Part 91

1808. CHARLES JENKINSON, earl of Liverpool, died. He was a statesman of profound ability, but extremely unpopular, who rose from obscurity to wealth and rank.

1812. Mississinewa, an Indian town inhabited by Delawares and Miamis, attacked by 600 Americans under colonel Campbell. The town was burnt, with several others in the vicinity.

1812. British attacked Darby, Vt., and burnt the barracks and store houses, and carried off considerable quantities of stores.

1830. SIMON BOLIVAR, a distinguished South American general, died. He headed the revolution of the provinces against the mother country, and having achieved their independence was elected president of Colombia.

1832. Prof. ZAHN discovered a city buried under the lava, between Vesuvius and Pompeii.

1832. ROBERT C. SANDS, the assistant editor of the _New York Commercial Advertiser_, died by apoplexy while in the act of composing.

1843. JACOB MANN, supposed to be the oldest newspaper editor of the state of New Jersey, died in Morristown; having published the _Genius of Liberty_ in 1798.

1852. WILLIAM JACOB, an English agricultural writer, died at London, aged 89.

1853. RALPH WARDLAW, an eminent minister of the congregational dissenters, died at Glasgow, aged 73.

DECEMBER 18.

69. VITELLUS abdicated the Roman empire, which "he had received against his will." The next day he desired to restore the dagger of his authority.

1551. GEORGE MARTINUSIUS (_Visinovitsch_), governor of Transylvania, assassinated by order of Ferdinand, king of the Romans and of Hungary. He was a native of Croatia, who rose from the humble occupation of a lighter of stoves.

1555. JOHN PHILPOT, archdeacon of Winchester, an English reformer, convicted of heresy and burnt at Smithfield.

1621. The famous resolution of the commons of England against the usurped royal prerogative was adopted. King James did indeed tear it from the records with his own hand, but it had its effect.

1665. BENEDICT VARCHI died; professor of morality at Padua, and distinguished for the purity and elegance of his language and writings.

1674. GABRIEL COSSART died. He assisted Labbe in his grand collection of councils, which occupied 28 vols. folio.

1678. ROBERT NANTEUIL, a celebrated French engraver and designer, died.

1682. HENEAGE FINCH, lord high chancellor of England, died. He was distinguished for his wisdom and eloquence.

1686. EDWARD BENDLOWES, an English poet, died in great want, the result of imprudence.

1692. VITUS LUDOVICUS DE SECHENDORF, a learned German, died; author of several works, among which is the best account of Luther.

1708. JOHN LOVELACE arrived at New York from England, as governor of the province.

1714. CÆSAR D'ESTREES, a French cardinal, died; an able negotiator and a benevolent man.

1733. JOHN POTENGER died; an English poet and miscellaneous writer.

1733. EMANUEL MATTI died; a Spanish poet of eminence, and member of the Arcadia at Rome.

1737. The cliff at Scarborough sunk.

1741. Remarkable meteor seen at noon near Canterbury, Eng., accompanied by an inverted rainbow and three mock suns next morning.

1745. The Prussians under Frederick II entered Dresden. They captured the younger sons of the king of Poland, and took 415 officers and 1500 men prisoners.

1760. CHARLES HAYES, an ingenious English mathematical writer, died.

1771. PHILIP MILLA, an eminent Scottish botanist, died. He had charge of the apothecary company's physic garden at Chelsea, where he was visited by Linnæus.

1775. Battle of Great Bridge, near Norfolk, Va.

1776. The constitution of the state of North Carolina was adopted.

1778. The French under count d'Estaing made another attack upon the British batteries at Grand Cul de Sac, St. Lucia, and after being three times repulsed, were compelled to retire with the loss of 400 killed and 1100 wounded. British general Meadows was wounded.

1780. Society of antiquaries first instituted in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1785. The sloop Experiment, captain Dean, of Albany, sailed from New York for China. She returned in 1787, with a valuable cargo, and was the second vessel that sailed from America to China.

1787. The convention of New Jersey unanimously assented to and ratified the new federal constitution, without amendments.

1787. SOAME JENYNS, an English theological writer, died, aged 83. His writings are distinguished by purity of language, elegance of diction and critical knowledge.

