Chapter XXIX: Part 29

1762. Valentia de Alcantara, in Spain, taken by assault by the British, under Gen. Burgoyne.

1765. Riot in Boston occasioned by the stamp act; several private houses destroyed, and among them that of the lieutenant governor Hutchinson, one of the best in the province; his books and papers, which he had been 30 years in gathering, were destroyed, together with his plate, furniture, &c., and £1,000 in money.

1766. THOMAS WINSLOW, an English military officer, died, aged 146.

1775. The Americans opened their entrenchments on Plowed hill, near Boston. The British threw about 300 shells at them.

1775. JAMES BURGH, an ingenious English moral and political writer, died at Islington.

1776. GERMAIN FRANCIS POULLAIN DE ST. FOIX, a French historical tourist, died. He retired from the army to devote himself to literature, at Paris, and was appointed historiographer.

1777. FRANCIS FAWKES, an English poet, died. He translated several of the Greek poets, and wrote many miscellaneous poems, in a pleasing and elegant style.

1785. GEORGE SACKVILLE, an English nobleman, died. He was an officer under Marlborough, and present at several important engagements.

1794. Sluys, in Dutch Flanders, surrendered to the French under Moreau, 22 days after the opening of the trenches. The sudden capture of this fortress, exceedingly strong by nature and art, and defended by the brave general Vanderduyn, so intimidated the remainder of the Dutch and Hanoverian garrisons, that they thought only how to escape the fate of Sluys, and evacuated several fortresses equally strong; besides nearly 30 less important forts, and all Dutch Flanders.

1795. Trincomalee, a Dutch colony in the island of Ceylon, taken by the British under admiral Rainer.

1795. British squadron under Nelson, captured in the bay of Alaeso, 11 French vessels.

1806. EDWARD THURLOW, an eminent English lawyer, died. He became attorney and solicitor-general to the king, a member of parliament and lord high chancellor of England. He possessed a vigorous and active mind, which added to close application, gave him a high rank among the professional men of his day.

1813. Battle of Katzbach, in Silesia; the French defeated by the Russians and Prussians under Blucher. The day was so rainy that fire arms could not be used, and the battle was fought hand to hand. The French were driven into the river and perished in great numbers.

1813. Battle of Dresden. The citizens beheld a spectacle of an army of 60,000 troops marching through the streets to the field of battle, under Napoleon. An army of 120,000 allies were drawn up around the city.

1813. THEODORE KORNER, a German poet, killed in battle. Many of his pieces have been set to music, and become national.

1832. ADAM CLARKE, an eminent English divine, died of cholera, aged 72. He commenced his career as a methodist preacher at the age of 18, and became so popular that few men have ever drawn so large congregations. He was a man of great talents and extensive learning, particularly in the oriental languages and Biblical literature, and author of a well known and learned commentary on the scriptures, and various other publications.

1836. Buffalo and Niagara rail road opened.

1838. CALEB STARK, an officer of the revolutionary war, died. He entered the army at the age of 15, and commenced his career at the battle of Bunker hill as an ensign in his father's regiment. He remained in the army till the close of the war, at which time he was a brigadier-general.

1848. A battle took place at the cape of Good Hope, between the British and Boors. The former were victorious, with the loss of 54 men killed and wounded; the Boors lost 199.

1849. The senate of Hayti, having concurred in the bill of the chamber of representatives, Faustin Soulouque submitted to the wishes of the people, and was crowned emperor of Hayti, under the title of Faustin I.

1849. J. A. YATES, an eloquent divine and learned professor of Union college, died, aged 49.

1850. LOUIS PHILIPPE, the exiled king of the French, died at Claremont, England, aged 77.

AUGUST 27.

413 B. C. The Athenian army under Nicias lost on account of the general's fright at an eclipse of the moon.

524. FLAVIUS SEVERINUS BŒTHIUS, a celebrated Roman philosopher, died in prison, probably executed by order of Theodoric.

1556. CHARLES V, emperor of Germany, resigned the government to his brother Ferdinand, and set out for Spain.

1565. WILLIAM RASTAL died; an eminent English judge of the sixteenth century, and author of a work on the statutes of England.

1587. At the urgent solicitation of the colony of Roanoke, Gov. White returned to England for supplies; but of his countrymen whom he left behind nothing was ever afterwards known. Thus, says Holmes, terminated the exertions of Raleigh for colonizing Virginia.

1590. SIXTUS V (_Felix Peretti_), died; distinguished for the energy with which he extirpated the outlaws, and opposed the overgrown power of Spain. He embellished Rome with numerous and useful structures, among which is the present Vatican.

1630. The first church founded at Charlestown and Boston; their pastor was to receive a salary of £40.

1664. Articles of capitulation signed, by which the Dutch colony at New Amsterdam became subjects of England, with the privilege of continuing free denizens; to possess their estates undiminished; to enjoy their ancient customs with regard to inheritance, to their modes of worship and church discipline, and were allowed a free trade to Holland. The doughty governor, Stuyvesant, could not be prevailed upon to ratify it with his signature till two days afterwards.

1683. THOMAS DONGAN arrived as governor of the province of New York. He was a man of integrity, moderation, and genteel manners, and may be classed among the best of the provincial governors of New York.

1748. JAMES THOMSON, an eminent English poet, died; author of the _Seasons_.

1758. Fort Frontenac surrendered at discretion, to the English and provincials under Col. Bradstreet, after a siege of two days. They found in the fort 60 pieces of cannon, 16 mortars, a large number of small arms, a vast quantity of provisions, military stores and merchandise, together with 9 armed vessels in the harbor.

1770. JOHN JORTIN, an eminent divine of the English church, and writer on ecclesiastical history, died, aged 72.

1776. Battle of Flatbush, or Long Island; the Americans surprised by the British and Hessians, and defeated with the loss of about 500 killed and 1,100 taken prisoners; British loss about 70 killed, 350 wounded.

1791. PLACIDUS FIXMILNER died; an Austrian ecclesiastic, and writer on astronomy and the canon law.

1793. ADAM PHILIP DE CUSTINES, a French nobleman and general, guillotined. He served in the seven years' war and in the American revolutionary war.

