MARCH.

MARCH 1.

509. B. C. Valerius Publicola pronounced a funeral oration over the body of Junius Brutus, which was the first institution of that generous tribute to the memory of the virtuous dead.

1554. In the household expenses of Queen Mary 15 shillings are given to a yeoman for bringing her majesty a leek on this day.

1562. The catholics under the duke of Guise fell upon a body of Calvinists at Bassi in France, who were singing the psalms of Marot in a barn. The latter were insulted, and induced to come to blows: when nearly 60 of these unhappy people were killed and 200 wounded. This unexpected event lightened the flame of civil war throughout the kingdom.

1564. Printing introduced again into Moscow. Some 12 years previous it had been used there, but the burning of the city by the Poles suspended it.

1625. John Robinson died; minister of the first English church in Holland, to which the first settlers of New England belonged. He fled to Holland with his congregation to avoid persecution, and at the time of his death was preparing to follow with the remainder of the brethren to America. He was distinguished for his learning, liberality and piety.

1645. Battle of Pontefract, in which Sir Marmaduke Langdale defeated the lord Fairfax.

1663. Adam Adami, a French ecclesiastic, statesman and historian, died.

1682. Thomas Herbert, an English author of Travels in Asia and Africa, died. He was engaged in the civil wars between the parliament and the royalists, and on the restoration was created a baronet.

1689. The odious hearth stone tax ordered to be taken off by William, prince of Orange.

1711. The Spectator, a daily critical, satirical and literary paper made its appearance in London, under the conduct of Addison and Steele principally, with the assistance of some of the master spirits of the day, and had a reputation which has never been equaled by any other periodical of the kind.

1733. That mysterious person, the oldest inhabitant, witnessed a great flood in the north of England, wholly unprecedented in his life time.

1766. Zabdiel Boylston, an American physician, died. He was the first to introduce inoculation for small-pox into New England. This mode of treating a virulent disease brought upon him the ridicule of his medical brethren; but he outlived these prejudices and realized a handsome fortune by his profession.

1774. Prince A. D. Kantemir, died; a Turk by birth, but subsequently a distinguished oriental scholar.

1781. Maryland ratified the articles of the confederation of the United States being the last state to do so.

1786. The first No. of the Observer appeared, conducted by Cumberland, the dramatist.

1791. The annual masquerade held at Rutland square rooms, Dublin, was the cause of a great riot and the death of many of the police.

1792. Leopold II of Germany, and I of Tuscany, died. He made the latter the happiest and best governed state of Italy. In 1790 he succeeded to the imperial crown, and was noted for the wisdom of his measures, his affability, strict justice and kindness to the poor.

1793. Battle of Aldenhoven, between the French under Dumourier, and 40,000 Austrians under Gen. Coburg. The French were defeated with the loss of 6,000 killed and 4,000 prisoners.

1799. Essex county, N. Y., erected.

1811. Massacre of the Mamelukes in Egypt by order of the pasha.

1814. Treaty of Chaumont, between Austria, Russia, Prussia and Great Britain, against Napoleon.

1815. Bonaparte landed at Frejus in France from Elba, and resumed the imperial crown.

1816. Ontario co., N. Y., erected.

1838. The Patriots of Canada, about 600 in number, under Nelson and Cote, surrendered to Gen. Wool of the United States army, near Alburg Springs, Vt., and the frontier became tranquilized.

1845. Texas admitted into the Union as an independent State.

1854. The steam ship city of Glasgow left Liverpool for Philadelphia with more than 300 passengers, and was never more seen.

1855. Thomas Day, an eminent Connecticut jurist died, aged 78. He published 26 volumes of law reports, and his entire works number about 40 volumes.

1856. The colossal bronze statue of Beethoven, the gift of Charles C. Perkins, inaugurated at the music hall, Boston.

MARCH 2.

986. Lothaire, king of France, died of poison, said to have been administered by his wife Emma.

1492. The Jews banished from Spain by an edict of Ferdinand V. They numbered 800,000 souls.

1585. Dr. Parry executed for a design to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. She had formerly released him from imprisonment, on a charge of justifying Romanism.

1611. Bartholomew Leggat, convicted of the Arian heresy and delivered over to the secular power.

1617. Robert Abbott, bishop of Salisbury, died, aged 58. He was active and pains-taking in his office; a profound scholar, and an industrious author.

1619. Queen Anne, consort of James I, died at Hampton Court.

1622. John Marion Avantio, a learned Italian civilian, died at Padua.

1629. The speaker of the house of commons, in England, refusing for fear of the king's displeasure to put the question of reading the remonstrance against the king's usurpations, is held in his chair, the doors of the house shut, and the remonstrance read.

