JANUARY.

JANUARY 1.

154 B. C. It was fixed that the Roman consuls should always enter upon their office on this day, and the years were named after them. On this occasion they went in solemn procession to the Capitol to sacrifice to Jupiter Capitolinus; after which the senate held a solemn session. Those who had discharged the office of consul enjoyed the pre-eminence of rank over the other senators. They were annually elected by the people till the time of Tiberius, who ordered that they should be chosen by the senate. The last consul after whom the year was named, was Barsilius, in the year 541, in the reign of Justinianus.

38. B. C. The Spanish era, or era of the Cæsars, commenced, being the year following the conquest of Spain by Augustus. It was much used in Africa, Spain and the south of France; but was abolished by one kingdom after another during the fourteenth century, and by Portugal 1555.

404. Telemachus, or St. Almachus, whose story is the foundation of Fenelon's famed work Telemaque, suffered martyrdom at Rome.

1109. The Festival of Fools was instituted at Paris, and continued prosperous for 240 years. This, with the Lords of Misrule, and the Abbots of Unreason, was doubtless designed to ridicule the Druidic saturnalia.

1308. William Tell, the Swiss patriot, associated himself on this day with a band of his countrymen against the tyranny of their oppressors.

1349. Edward III, king of England, defeated the French before Calais with great slaughter.

1504. Birthday of Casper Cruciger, an extensive and multifarious scholar, and a follower of Luther. He died 1548.

1515. Louis XII of France, surnamed the father of the people, died. Notwithstanding the faults of his education, which had been purposely neglected, he became a wise and politic monarch, who had the welfare and improvement of his country in mind. Though extensively engaged in wars, he avoided burdening the people with taxes—was economical, just and magnanimous.

1513. Juan Diaz de Solis, coasting the southern continent, discovered the mouth of a river on this day, which in consequence he called Rio Janeiro.

1516. Juan Diaz de Solis again entered the Rio de Solis which he had discovered three years previous. In attempting a descent on the country he was slain by the natives, who in sight of the ship cut his body in pieces, and roasted and devoured it. He was reputed the ablest navigator in the world.

1523. Knights of Malta driven from the island of Rhodes by the Turks.

1537. James V of Scotland married Magdalen, daughter of Francis I of France.

1617. Henry Goltzius, a distinguished Dutch painter and engraver, died. His father was a painter on glass, and gave his son instructions in the art; but it was his own genius and application that raised him to the rank he ultimately held among the best artists of the time.

1618. Charter of the first New Netherland company expired by its own limitation.

1618. Birthday of Bartholomew Esteban Murillo, the greatest of all the Spanish painters. He was employed by the churches and convents of Seville a great number of years, which were enriched by the masterly productions of his pencil, and procured for himself an independent fortune. Having been invited to Cadiz, he there executed his grand picture of St. Catharine; but just as he was about to finish it he was dreadfully wounded on the scaffolding, and died at Seville, 1682.

1630. Thomas Hobson, the celebrated carrier of Cambridge, England, died. One of the most general proverbial expressions in England originated with him. He let to students and others horses, and his practice was to secure equal portions of rest as well as work for each horse. Hence when applied to for any, none but that which had its due proportion of rest could be let. "This or none" was the answer. Hence the phrase "Hobson's choice; this or none."

1644. Michob Ader, calling himself the Wandering Jew, appeared at Paris, where he created an extraordinary sensation among all ranks. He pretended to have lived sixteen hundred years, and that he had traveled through all regions of the world. He was visited by the literati of the city, and no one could accost him in a language that he was ignorant of; he was also familiar with the history of persons and events from the time of Christ, so that he was never confounded by intricate or cross-questions; but replied readily and without embarrassment. The learned looked upon him as a counterfeit, or madman, yet they took their leave of him bewildered and astonished.

1651. Charles II crowned king of Scotland at Scone.

1661. A parliament met in Scotland.

1700. The Russians began their new year.

1715. William Wycherley died, aged 81, an eminent English dramatic writer and comic poet.

1727. Claude Adrian Helvetius died; a celebrated Dutch physician, who, having obtained celebrity by introducing the use of ipecacuanha in dysentery, was made inspector general of military hospitals, and died at London.

1729. Great fog in London, persons lost their way in St. James' park, and many fell into the canal.

1730. Samuel Sewall, chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts died.

1731. Edward Cave printed the first number of the well known Gentleman's Magazine.

1748. Birthday of Godfrey Augustus Burger, a celebrated German poet, and the writer of that whimsical satire, Munchausen's Travels.

1748. John Bernouilli, a Swiss mathematician, died. He was born at Basil in Switzerland, and educated for a merchant, but afterwards studied medicine, and finally devoted his attention to mathematics with great success. He was the contemporary of Leibnitz and De L'Hopital, and of Newton. His labors in the science were indefatigable, and his works contain an immense mass of discovery. But the details of his private life exhibit an unusual degree of acerbity and disingenuousness.

1752. The new style commenced this day in England by act of parliament. (See March 25.)

1757. Calcutta surrendered to the British under Admiral Watson, Colonel Clive and Captain Coote.

1761. Great hurricane in the East Indies, destroying a part of the British fleet; of the crews of three of the ships lost but 14 were saved out of 1100.

1776. Norfolk Burnt. Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, having abandoned the town and retired on board his ships, became distressed for provisions; and on the arrival of the Liverpool man of war, the inhabitants refusing to supply his majesty's ships, the place was reduced to ashes. The provincials themselves destroyed the houses and plantations near the water, to deprive the ships of every resource of supply.

1781. Revolt of the Pennsylvania line at Morristown, N. J. They had enlisted for three years, and that term having expired they wished to be discharged.

1787. Arthur Middleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died. He was a native of South Carolina, born 1743, and educated in England; and at the age of twenty-two made the tour of Europe. On the breaking out of the war he engaged warmly on the side of the colonies. In 1779 he distinguished himself in the defence of Charleston against the British, who afterwards ravaged his plantation and rifled his mansion, by which he suffered an immense loss of property; and in the following year he was taken prisoner. On the termination of the contest he returned to his native seat, and spent the remainder of his life in elegant and philosophical ease—a model of private wealth and public virtue; a firm patriot and an enlightened philanthropist.

1793. A beginning was made upon the Pennsylvania state canal, at Conewago falls; seventeen rocks being blasted—one for each stockholder of the canal company.

1794. The French convention abolished flogging in the army and navy and substituted other punishments more congenial with the spirit of the times.

1794. Thomas Paine and Anacharsis Cloots arrested by order of Robespierre and sent to prison in Paris.

1797. Zemaun Shah made his triumphal entry into Lahore, the capital of the Sikhs, where he formed an army of 100,000 men with a view of marching upon Delhi.

1798. Athenæum at Liverpool was opened.

1799. The French drove the king of Naples from his capital and forced him to take refuge on board of a British man of war, in which he sailed to Palermo.

1801. Union of Great Britain with Ireland.

1801. Ceres discovered by Piazzi, the astronomer, at Palermo.

1804. The numerous army which France had sent against the negroes of Hayti being compelled by disasters to fly to St. Domingo, the general and chiefs of the Haytian army entered into a solemn compact, in the name of the people of Hayti; renouncing all dependence on France, and appointed Dessalines, the oldest general, governor for life, with very extensive powers.

1806. The French republican calendar abolished, and the Christian era and reformed calendar restored.

1806. The elector of Wurtemberg proclaimed king of Swabia, and the elector of Bavaria king of Bavaria.

1807. Curacoa surrendered to the British under Sir Charles Brisbane.

1810. There had died in Philadelphia during the year ending this day 2004 persons; the population including the Liberties was about 100,000.

1810. Married at East Haddam, Conn., nine young ladies, being all that were marriageable at that time in the town.

1811. Tortosa in Valencia surrendered to the French under Suchet, who took nearly 8000 prisoners, 177 cannons, and a large quantity of provisions.

1811. Hamburgh formally annexed to France.

1811. Spanish cortes forbid the people obeying any act of Ferdinand XII, while a prisoner of Bonaparte.

1813. Jean Mourtrie, a Frenchman, died at the age of 115. He was a tilemaker, and continued his occupation to the age of 109. He was a pattern of honor and integrity; his gaiety made the young fond of his society; and his mild and even temper and kind disposition gained him the love of all who knew him.

1814. Great fog in London, which had commenced on the 27th of December, was now at its greatest density, extending seventy miles from the metropolis. Many persons lost their lives by falling into the river, and canals, and other places.

1814. The allied army entered France.

1814. American dragoons under Capt. Stone advanced on Buffalo, accompanied by Lieuts. Riddle, Totman and Frazer, of the United States regiment; the militia retiring, Totman was killed, and Riddle narrowly escaped being captured.

1815. William Creech, bookseller and twice lord provost of Edinburgh, died. He was a spirited writer.

1815. The British under Gen. Packenham opened a battery of two 18 pounders on the Americans at New Orleans; it was silenced the same day. The Americans had a boat loaded with military stores sunk; 34 men killed and wounded, and two caissons blown up by rockets. Gen. Thomas joined Gen. Jackson same day with 660 men from Baton Rouge.

1816. William Hillhouse died, aged 88; for more than 50 years a member of the council and legislature of Connecticut.

1817. Martin Henry Klaproth, a German chemist and philosopher, died. He was born at Wernigerode 1743 and followed the profession of an apothecary till 1788, when he became chemist to the Academy of Sciences at Berlin.

1817. The new Bank of the United States opened at Carpenter's hall, Philadelphia; Wm. Jones president, Jonathan Smith cashier.

1818. William Harrod, an eccentric bookseller in Leicestershire, died.

1823. The French language abolished in the law courts of Holland, where it had long been in use, and was prevalent in society.

1825. Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the South American republics.

1835. Charles Lamb died. He was the author of the beautiful stories of Elia, which are universally admired. His exquisite humor, fancy, feeling and wit, have given an endurable character to his essays. The bettering of the condition of mankind was his great aim, and he was in the esteem of every philanthropist.

1835. First daily paper in Buffalo, New York.

1837. Samuel Hulse died at Chelsea Hospital, England, of which he had been governor since 1820, aged 90. He entered the British army in the year 1761, and at the time of his death had been upwards of three quarters of a century in the military service, and was then field marshal.

