Chapter IX: Part 9

1798. The body of a hair dresser at Newport, England, was buried in the highway; reason assigned, his gluttonous eating, whereof he died.

1799. A fire broke out at Constantinople which destroyed 1300 houses, including the hotels of the British minister, and Austrian internuncio, and several other magnificent edifices.

1801. Battle near Lake Maadie in Egypt, between the British and French forces, in which the former were the greatest sufferers, losing 143 killed and 946 wounded.

1808. CHRISTIAN VII of Denmark, died. He may be said to have been virtually dead for many years.

1813. EDWARD LONG died. During a residence in the West Indies he collected materials for his _History of Jamaica_, in 3 vols. quarto. It contains a large mass of valuable information, and many spirited delineations of colonial scenery and manners. He returned to England and spent the remainder of his long life in literary pursuits.

1815. The allied powers engaged to aid Louis XVIII and declared Bonaparte to be without the pale of social and civil relations.

1815. General JACKSON having received the ratification of the treaty of peace, revoked his order relative to martial law, ordered a final cessation of hostilities, and granted a general pardon for all military offences. The British took with them 199 negroes.

1824. SOPHIA LEE, an English dramatic writer and poetess, died, aged 74. The profits of her comedy of the _Chapter of Accidents_, were of great benefit to herself and sisters.

1835. A remarkable eruption of Vesuvius took place.

1845. JOHN FREDERICK DANIEL, who contributed so much to lighting the cities of Europe with gas, died of apoplexy while attending a meeting of the royal society, in London.

1848. AMBROSE SPENCER died at Lyons, Wayne co., N. Y.; one of those jurists who gave such a preeminence to the supreme court of the state of New York.

1852. Ninety-five Americans who were engaged in the Lopez expedition against Cuba, and captured and sent to Spain, arrived in New York, having been pardoned by the queen and sent home.

1853. The funeral of Madame RASPAIL, at Paris was the occasion of a formidable socialist demonstration; 40,000 persons marching in procession to Pere la Chaise.

1854. A convention signed between England, France and Turkey, against Russia.

1855. The floor of the new town hall, at Meredith, N. H., gave way, while 800 persons were present attending an election; 300 were precipitated below, several killed and a large number had their bones broken.

MARCH 14.

1262. HUGO DE ST. CARO, a Dominican, died. He deserves to be placed in the first rank of sacred critics and patrons of literature. The Dominicans are indebted to him for their celebrated _Correctorium Bibliorium_, and the first concordance of the Bible, that is of the Latin Vulgate; a comment on the old and new testament, and for the division of the Bible into chapters. He undertook to procure a union of the Greek and Roman churches.

1369. PETER THE CRUEL, king of Castile, killed. He manifested the most wanton inhumanity in his private and public life, by which he became odious to the people, and was killed by his brother.

1471. EDWARD IV of England returned from exile, and landed at Ravenspur; in his bonnet he wore an ostrich feather as prince of Wales; and his Fleming followers carried hand-guns, which is the first account of them in England.

1519. FERNANDO CORTEZ, having taken possession of the Indian town of Tabasco on the day of his landing in the country of Mexico, now marched out with his troops to a plain, where he was attacked by an immense body of Indians, who wounded above seventy of his soldiers at the first discharge of their weapons. The Spanish artillery did great execution, but when the cavalry came to the charge, the Indians, imagining the horse and rider to be one, were extremely terrified, and fled to the woods and marshes, leaving the field to the Spaniards.

1640. MANASSES DE PAS died; a French general, distinguished for his valor. His abilities were equally displayed in the cabinet, as ambassador to the courts of Sweden and Germany. He died of the wounds he received at the siege of Thionville.

1644. ROGER WILLIAMS having been sent to England as agent for Rhode Island and Providence, obtained of the earl of Warwick a patent for the incorporation of the towns of Providence, Newport and Portsmouth, with the power of governing themselves, but subject to the laws of England.

1660. WILLIAM LEDRA, a quaker, hanged by the puritans of Massachusetts, on conviction of having returned from banishment, to which he had been condemned for his faith.

1676. Attack on Northampton, Mass., by a body of Narraganset Indians, of Philip's party. The town had been fortified by palisades, set up a little while before for their better security against the savages. The Indians broke through these in three places, and succeeded in killing six persons and firing a few dwellings; but a company of soldiers being at that time quartered in the town, the enemy were speedily repulsed with the loss of many of their lives.

1710. MICHAEL BEGON, a French _avocat_, died. He also distinguished himself in the marines, and as governor of the French West India islands.

1712. MARY, countess of Falconberg, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, died. She possessed great beauty, spirit and activity; and on the deposition of her brother, exerted herself for the restoration of Charles II.

1745. Fort Augustus blown up by the forces of the pretender to the crown of England.

1754. PETER CLAUDE NIVELLE DE LA CHAUSSE, an admired French poet, died. Though favored by fortune, he preferred the honors of literature to all other distinctions, and acquired celebrity by his dramatic pieces, which possess great merit.

1757. JOHN BYNG shot at Portsmouth. He served under his father admiral George Byng, and rose to the same rank himself. His attempt to relieve Fort St. Philip in Minorca proving abortive, when blockaded by a French fleet under La Glassionere, and his hesitation in engaging the enemy when a bold attack might perhaps have gained him the victory, excited the clamor of the nation against him, and he was doomed to meet the penalty of cowardice.

1758. GENERAL WADE died. In 1715, he commanded against the forces of the pretender to the throne, and remained in Scotland as commander-in-chief after the war was ended. It was during this period that he cut the celebrated military road through the highlands, which facilitated the improvement and civilization of the country more than all the measures resorted to before the reign of George I. It was he who introduced the bill into parliament which disarmed and changed the dress of the highlanders.

1793. Battle of Tirlemont, in which the prince of Saxe Coburg defeated the French under Dumourier, who lost 33 cannon and 3,000 men.