1711. Despreaux Nicholas Boileau, the French poet, died. He was born 1636, and in early youth gave indications of the future bent of his genius, by his fondness for the great poets of antiquity. His works are frequently republished in France, though some of his satires are little to the taste of the present day. Bruyere has said of him, that his verses will be read when the language is obsolete, and will be the last ruins of it!

1713. The first No. of the Guardian appeared, conducted by Steele during the temporary suspension of the Spectator.

1714. Peace proclaimed with Spain, and a special privilege granted to the English of supplying the West Indies with negro slaves at the rate of 4800 a year.

1714. Gibraltar and Minorca also ceded to the English.

1715. Emanuel Theodosius Boullion, a cardinal and ambassador of Louis XIV of France, died.

1729. Francesco Bianchini, an Italian antiquary and astronomer, died. He devoted his life to intense study, and in his character extensive learning was united with great modesty and amiability of manners. He was patronized by the pope, and received marks of respect from the Roman senate.

1738. Johnson and Garrick started from Litchfield for London as literary adventurers. The former had two pence half penny in his pocket, and the latter something less.

1767. James Drake, an English political and medical writer, died. He is chiefly known now by his System of Anatomy.

1768. The extensive copper mine in the isle of Anglesey was discovered.

1776. The Americans cannonaded Boston from Cobble hill and Lechmere point.

1786. John Jebb, an eminent English non-conformist divine and physician, died. His publications, theological, medical and political, gained great approbation.

1788. Solomon Gesner, a Swiss bookseller, poet and painter, died at Zurich. Of his writings the best known, in English, is the Death of Abel.

1791. John Wesley, founder of the methodists, died, aged 88. He was born at Epworth, England, and at the time of finishing his studies, was distinguished for his classical attainments, skill in dialectics, and talent for poetry. The origin of the sect called methodists is to be attributed to the circumstance of a club of kindred spirits, who used to meet on week days and read classics, and on Sundays divinity, but shortly their meetings became exclusively religious. This society consisted of fifteen members, who from the strictness of their manners and deportment, obtained the name of Methodists, an appellation which they sanctioned and retained. He visited America, and afterwards Germany, and on his return commenced the systematic labors by which he became the founder of a numerous religious sect. He joined with Whitfield in field preaching, but their opinions being at collision on some point, they finally separated. He continued his active labors till within a week of his death. His works on various subjects amount to upwards of thirty volumes octavo.

1793. Breda, a city of Holland, noted for its numerous sieges, was taken by the French.

1793. Congress passed a law making appropriations for purchasing two lots of ground with buildings, and other materials and necessaries for a mint, $1,279·78; and for the salaries of its officers from July to Dec. 1792, $2,694·88.

1794. Great scarcity of provisions in Paris.

1797. Battle of Monte di Savaro, between the French and Austrians, in which the former under Joubert attacked and carried the posts of the latter.

1797. Horace Walpole, an English author, and son of Robert Walpole the statesman, died.

1799. Corfu, one of the Ionian islands, taken by the Turco Russian squadron.

1799. Manheim, a strong German city, taken by the French.

1801. Charles Albert Demoustier, a French poet, died. He was first a successful lawyer, but subsequently turned his attention to literature, and wrote comedies, operas and poems. His pieces are distinguished for spirit, delicacy and ease, and some of them have maintained a place upon the stage.

1802. Francis Russel, duke of Bedford, died, aged 37. He distinguished himself by his endeavors to improve every branch of agriculture, and was a worthy man.

1830. Great freshet at Vienna, in Austria; the Danube rose twenty-three feet, and the houses of 50,000 inhabitants were inundated.

1835. Francis I of Austria (II of Germany), died. His disposition was mild; his dress plain and homely; his manners gentle and familiar; and he was greatly beloved by his German subjects.

1835. Samuel Blackburn died; an officer of the revolution, an eminent lawyer and for many years a conspicuous member of the Virginia legislature. At his death he liberated his slaves, 46 in number, charging his estate with the expense of transporting them to Liberia.

1839. Zerah Colburn died at Norwich, Vt., aged 35. At the age of 6 years he attracted great attention in Europe and America by his marvelous powers of calculation. At that time he was unable to read or write, and ignorant of the name or properties of a single figure traced upon paper. Yet his talent for mental arithmetic was so extraordinary as to be wholly incredible, were it not supported by unquestionable evidence. This faculty he lost before he left England, which was in 1824; and on his return he became a methodist preacher, having acquired a respectable education while abroad.

1840. Henry William Matthew Albers, a celebrated astronomer, and practicing physician at Bremen, died, aged 81. He acquired a lasting reputation by the discovery of the planet Pallas, in 1802, and of Vesta, in 1807.

1841. First daily paper in Brooklyn published.

1843. Asa Packard, aged 84, died at Lancaster, Mass. He was a soldier of the revolution, and for nearly 70 years carried a musket bullet in his body.