1837. Saphet in the Holy Land nearly destroyed by an earthquake. It is said that this and a subsequent shock were both predicted by a Walachian almanac maker.

1848. Girard college opened with appropriate ceremonies at Philadelphia.

1848. The state of Maryland repudiated repudiation, and resumed payment of interest on her debt at the Chesapeake bank, Baltimore.

1852. Frederick Philips Robinson, an American officer, died, aged 89; he had been scarcely less than 75 years in the military ranks.

1854. Great fire at Constantinople destroyed 400 houses; among which were those of the Greek patriarch, and the patriarch of Jerusalem.

JANUARY 2.

17. Titus Livius died at Padua. His history of Rome, to which he devoted twenty years, rendered him so celebrated, that a Spaniard is said to have gone from Cadiz to Rome for the purpose merely of seeing him. His history was written in 140 books, of which only 35 are extant. Five of these were discovered at Worms 1731, and some fragments are said to have been since found at Herculaneum. Few particulars of his life are known, but his fame was great even while he lived, and his history has made him immortal.

17. Publius Ovidus Naso, the Roman poet, died in exile at Tomos (a town on the inhospitable coast of the Black sea), aged 60. He exhibited an unconquerable predilection for poetry, and the ease and the enjoyments of life, which his fortune placed within his power. He traveled in Greece and Asia which added to his accomplishments; his works were adapted to the public taste, and he was esteemed by the learned: Horace and Virgil were his friends, and he was a welcome visitor at the court of Augustus. Until his fiftieth year he appears to have lived almost solely for poetry and pleasure. He might have hoped to pass the remaining years of his life in peace, under the shadow of his laurels, but he was suddenly banished by Augustus, for some unknown cause. His Metamorphoses, and Art of Love are often republished in our language. He painted nature with a masterly hand, and his genius imparted elegance to vulgarity; but impurity defiles the sweetness of his numbers, and his finest productions are sullied with licentiousness.

1547. Conspiracy of Genoa, headed by John Lewis Fiesco; his being drowned in the night, occasioned the failure of the scheme, in the very moment of success.

1604. The Jesuits reinstated in France.

1731. A reprieve sent to a prisoner at Newgate on condition he would suffer Mr. Chiselden to make an experiment on the tympanum of his ear. The experiment was never performed.

1741. John Barber, printer to the city of London, and the first printer that rose to the rank of mayor, died.

1757. Calcutta retaken by the English and permitted to be fortified by the subah.

1758. The Whitefield methodists observed this day in thanksgiving for the victories of the king of Prussia in favor of England.

1759. The French surprised and captured Frankfort on the Maine.

1766. James Edward Francis Stuart, the Pretender, died. He was the eldest son of James II, born at London 1688. He was five months old when his father was dethroned, and the royal family fled to France. His elder sister Anne afterwards came to the throne, and some effort was made to secure his own succession; but it does not appear that he entered into the project with much spirit.

1771. Lewis Cæsar, count d'Estrees, marshal of France, and minister of state, died aged 76. He distinguished himself in the war against Spain, and afterwards in 1741, wherein his bravery was conspicuous and his services meritorious. In 1756 he was placed at the head of the French forces in Germany, but was superceded by Richelieu through intrigue.

1774. The coffin of Edward I opened by a deputation from the society of antiquarians, after it had been buried 467 years. In a coffin of yellow stone they found the royal body in perfect preservation, enclosed in two wrappers; one of them was gold tissue, strongly waxed and fresh; the other and outermost considerably decayed. The corpse was habited in a rich mantle of purple lined with white and adorned with ornaments of gilt metal, studded with red and blue stones and pearls. Two similar ornaments lay on the hands. The mantle was fastened on the right shoulder by a magnificent fibula of the same metal, with the same stones and pearls. His face had over it a silken covering, so fine, and so closely fitted to it, as to preserve the features entire. Round his temples was a gilt coronet of fleur de lys. In his hands, which were also entire, were two sceptres of gilt metal; that in the right surmounted by a cross fleure, that in the left by three clusters of oak leaves, and a dove on a globe. The feet enveloped in the mantle and other coverings were sound and the toes distinct. Its length was 6 feet 2 inches.

1777. Cannonading at Trenton; the British repulsed in their attempt to cross Sanpink creek bridge. In the night Gen. Washington retired leaving his fires burning.

1780. The Dutch admiral, Count Byland, refusing to permit the British admiral, Fielding, to search his convoy, an action ensued, and the Dutch ships, two of the line and two frigates, surrendered; after detaining seven of the convoy, the Dutch admiral had permission to proceed; but he refused without the whole of his charge, and therefore sailed into Spithead.

1788. Georgia ratified the Constitution of the United States, without amendment, being the fourth state to do so.

1795. Josiah Wedgewood, the inventor of the scale that bears his name in the thermometer for determining the different degrees of metallic heat, died at his residence in England.

1801. John Gasper Christian Lavater died. He was born at Zurich, in Switzerland, where his father was a physician of skill and reputation. In 1763 he traveled in Germany; in 1767 appeared as a poet; and in 1769 as a preacher of much popularity. All his activity was devoted to religion until he undertook his work on physiognomy. This great work in 4 vols. quarto, in which he had collected the features of distinguished persons from all parts of the world, made him known throughout Europe. He published several other works, and became so popular that his journeys resembled triumphs. On the capture of Zurich by Massena, he received a shot while assisting the wounded in the street, which although he lived more than a year, and wrote several works, was the cause of his death.

1809. Two French ships of war and eleven victualers, proceeding to Barcelona, were captured in the port of Caldagues by the British under Lord Cochrane.

1809. Penguin island, at the cape of Good Hope, sank, and is now only known to mariners by name.

1810. Orders were received from Paris by Murat, king of Naples, to seize and immediately dispose of all American vessels and cargoes.

1814. Dantzic surrendered to the duke of Wurtemberg.

1815. The prince regent of England extended the military order of Bath, and divided it into three classes, namely: 1. Knights grand crosses; 2. Knights commanders; 3. Companions.

1816. Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, a French chemist, died. He was born at Dijon 1737, and distinguished himself in 1773 by the invention of the method of purifying the air by means of chlorine. He was an upright, able, eloquent and business man; and founded a school at Dijon for the study of his favorite science, chemistry. He was a member of the national assembly and convention at the time of the revolution, and assisted to establish the polytechnic school.

1827. John Mason Good, an English physician, poet and philological writer, died. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a surgeon; in 1793 removed to London, and by talent and perseverance, succeeded in establishing both a literary and professional fame. He was a voluminous writer, and the extent and variety of his works evince the greatest industry, and a retentive and orderly mind. He acquired thirteen European and Asiatic languages, and at the time of his death had just completed a translation of the Psalms.

1829. Forty men and thirty horses destroyed by an explosion of fire damp in a mine near Lyons, France.

1831. Berthold George Niebuhr the historian, died. He was the son of Niebuhr the traveler, born at Copenhagen 1777, and finished his education at Edinburgh. He traveled much and received great attention wherever he went. In 1810 he delivered his lectures on Roman history at Berlin; and in 1815, on the death of his father, planned and published his biography. In 1827 he published the first volume of a remodeled edition of his Roman history; the second volume appeared a few months before his death, leaving the third unpublished.

1835. Robert Hindmarsh, the most distinguished among those who supported the religious views of Emanuel Swedenborg, died at Gravesend.

1837. John Cuffee, a negro slave, died at Norfolk, Va., at the remarkable age of about 120 years. He was a native of Africa, was sold as a slave in the island of Barbadoes, and brought to Norfolk about 1740.

1850. George Blatterman, professor of modern languages in the Virginia university, died at Charlottesville.

1853. A new and stringent law against the liberty of the press was published in Spain.

1857. Andrew Ure, author of the Dictionary of Arts, died at London, aged 89.

JANUARY 3.

456. B. C. Myronides the Athenian general defeated the Bœotians at Enophyta.

106. B. C. Birthday of Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator.

1641. Jeremiah Horrox, an English astronomer, died. He seems to have been the first to observe the transit of Venus over the sun's disc, from which he deduced many useful observations, though not aware of the full importance of that phenomenon.

1661. Secretary Pepys seeing the comedy of the Beggars' Bush performed at Lincoln Inn Fields, says: "And here the first time that ever I saw women upon the stage."

1670. George Monk, duke of Albemarle, died. He entered the British army at an early age; and in 1639 was engaged in the unfortunate expedition of Charles I against the Scots. He was confined three years in the Tower under the parliament, during which he wrote a work on military and political affairs; but finally accepted a commission in the republican army against the Irish, the Scotch and the Dutch. But at the death of the Protector he employed his influence to reinstate the Stuarts. In 1666 he was again employed against the son of his old antagonist Tromp, in which the English fleet was much damaged, and both claimed the victory.

1717. Lambert Boss, an eminent Dutch philologist, died. He was born in Friesland 1670; studied under his father who was a clergyman, became private tutor in a family of rank, and subsequently professor of Greek in the university of Franeker. He was an indefatigable student, and regretted every moment which could not be devoted to his favorite pursuit. The number and character of his works mark his industry.

1724. Philip V of Spain abdicated the throne in favor of his son Louis; but he dying the same year, Philip resumed the crown again.

1730. The Turks began to learn the art of war and fortification after the European model, from Count Bonneval of France, who became a Musselman.

1777. Battle of Princeton, N. J., between the British and a division of the American army, under General Washington. The British lost 100 men, and 300 more who had taken refuge in the college, were forced to surrender.

1795. Josiah Wedgewood died. His father was a Staffordshire potter, to whose business he succeeded, and soon distinguished himself by his discoveries and improvements, insomuch that in a few years England, instead of importing the finer earthen wares, was enabled to supply her neighbors. He was a scientific, as well as an active and enterprising man—and benevolent withal.

1797. Three of the large stones in the antique pile at Stonehenge in England fell, the smallest of which weighed 20 tons. They were loosed, it was supposed, by the severe frost of that season.

1805. Charles Townley, an English antiquarian, died. He employed his liberal fortune in the collection of rare manuscripts and relics of ancient art, and died at the age of 68, bequeathing his collection of antiquities to the British Museum.