1795. Action off Genoa between the British and French fleets, in which the latter were defeated, with the loss of the Caira, 80 guns, 3,000 men, and the Censeur, 74 guns, 1,000 men.

1799. WILLIAM MELMOTH died. He distinguished himself as the translator of the Epistles of Pliny and Cicero, and was the author of poems, letters and memoirs.

1800. DAINES BARRINGTON, an English lawyer, antiquary, and miscellaneous writer, died. He abandoned his offices, which he discharged with great dignity, to devote himself to literary pursuits, which he loved. His writings are numerous.

1803. FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK, died. He was born at Quedlinburg, 1724; studied the languages, became familiar with the classic writers, and formed the resolution of writing a great epic poem. In 1745 he studied theology at Jena, where he commenced in solitude the first canto of _The Messiah_. This work he finished about 1790. It procured him great celebrity in the north of Europe, so that he was received with great respect and veneration wherever he went. His funeral was attended by the principal men of Hamburg, in 126 carriages.

1813. Delaware river blockaded by the British ships Poictiers, Belvidere, &c.

1813. On this and the preceding day snow and hail of a red color, with much red dust and red rain fell over all Tuscany.

1823. General DUMOURIER, a name that fills some interesting pages of modern history, died in his 85th year, at Turville park, near London.

1835. Treaty with the Cherokee Indians, by which they ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi, and agreed to retire to a territory guarantied to them in Arkansas, in consideration of the sum of $5,262,251.

1836. JOHN MAYNE, a Scotch poet, died near London, at an advanced age. His chief poem is _The Siller Gun_, four cantos.

1854. Steam boat Reindeer burst a flue at Cannelton, Indiana, by which 50 persons were killed.

1855. The new suspension bridge at Niagara falls crossed for the first time by a locomotive and train of cars.

MARCH 15.

44 B. C. CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR, the Roman general, assassinated in the senate house. He perished at 5 o'clock in the afternoon by 23 wounds. As a _soldier_, he was unquestionably the greatest except one in the history of mankind; his character as a _citizen_ is variously stated by different factions. He is said to have fought 500 battles, conquered 300 nations, taken 800 cities, defeated 3,000,000 men, and slain 1,000,000 on the field of battle.

35. LONGINUS, the penitent, who is said to have pierced the side of Christ, was killed at Cappadocia, probably in this year.

1079. A reformation in the Persian calendar effected by a general assembly of the Eastern astronomers. It is called the Gelalean era, but is only a renovation of that of Zoroaster, which had been neglected after the fall of the Magian empire.

1527. Pope CLEMENT VII concluded a treaty with Lannoy, viceroy of Naples, which the duke of Bourbon disregarded, and marched for Rome.

1573. MICHAEL DE L'HOSPITAL died. Few French statesmen were more liberal than him. He narrowly escaped the Bartholomew massacre, and his daughter, who had embraced the reformed religion was saved by the widow duchess of Guise, who concealed her.

1617. THOMAS EGERTON, an eminent and learned English lawyer, died. He was chancellor under James I.

1655. THEODORE MAYERNE, an eminent physician, died. He was born in Switzerland, studied in France, and settled in England in the service of James I, where he died.

1660. Dr. WREN, bishop of Ely, released after fifteen years' imprisonment.

1665. JAMES, duke of York, established at Gunfleet the first regular system of naval warfare in England.

1672. The famed act of indulgence, passed by Charles II, containing a clause for liberty of conscience.

1743. JOHN BAPTIST MOLINIER died; a distinguished preacher and theological writer of Toulouse.

1754. DENYS FRANCIS SECOUSSE, a learned Frenchman, died. He was one of the first pupils of Rollin, and left the bar for the study of literature.

1781. Battle of Guilford court house, in North Carolina, in which 4,400 Americans, principally militia, under Gen. Greene, were defeated by 2,400 British regulars under Cornwallis. Loss of the Americans 400 killed; British loss 532 killed.

1784. THOMAS FRANKLIN, an English scholar and divine, died. He was possessed of no inconsiderable share of learning and poetical abilities, and was long a favorite in the literary world; translated Sophocles, Phalaris, Lucian and Voltaire, and is the author of a comedy and two tragedies, which were received with great applause.

1798. Chenango co., N. Y., erected; and the following year (1799) Oneida was formed.

1804. The Duke D'ENGHIEN seized by a party of French cavalry and hurried away to Paris, where he was tried in the night by a military tribunal, and condemned on vague and unsubstantial charges of carrying on a correspondence with the enemies of the republic, and shot immediately.

1809. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS IV, king of Sweden, arrested and deprived of his functions of government. (By some authorities, March 12.)

1818. HECTOR MCNEIL, a most deservedly popular poet of Scotland, died. _Scotland's Scaith_ or the _Waes of War_, met with the unprecedented sale of 10,000 copies in one month.

1820. Maine entered the confederacy of the United States.

1823. JOHN JERVIS, earl of St. Vincent, an English admiral died, aged 90. He entered the navy at the age of 10, and gradually arose to the highest rank, and was raised to the peerage. His courage, skill and activity rendered him an admirable officer.

1838. The city of Bahia, in Brazil, taken from the rebels or insurgents, by the imperial troops, with loss of blood on both sides. The rebels fired the city; about 3000 of them were taken prisoners.

1839. Battle of Tuspan; the Mexican government troops, (Centralists) under Gen. Cos, defeated at Tuspan by the Federalists under Gen. Mexia, with a loss of 300 killed and several hundred prisoners.

1840. JAMES RILEY, an American sea captain, died at sea, aged 63. He is well known as the author of _Riley's Narrative_, which contains an account of his captivity and sufferings in Northern Africa.

1856. The steam ferry boat, New Jersey, while crossing the Delaware from Philadelphia to Camden, took fire and a large number of persons perished.

MARCH 16.