1794. Valenciennes, after Lisle the strongest place of the famous northern barrier of France, surrendered to the republicans at the first summons.

1813. Second day's battle of Dresden. The allies were defeated and forced to retreat, with the loss of 30,000. The French had 10,000 wounded; the number of killed not known. Moreau had both legs shot away by a cannon ball.

1816. Algiers bombarded by the British and Dutch fleets, under lord Exmouth. The dey's fleet and defences were utterly destroyed, and he was compelled to submit to a treaty on his enemy's terms.

1825. LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON, an American poetess, died before completing her 17th year. Her pieces amount to 278, of which _Amir Khan_ is the principal; some of them written at the age of 9 years.

1834. GEORGE CLYMER, inventor and manufacturer of the Columbian printing press, died in London. He was instrumental in improving many other mechanical improvements.

1847. SILAS WRIGHT, an eminent American statesman, died at Canton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., aged 52.

1849. GABRIEL H. FORD, an American jurist, died at Morristown, N. J., aged 85. He was one of the most eloquent and efficient lawyers of New Jersey, and held the office of judge of the supreme court twenty-one years. His residence was the head quarters of Washington in 1777.

1850. BENJAMIN CHAMBERS, died, aged 86. He was a native of Pennsylvania, who entered the revolutionary army at the age of 16, and afterwards settled in Indiana. He held various important civil and military appointments under the early presidents.

1854. The city of Louisville, Ky., was visited by a tornado, which blew down and unroofed a large number of buildings; a church fell upon the congregation while at worship; 25 were killed and 67 seriously injured.

1857. RUFUS W. GRISWOLD, a voluminous American author, died, aged 42. He wrote for numerous periodicals, and left several unfinished works.

AUGUST 28.

430. AURELIUS AUGUSTINUS (or St. Augustin), one of the fathers of the Christian church, died at Hippo, in Africa.

876. LOUIS I, of Germany, died. He acquired the title of the pious, at the same time rendered himself powerful and formidable to his neighbors.

1443. JOHN V, duke of Britanny, died, and was succeeded by his son Francis.

1595. DRAKE and HAWKINS sailed from England with six of the queen's ships and twenty-one private ships and barks, on an expedition against the Spanish settlements in the West Indies.

1608. FRANCIS VERE, died; an English general, who distinguished himself in the expedition to Holland, 1585.

1609. HUDSON, having retreated his steps from Chesapeake bay, discovered another great bay, which has since acquired the name of Delaware. He anchored the Half Moon in eight fathom water, and took possession of the country.

1645. HUGO GROTIUS, an eminent Dutch philosopher, died. He was a man of great talent and laborious study, and notwithstanding he passed a stormy life, his works are very numerous.

1654. AXEL OXENSTIERN, a Swedish statesman, died. He was placed at the head of affairs on the death of Gustavus Adolphus, and owed his elevation to his merit and abilities.

1686. CASSINI, an Italian astronomer, discovered the satellite of Venus.

1710. JOSEPH KEBLE, an English law writer, died. Besides his published works, which were few, he left 100 large folio, and 50 thick quarto volumes in manuscript.

1722. Port Royal in Jamaica, destroyed by a hurricane; 26 ships and many lives lost.

1731. CHARLES BOYLE, earl of Orrery, died, aged 56. He made a figure from the age of 19 up, in literary, military, and almost every other kind of warfare.

1737. JOHN HUTCHINSON, an English author, died: founder of a well-known philosophical sect, which opposed Newton's doctrine of gravitation. His theories are curious, but no longer in repute.

1754. An irruption of the French and Indians upon Hoosick and Schaghticoke, by which those settlements were broken up, two persons scalped, and the houses fired.

1775. GEORGE FAULKNER, a celebrated Irish printer, died. He was the first to carry the art to a high degree of perfection in that country, and appears to have been a worthy and useful citizen.

1788. ELIZABETH CHUDLEIGH, duchess of Kingston, died at Paris; celebrated for her matrimonial speculations.

1792. DUMOURIER took his post at the head of 20,000 men, undisciplined and unorganized. Yet with these materials he arrested the progress of 80,000 Prussians and Hessians, and forced them to retreat with the loss of half their army.

1794. Battle of Powassin, between the Prussians and the Poles, in which the former lost their batteries and cannon, after a bloody engagement.

1798. JAMES WILSON died, one of the signers of the declaration of independence. He was eminent for his talents and integrity, and continued in the discharge of some public office till his death.

1804. MARGARET, widow of Benedict Arnold, died in London, aged 44. She was the daughter of Edward Shippen, of Philadelphia. It was said of her, that with a superiority and strength of mind seldom equaled, she possessed such polished and fascinating manners, as to convert every acquaintance into a friend.

1811. JOHN LEYDEN, a distinguished linguist, died on the island of Java, in his 36th year. He was ordained as a minister, but never attained any popularity as a preacher.

1814. Bombardment of fort Erie continued by the British; a shell entered the roof of Gen. Gaines's quarters, and burst at his feet, by which he was so severely wounded as to be obliged to resign the command of the fort.

1816. Treaty signed between Algiers and England, by which Christian slavery was to be abolished, and all slaves, of whatever nation, to be delivered up. The number released was 1,033.

1839. WILLIAM SMITH, an eminent English geologist, died, aged 70. In his employment as a land surveyor and engineer, he turned his attention to the geology of England, and published upwards of 20 geological maps of the counties. He is styled the _Father of English Geology_.

1839. A grand tournament appointed at Eglintoun castle in Ayrshire, Scotland. The day was very stormy, and the multitude from all parts of Great Britain who had assembled to witness the feats, estimated at 80,000, suffered greatly from the inclemency of the weather, and the impossibility of procuring shelter, food, or vehicles. An immense sum had been expended by the romantic nobleman in getting up the festival, which proved a total failure.

1851. The yacht America beat the iron yacht Titania, on a race of forty miles out and back, and left her eight miles astern.

1854. MARIA CHRISTINA, queen mother of Spain, left Madrid for Portugal, under escort of a body of government troops, but against the will of the people; she was indebted to the state 71,000,000 reals.