1805. Alexander Wedderburn, lord of Rosslyn, died. He distinguished himself as a lawyer, and was appointed solicitor general in 1771, in which office he is remarkable for having insulted Franklin in arguing on American affairs before the privy council. He joined the administration under Pitt, in 1793, and succeeded Lord Thurlow as chancellor; from which office he retired in 1801, with the title of Earl of Rosslyn. He is the author of a work on the management of prisons.

1815. British frigate Junon, Capt. C. Upton, captured the American privateer Guerrier, of 4 guns and 60 men, from Portsmouth, N. H.

1844. Levi Hedge, author of a treatise on logic and editor of an improved abridgment of Dr. Brown's Lectures on the Philosophy of Mind, died at Cambridge, England.

1847. John Shepherd, a soldier of the revolution, died at Royalton, Ohio, aged 119.

1853. The Pantheon in Paris reopened as the church of St. Genevieve.

JANUARY 4.

100. Titus, disciple of St. Paul, died at Crete.

1569. Burial of Roger Ascham, at St. Sepulchre's, London. He was a man of learning, and author of numerous works, among others, The Schoolmaster.

1649. Some barrels of gunpowder exploded and destroyed 60 houses in Tower street, London. A child in its cradle was found alive and unhurt on the roof of Barking church.

1689. Col. Henry Sloughter appointed governor of New York.

1698. The palace, except the banqueting house, of White-hall palace, in England, destroyed by fire.

1707. Louis William I, marquis of Baden-Baden, died. He was born at Paris 1655, where his mother wished to educate him; but his father and grandfather stole him away at the age of three months, that he might pass his childhood among the people whom he was destined to govern. He served his first campaign under Montellucco against Turenne. He was in Vienna when that city was besieged by the Turks, and subsequently commanded against the Turks in the Danube. He was one of the greatest generals of his time; made 26 campaigns, commanded at 25 sieges, fought at 13 battles, yet was never really defeated.

1753. The first number of The World appeared, conducted by Coleman, Bonnell Thornton, Chesterfield, and others.

1762. England declared war against Spain.

1773. The town meeting of Petersham, Mass., adopted a kind of manifesto of grievances, drafted by Josiah Quincy and signed by Sylvanus How.

1775. A circular letter from the British secretary of state was addressed to the governor of the several colonies, forbidding the election of delegates to the congress proposed to be held in May. The order was disregarded, and the country has not been without its annual sessions of congress since 1774.

1778. The British, under Col. Campbell, landed at the mouth of Savannah river, Ga., and defeated the Americans under Gen. Robert Howe. They took the city of Savannah, together with 38 officers, 415 privates, 48 cannons, 23 mortars, the fort, ammunition and stores, the shipping in the river, and a large quantity of provisions.

1781. British ship Courageux, Capt. Phipps, captured in one hour the French frigate Minerva 32 guns. Minerva had 50 killed, 23 wounded; Courageux 10 killed, 7 wounded.

1784. Treaty signed between the United States and Great Britain; by which the latter relinquished her right to the sovereignty of the revolted colonies.

1789. Thomas Nelson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died. He was born at York, Va., 1738. His father was an opulent merchant and sent him to England for an education. He returned 1761, and in 1774 had become a statesman of some note. Three years afterwards he was appointed brigadier general and commander in chief of the Virginia forces, and in 1781 succeeded Jefferson as governor of the state. His services elicited the public thanks of Washington.

1793. The Alien bill passed in the British parliament. During the debate on this measure the great Burke threw upon the floor a Sheffield dagger to enforce his oratory.

1795. The French crossed the Waal near Bommel, and took possession of Tiel. They also captured Rosas and 540 of the garrison.

1796. Message from Gen. Washington to congress, accompanied by the French flag presented by the committee of public safety, which was deposited among the archives.

1804. Charlotte Lenox, the popular author of the Female Quixotte, &c., died.

1814. John George Jacobi, a German poet, died. He was the son of a wealthy merchant; studied theology; became professor of theology and eloquence at Halle, where he published a periodical for the ladies called the Iris. He was afterwards connected with several periodicals. His works are published in 7 vols.

1825. Ferdinand IV of Naples died. The life of this prince is remarkable for the uncommon length of his reign, and its many vicissitudes, embracing a period of 65 years, and being closely connected with all the great events of Europe during the last half century. He was born 1751, and came to the throne at the age of eight. The first thirty years of his reign were attended with peace and happiness; but in 1798 the country was invaded by Bonaparte, before whom Ferdinand fled to Sicily: and afterwards in 1820 the Carbonari effected a revolution which again banished the royal family. The interposition of the Austrians, however, restored the ancient order of things, which continued till the death of the king, four years after.

1827. James Chambers, an eccentric poet, died in misery at a farm-house in Stratbroke, England. From the age of 16 to 70 he wandered about the country, gaining a precarious subsistence by selling his own effusions, of which he had a number printed in a cheap form. His compositions were mostly suggested to him by his muse, during the stillness of the night while reposing in some friendly barn or hay-loft. When so inspired, he would arise and commit the effusion to paper. He continued through life in hopeless poverty, and was a lonely man and a wanderer, who had neither act nor part in the common ways of the world.

1835. Thermometer 40 deg. below zero, at Lebanon, N. Y., the mercury becoming solid. It was severely cold throughout the United States.

1843. Steven Thompson Mason, formerly governor of Michigan, died at New York, aged 31.

1845. Benjamin Russell, chiefly known as the conductor of the Columbian Centinel, died at Boston.

1849. Samuel Jenkins, a negro died at Lancaster, aged 115. He drove his master's provision wagon over the Alleganies in Braddock's expedition, and was supposed to be the last survivor of that expedition.

1849. The town of Moultan in India, after a long siege was taken by the British, but with great loss.

1852. Eliot Walburton, an author of considerable note, perished in the Amazon steamship, on his way from Southampton to the West Indies.

1853. Mr. Ingersoll, the American envoy to England, was feted by the chamber of commerce at Liverpool.

1854. Albion college, Michigan, destroyed by fire.

1856. Jean Pierre David, a celebrated French sculptor, died at Paris, aged 65.

JANUARY 5.

62. B. C. Lucius Sergius Catiline, the Roman conspirator, killed in Etruria. The history of his life unfolds a series of most revolting crimes; but there is reason to believe that some of them are unreal. Murder, rapine and conflagration, were thefirst pleasures of his life. Pompey, Crassus and Cæsar favored his schemes with a view to their own aggrandizement. Only two Romans remained determined to uphold their falling country—Cato and Cicero. The speeches of the latter in the Roman senate on the crisis of affairs are imperishable monuments of eloquence and patriotism, and produced the overthrow of the conspirators. Five of them were put to death, and Catiline being surrounded by the army under Petreius resolved to die sword in hand. The battle was fought with desperation, and the insurgents fell, with their leader at their head.

1066. Edward the Confessor, king of England, died. He was called to the throne 1041. He was not the immediate heir, but his claim was supported of Godwin, earl of Kent, whose daughter Editha he married. He was a weak and superstitious prince, and acquired the title of Saint or Confessor, by abstaining from nuptial connection with his queen. He was the first English monarch who undertook to cure the king's-evil by touching the patient. With him ended the Saxon line of kings.

1477. Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, killed in battle on this or the following day. This prince, the son of Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal, early displayed a violent, impetuous and ambitious disposition; and in after life was constantly embroiled in unjust and cruel warfare, in which he performed many daring exploits. But having turned his arms against the Swiss, the fortune of war turned against him; and being deserted by his allies, with his usual temerity risked a battle with only 4000 men against a vastly superior force, was defeated and killed by the thrust of a lance in the 44th year of his age. His body covered with blood and mire, and his head imbedded in the ice, was not found till two days after the battle, when it was so disfigured that his own brother did not recognize it. With him expired the feudal government of Burgundy.

1531. The electoral college assembled at Rome and elected Ferdinand, brother of Charles V, king of the Romans. He was crowned a few days after at Aix-la-Chapelle.

1536. Catharine of Arragon, the repudiated queen of Henry VIII, died. She was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, born 1483. She was first married to Arthur, prince of Wales, who died five months after; and the king unwilling to return her dowry caused her to be contracted to his remaining son, Henry. The prince, at the age of 15, made a public protest against this proceeding, but finally consented to the match. Notwithstanding the inequality of their ages and the capricious disposition of the king, they had been married 20 years when the division took place. This separation led to a divorce from the pope also, and was the cause of mighty effects.

1559. Catharine de Medicis died. She was born at Florence 1519; married, 1533, the dauphin, afterwards Henry II, of France. She was three times regent of France, and during her administration made a conspicuous figure in the annals of Europe by her political genius. By her was begun the palace of the Tuilleries; but the lasting monument of her fame and iniquity is the massacre of St. Bartholomew's, which was brought about by her intrigues, when more than 50,000 protestants were massacred in one day.

1621. Paul Van Somer died in London. He was born at Antwerp, 1576, and arrived at great proficiency as a painter. His pencil was chiefly employed on portraits of royal and eminent personages, and is said to have equalled Vandyke.

1636. De Vries, who had recently arrived from Holland in the capacity of a patroon, sent his colonists over to Staten island from fort Amsterdam, to commence the colony and buildings.

1675. Turenne defeated the imperialists at Turkheim.

1705. Second volcanic opening of the peak of Teneriffe, in the ravine of Almerchiga, a league from Icore. It closed on the 13th of the same month.

1722. Bell, the Traveler, arrived at Moscow on the return from China. (See July 14, 1719.) The account of this journey, and of what he saw and learned at Pekin, is the most valuable part of his book, and one of the best and most interesting relations ever written by any traveler.

1724. Czartan Petrarch died, aged 184, at a village near Temeswar, in Hungary. He was born in the year 1539; and at the time the Turks took Temeswar from the Christians he was employed in keeping his father's cattle. A few days before his death he had walked with the help of a stick to the post house to ask charity of the travelers. His hair and beard were of a greenish-white color, like mouldy bread; and he had a few of his teeth remaining, and enjoyed a little eyesight. His son, who was ninety-seven years of age, declared that his father had married at an extreme age, for the third time, and that he was born in this last marriage. He had descendants in the fifth generation, with whom he sometimes sported, carrying them in his arms. His son, though ninety-seven, was still fresh and vigorous. The commandant of Temeswar on learning of his sickness, caused his portrait to be painted, and it was nearly finished when he expired.