1793. Toulon, which had revolted from the convention, after sustaining a murderous siege, was attacked by the revolutionists with a tremendous charge upon the fortifications. The English redoubt, defended by three thousand men and 20 pieces of cannon and several mortars, was carried in the space of an hour; and the town after being bombarded ten hours incessantly, was evacuated by the allies. Great efforts were made to carry away as many of the inhabitants as possible, but several thousand were left to the fury of their countrymen, who showed no mercy.

1796. The contemplated invasion of England, or rather Ireland, by an army of 25,000 under general Hoche, failed by a dispersion of the transport ships.

1799. Burial of WASHINGTON.

1799. JEAN ETIENNE MONTUCLA, an eminent French mathematician, died. His problems of the trisection of the angle, and the duplication of the cube, are curious and interesting.

1803. JOHN GODFREY HERDER, a German theological writer, died. Some of his writings have been translated.

1807. Counter declaration by the king of England against the emperor of Russia, and an order in council issued for granting letters of marque and reprisal against Russia.

1809. ALEXANDER ADAM, an eminent Scottish teacher, died. His _Roman Antiquities_ is still in extensive use.

1810. LUCIEN BONAPARTE with his family and a suite of thirty-five persons, arrived at Plymouth, England, and voluntarily placed themselves under the protection of the British government.

1812. BONAPARTE arrived at Paris from his disastrous campaign in Russia.

1820. GUISEPPE BONZANIGA, royal sculptor of Turin, died. By a persevering application of 40 years he raised the art of carving in wood and ivory to a high degree of perfection, and founded an establishment from which numerous works of art have been produced that are much sought for in all Italy, and valued by connoisseurs.

1828. Lord LIVERPOOL, the English premier, was killed at the opening of the rail road at Liverpool.

1832. PHILIP FRENEAU, a poet of the American revolution, died in New Jersey, aged 80. His poems were collected in two volumes and have gone through several editions.

1832. Treaty of navigation and commerce concluded at St. Petersburg, between the United States and Russia.

1843. SMITH THOMPSON, one of the justices of the supreme court of the United States, died at Poughkeepsie, aged 76.

1845. SAMUEL MCCLURE died in Illinois. Having fought in the revolutionary wars, he at their close in removing his family to Kentucky was attacked by Indians, his wife taken prisoner, and his children slain. He escaped himself and returning severely punished the Indians and rescued his wife.

1847. TIMOTHY PITKIN, a celebrated historical writer and statesman, died at his residence, New Haven, Conn.

1855. SAMUEL ROGERS, the distinguished English poet, died, aged 92.

DECEMBER 19.

69. The Roman capitol burnt by Vitellius.

1567. The Burghley papers state from the diocesan's certificate, that there were then in London and its immediate vicinity, 3,838 Dutchmen, 720 Frenchmen, 137 Italians, 10 Venitians, 56 Spaniards, 25 Portuguese, 2 Grecians, 2 Blackmores, 1 Dane, and but 58 Scots.

1675. Attack on Narragansett, by the united forces of the New England colonies. The English having gained an entrance, and withstood the first fire of the Indians, poured in amain, and made such havoc with their enemies that they soon had possession of every part of the fort. The wigwams to the number of five or six hundred were fired. The loss of the Indians on this occasion was by their own account 1000 fighting men; the loss of old men, women and children could not be estimated, as they mostly perished in the flames. The loss of the English was 80 killed. The blow was irreparable to the Indians, who were deprived of their homes and provisions.

1728. WHITE KENNET, an English prelate, died. He was an eloquent and popular preacher, and made a valuable collection of manuscripts.

1745. The avails of three nights' acting the _Beggar's Opera_, amounting to £600, given to encourage king George's army against France and the rebels.

1753. STYAN THIRLBY, an ingenious and learned English critic, died. He edited the works of Justin Martyr.

1777. WASHINGTON moved his troops from the Swedes ford to Valley Forge 16 miles from Philadelphia, where he hutted them. They were in great want of shoes and stockings. At one time his army was without bread four days; on the fifth day two regiments refused to perform duty, but finally returned to order on the prudent conduct and persuasion of Washington.

1793. The princess royal of France, the only remaining member of the family of the unhappy Louis XVI, was exchanged for the marquis Lafayette.

1793. The French troops entered Toulon, when such of the inhabitants as had favored the allies either put an end to their own existence or perished by the guillotine or musket.

1799. CHARLES JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE, an eminent Parisian printer, died. He acquired great celebrity as an author and a man of letters, as well as by the excellence of his printing.