1855. SPENCER H. CONE, a Baptist minister, died in New York, aged 70. He was an actor, and on the stage for the last time when the Richmond theatre was burnt. He afterwards edited a newspaper, and finally became one of the most distinguished of the Baptist ministers.

1855. The vessel engaged to lay the submarine cable between cape Ray in Newfoundland and cape North in cape Breton, 55½ miles, began to pay it out. The cable afterwards broke, and a gale coming on, it was found necessary to let it go.

1856. The Dudley observatory was inaugurated at Albany.

AUGUST 29.

30 B. C. Conquest of Alexandria by Augustus; exactly three lustra or fifteen years preceding the great victory of Drusus over the Rhœtians and Vindelici, which concluded the Barbaric war.

30. St. JOHN (_the Baptist_) beheaded. The decollation of the Baptist determines the birthday of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, called Antipas, who for his ambition was banished by Caligula to Spain or Lyons, with Herodias, in the year 38.

410. Alaric evacuated Rome and ravaged the provinces of Italy.

284. Era of Diocletian (or the martyrs), commenced, still used by the Copts and Abyssinians. It receives its name from the persecution of the Christians in the reign of Diocletian, and was much used by the Christian writers until the introduction of the Christian era, in the sixth century.

1350. Great naval battle in the English channel, off Winchelsea, between the English under Edward III and the mariners of Biscay. Fourteen Castilian ships were carried triumphantly into port.

1353. Action between the Genoese fleet under Antonio Grimaldi, and the combined Venitian and Catalonian fleets, under Pisani, in which the former suffered so great a defeat that only 17 vessels escaped.

1445. PAUL, of Burgos, a learned Jew, died. He was converted to Christianity, and was baptized at the same time with his three sons, who all distinguished themselves.

1527. Battle of Mohatz, between the Turks under Solyman, and the Hungarians under Louis II, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of 20,000 killed. The Turks carried nearly 200,000 persons into captivity.

1583. STEPHEN PARMENIUS BUDEIUS, a learned Hungarian, shipwrecked on the coast of Newfoundland. He accompanied sir Humphrey Gilbert's squadron of discovery, for the purpose of recording their discoveries and exploits in Latin. He was on board the Delight, which carried down more than 100 persons with her.

1657. JOHN LILBURNE, a famous English enthusiast, died. He was the ringleader of a party called the levelers.

1660. The act of indemnity signed by Charles II, out of which most of those called regicides were excepted.

1692. Col. BENJAMIN FLETCHER arrived at the port of New York, with a commission as governor of the province, which he published the next day.

1708. Haverhill, on the Merrimack, surprised by the French and Indians, who burnt part of the town, killed about 40, and carried away 100 prisoners.

1749. MATHIAS BEL, died at Presburg; a Hungarian ecclesiastic, ennobled for his literacy.

1750. LETITIA PILKINGTON, a lady of great wit and literary celebrity, died at Dublin.

1764. JOHN BERNARD, a distinguished London merchant, died. He represented the city in parliament forty years, and was so highly esteemed by the public that his statue was placed in the Royal Exchange during his life time.

1769. EDMUND HOYLE died; author of a celebrated treatise on whist and other games.

1776. Americans retreated from Long Island. Gen. Mifflin commanded the rear guard, with whom Washington remained until the retreat was effected. The army amounted to 9,000.

1778. The rear of the American army under Gen. Sullivan attacked by the British, who were repulsed. British loss 260; American loss 206.

1779. The Indians defeated by Sullivan at Elmira.

1780. JAMES GERMAIN SOUFFLOT, an eminent French architect, died.

1782. British ship Royal George, 108 guns, sunk while careening. Admiral Kempenfelt and about 1,000 persons were lost, of whom 300 were women and children. (This is put down by other authorities on the 19th, and differently stated.)

1799. PIUS VI (_John Angela Braschi_), pope, died. He rendered his name famous by draining the Pontine marshes. Bonaparte entered his state twice, making him a prisoner the second time, and carried him over the Alps to Valentia, where he died of excessive fatigue, aged 82.

1804. Com. PREBLE'S fifth attack on Tripoli. The Constitution fired upwards of 300 rounds, besides grape and canister: sunk a large Tunisian galliot, and silenced two of the batteries and the castle. American loss 3 killed, 1 wounded.

1816. SCHETA, the celebrated astronomer of Liliennthal, died.

1833. Great fire at Constantinople, in which a circuit of three miles, said to comprise 12,000 houses and 50,000 inhabitants, was devastated, and many lives lost.

1843. A treaty of peace between Great Britain and China concluded. The Chinese to pay twenty-one millions of dollars, open 5 of their principal ports and cede the island of Hong-Kong to the British.

1849. The fortress of Achulga, the residence of Schamyl, a celebrated Circassian chief, was carried by assault by the Russians, after a siege of four months.

1851. LOPEZ, who had invaded Cuba with American volunteers, after sixteen days of reverses, and having lost nearly all his followers, was captured in the mountains by the aid of bloodhounds.

1851. A convention of twenty-five delegates assembled in Lewis county, Oregon, and appointed a committee to prepare a memorial to congress, to procure a division of the territory, and the organization of a separate territorial government.

1853. The Austrian minister, M. Hulsemann, addressed a note to the American government, complaining of the conduct of Capt. Ingraham in the Koszta affair.

1854. Petropaulowski, a Russian town, attacked and bombarded by the allied English and French fleet. The town was defended by 1,200 men and 120 guns.

1854. A new asteroid, named Euphrosyne, was discovered at the Washington observatory, by James Ferguson, assistant astronomer.

AUGUST 30.

30 B. C. CLEOPATRA, queen of Egypt, destroyed herself by the bite of an asp, to save herself from the disgrace of captivity.

526. THEODORIC, first king of the Goths in Italy, died. He advanced commerce and the arts, and patronized literature, but committed great acts of cruelty.

1181. ALEXANDER III, pope, died. He was an able pontiff, beloved by his subjects and respected by the world.

1483. LOUIS XI, of France, died. His ambition led him to the commission of the greatest crimes, by which he acquired the title of the Tiberius of France.

1563. WOLFGANG MUSCULUS, a celebrated German divine, died. He adopted the tenets of Luther, and by his eloquence gained over the city of Augsburg.