1845. Judah Alden, a distinguished officer of the American revolutionary army, died at Duxbury, Mass.

1849. James Morier, the celebrated author of Hajji Baba, and other works, died.

1852. The town of St. Bartholomew, one of the Antilles, nearly destroyed by fire; 120 houses and stores having been burned in the space of four hours.

1852. Marmont, duke of Ragusa, died at Venice, aged 78. He was the last of Napoleon's marshals.

1855. Nicholas I, emperor of Russia, died, aged 59. He came to the throne in 1826, and his reign was devoted to strengthening the power and extending the domain of Russia.

1856. An earthquake in the island of Great Sangor, one of the Moluccas, by which 2,806 lives were lost.

MARCH 3.

1589. John Sturmius, a learned German grammarian and rhetorician, died. He was called the Cicero of Germany.

1633. George Herbert, an English divine and poet, died. Lord Bacon had so high an opinion of his judgment that he would not suffer his works to be published until they had been submitted to Herbert's examination.

1634. First colony arrived at Potomac for the settlement of Maryland, under Lord Baltimore. It consisted of 200 Catholics from England. The soil was purchased of the natives, and the foundation of the province was laid on the broad basis of security to property and of freedom in religion.

1703. Robert Hooke, an English mathematician and philosopher, died. He is noted for many useful inventions and improvements in mechanics; and his writings are numerous and valuable.

1722. Campegio Vitringa died; a learned author of Friesland, in the Netherlands.

1728. Camillo d'Hostun, count de Tallart, died. He was a brave general of the French, taken prisoner by the duke of Marlborough.

1760. Unsuccessful attack on the fort at Ninety-Six, by 200 Cherokee Indians.

1776. The Americana under Col. Bull burnt the British ship Inverness and six other vessels, near Savannah, laden for England.

1779. Battle of Briar Creek, when the Americans were surprised by the British under Provost, and lost 150 killed and 162 prisoners.

1780. Joseph Highmore, an eminent English painter, died. He was also a writer of considerable merit.

1791. The church plate in France was sent to the mint for coinage.

1792. Robert Adam, a Scotch architect, died. In connection with his brother, he built some of the first mansions in London; but the work for which they are chiefly celebrated, is the elegant range called the Adelphi, a Greek word denoting the relationship of brothers.

1796. Civic festival at the Hague on occasion of the installation of the Batavian national assembly.

1799. The advance guards of the French army arrived before Jaffa (the ancient Joppa) in Syria, and invested the city.

1802. County of St. Lawrence, in New York, erected.

1808. Johann Christ Fabricius died, one of the most celebrated entomologists of the eighteenth century. He was born 1742 at Sleswic in Denmark; studied medicine; but was afterwards induced to make an especial study of entomology, a science at that time in its infancy. He adopted a new arrangement of the insect tribe by choosing for his divisions the modifications observable in the parts of the mouth.

1808. The French West India island Marigalante taken by the British. It was colonized by the French, 1647; twice taken by the Dutch, and twice before by the British, and restored to the French, 1763.

1810. The great Elm tree at Kensington, Philadelphia, under which William Penn held his first treaty with the Indians in 1682, was blown down.

1815. War declared between the United States and Algiers.

1817. Lescure died at Beaulieu in France, aged 118. He enjoyed, at the time of his death, the vigorous use of his intellect.

1843. Com. Porter, a gallant American naval officer, died at Constantinople, where he was minister from the United States to the Sublime Porte.

1845. Florida admitted into the Union as an independent state.

1846. Henry Purkitt, one of those who assisted in the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor, died, aged 91.

1855. Robert Mills died, a civil engineer and architect, under whom the Washington Post office, Treasury building and Patent office were erected.

MARCH 4.

1193. Saladin the Great died at Damascus.

1530. Charles V granted to the knights of St. John, who had recently been expelled from the island of Rhodes by the Turks, the ownership of all the castles, fortresses, and isles of Tripoli, Malta and Gozo. Malta at the time was a shelterless rock, and the inhabitants, 12,000 in number, in a wretched condition.

1583. Bernard Gilpin, an eminent English prelate, died. He came near falling a victim to the fury of Bonner, and was only saved from the stake by the death of the queen. His life was spent in well doing.

1629. Massachusetts patent confirmed by Charles I, by the name of "the governor and company of Massachusetts bay in New England," Matthew Cradock first governor.

1674. The governing charter of Dundalk, in the county of South Ireland, bears this date. This town was the Dundalgan of the Irish Ossianic poems, and is of great antiquity.

1681. The charter of Pennsylvania signed and sealed by Charles II, constituting William Penn and his heirs true and absolute proprietaries of the province, saving to the crown their allegiance and the sovereignty.