1806. ELIZABETH CARTER, a contributor to the _Rambler_, and a good Latin and Greek scholar, died at London.

1807. FREDERICK MELCHOIR, baron de Grimm, died. He is indebted for his fame to a correspondence with the duke of Saxe Gotha, from Paris, which was published in 16 vols.

1813. DAVID HARTLEY, an English philanthropist, died. He is distinguished also as a politician and a projector. In parliament he steadily opposed the war with the colonies, and was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with Dr. Franklin at Paris.

1813. Fort Niagara captured by the British, who took the Americans by surprise. In the fort were 250 men and 25 cannon.

1813. Lewistown and Tuscarora village, near fort Schlosser, were burnt by the Indians.

1815. BENJAMIN SMITH BARTON, an eminent physician of Philadelphia, died. He held the professorships of natural history and botany, afterwards of materia medica, and succeeded Dr. Rush in theory and practice of medicine.

1831. The national assembly of Greece met at Argos, but in consequence of sedition was soon obliged to remove to Napoli.

1840. FELIX GRUNDY, long a distinguished senator of the United States from Tennessee, died. He was a zealous supporter of the measures of general Jackson's administration.

1842. JOHN UNCAS, the last male descendant of the Mohegan chief of that name, died, aged 89, and was buried in the royal burying ground of the Mohegans in Connecticut.

1845. CHARLES BOWEN, with his wife and oldest child, drowned by the sinking of the steamer Bellozane in the Mississippi. He was for many years publisher of the North American Review, the American Almanac, Token, &c., in Boston.

1851. J. M. WILLIAM TURNER, an unrivaled English landscape painter, died at Chelsea, aged 76. He was a man of miserly habits and great eccentricities.

1852. Sacramento in California inundated; the city submerged by the breaking through of a levee.

DECEMBER 20.

69. AULUS VITELLIUS, emperor of Rome, assassinated. After sharing in the debaucheries of Tiberius, and administering to the vices of Caligula, Claudius and Nero, he was proclaimed by his troops in Germany, in opposition to Otho. Though defeated in three battles, he triumphed in the fourth. He disgraced his reign by every species of licentiousness.

107. IGNATIUS, bishop of Antioch, torn in pieces by lions at Rome, by order of the emperor Trajan. His epistles are very interesting remains of ecclesiastical antiquity.

860. ETHELBALD, who married his mother-in-law, died, after having to the priests atoned for his offence by building and endowing many abbeys and monasteries.

912. ALPHONSO III (_the Great_), king of Asturias, in Spain, died. He wrote a chronicle of the Spanish monarchs, and a short time before his death obtained a memorable victory over the Moors.

1192. RICHARD of England seized in his disguise at Vienna.

1492. COLUMBUS cast anchor in the bay of St. Thomas; the anniversary also of the interment of his venerable bones more than three centuries after (1795) at Cuba.

1494. MATTEO MARIE BOJARDO, an Italian lyric poet, died.

1560. JOHN DRYANDER, a Hessian medical and mathematical writer, died. His discoveries in astronomy and his invention of mathematical instruments are important.

1560. First general assembly of the Scottish church was opened.

1603. MAHOMET III, sultan of Turkey, died of the plague. He began his reign by ordering 19 of his brothers to be strangled, and 10 of his father's wives to be drowned. He invaded Hungary with an army of 200,000 men, but after some successes his progress was checked, and he sued in vain for peace.

1686. Sir EDMUND ANDROS arrived in Boston with a commission from king James as governor of New England. He was received with satisfaction only as he was less dreaded than Kirk.

1697. THOMAS FIRMIN, an eminent English philanthropist, died. He devoted his time and money to charitable objects, and his benefactions were unequaled at the time when he lived.

1698. BARTHOLOMEW DU QUENTAL died; a Portuguese catholic priest, distinguished for his piety and learning.

1735. The Gentleman's Magazine announced the arrival of a dwarf in England from France, who at the age of 46, measured 21 inches in height.

1735. Part of the island of Portland sank into the sea.

1765. The dauphin of France died in his 36th year. He was a prince of benevolent character and exemplary piety, but little known in public life.

1766. Prayers were publicly read in all the popish chapels in Ireland for George III and family, being the first time prayers were made by Romanists for the protestant succession since 1688.