1566. SOLYMAN II (_the Magnificent_), sultan of Turkey, died. He prosecuted war with various success in Europe and Asia, and took the island of Rhodes from the knights of Jerusalem.

1645. Treaty of peace between the New England colonies and the Narragansett Indians; by which the latter were to pay the expense of the preparations already made for war, estimated at 2,000 fathoms of wampum; restore to Uncus the prisoners and canoes taken from him; keep perpetual peace with the English and all their allies; and give hostages for the performance of the treaty. Formidable preparations were made for this contest with the heathen savages. They drew up a manifesto, containing such facts as they considered sufficient to justify them in making war against the Narragansetts. It was entitled, "a declaration of former passages and proceedings betwixt the English and the Narrohiggansetts, with their confederates, wherein the grounds and justice of the ensuing warr are opened and cleared." In this document it is affirmed that the English colonies, "both in their treaties and converse with the barbarous natives of this wilderness, have had an awful respect to divine rules." It was determined immediately to raise 300 men; Massachusetts to raise 190, Plymouth 40, Connecticut 40, New Haven 30.

1645. A formal treaty of peace between the Dutch in New Amsterdam, under William Kieft, and the Indians in the vicinity.

1645. Parliament ordered a fast for a blessing on Scotland and sir Thomas Fairfax's army, and a cessation of the plague.

1690. King WILLIAM forced to raise the siege of Limerick after sustaining great loss.

1717. WILLIAM LLOYD, an English prelate, died, aged 91. He was a zealous promoter of the revolution, and a voluminous author.

1757. Battle of Norkettin; the Prussians forced the Russian camp and batteries, and killed 2,000 men with an equal loss on their own part.

1785. By the plague which raged at Tripoli, 30,000 persons had died up to this date, of which 3,300 were Jews. The brother of the bey, his two sons, and all the ministers of the bey were dead. All the Christians established in the city as merchants had died.

1794. The Austrian garrison of Conde laid down their arms as prisoners of war at the first summons of the French republican general Scherer. The garrison was strongly entrenched, and might have defied the enemy as long as their provisions lasted.

1795. ANDREW DANICAN (_Philidor_) died; noted for his musical performances and compositions, by which he acquired the _sobriquet_ from the king, of Philidor, after an Italian musician of that name, and by which he is generally known as a celebrated chess player. His fondness for the game grew into a passion, in order to indulge which he traveled over a great part of Europe, engaging everywhere with the best players. He remained some time in England, during which he printed his _Analysis of Chess_, a standard work. On his return to France he devoted his attention to the comic opera, of which he produced 21 pieces. A short time previous to his decease he played two games blindfolded at the same time against two excellent chess players, and won.

1797. In England, the Leeds methodist conference resolved to eject from their communion, a brother, who should propagate opinions in opposition to the established church.

1801. Cairo surrendered to the British, and Egypt evacuated by the French under Menou. He was the first French general who landed with Bonaparte, and the last who left it.

1804. THOMAS PERCIVAL, well known for his writings on moral and medical subjects, died at Manchester, England.

1804. JOHN BLAIR LINN, an American poet, died, aged 27. He published 2 vols. of miscellaneous pieces.

1810. JOHN PHILIP DE COBENTZL, an Austrian statesman, died. He was the last of that illustrious family.

1813. Battle of Nollendorf, in Bohemia, when Von Kleist made a daring descent from the mountains, upon the rear of Vandamme, and gaining a decisive victory saved Bohemia, against which Bonaparte had directed his masterly demonstrations.

1814. Alexandria, in Virginia, capitulated to the British, and delivered up the public stores, shipping, &c.

1814. The British under sir Peter Parker, having attacked the Americans at Moorsfield, were repulsed with considerable loss. Among the killed was sir Peter himself.

1832. Number of deaths in Paris from cholera since March, 18,000.

1834. HARDING, an eminent astronomer, died at Gottingen; celebrated as the discoverer of the planet Juno.

1835. WILLIAM T. BARRY, postmaster-general under president Jackson, died at Liverpool on his way to Spain, as minister plenipotentiary of the United States.

1838. DAVID HUME died, aged 82; baron of the exchequer in Scotland, and author of a celebrated work on criminal law.

1844. FRANCIS BAILEY, so favorably known as a stock broker and author, died in England. He was instrumental in founding the astronomical society of London.

1848. The United States district attorney of Arkansas had orders from government to discover and prosecute all those who were engaged in preparing a military expedition against Mexico, and establishing the republic of the Sierra Madre.

1849. The chamber of deputies at Turin voted 100,000 livres to relieve the refugees from different parts of Italy.

1850. JOHN INMAN, a New York editor, died, aged 46. He was educated for the law, but commenced his editorial experience about 1830, with the _Spirit of the Times_. He was also for a time connected with the _New York Mirror_, and in 1834 became assistant editor of the _New York Commercial Advertiser_, which he edited ably on the death of William L. Stone.

1852. JOHN CAMDEN NEILD, an English barrister, died at London, aged 72. He was privately known by his eccentricities and miserliness, and after his death became more publicly known by the strange bequest of all his property, estimated at $2,500,000, to the queen.

1852. GEORGE FREDERICK VON LANGSDORFF, a noted botanist and traveler, died at Freidburg, in the duchy of Baden.

1853. The cholera, which prevailed very generally in the north of Europe, became nearly extinct at Copenhagen, where it destroyed 4,006 lives. In St. Petersburg the deaths during this visitation were 5,609.

1854. The British admiral PRICE engaged in bombarding the Russian town Petropaulowski, was killed by a shot from his own pistol.

1855. FEARGUS EDWARD O'CONNOR, leader of the chartists in Great Britain, died at Notting hill, England, aged 59, in the custody of an institution for the insane.

AUGUST 31.

1130. ABU ABDILLAH MOHAMMED, founder of the sect and dynasty of Almohades, died. The empire founded by this imposter, lasted 140 years.

1290. EDWARD I, by a proclamation, exiled the whole race of English Jews forever, on penalty of death.

1422. HENRY V of England died at Vincennes, in France. He had conquered the kingdom, and was received at Paris as the future master of the country.

