consequence in Russia. Bonaparte fled the field, and was no more seen in any conflict during this campaign. His army was reduced to a wretched band of the shadows of men.

1818. ANN DAWSON died at Harrowgate, England, aged 161.

1825. MAXIMILIAN SEBASTIAN FOY, a distinguished French officer and orator, died. His funeral was attended by thousands of his countrymen, and a monument erected to his memory.

1828. MILLER RITCHIE, justly considered the father of fine English printing, died.

1840. London enveloped in dense fog, which arrested business in the city and on the river. Serious accidents and loss of life occurred. Such an event had not occurred before in 20 years; it was impossible to find the way along the streets without lighted flambeaux.

1849. THOMAS H. BLAKE, an early settler at Terre Haute, Ind., and a distinguished American statesman, died.

NOVEMBER 29.

92. AGRIPPA observed at Bethynia a conjunction of the moon with the Pleiades about 7 o'clock in the evening.

511. CLOVIS, the conqueror of Gaul and the real founder of the French monarchy, died. He fixed the royal residence at Lusatia, the modern Paris, which was originally situated on the isle of France, in the Seine.

1268. CLEMENT IV (_Guy de Foulques_), pope, died. He was a Frenchman, of great moderation, prudence and impartiality.

1290. ELEANOR, queen of England, died. She was a Castilian princess, characterized as pious, prudent and charitable, elegant in her person, and gentle in her manners.

1314. PHILIP IV (_the Fair_), of France, died. He engaged in a long and bloody war with England, Germany and Flanders, and in a single engagement with the latter 25,000 of his enemies were slain.

1330. RODGER MORTIMER, earl of March, hanged near London. He was engaged as a principal actor in a complicated scene of guilt with Isabella queen of Edward II.

1378. CHARLES IV, emperor of Germany, died. His reign is famous for the _golden bull_, enacted by the diet of Nuremberg. He founded the university of Prague, and deserves the respect of the learned for the patronage he extended to literature.

1526. JOHN DE MEDICIS died, aged 28; a warrior in the service of Francis I of France, and surnamed the invincible.

1530. THOMAS WOLSEY, an English cardinal, died in disgrace. From a butcher's boy he rose to be archbishop of York, and prime minister of England. He even aspired to the popedom. At the height of his fortune he had in his retinue 800 servants, among whom were ten lords, fifteen knights and forty esquires. His expenses exceeded the revenues of the crown. All this he owed to the capricious favor of the king, Henry VIII, who suddenly stripped him of all his possessions.

1599. CHRISTOPHER BARKER, printer to queen Elizabeth, died at Windsor. His books were specimens of good workmanship of that time.

1632. The king of Bohemia died; on whose youngest daughter, Sophia, by Elizabeth, sister of Charles I, and her issue, the crown of England was finally settled.

1643. WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT, an English dramatic poet, died.

1652. The Dutch fleet under Van Tromp defeated the English, and Van Tromp sailed through the channel with a broom at the mast head.

1661. BRIAN WALTON, an English bishop, died; editor of the Polyglot Bible, in 6 vols.

1662. Count D'ESTRADES took possession of Dunkirk, purchased by the French king of Charles II of England.

1682. Prince RUPERT, son of Frederick, king of Bohemia, died. He acquired military fame in the English civil war, but is better known for his discoveries in the arts and sciences. He invented what is called after him prince's metal, and discovered the art of engraving in mezzotint.

1694. MARCELLO MALPIGHI, an Italian physician, died. His discoveries in anatomy were curious and important. By his delicate dissections he found out the lobules of the liver, and the nature of the formation and mechanism of the kidneys, and of the veins and heart.

1695. ANTHONY WOOD, a famous English antiquary, died.

1710. Battle of Villa Visciosa; the left wing of the allies under Staremberg defeated by the French and Spaniards under the duke de Vendome; but the victors instead of following the blow began to plunder the baggage; Staremberg with his right wing fought their left with such valor and perseverance till night, that they retired in disorder with the loss of 6000 killed, leaving him master of the field and all their artillery.

1732. The city of Aveline and nearly all of the city of Oriano, in Naples, destroyed by an earthquake.

1759. WILLIAM DICKINS died at Kysoe, England. His life is remarkable for a single feat. While engaged in building the spire of a church, he fell from the height of 132 feet. In his descent he struck the battlements with such force as to fracture his leg and foot severely, and bring part of the stone work to the ground with him. He sustained so little injury in other respects, that he was soon enabled to reascend and finish his work. He lived 40 years afterwards.

1775. Captain MANLY, of Marblehead, in a privateer, took an ordnance brig from Woolwich containing a large brass mortar, several pieces of fine brass cannon, a large quantity of small arms and ammunition, with all kinds of tools, utensils and machines necessary for camps and artillery; and a few days after three ships from London, Glasgow and Liverpool, with various stores for the British army.

1780. MARIA THERESA, archduchess of Austria, queen of Hungary, and empress of Germany, died. She will ever rank high among illustrious women, and among those sovereigns who have been the benefactors of mankind.

1781. The British evacuated Dorchester on the approach of the Americans under general Greene; by which all the rice plantations between the Edisto and Ashley rivers were saved to the Americans.

1792. DAVID DALRYMPLE, lord Hailes, died. He was noted for his knowledge of law, and as an antiquarian, and was intimate with the most eminent men of the age.

1793. ANTHONY PETER JOSEPH MARIE DE BARNAVE, a French avocat, guillotined. He displayed great eloquence and strong powers of mind in the national assembly; but failing to keep pace with the terrorists, was imprisoned fifteen months, and finally brought to the block.

1793. M. F. DUPORT DU TERTRE guillotined at Paris; a modest and studious man, whose philosophical ideas led him to declare in favor of the revolution, in which he always displayed great moderation.

1793. The Austrians under Wurmzer defeated the French with great slaughter, and drove them beyond Strasburg. Loss of the French estimated at 15,000.

1793. Battle near Lautern; the duke of Brunswick defeated the French in two attacks, with great slaughter.

1794. CAESAR BONESANA BECCARIA, an Italian philosopher, died. He published a treatise on crimes and punishments, which became a popular work, and was translated into various languages.

1802. Ohio admitted into the Union.

1807. The royal family and court of Portugal emigrated to Brazil, on the invasion of the Portuguese kingdom by the French.

1812. British schooner Subtle, in chase of the American privateer Favorite, upset in a squall, and sunk before the Favorite could come to her assistance. All the crew perished.

1812. The American troops, 1400, embarked for the invasion of Canada under general Smyth.