1770. JOHN SENAC died; physician to the king of France, counselor of state, and superintendent of the mineral waters of the kingdom. He wrote several works on anatomy and medicine.

1782. The United States frigate Charleston, 40 guns, captured by the British ships Quebec and Diomede, 76 guns, after a chase of 18 hours.

1790. The fortress of Ismael taken by storm by the Russians under Suwarrow; of 12,000 Turks all were put to the sword but 400.

1791. Bank of the United States commenced discounting in Philadelphia; $300,000 were discounted. Branches were established in New York, Boston, Baltimore and Charleston, which commenced business in January, 1792.

1793. JOHN STRANGEWAYS HUTTON died at Philadelphia, aged 110. He was born on Long Island in 1682.

1793. The first ambassador from the Porte arrived in London.

1795. The remains of Columbus removed to Cuba. In the presence of the dignitaries and military of San Domingo, assembled at the Metropolitan cathedral, a small vault was opened above the chancel, wherein were found the fragments of a lead coffin, a number of bones, and a quantity of mould, evidently the remains of a human body. These were carefully collected and put into a case of gilded lead secured by a lock, and enclosed in a coffin covered with black velvet, and ornamented with lace and fringe of gold. (See Jan. 19, 1796.)

1795. French under JOURDAN made an attack on Kayserslautern, but were repulsed with a loss of 2000 men.

1803. SAMUEL HOPKINS, an eminent New England minister, died. He published a work to show that it was the interest of all the American states to emancipate their slaves.

1804. RICHARD HUMPTON, adjutant general of the state of Pennsylvania, died. He was a native of England, who early entered the military service, and distinguished himself as a gallant soldier during the war of the revolution.

1809. JOSEPH JOHNSON, the fortunate publisher of Cowper's poems, died.

1815. CAMBACERES arrested and sent to prison at Paris.

1849. WILLIAM MILLER, the founder of the sect of Millerites, died at Hampton, Washington co., N. Y., aged 68. He was a native of Pittsfield, Mass., and during the last war with England served as a captain of volunteers on the northern frontier. He began to speak in public assemblies upon the subject of the Millenium in 1833, and in the ten years which preceded the time which he had set for the consummation of all prophecy he labored assiduously in the middle and northern states, averaging, it is said, nearly one sermon a day for more than half that period. He was uneducated, and not largely read in even the common English commentaries; his views were absurd and supported but feebly; yet he succeeded in building up a sect of some 30 or 40,000 disciples, which disappeared rapidly after the close of the "day of probation" in 1843, after which time Mr. Miller himself did not often advocate or defend his views in public.

1852. By a decree of the governor-general of British India, the province of Pegu was annexed to the British dominions.

1855. THOMAS CUBITT, an eminent English builder, principally on works of great magnitude for the government, died, aged 68.

DECEMBER 21.

73. Festival of ST. THOMAS, the Christian apostle, whose counsels penetrated into India. He was killed by the Bramins, and buried at Meliapour, about ten miles from Madras.

1375. GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO, an eminent Italian writer, died; whose _Decameron_ has been translated into all the European languages, although great pains were taken to suppress it.

1641. MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE, duke de Sully, died; celebrated as the prime minister of Henry IV, and the most able and incorruptible statesman that France ever had. After the murder of the king he went into retirement, where he wrote his _Memoirs_, a minute history of his own times.

1667. MILTON'S widow disposed of her entire interest in the _Paradise Lost_ for eight pounds; so that the sublimest poetical building in the world produced for its architect and his family, the sum of eighty dollars; ten pounds having been paid to the author in his life time!

1667. Sentence was executed upon many of those Scottish covenanters who had rebelled, it is supposed under persecution.

1670. The maiming of sir JOHN COVENTRY for reflecting on the moral character of Charles II, which caused the Coventry act.

1705. CATHARINE, of Portugal, died; queen of Charles II, of England, by whom she was treated unkindly.

1706. Tumultuous meetings in Edinburgh, occurred on account of signing the articles of union with England.

1719. First No. of the _Boston Gazette_ issued by William Brooker.

1741. BERNARD DE MONTFAUCON, a very learned French Benedictine, died; famous for his knowledge of ecclesiastic and pagan antiquities.

1774. THOMAS BROUGHTON, a learned English divine, died; author of the _Bibliotheca Historica Sacra_, and one of the original writers for the _Biographia Britannica_.