1523. ULRIC HUTTEN, an eccentric German poet, died.

1568. JOHN DE LA VALETTE PARISOT, grand master of the knights of Malta, died. He bravely defended the island against a formidable siege by the Turks in 1557.

1578. FROBISHER embarked to return from his third voyage to the northernmost part of the American continent. His fleet was separated the next night, by a violent storm, but arrived safe, one ship after another, in England. Stow, the chronicler, says, "they fraught their shippes with the like pretended gold ore out of the mines," as on their last voyage, "but after great charges it proved worse than good stone, whereby many men were deceived to their utter undoings."

1615. STEPHEN PASQUIER died; an eminent French advocate and poet.

1660. JOHN FREINSHEMIUS, a learned German, died. He understood most of the languages of Europe, and his supplements to Livy and Quintus Curtius, go far to supply the loss of the originals.

1688. JOHN BUNYAN died, aged 60. From an abandoned youth he became a respectable preacher; the authorship of _Pilgrim's Progress_ will perpetuate his memory.

1733. Fifty tons of half pence and farthings sent from the Tower of London to Ireland.

1772. WILLIAM BORLASE, an English writer on natural history, &c., died. He also devoted much attention to antiquities.

1805. JAMES CURRIE, an eminent Scottish physician, died. He wrote on medicine, and published an edition of Robert Burns with an excellent memoir.

1813. Battle of St. Sebastian; Wellington having driven the French over the Pyrennes, carried this place by storm and achieved a victory on the heights of San Marceil. French loss 15,000.

1832. EVERARD HOME, an English anatomist, died, aged 77. He was one of the most eminent medical men of his day, and his publications are numerous and in high repute.

1849. The convention for framing a state constitution for California, assembled at Monterey.

1852. JAMES L. KINGSLEY, professor of languages and ecclesiastical history, died, aged 73. He was connected with the college in the department of classical literature, with high reputation, for half a century.

1853. The cholera appeared at Newcastle upon Tyne, in England, and caused 1538 deaths before its disappearance on the 26th October.

1853. A Roman circus of great size was discovered at Tours in France, where excavations were being made.

1853. The small pox raged at the Sandwich islands, having since May carried off 1,805 persons out of a population of 60,000.

1855. WILLIAM H. FRY died at Philadelphia, aged 78. He was one of the magnates of the press in that city, and the founder of the _National Gazette_.

1855. LEWIS WESTON DILLWYN, a British naturalist, died at Swanse, Wales, aged 77. He produced several valuable works on natural history, and communicated various papers on fossils, shells and plants to the Royal society.

SEPTEMBER.

SEPTEMBER 1.

5508 B. C. The world was created, according to the _Septuagint_, followed by Julius Africanus, a chronologer of the third century, upon the first of September, five thousand five hundred and eight years, three months and twenty-five days before the birth of Christ. Of the 7,349 years which are thus supposed to elapse since the creation, we shall find 3,000 of ignorance and darkness; 2,000 either fabulous or doubtful; 1,000 of ancient history, commencing with the Persian empire and the republics of Rome and Athens; 1,000 from the fall of the Roman empire in the west to the discovery in America; and the remaining 349 will compose the modern state of Europe and mankind.

44 B. C. Divine honors decreed to the memory of Cæsar.

1159. ADRIAN IV (_Nicholas Brekespere_), pope, died. He was the only Englishman ever elected to the office.

1611. The crew of HENRY HUDSON, who had mutinied and put him adrift in an open boat, were picked up by a fisherman, in a wretched condition. Their best sustenance left, while on their voyage, was seaweed fried with candles' ends, and the skins of fowls. They were in such a state of starvation that only one of them had strength to lie on the helm and steer the ship. It appears that they had quarreled among themselves, and met with a fearful retribution.

1620. The English pilgrims sailed from Plymouth in the Mayflower, for the American continent, intending to find some place near Hudson's river for a settlement.

1633. ANTONIO QUERENGHI, an Italian poet, died.

1641. The Raritans made an attack upon the colony of Staten island, and murdered the colonists, in revenge for previous depredations by the Dutch.

1651. Dundee, in Scotland, taken by storm by general Monk. "Mounche commaundit all, of quhatsummever sex to be putt to the edge of the sword. There were 800 inhabitants and soldiers killed, and about 200 women and children. The plounder and buttie they gat in the towne, exceeded two millions and a half."

1675. The Indians under the notorious king Philip fell upon the town of Deerfield, in Massachusetts, killed one man, and laid most of the town in ashes.

1682. WILLIAM PENN sailed for America in the ship Welcome, 300 tons burthen, with about a hundred other emigrants, mostly quakers.

1685. LEOLINE JENKINS, an able English civilian and statesman, died.

1687. HENRY MORE, an English philosopher and poet, died. His works once enjoyed a high reputation.

1697. The imperialists, commanded by prince Eugene, defeated the Turks at Zentha; the grand vizier and upwards of 20,000 men killed.

1715. LOUIS XIV, of France, died. His reign is marked as an era of magnificence, learning and licentiousness, in France; and he left behind him monuments of unprecedented splendor and expense, in palaces, gardens, &c.

1715. FRANCIS GIRANDON, an eminent French sculptor and architect, died.

1720. EUSEBUS RENAUDOT, a distinguished French orientalist, died.

1721. JOHN KIELL, an eminent Scottish mathematician and philosopher, died. His works are numerous and in high repute.

1729. RICHARD STEELE, an English writer and politician, died; "justly celebrated as an essayist, just remembered as a dramatist, and almost forgotten as a politician."

1730. A new volcano opened at Temanfaya, in the isle of Lanzerota.

1731. French erected a fort at Crown point, on lake Champlain.

1755. MAURICE GREENE, an eminent English music composer, died. He undertook an important reformation in church music which he did not live to effect.

1766. PETER ANICH, a Tyrolese peasant, astronomer and geographer, died. He followed the occupation of a farmer till the age of 28, after which he commenced his scientific career.

1771. CUTHBERT SHAW died; an English poet of "humble origin, but of superior attainments, and inferior to no writer of ancient or modern times."

1774. General GAGE seized the powder at Charlestown, in consequence of which the people rose and compelled several officers of the king's government to resign.