404 B. C. Athens was taken by Lysander and the tyranny of the 30 commenced.

37. CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO TIBERIUS, emperor of Rome, died. On his accession to the throne, he gave promise of a wise and happy reign, but soon became unrestrained in his conduct, and after a reign of 23 years, died in odium with the people.

455. FLAVIUS PLACIDUS VALENTINIAN, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was a profligate and licentious ruler.

1190. The Jews of York lawlessly massacred for their wealth by the citizens.

1286. ALEXANDER III king of Scotland, killed. He succeeded his father, Alexander II, at the age of eight years. An enterprising and virtuous ruler; he introduced many good regulations of government, and under his sway the country seems to have enjoyed a tranquility to which she had long been a stranger. As he was riding in a dark night between Bruntisland and Ringhorn, on the banks of the frith of Forth, he was thrown with his horse over a precipice and killed on the spot.

1532. JOHN BOURCHIER died at Calais in France, of which he was the English governor. He translated Froissart's _Chronicle_ into English.

1621. The Plymouth colonists received the first Indian visit to their town. This was Samoset, sagamore of a country lying five days' journey from thence, called Patuxet. He informed the English that all the inhabitants had died of an extraordinary plague about four years before, and that there was neither man, woman or child remaining. Of course there was no one to dispute their possession.

1649. An army of 1000 Iroquois armed with guns fell upon the Huron village at the eastern extremity of the lake, and nearly massacred the entire population. The Hurons defended themselves bravely, but were forced to yield before the fire arms and superior numbers of the Iroquois, who lost more than a hundred of their best warriors. The French missionaries, Brebeuf and Lallemant, who labored with the Hurons, were taken, and suffered death by torture.

1660. The long parliament dissolved by its own act.

1675. Under a pair of stairs in the tower of London two bodies were found, supposed to be those of Edward V and his brother, whom their uncle Richard III murdered nearly two hundred years before.

1680. The first assembly of New Hampshire met at Portsmouth; John Cutts first president.

1689. The Habeas corpus act suspended for the first time in England.

1691. JACOB LEISLER, who had exercised the office of governor of New York nearly two years by the election of the freeholders and the consent of the British ministry, was barbarously executed by some malcontents, as a traitor.

1738. Captain JENKINS, the master of a Scottish ship, exhibited his ear in a piece of cotton, which he affirmed had been torn off by a guarda costa. This is alluded to by Burke as the fable of Capt. Jenkins.

1751. JAMES MADISON, fourth president of the United States, born.

1781. Action off cape Henry between the British fleet, admiral Arbuthnot, and French fleet under d'Estouches. Both sides claimed the victory. British loss, 30 killed and 73 wounded.

1781. French surrendered the island of St. Bartholomews to the British.

1782. Action off cape Spartel, between British frigate Success and Spanish frigate Santo Catalina, 34 guns. The latter was captured, having 25 killed. British loss 1.

1792. GUSTAVUS III, king of Sweden, shot by Count Ankerstroem at a masquerade.

1795. CLAUSEL, adjutant general of the army of the Eastern Pyrennes, presented to the national convention 25 pairs of colors and a standard taken from the Spaniards at Figuieres.

1797. Battle of Cainin in Italy. The French under Murat passed the Tagliamento and attacked the Austrians, who were driven from the village, where the archduke had established his head quarters.

1799. JOHN DUSSAULX died. He distinguished himself in the war of Hanover under Richelieu, after which he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He took part in the French revolution, and was among the 73 proscribed deputies.

1799. A portion of the pavement in front of the Royal exchange, London, suddenly sank and a well of water was discovered which had not been used in 600 years.

1802. A military institution established by government at West Point, which was the origin of the present academy there.

1808. JOSEPH BONOMI, an Italian artist, died at London. He was distinguished particularly by his architectural knowledge and genius, was an associate of the royal academy, and patronized by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

1810. On a pane of glass at an inn near London, under this date, is the following inscription. "Thomas Mount Jones dined here, ate six pounds bacon, and drank nineteen pots beer." It is a question for discussion, whether in this frail memorial, the love of distinction and desire for fame were not as great as the love of brutal gluttony.

1813. Captain BERRESFORD of the British ship Poictiers, 74 guns, demanded of the inhabitants of Lewistown, Delaware, 25 oxen and vegetables and hay, otherwise he threatened to destroy the town. The demand was refused.

1817. WILLIAM THOMPSON, an industrious Scottish writer and compiler, died. He possessed ability, but his writings bear the marks of haste and want of care.

1838. NATHANIEL BOWDITCH died at Boston, aged 65. His father and ancestors in several generations were by profession shipmasters. Notwithstanding the very limited advantages of his education, and his laborious employment through life for the support of his family, yet by his extraordinary genius and economy of time, he made great acquisitions in learning and science, gained most of the languages, and made himself the most eminent mathematician and astronomer that America has produced. He published the _Practical Navigator_, a standard book; but the great work on which his fame will rest, is the copious and profound commentary upon the _Mechanique Celeste_ of La Place, of which he made the first entire translation, and published at his own expense in 4 vols. quarto; saying that he preferred spending a thousand dollars a year in that way to keeping a carriage.

1853. ANTHONY DUMOND STANLEY, an American mathematician, died, aged 42. Profoundly versed in the science, he had begun a series of works which would have placed his name high on the scroll of fame.

MARCH 17.

49 B. C. POMPEY abandoned Italy, and took the sea with his legions, at Brundusium.

45 B. C. Battle of Munda, in Spain, between the armies of Cæsar and Pompey, which decided the fate of the Roman republic. These men did not consider the Roman empire sufficiently large for two of them.

180. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS, surnamed the philosopher, died on an expedition against the Marcomanni. He was so extremely popular with his Roman subjects, that they placed him among the gods, and kept his statue in their houses.

464. ST. PATRICK, the tutelar saint of Ireland, died. He was carried away with many of his father's vassals by pirates, from whom he made his escape to Gaul and Italy. He received a commission from Pope Celestine to convert the Irish to Christianity, in which mission he was eminently successful.