1775. An act of parliament confiscating all American vessels found floating on the water, and for _impressing_ the crews of American vessels into the British navy, without distinction of persons.

1777. There were at this time 300 American officers and 900 privates confined as prisoners of war in New York by the British. They were mostly confined in sugar houses and the most loathsome jails. In Philadelphia there were 500 privates and 50 officers. They were generally stripped of what clothing they had when taken, and were sometimes confined several days with scarcely any food in order to induce them to enlist to save their lives. Frequent instances occurred of persons thus perishing from hunger.

1780. JAMES HARRIS died; an English gentleman of uncommon abilities and learning, whose writings have been greatly admired.

1782. FRANCIS PHILIP DE REYRAC, a French ecclesiastic, died; a learned and amiable character.

1791. ARNAULD DE BARQUIN, a French miscellaneous writer died; whose works are known in our language. His _Children's Friend_ was honored with the prize of the French academy, as the most useful book issued in 1784.

1807. The Danish islands of St. Thomas and St. Johns, in the West Indies, surrendered to the British.

1811. PETER PARKER, the British admiral, died, aged 89.

1815. WILLIAM VINCENT, a learned English divine, died. As an author he is principally known by his commentary on Arrian's voyages of Nearchus.

1815. LAVALETTE, one of Bonaparte's ministers, escaped from prison in the disguise of his wife's dress, she having been permitted to visit him.

1831. Trial of the French ministers for high treason. The excitement was so great that a strong guard was required to save them from the popular violence. Above 70,000 men were under arms at one time. Their sentence was imprisonment for life, with the additional penalty of civil death on Polignac.

1832. WILLIAM BRAY, an eminent English antiquary, died, aged 97.

1833. JOHN P. HUNGERFORD died; an officer in the revolutionary war, and afterwards a member of congress from Virginia.

1835. JOHN SINCLAIR, an eminent British Statesman, died, aged 82. He was also a very voluminous author, and was distinguished for his patriotism and philanthropy. During a public life of upwards of fifty years, there is scarcely any topic in the whole range of political, statistical or medical science, to which he did not turn his inquiring mind.

1840. FRANK HALL STANDISH, an English author, died at Cadiz, aged 42. He wrote biography, travels, sketches and poems.

1845. The battle of Punjaub, between the English forces and the Sikh army, was fought, which issued in the defeat of the Sikhs, and the annexation of a large portion of their territory to that of the English.

1848. The Asiatic cholera broke out with great violence among the United States troops at port Lavaca, Texas.

DECEMBER 22.

640. Alexandria taken from the Greeks, by the Saracens, under Amri, after a siege of 14 months. "I have taken," he addressed the caliph Omar, "the great city of the west. It is impossible for me to enumerate the variety of its riches and beauty; and I shall content myself with observing that it contains 4,000 palaces, 4,000 baths, 400 theatres, or places of amusement, 12,000 shops for the sale of vegetable food, and 40,000 tributary Jews." It is well known that the second Alexandrian library, established by Cleopatra, was then destroyed, to feed the baths. The collection consisted of 300,000 volumes, and those 200,000 rolls, brought by Mark Antony from Pergamus, with the accumulation of seven centuries.

937. A severe frost which lasted 120 days, began in England.

1332. Found in the library of St. Mary, at Florence, the whole of the New Testament in silk; at the end of it is this inscription in Greek: "By the hand of the Sinner, and most unworthy, Mark, in the year of the world 7840."

1483. WILLIAM D'ESTOUTEVILLE, a Norman cardinal, died; who reformed the university of Paris.

1530. The famous protestant league of defence, against a decree of the imperial diet, was concluded this day.

1558. The great seal of England delivered to sir Nicholas Bacon, with the style of _lord keeper_, then first adopted.

1585. VIRGINIA ACCORAMBONI, celebrated for her beauty and poetical talents, was assassinated at Padua.

1592. ALEXANDER FARNESE, duke of Parma, and governor of the Low Countries, died of a wound given by Henry IV, of France, at the siege of Rouen.

1620. Landing of the first settlers at Plymouth. The total number of them was 101; of which 50 died during the winter.

1662. GEORGE PHILLIPS, with three others, styled fanatics, executed for conspiring the death of Charles II.

1681. RICHARD ALLEIN died; a puritan of great learning, whose writings are mostly on theology.

1694. FRANCIS NICHOLSON made governor of Maryland.