1776. LEWIS HENRY CHRISTOPHER HOLTY, an Excellent German poet, died. "In tender elegiac or idylic poetry, he is peculiary successful."

1779. French fleet, count d'Estaing, captured off Charleston, S. C., British ship Experiment, 50 guns, and three frigates.

1784. JOHN FRANCIS SEGUIER, a distinguished French botanist, and president of the academy of Nismes, died.

1787. JOHN BAKE, an eminent Dutch philosopher and Latin writer, was born at Leyden. His last work was an edition of _Cicero de Legibus_.

1793. A fine marble bust of John Milton, the poet, was placed in the church at Cripplegate.

1801. ROBERT BAGE, an English novelist of considerable merit, died.

1804. The planet Juno discovered by Harding, of Germany. Her diameter is 1,425 miles, and she performs a very eccentric orbit round the sun in 4 years and 128 days.

1804. JAMES NICHOLSON, an officer in the American navy during the war of the revolution, died.

1806. PATRICK O'BRYEN, the Irish giant, died at Bristol, England. His height was 8 feet, 5 inches.

1814. Champlain village taken possession of by the British under Provost.

1814. Fort Castine, on the Penobscot, and several places taken by the British under Sherwood and admiral Griffith.

1814. United States sloop of war Wasp, captain Blakely, fell in with 10 sail of British vessels convoyed by a 74, and bomb ship. He cut out of the convoy a brig laden with military stores, and burnt her, and sunk the brig Avon, of 19 guns.

1818. The state prison at Auburn, N. Y., opened.

1831. GEORGE FULTON, author of an improved system of education and a popular pronouncing dictionary, died near New Haven, Scotland.

1838. WILLIAM CLARKE died; the companion of Lewis in the pioneer journey across the Rocky mountains. He was held in the highest estimation by nearly all the tribes of western Indians, however remote, whose character he well understood. He was several years governor of Missouri, and at the time of his death the oldest American settler residing in St. Louis.

1841. JOSEPH NOURSE died; a soldier of the revolution, one of the vice-presidents of the American Bible society, and 40 years register of the United States treasury.

1849. The deaths registered in London for the week, were 2,796; exceeding those of any previous week, and nearly three times the average of the season. Of the number, 1,663 were by cholera, and 234 by diarrhea.

1851. ANTONIO LOPEZ, who attempted to affect a revolution in Cuba, was garotted at Havana.

1851. The rail road in Russia from St. Petersburg to Moscow, was inaugurated.

1853. LOUIS CHITTI, an Italian exile, died in New York. He was secretary of finance to Murat, afterwards professor of political economy at Brussels; then commissioner to the United States from Belgium. During the troubles of 1821 at Naples, he was expelled, and resided in this country.

1855. WILLIAM CRANCH, an eminent American judge, died at Washington, D. C., aged 86. He published 9 vols. of cases in the supreme court, and was highly respected for his talents and learning.

SEPTEMBER 2.

44 B. C. CICERO delivered the first of those speeches against Marc Antony, called his _Philippics_.

31 B. C. Battle of Actium, off the promontory of Epirus, in which the fleet of Marc Antony was defeated and his hopes utterly prostrated.

1338. EDWARD III was invested by the emperor at Coblentz, with the title of his vicar, but refused to kiss the imperial foot.

1483. The renowned Caxton issued from his press a book entitled, _Confessio Amantis_: That is to saye in Englisshe, The Confessyon of the Louer.

1504. COLUMBUS sailed from Hispaniola to Spain--his final leave of the country which he had discovered--a discovery that had been to him a source of unutterable vexation and the vilest ingratitude.

1519. Battle of Zehuacingo, between 400 Spaniards under Cortez, and the whole force of the Tlascalan Indians, amounting to about 40,000 warriors. The Indians closed in upon the Spaniards in a dense mass, and bore down with determined bravery upon the sturdy little band of invaders. A body of them, wielding two-handed swords succeeded in killing one of the horses at a blow; but the rider was saved, and the saddle also at the cost of ten men wounded. The cannons and guns of the Spaniards made terrible havoc among the dense masses of the Indians, and they were compelled to retire with a great loss, leaving their enemy too much fatigued to follow them, and greatly rejoiced to find that they had escaped annihilation.

1591. RICHARD GRENVILLE, an English naval officer, died. He distinguished himself in battle against the Turks, and on the American coast against the Spaniards.

1592. ROBERT GREEN, an English poet, and one of the famous Grub street writers, died in London. So infamous was Grub street at that time, that Mr. Henry Welley says in his narrative, that he lived there 40 years without being seen of any one.

1666. Great fire in London, which consumed 400 streets, 13,200 houses and 89 churches--and destroyed the plague!

1685. ALICIA LISLE beheaded at Winchester. Her offence was harboring a non-conforming minister named Hicks.

1701. The court of chancery of the state of New York organized.

1746. JOHN BAPTIST COLBERT, marquis of Torrey, died; a French statesman, celebrated for his embassies.

1755. Sir CHARLES HARDY arrived in the port of New York, to succeed De Lancey as governor of the province, and his commission was published on the next day, with the usual solemnities, and was followed by an entertainment, bonfires, illuminations and other expressions of joy.

1766. ARCHIBALD BOWYER, a learned Scottish Jesuit, died. He wrote a _History of the Popes_, and some other historical works; but is accused of much imposture.

1784. JOHN BAPTIST ANTHONY VISCONTI, an Italian antiquary, died. In his researches for ancient monuments at Rome, he discovered the tomb of the Scipios.

1792. The prisons of Paris, filled with nobles, ecclesiastics and opulent citizens, suspected of favoring the court and aristocratical party, were burst open, and the inmates massacred to the number of 12,487, during this and the following day. Neither age, rank nor sex were respected by the Jacobins, who urged the expediency of destroying these persons before the Austrians should reach the capital.

1792. MARIE THERESE DE LAMBALLE, an Italian princess, murdered in Paris. She escaped from Paris at the same time with the royal family, by another road, and reached England. But on hearing the fate of her friend the queen, hastened back to share her fortune, and met with a barbarous death from the hands of the mob.

1806. An immense rock forming the summit of the Rosenburg in Switzerland was precipitated into the valley with a vast amount of rubbish, overwhelming several villages, and partly filling lake Lauwertz. Upwards of 1,000 persons perished, and three villages totally disappeared.