807. A large spot noticed upon the sun's disc, which continued there eight days.

1072. ADALBERT, archbishop of Bremen, died. He became very powerful in Denmark, and even obliged the king to divorce his wife Gutha, because she was somewhat allied to him. Though intriguing and violent, he possessed some good qualities, and formed many wise regulations in civil and ecclesiastical affairs.

1562. DIEGO ESQUIVEL ALAVA, a learned Spanish bishop, died. He was at the Council of Trent, and published a work on councils.

1565. ALEXANDER ALES, a Scottish theologian, died. He first opposed the tenets of Luther, but afterwards embraced them, and suffered persecution. He wrote commentaries on some of the books of the old and new testament.

1632. Treaty of St. Germain, by which Canada and Nova Scotia were restored to the French. The capture of Quebec was unknown at the time peace was re-established, or perhaps those territories would not have been so generally given up.

1634. THOMAS RANDOLPH, an English poet, died. He was the friend of Jonson, and his works have been several times reprinted.

1640. PHILIP MASSINGER, an English dramatic poet, died. Some of his comedies still keep the stage. He was courted by the wits and learned men of his time.

1657. An offensive and defensive league concluded between France and England.

1676. Warwick, R. I., destroyed by the Indians. Only one house was left unburnt.

1677. Valenciennes, in France, taken by assault by the army under Louis XIV, in person.

1681. The members of the English parliament from London came to Oxford, the place of their meeting, armed and with ribbons on their hats inscribed with "No popery, no slavery."

1695. AUGUSTIN LUBIN, an Augustine friar, died. He was geographer to the French king, and author of various works.

1715. GILBERT BURNET, bishop of Salisbury, died. He was a zealous promoter of the revolution in England, which placed the present family on the throne, and of which he wrote the history.

1740. Mrs. STEVENS received £5,000 from the English parliament for making public her medicine for the stone.

1741. JOHN BAPTIST ROUSSEAU, an eminent French poet, died. He possessed a fine genius, but an unhappy temper embittered his life by stimulating him to abuse those whose friendship would have procured him a place above dependence.

1767. Birthday of ANDREW JACKSON, seventh president of the United States.

1776. Boston evacuated by the British. By four in the morning the king's troops, with those Americans who were attached to the royal cause, began to embark, and before ten all of them were under sail. As the rear embarked, General Washington marched into the city, where he was joyfully received as a deliverer. The British left 250 cannon and 25,000 bushels of wheat.

1781. JOHANNES EVALD died: the most distinguished poetical genius of Denmark, in the eighteenth century. Being left to his own reading by his tutor, his imagination was captivated with _Tom Jones_ and _Robinson Crusoe_. Proposing to himself the latter hero for a model, he eloped at the age of thirteen with a view of proceeding to Batavia, but was overtaken, and his project frustrated. He next conceived the scheme of entering the Prussian army, and enlisted at Magdeburg; but being received only as a foot soldier, instead of a hussar, he deserted to the Austrians. On quitting the army he devoted himself to the study of theology, but having suddenly become violently enamored with a young lady, who regardless of his passion, bestowed her hand on another, a permanent melancholy settled upon his mind, and under this influence he took up his pen. His first work _Fortune's Temple_, a vision, at once stamped his reputation. In 1772 he executed his literary chef-d'œuvre, _Balder's Död_, a drama of extraordinary poetical beauty, and greatly superior to anything which had then appeared in the Danish language. His after life was embittered by poverty and sickness; and it was under the hospitable roof of Madame Skou that he breathed his last, after having been confined to his bed or armchair two years, and almost deprived of the use of his limbs.

1782. DANIEL BERNOUILLI, a German philosopher, died. He studied medicine as a profession, but was at the same time engaged with mathematics. At the age of twenty-four, he was offered the presidency of an academy at Genoa, but gave the preference to an invitation from St. Petersburgh. He returned to Basle in 1733, where he spent the remainder of his days, so much respected by the inhabitants, that to bow to Daniel Bernouilli, when met in the street, was one of the first lessons which every father gave his children.

1790. The government of France issued assignats to the amount of 170,000,000 francs. This system of assignats, while it gave more strength to the public, yet was the source of more private suffering than any other measure during the French revolution.

1793. Battle of Neerwinden, or Linden, between the French under Dumourier, and the Austrians under Coburg and Clarifayt. Dumourier was obliged to retreat.

1794. French sloop Avenger, 16 guns, taken by Admiral Jervis's squadron off Martinique.

1795. A number of the Parisians complained to the national convention of the _scarcity of bread_ in Paris.

1798. THOMAS JACKSON, an English actor, died. His epitaph is ingenious: "Sacred to the memory of Thomas Jackson, comedian, who was engaged 21st December, 1741, _to play a comic cast of characters_ in the great theatre, the world; for many of which he was _prompted_ by nature to excel. The _season_ being ended, his _benefit_ over, the charges all paid, his account closed, he made his _exit_ in the _tragedy of Death_ on the 17th of March, 1798, in assurance of being called once more to _rehearsal_, where he hopes to find his _forfeits_ all cleared, his _cast of parts_ bettered, and his situation made agreeable by him who paid the great _stock debt_, for the love of _performers_ in general."

1799. The French army arrived before St. Jean d'Acre, and to their no small chagrin and astonishment, beheld the town prepared for a siege, and the English colors flying in the harbor.

1800. The British ship Queen Charlotte, 110 guns, destroyed by an explosion off Leghorn. More than 800 persons perished with her.

1806. WILLIAM ROWLEY, an eminent British physician, died. He was a man of great skill and experience in his profession, and his benevolence and humanity were conspicuous; yet was he one of the most obstinate opponents to the introduction of vaccination as a preventive of small pox that ever impeded the might of his authority to that experiment.