1757. Damiens attempted the assassination of Louis XV, for which he was condemned to the most cruel tortures, and finally quartered by four horses. (See March 28.)

1764. A comet was first seen at Tewkesbury, England, near two small stars in the hand of Bootes.

1776. The New Hampshire provincial convention resolved to change the form of government.

1781. Arnold invaded Virginia with 1500 British troops; he marched to Richmond, destroyed the public stores and buildings, the rope-walk, and much private property.

1781. The British ship Warwick, Capt. Elphinstone, captured the Dutch ship Rotterdam, 50 guns and 300 men; the first material capture during that war.

1782. Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon, taken by the British under admiral Sir Edward Hughes.

1783. Onore, situated between Panian and Bombay, taken by assault by the British Gen. Matthews; the garrison and many of the inhabitants were cruelly slaughtered.

1795. The French attacked the British Gen. Dundas at Geldermalsem, and compelled him to fall back to Buren; and afterwards the whole force of Gen. Walmoden to cross the Leck.

1795. The British ships Bellona and Alarm captured the French ship Le Dumas of 20 guns, off Deseada.

1796. Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, died. He was born at Windham, Ct., 1732; his father being a farmer could allow him only a common school education; but his own assiduity made up the deficiency, so that at the age of 22 he commenced the study of the law with borrowed books; in 1764 he was sent to the general assembly; 1765 appointed king's attorney; 1774 raised to the bench of the supreme court; 1775 sent a delegate to the general congress of the colonies, and in 1779 succeeded John Jay as president of congress. At the time of his death he was governor of Connecticut.

1797. British ship Polyphemus, Capt. Lumesdaine, captured the French ship L'Uranie, 38 guns, off Ireland.

1798. A bill passed the house in congress paying Kosciusko $12,800; and the four daughters of count de Grasse $400 each per annum for five years.

1799. Treaty of defensive alliance between England and Turkey.

1806. Breslaw surrendered to the French under Vandamme; Lieut. Gen. De Thile, Maj. Gen. Krafti and 5500 Prussians taken.

1807. British sloop Nautilus, Capt. Palmer, lost on a rock near Peri, in the archipelago of the Seven islands. The captain refused to leave the vessel, and was lost in his 26th year.

1809. The British rear guard under Sir John Moore attacked by the French van guard under Soult. Gen. Colbert, aged 30, was mortally wounded, and the French were compelled to fall back.

1812. The French Gen. Leval was compelled to abandon the siege of Tariffa, defended by the British, Col. Skerritt.

1814. Gluckstadt surrendered to the British.

1814. British ships Bacchante and Saracen captured the fortress of Cattaro after a cannonade of ten days.

1827. Frederick, duke of York, died. He was the second son of George III, born in 1763; 1787 took his seat in the house of peers; 1789 fought a duel, firing his pistol in the air; 1791 married the eldest daughter of the king of Prussia, from whom he afterwards separated; 1793 went to Flanders at the head of the British army, and in the end showed himself unequal to the station; 1809 was called to account by the house of commons for the follies committed in the army through the influence of a female favorite; 1818 was appointed the keeper of his father, with a salary of £10,000. Although enjoying princely salaries and pensions he died universally lamented by his tailors and other creditors to the amount of some hundred thousands of pounds.

1841. James Abraham Hillhouse, an eminent American poet, died at New Haven, Ct., aged 51.

1845. The national debt of England amounted at this time to £794,193,645.

1849. The discovery of the magnetic clock by Dr. Locke of Ohio, announced to the secretary of the navy by Lieutenant Maury of the National observatory.

1852. Eugene Levesque died at Paris, aged 81; author of travels in America.

1852. Benjamin La Rochi died at Paris, aged 54; French translator of Shakespeare.

1852. Baron Kemenyi, a Hungarian chief, eminent for his patriotism and exploits in the struggle with Austria and Russia, died aged 53.

1853. Charles W. Morgan, an American commodore, died, aged 63. He was a nephew of Gen. Morgan of the revolution, and distinguished himself in the action between the Constitution and the Guerriere.

1853. Revolution in Mexico; Gen. Arista resigned, and Cevallos elected president ad interim.

1854. The steamer San Francisco, which had withstood a heavy gale, was foundered at sea. Of 700 persons on board 247 had been washed overboard before assistance arrived.

1855. Gen. Castilla defeated Pres. Echenique and entered Lima in triumph.

1855. The entire Victoria bridge across the St. Lawrence, carried away by the ice.

JANUARY 6.

1402. Birthday of Joan of Arc.

1540. Henry VIII married Anne, daughter of John, duke of Cleves. This was his fourth wife. He had asked her hand in marriage after having seen a portrait of her by Holbein; and becoming disgusted with her in six months bestowed upon her the epithet of Flanders mare, and sent her home. She retired, not much disconcerted, to her own country, where she died 1557.

1649. Anne of Austria, queen regent of France, obliged to fly from Paris to St. Germain.

1698. Birthday of Metastasio, the celebrated Italian poet.

1711. Christopher Bateman, a noted English bookseller, died. He suffered none to open a book in his shop till it was bought.

1724. The bishop of London preached a sermon against masquerades, which produced a decree that no more than six masquerades, the number already subscribed for, should be held.

1725. Pope Benedict XIII, in great state and measured ceremony, opened with a golden hammer the holy gates of the four great churches which had been shut 25 years, for obtaining indulgences, &c.

1734. John Dennis, an English dramatist and critic, died. He was the son of a saddler, born in London 1657, and liberally educated. His first play appeared in 1697, and was followed by many dramatic pieces and poems which were sufficiently worthless to procure their author an imperishable notoriety in the Dunciad, where Pope has gibbeted him. He squandered a fortune which had been left him by an uncle, and not being able to subsist by his pamphlets and criticisms for the magazines, depended upon his friends for a living; and even those whom he had made his enemies joined in the benefit for him at the Haymarket theatre, after he had become blind and partially insane. One of his plays, which was condemned, is famous for a new kind of thunder introduced in it; a few nights after its representation, the players made use of the contrivance in Macbeth, when the author rose in the pit and with an oath claimed it as his thunder. His thunder is said to be that still used in the theatres.

1738. Jean Baptist Labat, a missionary and traveler, died. He was born at Paris 1663, and became a Dominican priest in Norway, where he taught mathematics and philosophy also. In 1693 he embarked for Martinique as a missionary; and during several voyages in service of the mission, visited all the Antilles. When the English attacked the island of Guadaloupe, he rendered his country important services as an engineer. He afterwards traveled much in Europe, and published his travels. His voyage to the West Indies has been translated into several languages, and is a truly scientific work.

1763. Unsuccessful and very disastrous attack by two English ships on Buenos Ayres. The commodore and nearly 300 of the crew were drowned.

1766. The wild man Peter taken in the Hartz forest and presented to George II, was brought from Cheshunt and shewn to George III and his queen. Like Shakespeare's Caliban, he could bring wood and water but not articulate any language.

1777. The American army, under Gen. Washington, went into winter quarters at Morristown, N. J.

1781. Arnold detached Lieut. Col. Simcoe, from Richmond to Westham, Va., who destroyed the cannon foundry and a quantity of public stores which had been removed from Richmond.

1785. The Halsewell, East Indiaman, Capt. Richard Pearce, wrecked on the island of Purbeck; of 240 persons but 74 were saved.

1794. The duke of Brunswick resigned his command as generalissimo of the coalition against France.

1795. French frigate La Pique, 33 guns, captured off Marigalante by the British frigate Blanche, Capt. Faulkner, who was shot through the heart; also 7 of his crew killed and 21 wounded. La Pique had 76 killed, 113 wounded, and 30 were lost when her mast went overboard.

1810. James Richard Dacres died of a fall from his horse. He was vice-admiral of the Red, and father of the Capt. Dacres captured by Hull.

1813. Alexander issued his ukase at Wilna, directing the foundation stone of a new church to be instantly laid in Moscow, dedicated to Christ our Savior, as a perpetual monument to future generations of the deliverance of Russia from the French, and the devotion of his people.

1816. Francis Norodsky, a Polish gentleman, died at Warsaw, aged 125. The Polish government allowed him a pension of 3000 florins, which the emperor Alexander continued till his death.

1817. General Thomas died, at Milledgeville, Georgia, of cancer in the mouth.

1823. The siege of Missolonghi raised. Mavrocordato, the commander in chief, had thrown himself into the town on the 5th of November with 380 men, and 22 Suliots under Marco Botzaris, and though almost destitute of artillery and ammunition, defended it against the Turkish forces. On the 23d November it was relieved by sea, and the enemy were repulsed in several assaults, when they finally abandoned the walls.

1831. Died at Geneva, Rodolphe Kreutzer, a distinguished violinist and musical composer.

1836. Abraham van Vechten died at Albany, aged 75. He was a highly respected man, an eminent lawyer, and one of the fathers of the New York bar.

1839. A tremendous gale or hurricane in the west of England, which did great damage at Liverpool.

1840. Madame D'Arblay, the well known novelist, Miss Burney, died at Bath. Lord Chancellor Thurlow said her Cecilia was worth all the books in his library.

1841. Great freshet in the Hudson river and tributaries.

1849. George Sinnet, a native of Germany, the last survivor of Gen. Wolfe's army, died at Brighton, Nova Scotia, aged 120.

1854. Russians defeated at Citale, near Kalafat, with a loss of 2500 men.

JANUARY 7.

1328. Edward II of England deposed by parliament, and his son, Edward III, proclaimed king.

1558. Calais, in France, retaken by the French after a short siege of one week, having been in the possession of the English 200 years, during which it had become a thriving place, and the seat of a considerable trade in wool.

1610. Galilei discovered the satellites of Jupiter.

1657. Theophilus Eaton, first governor of the colony at New Haven, died. Before coming to America he was employed by the king as an agent at the court of Denmark. He was one of the original patentees of Massachusetts. On the settlement of New Haven he was chosen governor, for which office his integrity, dignity and wisdom peculiarly fitted him, and which he filled till his death.