1813. JEAN VICTOR MOREAU, one of the most distinguished generals of the French revolution, died of wounds received at the battle of Dresden.

1832. FRANCIS XAVIER DE ZACH died of cholera at Paris. He was a native of Hungary, and one of the most eminent astronomers of the age.

1832. JOHN OLDING BUTLER died; an English writer, author of a _Geography of the Globe_.

1834. THOMAS TELFORD, a distinguished architect and civil engineer, died at London. He was a self-made man, rising from a shepherd boy in Eskdale, Scotland, to rank with the most learned of his age.

1836. WILLIAM HENRY, a celebrated writer on chemistry, died.

SEPTEMBER 3.

1189. Inauguration of RICHARD I (_Cœur de Lion_), at Westminster, a most splendid pageant.

1328. CASTRACANI CASTRUCCIO, a famous Italian general, died. He was found, when an infant, in a heap of leaves, in Tuscany; and lived to attain the highest rank in military fame.

1332. A famous bull feast in the Coliseum at Rome, after the fashion of the Moors and Spaniards. The ladies were seated in three balconies, lined with scarlet cloth. Every knight assumed a livery and device. The champions who were left on the arena outnumbered the _quadrupeds_.

1588. RICHARD TARLETON, a celebrated jester and actor, and dramatic writer, was buried at Shoreditch, London--the _Yorick_ of Shakspeare's Hamlet.

1592. ROBERT GREENE, an English dramatic author, died; notorious for his licentiousness.

1609. HENRY HUDSON, coasting northwardly, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon came to three great rivers, and stood for the northernmost.

1634. EDWARD COKE, the celebrated English judge, died. He was a clear and luminous writer on the laws and constitution of his country.

1642. Battle of Liscarrol, between the Irish army of 7,500, under general Barry, and the British, 2,400, under lord Inchiquin, in which the latter were victorious.

1650. Battle of Dunbar; the Scots under Leslie defeated with great slaughter by Oliver Cromwell; 3,000 of them slain and 10,000 taken prisoners, one half of whom were "driven, like turkeys, into England."

1651. Battle of Worcester; Cromwell defeated Charles II with great slaughter; the whole Scottish army being principally killed or taken.

1653. CLAUDIUS SALMASIUS, a French historian and critic, died. He was a man of most uncommon abilities and erudition, as his works, numerous and various, show.

1658. OLIVER CROMWELL died, on the anniversary of some of his most famous victories. The mighty conqueror, Death, snatched him in no ordinary manner, for Dan Æolus proclaimed it in _tempest_ to all nations of Europe.

1660. JAMES, duke of York, remarried to Ann Hyde; Clarendon, lord chancellor, pretending on account of the dignity of royalty, he would rather have seen her his concubine than his wife.

1662. WILLIAM LENTHALL, speaker of the parliament that levied war against Charles I, died.

1680. PAUL RAGUENEAU, superior of the Jesuit missionaries in Canada, died at Paris, aged 75. He was a man of wonderful confidence in God, and of the most complete disengagement from temporal things.

1692. DAVID ANCILLON, a German divine, died; eminent for his learning, piety and eloquence. His library at Metz was a great curiosity to the learned.

1711. ELIZABETH SOPHIA CHERON died; a French lady who obtained great celebrity by her talents for poetry, painting, the learned languages and music.

1715. The pretender proclaimed king James VIII by the earl of Mar at Aboyne, Aberdeenshire.

1729. JOHN HARDOUIN, a French Jesuit, died; who distinguished himself for his criticism and extensive erudition, as well as by the singularity of his opinions.

1733. At Carlton, Yorkshire, England, a vault, 8 feet by 5, was discovered 18 feet below the surface, in which lay a skeleton of a large body with a helmet in a niche over the head, on the wall some Saxon characters and the date 992 were discovered.

1739. GEORGE LILLO, an English dramatic writer, died. Though a jeweler by profession, and a man of business, he cultivated the muses, and acquired great celebrity.

1752. New style; eleven days blotted from the English calendar; this, the 3d, being accounted the 14th. The Julian computation, either from ignorance or negligence, supposing a complete solar revolution in the precise period of 365 days and 6 hours, made no provision for the deficiency of 11 minutes per annum, which, however, in the lapse of 18 centuries amounted to a difference of 11 days.

1774. ANTONY DE FERRIOL, count Pont de Vesle, died; a French comic writer.

1777. British under Gen. HOWE marched upon Philadelphia, and the Americans retreated across the Brandywine.

1782. Sixth action between the British, admiral Hughes, 12 ships and a 50 gun ship, and the French admiral Suffrein, 12 ships and three 50 gun ships, off Trincomalee. The action was bloody; the French on re-entering the harbor in the evening, lost a 74 gun ship.

1783. Definitive articles of peace signed at Paris, between England, France, Spain and America.

1791. New French constitution presented to Louis XVI by the national assembly.

1796. Battle of Wurzburg; the French under Jourdan defeated by the Austrians under the archduke Charles.

1801. British took possession of Alexandria, Egypt. They found there 312 cannon. The garrison consisted of nearly 12,000, who had subsisted a long time on horseflesh.

1803. JOSEPH RITSON, an English writer, died. Though a man of learning, he adopted a most singular and capricious form of orthography.

1804. Sixth attack on Tripoli by the American squadron under Com. Preble. The Constitution brought to in a situation where more than 70 guns could be brought to bear upon her. She silenced one of their batteries, and considerably damaged the town, castle and other batteries.

1807. CLARA REEVE died, aged 70; an English writer of considerable literary talent.

1816. KIA KING, emperor of China, dethroned by the guards of his palace, on account of a sentence he passed in relation to some affairs of religion.

1839. WILLIAM SULLIVAN died at Boston, aged 64. He was an eminent lawyer, and sustained various civil and military offices, and was the author of _Familiar Letters_, _Political Class Book, &c._

1852. GEORGE RICHARDSON PORTER, secretary of the board of trade, died at Tunbridge Wells, England, aged 60. He wrote upon the sugar cane, and other products and manufactures.