1808. Rupture of the negotiation at Washington between the British minister and the American government.

1811. Charles IV, of Sweden, resigned the government of his kingdom in favor of his adopted son, Bernadotte.

1828. JAMES EDWARD SMITH, an eminent English naturalist and physician, died. He was one of the founders of the Linnean society, and published several valuable works on natural history and botany.

1843. GEORGE TURNER, aged 93, died at Philadelphia. He was a native of England, but joining the American revolutionary army, he distinguished himself in many severe actions and endeared himself to Gen. Washington.

1849. WILLIAM II, king of Holland, died.

1855. The French and Russians at Sebastopol contended fiercely for the rifle pits which the latter had established between the French advance and the Mamelon.

MARCH 18.

251. ST. CYRIL, archbishop of Jerusalem, died.

979. EDWARD THE MARTYR, died. He was the son of Edgar, and succeeded his father as king of England at the age of 15. The young king paid little attention to any thing but the chase; and hunting one day, he got separated from his attendants, and repaired to Corfe castle, where his step-mother, Elfrida, resided. Having procured a draught of liquor, he was drinking it on horseback, when one of Elfrida's servants gave him a deep stab behind. He immediately spurred his horse, but fainting from loss of blood, was dragged in the stirrup till he died. The pity caused by his innocence and misfortune induced the people to regard him as a martyr.

1350. In the national roll of accounts for glazing St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster, Edward III ordained that the wages for artists be from 5d. per day to one shilling, except for John Barnaby, his wages should be twopence.

1552. MAURICE of Saxony took up arms against the emperor Charles V.

1629. CHARLES JAMES, prince of Great Britain, born, baptized and died.

1629. CHARLES I, of England, issued a proclamation that he would account it presumption in any one to prescribe a time for him to call a parliament.

1635. PATRICK FORBES, a Scotch prelate, died. He was a great and a good man; a benefactor particularly to Aberdeen university, of which he revived the professorship of law, physic and divinity.

1696. BONAVENTURE BARON, professor of divinity at Rome, died. He was a native of Ireland, but spent 60 years of his life in Rome; and was a learned and voluminous writer.

1718. MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE made the first experiment of inoculation for small pox upon her own son at Belgrade, in Turkey. It was tried in England upon criminals, with complete success, about nine years after. This disease first made its appearance at Mecca, where it is stated to have destroyed the invading Ethiopian army, and thus terminated in 360, what is denominated _the war of the elephant_.

1728. GEORGE STANHOPE, an able English divine, died. His theological works were numerous and popular.

1741. Conflagration of the chapel and buildings in the fort at New York, which was followed immediately by the _negro plot_.

1745. ROBERT WALPOLE died, aged 69. He became heir to the family estate by the death of his elder brother, and in the jovial life of a country gentleman, soon lost his early inclination to literature. In 1700 he was returned to parliament, and warmly espousing the whig interest, rose to a high promotion in the offices of the government, and in 1742, was created earl of Oxford, on his resignation of the premiership. He is the reputed author of the saying that "all men have their price."

1754. The first theatre established in the city of New York, closed with the _Beggar's Opera_ and the _Devil to Pay_, when the following notice appeared in the prints, which managers now-a-days have little occasion to repeat: "Lewis Hallam, comedian, intending for Philadelphia, _begs the favor_ of those who have any demands against him to bring in their accounts and receive their money."

1766. Stamp act repealed by the British government, reserving however, the right to make laws binding on the colonies in all cases whatsoever. News of this repeal excited great joy in America, where it was celebrated by the ringing of bells, fireworks and festivals.

1768. LAURENCE STERNE, an eccentric English author and divine, died. His romance of _Tristram Shandy_ and the _Sentimental Journey_, are well known.

1775. British Gen. GAGE seized 13,425 musket cartridges and 3000 pounds of ball, all of it private property, stored on Boston Neck.

1776. The British troops having evacuated Boston, Sir Archibald Campbell, unaware of this movement, on entering the harbor with 1700 men, was made prisoner by Washington.

1780. Congress resolved to call in by taxes in one year and burn all the continental money emitted prior to that time, and to issue ten million dollars new money, redeemable in specie within six years.

1781. ANNE ROBERT JAMES TURGOT, an eminent French statesman, died. He studied divinity, but his talents recommending him to the notice of the government, he was appointed to a civil office, where he displayed so great ability that he was appointed comptroller of the finances. His measures were grand, liberal and useful: but being ridiculed by the profligate and the vicious, who rioted on the miseries of the people, he retired from public life.

1796. Steuben county erected in south western New York.

1797. Palma Nuova, a frontier town in Italy, evacuated by the archduke Charles, who had wrested it from the Venitians only ten days before. The French under Bernadotte and Serrurier, on entering it found 30,000 rations of bread, and a million quintals of flour.

1805. BONAPARTE assumed the title of king of Italy.

1814. JOHN VINT, editor of the _Isle of Man Gazette_, and a distinguished philanthropist, died.

1817. An earthquake in Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, destroyed whole villages.

1817. CHARLES COMBE died; an eminent English physician and critic, and highly distinguished as a medalist.

1836. ABATE FEA, a celebrated archæologist, died at Rome, aged 88. He is known as the translator of Winckelman.

1839. The Chinese imperial commissioner, Lin, issued a proclamation at Canton, ordering the foreign opium dealers to deliver up all the opium in their possession, to have it burnt and destroyed, and forbidding its importation to all eternity, under pain of death.

1840. Dr. PARISH, favorably known to the medical world, died in Philadelphia.

1846. First steam boat arrived at Austin, Texas.

1846. WILLIAM M. CRANE, of the United States navy, died by his own hand.

1848. The emperor of Austria published by proclamation, at Milan, abolition of censorship, and a convention of the states. But the people wanting more, troubles began.

1854. A terrible gale at Albany, N. Y.; fifty houses unroofed, many chimneys and walls blown down, and great damage done.

1856. HENRY POTTINGEN, lieutenant general in the East India company's service, died aged 67. He distinguished himself in the Afghanistan war, and settled the opium difficulty with the Chinese.