1681. The commons of England resolved that till a bill be passed, excluding the duke of York from the throne, no supplies could be granted without danger to the state.

1692. The philosophical Robert Boyle died leaving a sum of money for a monthly sermon against atheism.

1715. Francois de Salignac de la Motte Fenelon, died. He preached his first sermon at the age of 15; and he was distinguished for learning and piety. The celebrated romance, Telemaque, was published against his will by the treachery of his servant, and involved him in difficulties with the king, who considered it a satire upon his reign. During the revolution of 1793 his coffin was dug up to furnish lead for bullets. In 1819 a monument was erected to his memory by public subscription, and in 1826 a statue by the sculptor David was placed at Cambray. The age in which he lived could not appreciate his worth.

1740. A rock fell on a large number of young people while at play on the first Monday of the year, at Kirkaldy, Scotland.

1758. Allan Ramsay, a Scottish poet and author of the Gentle Shepherd, died.

1767. Thomas Clap, an American mathematician and natural philosopher, died. He graduated at Harvard college, and by singular industry made great acquisitions in almost every branch of learning. In 1739 he was elected president of Yale college, and continued in that office till the year before his death. He constructed the first orrery in America.

1779. Lafayette embarked at Boston, in the frigate Alliance, for France.

1779. The Mirror, appeared at Edinburgh, to which Mackenzie the novelist was a principal contributor.

1782. The Bank of North America opened for business in Philadelphia. It was the first bank regularly established in America.

1785. Mr. Blanchard, the æronaut, accompanied by Mr. Jeffries, an American gentleman, made the bold attempt to cross the British channel, from Dover to Calais, in a balloon filled with inflammable air, then beginning to be used. They left the English coast at 10 o'clock, and at half-past two, reached the French side, a distance of twenty-three miles.

1798. The French army under General Menard, entered Switzerland with a design to revolutionize the cantons after the model of the French republic.

1806. Paulinus, better known as John Philip Werdin, died at Rome. He was one of the first Europeans who acquired a knowledge of the Sanscrit language.

1807. British order in council prohibiting neutrals from trading from one port of France or her allies to another, or to any other where Great Britain was refused that privilege.

1811. Ship Rapid, of Boston, Capt. Dorr, with $280,000 on board, totally lost off the coast of New Holland; captain and crew saved.

1812. Joseph Dennie, an American editor, died. He was born at Boston 1768, and educated for the bar; but his literary taste and habits interfered with his profession, which he resigned and established at Boston a weekly paper called The Tablet; and subsequently edited the Farmer's Museum at Walpole, in which he published a series of popular essays under the signature of The Lay Preacher. He was afterwards editor of the Port Folio at Philadelphia, where his superior endowments would have procured him an independence, but for some unfortunate propensities which deprived him of health and happiness.

1817. First paper in Chautauque co., N. Y.

1822. Liberia in Africa colonized under the direction of Dr. Ayres. Cape Montserado with a large tract of adjoining country was purchased of the natives by the American colonization society, and a settlement commenced by 28 colonists; in six years the number had increased to 1200 under the care of Ashmun.

1830. Thomas Lawrence, a distinguished English portrait painter, died. By industry and force of talent he rose in his profession, till on the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds he was made painter to the king, and in 1815 was knighted. His income for the last twenty years of his life was from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds; but he died poor, owing to his purchasing the best productions at the most extravagant prices.

1841. Louis Edward Bignon, Napoleon Bonaparte's historian, died.

1843. Mrs. Wingate, died at Stratham, N. H., aged nearly 101 years.

1850. John H. Kyan, a native of England, and inventor of Kyanized wood, died at New York.

1850. Samuel Miller, an eminent American theologian and sometime president of Princeton college, died, aged 91.

JANUARY 8.

1167. Edgar, king of Scotland, died, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Alexander I.

1536. Catharine of Arragon, died; queen of Henry VIII and mother of Mary, queen of England.

1642. Galileo Galilei, the astronomer, died, aged 78.

1676. French Admiral Duquesne defeated the Dutch and Spanish fleets under De Ruyter, who had both legs shattered.

1704. Laurentio Bellini, a Florentine anatomist, died, aged 61. He was held in great estimation by prince and pontiff. His theory and practice are out of date now, and his works also, in consequence of the vast improvements in medicine and surgery since his day.

1775. John Baskerville, an English printer and type founder, of rare celebrity, died. As a philanthropist he was also well known to large circles.

1777. British evacuated Elizabethtown, N. J.; Gen. Maxwell fell on their rear, and took 70 prisoners and a schooner loaded with baggage.

1780. British Admiral Rodney captured 22 sail of Spanish ships. One of these, the Guipuscaio, of 64 guns, was named the Prince William, from a son of George III who was in the action.

1784. Whitestown, N. Y., settled about this time.

1795. French ship Esperance, 22 guns, captured off Cape Henry by British ship Argonaut, Capt. Ball.

1796. Samuel Huntingdon, governor of Connecticut, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, died aged 64.

1796. French took by surprise the British camp at Mount William, island of St. Vincent, West Indies. British lost 54 killed, Brig. Gen. Strutt and 109 wounded, and 200 missing.

1799. French privateer cutter La Rancune, from St. Maloes, captured, by the British cutter Pigmy, Capt. Shepheard, who at the same time recaptured two British brigs, prizes to La Rancune.

1815. Battle of New Orleans. The city was attacked by the British under Packenham, consisting of 15,000 disciplined troops, and was defended by 6000 militia and volunteers, under Gen. Jackson, prepared to die in its defence. The result was a brilliant victory over the British. Packenham was killed, and 5,000 men surrendered—the rest fled to their vessels. The loss of the Americans was trifling, 13 killed and wounded, that of the British 2,600.

1815. Total loss of the Americans in this war up to the last battle, 1344 killed, 2673 wounded, 651 missing, 1351 taken prisoners.

1817. Two shocks of earthquake at Charleston, S. C, and at Savannah, Ga.

1825. Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, died.

1848. The lives of thirty persons lost by the bursting of the boilers of the steamer Blue Ridge on the Ohio river. The boilers had been in use nine years.

1849. The pope threatened all who should take part in electing a new assembly, with excommunication.

1850. First ship in the United States dry dock at Brooklyn.

1853. Charles Humphrey Atherton, an eminent New Hampshire lawyer, died, aged 79.

1854. William Carr Berresford, a distinguished British field officer and nobleman, died, aged 85.

1854. Metropolitan hall and Lafarge hotel, two of the finest buildings in New York destroyed by fire.

JANUARY 9.

1514. Anne of Bretagne, queen of France died, aged 37.

1584. William Carter, a daring London printer, hanged, boweled, and quartered at Tyburn, for printing lewd pamphlets, popish and others, and particularly a Treatise on Schisme.

1596. Francis Drake, the English navigator, died. He served with distinction under his relative Sir J. Hawkins; and having lost all his property in an action with the Spaniards, he conceived an inveterate hatred against them. He signalized himself in the destruction of the Spanish Armada; and finally died on the coast of America in a war against the Spanish settlements. He made the first voyage round the world. To him is attributed the introduction of the potatoe into Europe. The day of his death is differently stated.

1621. The Plymouth colonists commenced the erection of their projected town, which they built in two rows of houses for greater security. The same street still exists, leading to the water side.

1658. Birthday of Nicholas Couston, a famous French sculptor, from whose labors the art of statuary received a noble impulse. He died at Paris 1733.

1757. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, a French author of great repute, died. He was born at Rouen 1657; his mother was the sister of Corneille. Although his works are now obsolete in consequence of the advancement of science, no learned man exerted a more decided influence on the age in which he lived than Fontenelle.

1766. Thomas Birch, an English historian and biographer, died. He was of quaker parentage, and by unwearied industry educated himself. His literary labors were prodigious, which early rising and a strict economy of time enabled him to perform. He bequeathed his library to the British museum; it contained an incredible number of MSS. in his own handwriting.

1770. Catharine Talbot, authoress of Reflections on the Seven Days of the Week, and a contributor to the Rambler, died.

1779. John Reinhold Foster, author of Northern Voyages, and who circumnavigated the globe with Cook, died in his 70th year.

1788. Connecticut, the fifth state which adopted the constitution of the United States without amendments.

1792. Treaty of peace signed at Jassy between Russia and Turkey.

1793. Mr. Blanchard, the French æronaut, made the first balloon ascension in the United States, at Philadelphia, in the presence of General Washington.

1795. Thiel in Holland taken by the French under Macdonald.

1799. The habeas corpus act suspended in Great Britain.

1805. Noble Wimberly Jones, a revolutionary character, died. He came to America under Gen. Oglethorpe, and at the breaking out of the war was a practicing physician in Savannah. He was elected to the Georgia legislature a number of years and then resumed his practice again, at the solicitation of many of his former patients.

1809. Congress passed laws to enforce the embargo.

1810. The Diocesan court of the officiality of Paris pronounced a nullity of marriage between Bonaparte and Josephine.

1811. The Spanish cortes published a manifesto declaring their determination not to enter into a treaty with Bonaparte until his troops should have entirely evacuated the Peninsula.

1811. The whole militia of New Orleans ordered into immediate service by Gov. Claiborne to suppress a negro insurrection.

1812. Valentia in Spain surrendered to the French under Suchet, with 374 cannons, 18000 troops and stores of all kinds.

1813. British manifesto against the United States.

1815. Truce between Gen. Jackson and Gen. Lambert to bury the dead of the battle of the previous day.

1815. The British began the bombardment of the American fort St. Philip, defended by Major Overton, which was kept up daily until the 17th.

1816. A society instituted at Trenton, N. J., for forming a colony of blacks.

1818. Old John died. During eighty years, from the premiership of Walpole to that of Liverpool, he acted as messenger in the Royal printing office, London. He styled himself King's messenger.

1827. Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger, an English authoress, died. In her 13th year she wrote a poem, and afterwards attempted the drama. Her reputation is based upon her Historical Biographies, which were originally published in 10 vols.