1855. Gen. WALKER with 150 men, only 80 of whom were white, took up his quarters at Virgin bay. Gen. Mandiola attacked him with 400 men, but was defeated with the loss of 50. Walker's loss 1 white, 4 natives.

1855. RACHEL, the noted French actress, made her first appearance in America at New York, and was enthusiastically received.

1855. Battle of Sand Hills; the United States troops under general Harney gained a complete victory over the Sioux Indians, killing 86 warriors, and capturing about 70 women and children, with a loss of only 4 of his own men.

SEPTEMBER 4.

1456. JOHN CORVINUS HUNNIADES died; a general in the Hungarian armies, distinguished for his bravery and his great success in the wars with the Turks.

1532. PIZARRO, having landed in Peru and founded a colony, now began his march for the conquest of the country. His force consisted of 62 horse, and 106 foot, among whom were 20 crossbowmen, with which he went forth to encounter tens of thousands of fierce and warlike men. It is said that Pizarro incited his followers to this dangerous enterprise by the singular argument, that this main design was the propagation of the catholic faith, without injuring any person.

1588. ROBERT DUDLEY, earl of Leicester, died. He was a great favorite at the court of Elizabeth, and accounted a man of talents; but artful, ambitious, and criminal.

1598. PHILIP II of Spain died at the Escurial of a loathsome disease. By his own account, he expended 600,000,000 of gold ducats and sacrificed 20,000,000 of human lives.

1665. Naval action between the English and Dutch; the latter lost 12 war and 2 East India ships.

1676. JOHN OGILBY, a Scottish writer, died. From the profession of a dancing master he became an eminent geographer, critic and poet.

1699. CHRISTIAN V, king of Denmark, died, in consequence of a wound received in hunting, aged 53. He was much engaged in war. (August 25?)

1727. The body of GEORGE I of England was interred in the night at Hanover.

1745. The town of Perth occupied by the adherents to Charles the pretender, and he himself proclaimed king of Great Britain.

1753. ANDREW FOUNTAINE, an English antiquarian, died. He traveled over the European continent in search of pictures, medals, statues and inscriptions, with which he enriched the cabinets of England.

1759. PAUL FRANCIS VELLI, a French Jesuit, died; author of a valuable history of France.

1780. JOHN FIELDING, one of the police justices of London, died at Bromton. Though blind from his youth he was a vigorous writer, and an efficient magistrate.

1784. CÆSAR CASSINI DE THURY, an eminent French astronomer, died. He had acquired much knowledge on the science at the age of 10. He published a map of France in 182 sheets, which has served as a model for all subsequent works of the kind. This family had been at the head of the Royal observatory at Paris 113 years.

1785. A Mr. SADLER ascended at Oxford, England, in a balloon of his own construction. He was the first Englishman who undertook an ærial voyage.

1796. A quantity of rope was brought into the office of the secretary of state at London as the first specimen of the labor of convicts at Botany bay. It was two inches thick.

1797. On this day the majority of the French directory overthrew the opposite party; sixty-five deputies were condemned to deportation as guilty of a conspiracy for the restoration of the monarchy. The councils renewed their oaths of hatred against royalty on this occasion.

1800. Cayuga bridge over the lake finished.

1802. GARNERIN, a French æronaut, made a descent of about 8,000 feet in his parachute. This was not so successful as a former experiment, the parachute not opening for some time after being cut from the balloon.

1804. Great hurricane in the West Indies; 274 vessels lost.

1805. PETER FRANCIS ANDREW MECHAIN, a French astronomer, died. He was a practical man, and accomplished much useful labor.

1808. JOHN HOME, a Scottish writer, died, aged 84. He was a preacher at the time his admirable play of _Douglas_ appeared, which gave so much offence to the presbytery that he resigned.

1830. DONALD MCDONALD died at Lynn, Mass., aged 108. He was born in Scotland, 1722, and during the last years of his life wandered about the country, a vagrant of the most intemperate habits. He was with Wolfe at the battle of Quebec.

1834. GEORGE CLYMER, inventor of the Columbian printing press, died in London, aged 80; formerly of Philadelphia.

1836. The sultan of Turkey released all the inmates of his seraglio from the perpetual imprisonment within the precincts of his palace, to which they had considered themselves to be condemned for life.

1843. Capt. ROSS landed at Folkstone on his return from a voyage of discovery in the southern polar circle, which had occupied four years.

1844. Metamoras destroyed by a hurricane. More than two-thirds of the houses in the city were prostrated, and 200 lives lost. This city was devastated in the same way in 1835 and 1837.

1850. Marshal HAYNAU, who commanded the Austrian forces in the Hungarian war, visited the brewery of Perkins & Barclay, London, and was attacked by a mob composed of the workmen in the establishment, and the draymen and coal heavers outside, and barely escaped with his life, by the assistance of the police. The cruelties of his acts had excited the indignation of all Christendom.

1852. The Hudson river steam boat Reindeer exploded, by which 28 lives were lost, and 20 others were injured.

SEPTEMBER 5.

1548. CATHARINE PARR, the sixth and last queen of Henry VIII, died. She was learned, and had sufficient prudence and sagacity to direct the caprices of the monarch in his dotage.

1569. EDMUND BONNER, bishop of London, died. He was of low parentage, and on coming to power, distinguished himself by a most cruel and bloody persecution of the protestants, 200 of whom he was instrumental in bringing to the stake, and is said to have whipped and tortured several with his own hands. On the accession of Elizabeth he was committed to prison, where he died.

1593. The river Thames in England almost dry from westerly winds and low tides.

1618. JACQUES DAVY DU PERRON, a French cardinal, died; celebrated for his learning and political knowledge.

1654. Cromwell's first parliament assembled at Westminster. The speech explaining his policy occupied three solemn hours.

1655. STUYVESANT sailed from New York against the Swedes on the South or Delaware river.

1685. FRANCIS NORTH, an English statesman, died. He rose through his abilities, and found time amidst his arduous duties to prepare and publish several works.

1701. EDMUND BOURSAULT, a French dramatist, died. He received little or no education, yet became a correct and popular author.

1745. SIMON JOSEPH PELLEGRIN, a French ecclesiastic and poet, died. He obtained the prize at the academy in 1704.