1856. The Cunard steamer Curlew, from Halifax, ran on a reef north of the Bermudas, and was lost, with a part of her mail.

MARCH 19.

720. B. C. The first eclipse of the moon on record (by Ptolemy) happened on this day.

478. B. C. The history of Herodotus terminates with the siege of Sestos.

235. ALEXANDER SEVERUS, emperor of Rome, murdered by his soldiers. He was a Phœnician by birth, led an exemplary life, and governed ably both in peace and war.

717. CHILPERIC, king of France, surprised in his camp, in the forest of Arden, by the duke of Austrasia, afterwards Charles Martel.

1355. Pressing for seamen to man the English navy, commenced in the reign of Edward III.

1521. Insurrection and massacre in the island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean sea.

1584. IWAN IV, VASSILIVITZ, first czar of Muscovy, died. He was denominated by the Russians the terrible, and by foreigners the tyrant.

1621. The complaint against lord BACON for corruption, drawn up by Sir Edward Coke and others, presented to the house of lords. The chancellor was sick, but addressed a letter to his peers, requesting them not to prejudge his case from "any number of petitions against a judge that makes two thousand decrees and orders in a year; but that he may answer them according to the rules of justice, severally and respectively."

1626. PETER COTON, a French Jesuit, died. He was confessor to Henry IV, whose confidence he possessed, and it was a common expression that the king was good but that he had _cotton_ in his ears. He was distinguished for eloquence and zeal.

1628. Patent for Massachusetts sold to Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young and "four other associates in the vicinity of Dorchester, England."

1631. The original patent of Connecticut made by Robert, earl of Warwick, to William, Viscount Say and Seal, Robert lord Brook and their associates.

1643. Battle of Hopton-Heath, between the forces of Charles I, and those of the parliament, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of a great part of their artillery.

1643. SPENCER COMPTON, the friend of Charles I, killed at the battle of Hopton-Heath. He was the only son of William, first earl of Northampton; and refusing to accept quarter, was despatched by the parliament forces.

1687. DANIEL GOOKIN died; for many years superintendent of the Indians in Massachusetts, whose interests he watched with so much zeal as to draw upon himself the abuse of the populace, whose outrages he constantly opposed. He published some historical collections of the Indians in New England.

1688. JOHN DENHAM, one of the minor British poets, died. He was born at Dublin, in 1615, and first became known in 1641 by his tragedy of _The Sophy_. In 1643 appeared his first addition of _Cooper's Hill_, a justly celebrated poem, of which Dryden says, for majesty of style is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing.

1691. Col. HENRY STOUGHTER published his commission from the Duke of York, appointing him governor of the province of New York.

1711. THOMAS KEN, chaplain to Charles II of England, died. He survived several reigns, and in all, his firmness and consistency, added to his piety and learning, procured him respect and patronage.

1719. An extraordinary meteor seen from all parts of Great Britain about 8 o'clock in the evening. Its light exceeded that of the sun at noon-day. It exploded over the sea near the coast of Britany, at an altitude it is supposed of about 30 miles. It broke like a skyrocket into sparks of red fire, and was succeeded by a tremendous report.

1736. NICHOLAS HAWKSMOOR, died; an English architect of fame, pupil of Sir C. Wren.

1755. A cluster of houses in the village of Bergemoletto, near Piedmont, Italy, was overwhelmed by two vast bodies of snow that fell from the neighboring mountain. Three women, the only occupants of the houses at the time of the catastrophy, were dug out alive seven days after.

1759. NICHOLAS VERDIER, a French anatomist, died. His character as an author and a man, are entitled to respect.

1781. CORNWALLIS retreated from Guilford court house, where he had defeated Greene on the 15th; leaving at the quaker meeting house all the wounded Americans he had taken, and about 70 wounded British officers.

1786. HUGH PELLISER, an English admiral, died. He was at the storming of Quebec; and at the battle of Ushant, 1778, on which occasion a dispute between him and admiral Keppel saved the French fleet from destruction.

1788. FRANCIS JOSEPH DESBILLONS, a French Jesuit, died. He devoted many years to study, and at the abolition of his order published his _Fables_, and some other works, and left in manuscript a history of the Latin tongue.

1796. STEPHEN STORACE, an English music composer, died. His productions are confined to the drama, and are remarkable for their spirit.

1797. Gradisca, a strong town in Austria, capitulated to the French under Bernadotte and Serrurier; 3,000 prisoners, 60 cannon and 8 standards fell into the hands of the French.

1801. NOVALIS, (the literary name assumed by Frederick Von Hardenberg,) died. He belonged to the religious society of Hernhutters.

1808. CHARLES IV, abdicated the throne of Spain in favor of his son Ferdinand VII.

1809. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS IV, the deposed king of Sweden, signed a formal deed of abdication. He assumed the title of count Gottorp.

1812. Constitution of the Cortez signed and proclaimed in Spain.

1814. SIMON SNYDER, governor of Pennsylvania, rejected the bill establishing 40 banks. It however became a law, two-thirds of the legislature having agreed to it.

1814. Rheims, in France, taken by the Russians.

1842. First newspaper at Flushing, Long Island.

1853. Nankin taken by the rebels; the Tartar garrison of 20,000 men massacred, except 100, who effected an escape.

1853. Battle of Donabew, Burmah; the British under Gen. Cheape defeated Mea Toon.

1855. An explosion took place in the Midlothian coal pits in Virginia; of fifty persons in the pits 35 were killed and 10 wounded beyond recovery.

MARCH 20.

268. PUBLIUS GALLIENUS, emperor of Rome, assassinated at Milan.

1413. HENRY IV of England, died. He usurped the throne 1399, and thereby excited the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster, called the war of the roses.

1516. BAPTIST SPAGNOLI, a general of the Carmelites, died. He was a native of Mantua in Italy, and distinguished himself by the sound and virtuous regulations which he attempted to introduce among the corrupted members of his order. His works have been published in 4 vols.