1828. Francis de Neufchateau, a French statesman, died. He was born 1750, and in his 13th year published a volume of poems, which indicated more for the future than was realized. He took part in the affairs of the revolution, but was condemned for his moderation. Napoleon took him into favor; his pursuits were chiefly literary, however.

1843. Great fire at Port-au-Prince; 600 houses burnt and property to an immense amount destroyed. The blacks who inhabited the mountains rushed down and completed the work of destruction, by firing and plundering such houses as the fire had not reached, and committing every sort of excess.

1854. The Astor library in New York opened to the public.

JANUARY 10.

1640. Maurice Abbot, a distinguished London merchant, died. He acquired great consequence by his own efforts in commercial affairs, and was employed in 1624 in establishing the settlement of Virginia. At the time of his death he was mayor of London.

1645. William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded on Tower hill, aged 70. Sentenced to be hung for political misdemeanors, he was pardoned by the king; but parliament overruled the pardon, and substituted the privilege of being beheaded instead of hanging. He acquired so great an ascendency over Charles as to lead him, by the facility of his temper, into a conduct which proved fatal to that prince, and by which he lost his kingdom, and met the same fate four years after at Whitehall.

1661. A proclamation issued by the king of England prohibiting conventicles for religious meetings.

1661. The fifth monarchy men, headed by Venner, a wine cooper, arose to proclaim "King Jesus against all the powers of the earth." But King Charles's power was found too strong for them.

1754. Edward Cave died, an English printer and founder of the Gentleman's Magazine. When his indentures expired as a printer's apprentice, he was employed in the post office, and occupied his leisure in writing for the newspapers. In 1731 was first published the Magazine, and it has continued to this day, more than a century, amid the crowd of magazines which have perished around it; and is one of the most successful and lucrative periodicals that history has upon record.

1756. Francois, marquis de Beauharnois, died at Paris. He was a member of the national assembly, and took part in the king's favor; subsequently joined the army under Conde; and was banished by Napoleon in 1807. The heroic wife of Lavalette was his daughter.

1757. The British under Admiral Watson took by assault, Houghley, situated about thirty miles above Calcutta.

1761. Edward Boscawen, the English admiral, died. He was born 1711, and entered the navy at an early age. He acquired honorable distinction under Vernon, and afterwards signalized himself in many important contests with the French, in which he had the singular fortune to take the French commander, M. Hoquait, a prisoner three times, viz. in 1744, 1747 and 1755. On his return to England in 1759, after destroying the Toulon fleet in the Mediterranean, he was rewarded with a pension of £3000 a year.

1763. Casper Abel, a voluminous German historian and antiquary, died.

1765. Stamp Act passed the British Parliament. How little did that body anticipate the consequences that were to follow their decision on that subject.

1776. The New Hampshire convention dissolved itself and assumed legislative powers, chose twelve counselors as an executive branch, and delegates to Congress, which were recognized.

1782. George Costard died. A classical, mathematical and oriental scholar, whose reputation as an author is chiefly derived from a History of Astronomy, highly appreciated in Europe.

1791. Vermont, the last of the thirteen original states which composed the Union, adopted the constitution and took her place in the confederacy.

1795. The French frigate Iphigenie, 32 guns, captured by the Spanish fleet off Catalonia.

1797. French sloop Atalante, 16 guns, captured off Scilly by the British frigate Phœbe, 36 guns, Capt. Barlow.

1800. The first soup establishment for the poor was opened at Spitalfields, London.

1806. The Dutch surrendered the cape of Good Hope to the British.

1808. Phillips Cosby, British admiral of the Red, died aged 78.

1809. Samana taken by the British, together with two privateers, and four vessels laden with coffee.

1812. London involved for several hours in impenetrable darkness. The sky, where any light pervaded it, showed the aspect of bronze. It was the effect of a cloud of smoke, which, from the peculiar state of the atmosphere, did not pass off. Were it not for the peculiar mobility of the atmosphere, this city of a hundred thousand chimneys would be scarcely habitable in winter.

1815. The British under Gen. Lambert having abandoned the enterprise on New Orleans began to re-embark their artillery and munitions, preparatory to a general retreat.

1816. The schooner Eliza cast away near Newport; the captain and crew saved by Com. Perry, who with part of the crew of the frigate Java, went five miles in a boat to their relief.

1824. Thomas Edward Bowditch, the African traveler, died. He went to Africa at the age of 21, and engaged in a series of expeditions into the country. In 1822 he went out from England with a view of devoting himself to the exploration of the African continent. He had only arrived at the mouth of the Gambia when a disease occasioned by fatigue and anxiety of mind put an end to his existence.

1833. Adrien Marie Legendre, so well known as a profound mathematician, died at Paris. His life work on geometry is much used.

1840. The uniform penny postage commenced in England; the number of letters despatched from London on this day being 112,000; the average, for January, 1839, being 30,000.

1840. Battle between the Russian and Khivian cavalry; the latter commanded by the khan in person were completely routed and pursued to the city of Khiva.

1848. Miss Caroline Herschel, member of the Royal astronomical society, London, died at Hanover.

1855. Mary Russel Mitford died, aged 68; a distinguished English authoress.

1856. Thomas H. Perkins, a wealthy and liberal Boston merchant, died aged 89. His was the first American firm engaged in the China trade.

JANUARY 11.

395. Theodosius the Great, emperor of Rome, died. He was born about the year 346, and on coming to the throne distinguished himself by his orthodoxy, and his zeal against heresy and paganism. His public and private virtues, which procured him the name of The Great, will scarcely excuse the fierceness of his intolerance, or the barbarity of his anger and revenge.

1569. The first English lottery drawn at London. It continued day and evening four months. The prizes were money, plate and merchandise. It had been advertised two years at the time it took place.

1698. Peter, the czar of Russia, arrived in England and wrought as a mechanic in the dockyard at Deptford, as well as in the workshops of various mechanics, with view of carrying the English arts into his own country. He was well received by William III.

1751. A globular bottle of glass was made at Leith measuring 40 by 42 inches, the largest ever made in Britain.

1753. Sir Hans Sloane, the eminent English naturalist, died, aged 93. He was born at Killileagh in Ireland; studied medicine in London, and settled there in the practice of his profession. He was the second learned man whom science tempted to America. His museum, composed of the rarest productions of nature, he bequeathed to the public, on condition of the payment of £20,000 annually to his family, and was the foundation of the British Museum.

1775. The first provincial congress of South Carolina met at Charleston.

1778. Charles Linne (or Linnæus), the Swedish botanist, died, aged 71. In his twenty-fourth year he conceived the idea of a new arrangement of plants, or a sexual system of botany. In 1732 the Academy of Sciences at Upsal appropriated 50 Swedish dollars to send him on a tour through Lapland, and with this small sum he made a journey of more than 3500 miles, unaccompanied, traversing the Lapland desert, and enduring many hardships. A series of offices and honors were conferred upon him, till in 1753 he was created a Knight of the Polar Star, an honor never before conferred on a literary man; and in 1761 he was elevated to the rank of nobility.

1778. A collection amounting to £3815 was made for the 924 American prisoners in England. Dr. Franklin, at Paris, applied to the British ambassador for an exchange of prisoners, but his lordship was pleased to return only the following answer: "no application received from rebels unless they come to implore his majesty's pardon."

1782. Ostenburg, near Trincomalee, in the island of Ceylon, taken from the Dutch by the British Admiral Hughes.

1795. The French, under Pichegru, crossed the Waal on the ice at different points.

1800. William Newcome, archbishop of Armagh, died, aged 79. He rose gradually in the church to the primacy of Ireland; was a worthy man, and author of a great number of theological works.

1801. Cimarosa, the celebrated Italian musician, died.

1803. The Hindostan, East Indiaman, lost on the Culvers, off Margate, in a dreadful storm.

1805. Letters of marque and reprisal issued by Great Britain against Spain.

1807. Breig in Silesia surrendered to the French and Bavarians; 3 generals, 1400 Prussians, and considerable magazines were captured.

1810. In the night the mercury in three thermometers froze at Moscow and withdrew into the ball. At Iraish it was observed at -44½° of Fahrenheit immediately before it froze.

1811. Marie Joseph de Chenier, a French poet, died. By flattering the passions of the people he soon gained great popularity, and during the revolution was one of the most violent democrats.

1815. Cumberland island, Georgia, taken possession of by Capt. Barrie of the British ship Dragon. Same day British sloop of war, Barbadoes, Capt. Fleming captured privateer schooner Fox, of 7 guns and 72 men from Wilmington.

1817. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale college, died, aged 65. He entered Yale college at the age of 13, and became a tutor at 19. His health becoming impaired, by the advice of his physicians he traveled, walking 2000 and riding 3000 miles in the course of a year. It had the effect to restore his constitution completely. His published works consist of theology, poetry and travels. His biography is interesting; he was an uncommon character.

1829. Gregorio Funes, a patriot of La Plata, died at Buenos Ayres. He was actively engaged in the South American revolution from its commencement. He was also an author.

1839. Alexander Coffin, the last survivor of the original proprietors who settled the city of Hudson in 1784, died, aged 99. He was highly respected for his talents, integrity and usefulness.

1839. Earthquake at Martinique, which did great damage, particularly at Fort Royal, where only 18 houses were left standing, of 1700, and 900 hundred sufferers were dug out of the ruins.

1843. Francis S. Key, district attorney of the United States and author of the national song, the Star Spangled Banner, died in Baltimore.

1853. Russia, Austria and Prussia, after considerable delay, finally acknowledge Napoleon III as emperor of France.

1853. The caloric ship Ericsson made her trial trip from New York to the Potomac.

JANUARY 12.

400. B. C. Xenophon, with the 10,000, forced a passage through the defiles of Armenia.

1519. Maximilian I, emperor of Germany, died. He was elected king of the Romans 1486, and ascended the imperial throne 1493. Under him the Turks were checked in their enterprises against Germany, and repelled from his hereditary territories.

1598. The Marquis De la Roche received from Henry IV a commission to conquer Canada. He sailed from France with a colony of convicts from the prisons. He landed them on the Isle of Sable, and sailed for Acadie, from whence he returned to France. The survivors of the colony, twelve in number, were taken off seven years afterwards, and presented to the king in their sealskin clothes and long beards. He gave them fifty crowns each and pardoned their offences.

1640. An engagement of four days' duration near the Island Tamaraca, Brazils, between the Dutch and Portuguese, in which the latter were defeated and the Dutch admiral killed.

1678. A remarkable darkness at noon in England.

1777. General Mercer died of the wounds of the battle of Princeton.

1781. The states general of Holland issued letters of marque and reprisal against England.

1793. Arthur Lee, a distinguished American statesman, died at Urbana, Va. The long and faithful services which he rendered his country during his arduous struggles for independence, in the alternate character of ambassador and statesman, are universally known and acknowledged.

1794. John George Adam Forster died, aged 40. He was of Scotch descent, born in Prussia, studied at St. Petersburg, taught German and French in England, accompanied Cook in his voyage round the world, accepted the professorship of natural history at Hesse Cassel, was appointed historiographer of a Russian expedition round the world; this project being frustrated by the Turkish war, he went to Germany, and residing at Mentz when the French took that city 1792, was sent by the republicans to request a union of that city with France. During his absence the Prussians retook the city, by which he lost all his property, including his books and papers, and died soon after. The Germans number him among their classical writers.

1795. In consequence of a great thaw, the communication of the main army of the French under Pichegru and the four divisions that crossed the Waal the day before on the ice, was totally interrupted during two days.

1795. Mr. Pitt recommended in the British parliament that a premium be given by government to large families.

1805. British frigate Doris, Capt. Campbell, lost on the Diamond rock, Quiberon bay. The crew saved themselves and blew up the frigate.

1805. The thermometer at Danbury, Ct., stood at 19° below zero; being the coldest weather known there since 1780.

1807. A fatal explosion at Leyden, in Holland. A vessel containing 40,000 pounds of powder, moored before the house of Prof. Rau, exploded with a tremendous crash. Upwards of 200 houses were overthrown, besides churches and public buildings, 150 persons killed and 2000 wounded.

1809. Cayenne surrendered by the French, to the British and the Portuguese under Capt. Yeo.

1815. National fast in the United States.

JANUARY 13.

857. Ethelwulf, son of Egbert, sometimes styled the first king of England, died. In his reign the tax called Peter's pence was levied.

1399. The Tartars, under Tamerlane, pillaged the imperial city of Delhi, and two days after wantonly massacred the entire Indian population.

1400. Richard II of England murdered. He came to the throne at the age of 11, and after a turbulent reign of 22 years, was deposed and imprisoned.

1404. It was enacted at this short parliament of Henry's that no chemist shall use his craft to multiply gold or silver.

1560. John de Lasci, a learned Pole, died.

1618. Galileo discovered the fourth satellite of Jupiter.

1669. John Bochius, a Dutch poet, died. He excelled in Latin, and is called the Virgil of the Low Countries.

1691. George Fox, founder of the sect of quakers, died, aged 67. His father was a poor weaver, and George was apprenticed to a shoemaker; but he left his employment and wandered about the country in a leather doublet, and finally set up as a teacher. He visited different countries, and had the satisfaction to see his tenets taking deep root in his life time.

1705. A house in London where fireworks were manufactured, blew up, and destroyed 120 houses, and killed 50 persons.

1711. The last No. of the Tatler appeared (No. 271).

1715. Great fire in Thames street, London; many lives lost.

1716. Elizabeth Patch died at Salem; the first female born in the old colony of Massachusetts.

1717. Maria Sybilla Merian, the distinguished painter, and writer on entomology, died at Amsterdam.

1738. The famous convention of Pardo signed.

1759. Execution of the conspirators against the life of the king of Portugal. The whole family of the Marquis Tavora was executed, and the name suppressed for ever.

1797. British ships Indefatigable, 44 guns, and Amazon, 42 guns, had a night action of six hours, in the bay of Audierne, with the French 74 gun ship Les Droits des Hommes, 1600 men; the latter was driven on shore, and the crew made prisoners; Gen. Renier and 750 men were lost in the action. The Amazon was also lost in the action.

1798. Lieut. Lord Camelford shot Lieut. Charles Peterson, at English harbor, Antigua, for disobedience of orders, was afterwards tried and acquitted.

1798. The Swiss cantons armed against France.

1809. The French under Marshal Victor defeated the Spanish under Castanos at Cuenca.

1811. The British merchant ship Cumberland, Captain Barrat, beat off 4 French privateers, and took 170 men who had boarded her.

1814. British and Prussians repulsed in an attack on Antwerp; part of the suburbs were burnt.

1814. The emperor of Russia and king of Prussia crossed the Rhine to invade France; the emperor of Austria, who had arrived the evening before at Cassel, went out to meet them, and they entered Basil, in Switzerland.

1814. General thanksgiving throughout Great Britain for the successes gained over Bonaparte.

1814. Capt. Barrie of the British ship Dragon, took the fort on Point Peter and the tower of St. Mary's, in Georgia; they afterwards destroyed the fort.

1817. The ship Georgianna, of Norfolk, experienced a tremendous shock in the Gulf stream supposed to be by earthquake; the day was calm.

1822. Johann Gottlieb Schneider, a German philologist and naturalist, died, aged 72; a voluminous author.

1836. Karl Chr. Traug. Tauchnitz, an eminent German printer, died, aged 75. At the age of 35 he commenced business for himself with a single press; but his establishment soon became very extensive, including a letter foundry and book store. He was most indefatigable in improving and perfecting whatever he undertook, as his publications attest. His founts of oriental type were unsurpassed in Germany.

1838. Chancellor Eldon died.

1840. Steam boat Lexington burnt, on her passage from New York to Stonington. Of 145 persons on board, only four escaped with their lives. Among the sufferers were many highly esteemed and valuable members of society.

1848. A severe battle took place at Chillianwallah between the British and Sikh forces without decisive results.

1854 An earthquake at Finana in Spain, crumbling down the Alcazaba, an ancient Moorish castle, prostrating houses and causing chasms in the streets, and loss of lives.

JANUARY 14.

1526. Treaty of Madrid between the emperor Charles V, and Francis I of France, by which the latter obtained his liberty.

1604. The episcopal divines and puritans held a conference at Hampton court in the presence of King James.

1611. Edward Bruce, a Scottish statesman, died. He occupied some of the highest offices under the government, and his services were important in establishing the peaceable accession of James to the English throne.

1622. Pietro Sarpi, better known as Father Paul of Venice, died, aged 90. He employed the latter part of his life in writing a history of the council of Trent, in which he has developed the intrigues connected with the transactions of that famous assembly, with a degree of boldness and veracity, which renders the work one of the most interesting and important productions of the class to which it belongs.

1634. Of seven sailors left at Spitzbergen in the fall of 1633, by the Dutch fishermen, for the purpose of wintering there, the first of the number died. The journal which they kept relates that they sought in vain for green herbs, bears and foxes, in that desolate region. In November the scurvy appeared among them. Their journal ended February 26, and they were all found dead on the return of their countrymen in spring. (See April 16.)

1696. Marie de Rabutin Sevigne, a French woman of quality, died, aged 70. Her Letters (11 vols. 8vo.) are models of epistolary style, and have been translated into English.

1738. The famous convention of Pardo signed.

1739. The pope issued an edict against the assemblies of freemasons, under penalty of the rack and condemnation to the galleys.

1742. Edmund Halley the astronomer, died, aged 86. He devoted himself to mathematics with great success, and spent much time abroad in astronomical observations and experiments. His astronomical pursuits tended greatly by their results to improve the art of navigation.

1753. George Berkley, bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, died, aged 85. He appeared as an author before his twentieth year. He devoted seven years and a considerable part of his fortune in an effort to establish a college at Bermuda, for the education of Indian preachers, which miscarried. He published several philosophical, mathematical and theological works, and is said to have been acquainted with almost every branch of human knowledge.

1781. French took the island of Nevis.

1783. Cervetto, an Italian of extraordinary musical genius, died at London, aged 103. He was a member of the orchestra of Drury lane theatre.

1784. Congress ratified the definitive treaty of peace.

1792. Joseph Jackson, a celebrated English type founder, died. While an apprentice his master had carefully kept from his view the mode of making punches, but by boring a hole through the door he got an occasional glimpse of the art, and succeeded.

1795. Intense frost in Holland, which enabled the remainder of the French army to cross the Waal.

1795. The French were repulsed in an attack on all the posts of the allies, from Arnhem to Amerongen. In the night the allies retreated to Amersfoort, leaving 300 sick behind them.

1797. Battle of Rivoli in Italy. The contest was continued three days, and decided the fate of Mantua. The French under Joubert were victorious over the Austrians.

1798. Five English gentlemen who had been sent to investigate the title of Vizier Ally, were by his orders assassinated at Benares in India.

1801. Robert Orme died, aged 73; historiographer to the East India company.

1801. An embargo laid in England on all Russian, Swedish and Danish ships. More than 100 Swedish and Danish vessels were immediately seized.

1809. Formal treaty of peace, friendship and alliance between Great Britain and Spain.

1813. An engagement off Pernambuco between the United States privateer schooner Comet, Capt. Boyle, 14 guns and 120 men, and three British vessels of 24 guns, convoyed by a Portuguese ship of 32 guns and 165 men. The Portuguese were beaten off, and the British vessels captured. She also captured three other vessels on the passage.

1814. Treaty of peace signed at Kiel between Denmark and England.

1814. Charles Bossut, a French mathematician, died, aged 84. He studied under D'Alembert, and rose to eminence. On the breaking out of the French revolution he lost the offices he had acquired, and subsisted by his writings. He was a contributer to the Encyclopedie.

1815. Com. Decatur, sailed from New York in the frigate President.

1822. The Grand Duke Constantine declined, by letter to his brother Alexander, the succession to the throne of all the Russias.

1831. Henry Mackenzie, the novelist, died, aged 86. He studied the law, at the same time cultivating elegant literature. His first effort was a tragedy, which was favorably received; his first novel appeared in 1771, in which he was eminently successful. Scott entitles him the Scottish Addison.

1834. William Polk, a revolutionary officer, died. He held the rank of colonel at the close of the war, and was the last surviving field officer of the North Carolina line. He was among the small band of patriots who declared independence in Mecklenburg county, N. C., May 20th, 1775.