1549. THOMAS SEYMOUR, lord high admiral of England, attainted and beheaded without being heard. His offence was alleged to be equal if not superior in power to his brother the protector.

1586. RICHARD MAITLAND, lord of session in Scotland, died. He reported the decisions of that court till he became blind at about the age of 60; when he commenced writing and collecting Scottish poetry. He sustained the character of "a maist unspotted and blameless judge, and valiant, grave and worthy knight;" but it is in his character of a writer and collector of Scottish poetry that he is now chiefly remembered.

1643. JOHN KIRCHMAN, a learned German, died at Lubeck.

1677. GEORGE DIGBY, an English nobleman of great ability, died. During the civil wars he espoused the cause of Charles I; but though romantically brave, was always an unsuccessful commander.

1687. SAMUEL PARKER, an English prelate, died. He was educated a puritan, but for the reward of place, it is believed, became an anti-puritan and was made bishop of Oxford. He wrote a history of his own times, which appeared in Latin and English.

1727. ISAAC NEWTON, the celebrated philosopher and mathematician, died, aged 84. He was so small and weak at the time of his birth, that his life was despaired of; and in his youth, his mother, finding him of no service in the management of the farm, sent him to finish his studies. From the success of his pursuits in after life, he has been styled the _creator_ of natural philosophy. The last few years of his existence were spent in utter neglect of those studies which had engrossed fifty years of his life.

1730. ADRIENNE LA COUVREUR, a French actress, died. She is one of the few of her profession whose reputation has survived the age in which they lived.

1737. NICHOLAS HOOKER, _gentleman_, died at Conway, North Wales; celebrated as being the forty-first child of his father; and being himself the father of twenty-seven children. His tombstone, attesting the above facts, is to be found in the churchyard adjoining Conway castle.

1741. PETER BURMAN the elder died. He was professor of history and eloquence at the university of Leyden, and published editions of many of the Latin classics.

1744. France declared war against England.

1750. The first No. of the _Rambler_, by Dr. Johnson, appeared.

1750. FREDERICK, prince of Wales, and father of George III, died suddenly in his 45th year. He died in the arms of his violin player, who was playing for his amusement.

1767. FIRMIN ABAUZIT, a learned French writer, died. He became distinguished for his superior progress in every branch of polite learning, but particularly in mathematics and natural history; and was consulted in difficult questions by the most learned men of the age.

1775. DANIEL BOONE, employed, in forming a settlement in the then wilderness of Kentucky, was attacked by the Indians, near where Boonsborough now stands, and two of his men killed and two wounded.

1780. Action between the French fleet, admiral Piquet, and 3 British ships, off Monte Christie. The action continued till the next day, when the French suffered so much that they were compelled to lie by and repair.

1792. The French government adopted the instrument since known as the guillotine; it had been in use in various countries several centuries before.

1793. WILLIAM MURRAY, lord Mansfield, died. He was eminent as a lawyer, and dignified as a judge; as an elegant scholar, of highly cultivated and vigorous intellect, he shone in the constellation of great men which arose in the reign of queen Anne; in eloquence and beauty of diction he outrivaled his predecessors, and has not been excelled by any successor in the high office he held.

1797. Battle of Larvis, between the Austrians and the French under Joubert, in which the former were defeated, after an obstinate battle. Austrian loss 2,000 k., 4,000 taken.

1799. BONAPARTE opened the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, in Palestine.

1799. Battle of Pfullendorf, in Germany, in which the French under Jourdan sustained the attack of the Austrians under the archduke, who had the advantage in point of numbers and artillery, having no less than 300 pieces.

1800. Battle of Heliopolis, Egypt, in which the French under Kleber defeated the Turks under the grand vizier.

1801. The British, under admiral Duckworth, took the island of St. Bartholomews, in the West Indies. It was again restored on the dissolution of the armed neutrality.

1809. The populace rose and plundered the French in the Havana.

1811. MASSENA gave up the command of his army to Marmont, and retired into France.

1811. Birthday of NAPOLEON, duke de Reichstadt, son of the emperor of France. He was christened emperor of Rome.

1812. JOHN HORNE TOOKE, an English politician, died. He was educated for the ministry, with a great predilection for politics. In 1771 he induced the printers of two newspapers to publish the debates of the house of commons in violation of their rules, which led to proceedings that finally resulted in the defeat of the house, and the practice of those publications ever since. He was a warm opponent of the American war, and was prosecuted for sedition, for the wording of a resolution by which the Constitutional society voted £100 to the relief of the widows and children of the Americans who fell at the battle of Lexington, and was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of £200. In 1786, appeared his _Diversions of Purley_, which raised him to a high rank as a philologist. His political life ended with the dissolution of parliament, in 1802, and the remainder of his days were spent in the society of his friends.

1814. Battle of Arcis, in which the prince of Wirtemberg defeated the French and captured that place.

1815. BONAPARTE ascended the throne of France on his return from Elba.

1831. The Austrian troops entered Bologna, and in a few days overrun the revolted part of Italy.

1831. Insurrection of the slaves at Antigua. Suppressed on the 25th.

1843. CHARLES G. CORLISS was shot dead in a street near Broadway, New York, by a woman who escaped.

1844. PETER B. PORTER died, aged 71. His name is connected with most of the important events in the history of western New York; and as an officer in the army during the last war with great Britain he rendered important services to his country. He was some time secretary of war of the United States.

1849. NEWTON M. CURTISS, author of a number of novels, died, aged 34. He some time printed a political paper at Ballston, before his talent as a writer of fiction was developed. His subjects were mostly of Indian and revolutionary scenes and incidents.

1853. The French fleet sailed for the Turkish waters, to act against the Russians, if necessary.

1854. Two shocks of an earthquake at Macon, Ga.

1856. DAVID CONNER, a United States commodore, died. He entered the service in 1809, and was wounded in the action between the Hornet and Penguin.