1838. Navy island evacuated by the Canadians, &c., under Mackenzie and Van Rensselaer, 510 in number. The arms belonging to the United States were surrendered, as also the cannon belonging to the state of New York.

1852. T. Hudson Turner died, aged 37; one of the ablest of the British archæologists.

1854. Joshua Bates, a distinguished New England clergyman, died, aged 77. He was twenty-three years president of Middlebury college.

JANUARY 15.

69. Sergius Galba, the Roman emperor, assassinated, at the age of 72. He was the successor of Nero, and reigned but three months.

936. Rodolph, king of France, died, in the 14th year of his reign, and was succeeded by Lewis the Stranger.

1549. The liturgy of the English church established by parliament. All the divine offices were to be performed according to the new liturgy, and infringements were to be punished by forfeitures and imprisonments, and for the third offence imprisonment for life. Visitors were appointed to see that it was received throughout England. From this time we may date the era of the Puritans.

1655. Daniel Heinsius, a Dutch philologist, died. He made great progress as a student, under Scaliger, and was appointed to a professorship at Leyden. He was also successful as a Greek and Latin poet.

1559. Queen Elizabeth, crowned at Westminster, by the bishop of Carlisle, who was the only person that could be prevailed upon to perform the ceremony.

1672. John Cosin, bishop of Durham, died; a lover of literature and prodigal in his expenditures on book-binding. He ordered that all his books should be rubbed once a fortnight to prevent their moulding.

1693. An army of six or seven hundred French and Indians set out from Montreal to invade the Mohawk castles. (See Feb. 6.)

1730. Gov. Montgomerie granted the city of New York a new charter. Although that city had been put under the government of a mayor in 1665, it was not regularly incorporated until 1686.

1773. At Duff house, the residence of the countess dowager of Fife, the first masquerade ever seen in Scotland was exhibited.

1777. Vermont declared itself a free and independent state. It had been settled as a part of New Hampshire, but was claimed as a part of New York, and so decided to be by the British crown. But by the dissolution of the bonds which had held America in subjection to the crown of Britain, they considered themselves free from New York, to which the most of them had never voluntarily submitted; and being, as they said, reduced to "a state of nature," they assumed the right to form such connections as were agreeable to themselves. Accordingly they formed a plan of government and a code of laws, and petitioned congress to receive them into the Union.

1778. Nootka sound and the Sandwich islands discovered by Captain Cook.

1780. First exportation of woolen goods from Ireland to a foreign market.

1780. Unsuccessful attack by the Americans under Lord Stirling on the British at Long island.

1781. The traitor Arnold succeeded in burning some stores at Smithfield.

1783. William Alexander, Lord Stirling, an officer in the revolutionary army, died at Albany, aged 57. He was of Scotch descent, and from early youth a mathematician. Throughout the war he acted an important part, and was warmly attached to Washington. He left behind him the reputation of a brave, discerning and intrepid officer, and an honest and learned man. He was generally styled Lord Stirling, and was considered the rightful heir to the title and estates of that earldom in Scotland.

1794. A desperate engagement off the island of Corsica between three Sardinian ships and two Barbary xebecs. One of the xebecs was captured, but the other, rather than surrender, was blown up; upon which the prisoners taken, Turks and Algerines, 92 in number, were put to death.

1795. The French attacked the British outposts at Rhenen.

1795. The French national convention liberated Gen. Miranda and Capt. Lacrosse from prison.

1799. A revolution at Lucca in Italy, without bloodshed. Titles and exclusive privileges were abolished, the sovereignty of the people proclaimed, and a contribution of two millions of livres levied on the nobility alone, which was immediately presented to the French general Serrurier.

1805. Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil Du Perron, the French orientalist, died, aged 74. He studied theology, but afterwards devoted himself with ardor to the study of the eastern languages. In 1754 he embarked for India, and with difficulty succeeded in finding some priests to instruct him in the sacred language of the Parsees. He returned to Paris in 1762 with a number of manuscripts, and proceeded to arrange them for publication. During the revolution he shut himself up with his books; but continued labors and an abstemious diet exhausted his constitution. He was a learned and excellent man.

1807. Battle between the forces under Christophe and Petion for the governorship of Hayti, which had been assumed by Christophe as the oldest general, on the death of Dessalines; but Petion had been subsequently duly elected. Christophe was defeated after a fierce encounter. A separation of the republic followed. Petion instituted a pure republic, while Christophe founded a monarchy.

1810. Masquerades and masked balls prohibited in the city of New York.

1815. The United States frigate President, Com. Decatur, captured by four British vessels, after a sharp action, and a chase of 18 hours. Loss of the Americans 22 killed, 59 wounded; British loss 11 killed, 14 wounded.

1825. Robert Goodloe Harper, an American statesman, died. He was born in Virginia, of poor parentage; acquired the rudiments of a classical education; served a campaign in the revolutionary army; after which he entered Princeton college. He subsequently settled in South Carolina, in the practice of the law, and acquired great reputation as a professional man and a politician.

1827. Jean Denis Lanjuinais died. He was a staunch defender of liberal principles, and opposed first the arrogant pretensions of the privileged class, although himself one of their number: afterwards he arrayed himself against the intrigues of Mirabeau, the violence of the mountain party, and the usurpations of Bonaparte, in the face of destruction. The object of his wishes was constitutional liberty. He escaped the axe of the revolution, and was even promoted to office by Napoleon.

1834. The city of Leira, in Portugal, taken by Count de Saldanha, and the garrison, of Miguelites about 1500 in number, made prisoners.

1836. Charles Lewis, one of the most eminent book binders in Europe, died. The splendidly bound books in the duke of Sussex's library are of his workmanship.

1842. Joseph Hopkinson died. His speeches in congress on the Seminole war were much admired. He was author of the song, Hail Columbia.

1844. The Fontaine Moliere, a monument to the great French dramatist, at Paris, inaugurated. It combines a public fountain with a monument, and stands opposite the house in which Moliere died.

1849. Reporters excluded from an adjourned meeting of a convention of the southern states.

JANUARY 16.

1543. An act of the English parliament was passed forbidding women, apprentices, &c., &c., to read the New Testament in English.

1556. Charles V of Germany, (Don Carlos I of Spain) resigned the crown of Spain to his son Philip, after a reign of 40 years. Of all his vast possessions he only reserved to himself an annual pension. It was under him that Cortez conquered Mexico.

1580. An act of the English parliament inflicting a penalty of 20 pounds for absenting from church.

1599. Edmund Spencer, the English poet, died, aged 46. His first poem, the Shepherd's Calendar, appeared in 1576. He went to Ireland as private secretary to the lord lieutenant, and commenced the Faery Queen while in that country. The rebellion took place with such fury that he was obliged to leave the country in so great confusion, that an infant child was left behind, and burnt with his house. The unfortunate poet died soon after his arrival in England, in consequence of these misfortunes.

1643. Parliament of England forbid free commerce, and ordered no wagon or carriage to go to Oxford without a license.

1668. The earl of Shrewsbury slain in a duel by the duke of Buckingham, who had lived in open adultery with Shrewsbury's wife. It is said that she, in the habit of a page, held Buckingham's horse when he was fighting with her husband.

1706. Articles of union between England and Scotland ratified by the Scottish parliament 110 to 69.

1715. Robert Nelson died, an English gentleman of fortune, which he employed in works of benevolence and charity. Few works on devotional subjects were more popular than his.

1748. The bottle conjuror imposed on a great multitude at the Haymarket theatre, by announcing that he would jump into a quart bottle.

1760. Pondicherry, defended by the French under General Lally, taken by the English under Colonel Coote.

1772. A revolution in Denmark which terminated in the imprisonment of the royal family, and finally the banishment of the queen, sister to George III of England.

1780. The Spanish fleet of 11 sail, under Langara, destroyed off St. Vincent by the British fleet of 19 sail, under Rodney. Langara was dangerously wounded and taken prisoner. One of the Spanish ships with 600 men on board was blown up, and all perished. The British lost 32 killed and 102 wounded.

1790. The bean-fed friars ejected from their convents by an augean labor of the French revolution.

1794. Edward Gibbon, the historian, died, aged 57. During his visit to Rome in 1764, he formed the plan of writing the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In 1774 he obtained a seat in parliament, and two years after appeared the first quarto volume of his history. A disorder which he had endured twenty three years terminated in a mortification.

1795. Retreat of the British from Utrecht, in Holland, upon which the inhabitants capitulated to the French.

1796. The first theatre at Botany bay opened by the convicts at Sydney cove.

1809. Battle of Corunna in Spain, between the French and English, and death of Sir John Moore, who fell mortally wounded by a cannon shot, at the moment of victory achieved by the troops under his command. His men buried him in his cloak, and the French, in testimony of his gallantry, erected a monument over his remains. He was unmarried and in his 47th year.

1812. The king of Sicily, on account of ill-health, abdicated the throne in favor of his son, until he should recover. It is remarkable that Great Britain, Spain, Portugal and Sweden were governed by regents or viceroys at the same time.

1813. Lewis Barney died at Champlain, New York, aged 105. He had 24 children by one wife.

1815. Henry Thornton, founder of the Sierra Leone company, and a writer on the credit of Great Britain, died.

1816. The bridge at the falls of the Schuylkill fell with the great body of snow upon it.

1816. John Wright, the first constable of Cumberland county, Virginia, died, aged 107.

1817. Alexander James Dallas, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, died. He filled the office of secretary of state in Pennsylvania many years; and also that of secretary of the treasury of the United States a short time previous to his death.

1838. Dorothy Torrey died at Windsor, Conn., aged 107.

1843. State lunatic asylum, at Utica, New York, went into operation.

1854. Alden Partridge died at Norwich, Vt.; nearly fifty years engaged in military instruction, and some time principal of West Point academy.

JANUARY 17.

86. B. C. Caius Marius, the Roman consul, died. He was the son of a farmer in indigent circumstances; but by his talents and energy raised himself to the highest dignity of the greatest state in the world.

395. The Emperor Theodosius died at Milan, soliciting his heirs faithfully to execute his will.