1856. A party of 500 Costa Ricans attacked Col. Schlessinger who commanded 400 of Walker's men, at the hacienda Santa Rosa, and entirely defeated them. Mora had 16 killed and 25 wounded; of Gen. Walker's men 90 were killed and several perished in the woods. The action lasted but 14 minutes. The Costa Ricans shot 19 prisoners.

MARCH 21.

1140. A remarkable eclipse of the sun in England, which caused total darkness.

1491. The new epoch and sacred year of the Jews established, corresponding with the first day of Abib, (Nisan) the day of Pharaoh's overthrow.

1512. JUAN PONCE DE LEON landed in Florida, and claimed the honor of the discovery; although Sebastian Cabot sailed along the coast in 1497. He was led to undertake the expedition by the Indian tradition in Cuba, that in the interior of the country was a spring which made those who drank it young and perpetuated their youth. At a great loss of his men in the swamps and marshes, he penetrated into the interior, but was driven back by the Indians without discovering the miraculous fountain.

1556. THOMAS CRANMER, archbishop of Canterbury, burnt for heresy at Oxford. He was born 1489, and educated for the ministry. His first promotion arose from his remarking that the meditated divorce of Henry VIII from his first wife, Catharine of Arragon, might be decided by learned divines without an appeal to the pope. The king, on hearing of it exclaimed "by G----d, the man has got the sow by the right ear!" He was sent for to court, and immediately preferred. On the accession of Mary, he was tried before commissioners, sent from Rome on charges of blasphemy, perjury, incontinence and heresy, and sentenced to be degraded and deprived of office, and finally burnt for the confessions he was induced to make with the hope of pardon. He contributed far more than any other individual to the establishment of the independence of the English church, and was a great patron of learning and the universities.

1604. PETER ERNEST, count de Mansfield, died at Luxembourg. He was an able statesman in the service of the emperor of Germany. His conduct was considered so meritorious that he was appointed governor of Brabant.

1639. THOMAS CAMPANELLI, an Italian philosopher of great eminence, died at Paris. So great was his learning and eloquence, that his rivals and enemies procured the interference of the inquisition on an accusation of sorcery and magic. He was afterwards put to the rack and condemned to perpetual imprisonment, but found means to escape to France, where he was protected.

1644. PRINCE RUPERT defeated the parliament forces in England, and relieved Newark.

1656. JAMES USHER, archbishop of Armagh, died. He enjoyed a reputation seldom acquired, in every department of knowledge, and received pressing invitations to France and Germany, at a time when his own country was in a state of anarchy, and his property falling a prey to the fortunes of war.

1663. CHARLOTTE TREMOUILLE, countess of Derby, died. She was the wife of the earl of Derby who was treacherously beheaded during the civil war of England, and imitated his heroic conduct by defying the attacks of the parliament forces, and was the last person who submitted to them.

1673. The castle formerly standing at the entrance of Boston harbor, accidentally destroyed by fire. It was constructed of timber, since replaced by a new one of stone.

1676. A hissing, detonating meteor passed over Italy two hours after sunset. Its apparent diameter was greater than that of the moon; its real diameter about three quarters of a mile; and the velocity was calculated at 160 miles a minute.

1684. NATHANIEL HIGHMORE, an eminent English anatomist, died. He is the author of the first systematic treatise on the structure of the human body, in the English language, and was indefatigable in the pursuit and improvement of anatomical science.

1733. STANISLAUS, king of Poland, sent his abdication by express, to Warsaw.

1766. RICHARD DAWES, an English scholar, died; celebrated as the author of the _Miscellanea Critica_.

1772. JAMES NICHOLAS BELLIN, a learned and laborious geographical engineer of Paris, died.

1776. The duke of Bridgewater's canal from Manchester to Liverpool completed, a great achievement for the time.

1778. The American ministers, Franklin, Dean and Lee, were publicly received at the French court.

1788. A fire occurred at New Orleans, by which seven-eighths of the city was laid in ashes.

1797. JOHN PARKHURST, an English divine, died aged 69; well known as a lexicographer.

1797. The French entered Goritz in Austria, where they found 1500 sick, and a great quantity of provisions and stores.

1799. Battle of Asterach, between the French under Jourdan, and the Austrians under the archduke, in which the latter were defeated. Austrian loss 2160.

1800. The Ionian republic, formed under the protection of the porte. Corfu, Zante and other Venitian isles formed the confederation.

1801. Battle of Aboukir, or Alexandria, in Egypt, between the French under Menou, and the British and Turks under Abercrombie. The French were defeated with the loss of 3000 killed, and the standard of the invincible regiment taken, the officer bearing this famous banner being killed, and nearly the whole of those celebrated soldiers annihilated. British loss 1376, and their commander, Abercrombie, mortally wounded.

1803. EDWARD MARCUS DESPARD, an Irish officer, executed for treason. He was appointed superintendent of the English colonies in the West Indies, where his conduct led to a recall; out of his subsequent treatment grew a desire for revenge, which led him on to his fate.

1804. DUKE D'ENGHIEN, shot at Vincennes by torch light. (See p. 104.)

1806. Madison county, New York, was formed.

1815. BONAPARTE entered Paris, the Bourbons having previously evacuated it, on the news of his landing from Elba.

1821. MICHAEL BRYAN, an eminent connoisseur in the fine arts, died. He is the author of a biographical and critical dictionary of painters and engravers.

1829. Duel at London between the duke of Wellington and the earl of Winchelsea.

1829. Great earthquake in the provinces of Murcia and Oriheula, in Spain. Upwards of 20 churches and 4,000 houses destroyed, and great numbers of the inhabitants killed. A considerable portion of the former province was converted into a barren waste.

1839. LOUISA, the last surviving daughter of Linnæus the naturalist, died at Upsala, aged 90.

1843. HERARD, the successful general of the insurgents in Hayti, made a triumphal entry into Port au Prince.