1744. John Anstis died; an English antiquary, and a very eminent writer on heraldic subjects.

1765. William Stukeley, an English antiquary, died. He wrote ably as a divine, physician, historian and antiquary; was profound in British antiquities; a good botanist; erudite in ancient coins; drew well, and understood mechanics. The footsteps of the Romans were traced by him, and the temples of the ancient Britons explored. His antiquarian researches acquired him the name of Arch Druid.

1776. The Americans took possession of Dorchester heights, which were so far completed by day light as to excite the astonishment of the British, and render their position in Boston extremely hazardous.

1776. New Providence taken from the British by the American Commodore Ezekiel Hopkins. The governor, together with considerable military stores, fell into the hands of the victors.

1778. American frigate Alfred, 20 guns, taken by the British ships Ariadne and Ceres.

1782. The house of commons resolved that it would "consider as enemies to his majesty and the country, all those who should advise or attempt the further prosecution of offensive war on the American continent."

1789. The first congress of the United States assembled at New York.

1791. Vermont admitted into the Union. (See Feb. 18.)

1794. Henry de la Rochejaquelin, the hero of La Vendee, killed. The peasants of the neighborhood having risen in the royal cause, he placed himself at their head, with this laconic harangue, "Allons chercher l'ennemi; si je recule, tuez moi; si j'avance, suivez moi; si je meurs, vengez moi." After gaining sixteen victories, he fell in single combat with a republican soldier.

1797. One pound or 20 shilling notes first issued by the bank of England. They were designed to take the place of the specie drained from the vaults to pay the foreign contracts.

1806. Action between the British fleet, Com. Popham, and the French frigate La Voluntaire, 46 guns. The latter was captured with 360 men and 217 British prisoners.

1811. First report of canal commissioners in New York.

1811. The French under Massena retreated before Lord Wellington upon Santarem, in Portugal, leaving their killed and wounded behind.

1812. The charter of the first bank of the United States expired by its own limitation.

1814. Battle of Longwood, about 100 miles from Detroit, in which the United States troops defeated a superior British force. British loss 80; American loss 8.

1814. Battle of Troyes, between the French under Oudinot and the Allies under Schwarzenberg, in which the former were defeated, with the loss of 10 cannon and 3,000 prisoners.

1815. United States letter of marque brig Aspasia, 3 guns and 25 men, captured by the British ship Voluntaire.

1815. Frances Abington, a celebrated English actress, died. She was the original Lady Teazle.

1832. John Francis Champollion, the French archæologist, died at Paris, aged 42. Having devoted much attention to the study of Egyptian antiquities, he was, in 1826, appointed to superintend that department in the royal museum at Paris, and in 1828, went with an expedition of learned men to Egypt, at the expense of the king, Charles X. The results of this journey were regarded of so great importance in relation to the hieroglyphics, that his manuscripts on that subject were purchased by the French government at about $9,300.

1838. Carlists under Cabanero, entered Saragossa, but were driven out by the national guards with the loss of 120 killed and 700 prisoners.

1847. A telescopic comet was discovered at the Cambridge university at 7 P. M. by G. P. Pond, assistant observer, being the fourth first discovered in this country by this young gentleman.

1856. The free state legislature of Kansas assembled at Topeka.

MARCH 5.

13. B. C. Marcus Emilius Lepidus, one of the Roman triumvirs, with Augustus and Anthony, died at Cerceii.

493. Odoacer, chief of the Heruli, murdered. It was reserved for him, at the head of a tribe of barbarians almost unknown, to strike the decisive blow that overthrew the great mistress of the world—imperial Rome.

1223. Alonzo II of Portugal died. His career was begun by an attempt to deprive his sisters of their estates, and ended by robbing the church. The pope, however, interfered, and compelled him to promise to be civil to the ecclesiastics; but death overtook him before he had time to fulfill his engagements by making restitution.

1495. Henry VIII granted a patent to John Cabot and his three sons Lewis, Sebastian and Sanchius, empowering them to sail under the flag of England in quest of countries yet unoccupied by any Christian state, to take possession of them in the name of Henry, and plant the English banner on the walls of their castles and cities, and to maintain with the inhabitants a traffic exclusive of all competitors, and exempted from customs; under the condition of paying a fifth part of the free profit on every voyage to the crown. They embarked two years after.

1534. Antoni Allegri, an illustrious Italian painter, died. He lived at Parma, where without any instruction he executed some of the most perfect pictures in the world. He is better known as Corregio, from his birth place.

1546. Isabella Losa died; a native of Cordova in Spain, so illustrious for her acquirements that she was honored with the degree of D. D.

1605. Clement VIII (Hippolitus Aldobrandi), pope of Rome, died. He was a liberal minded and benevolent pontiff.

1660. Monk's parliament ordered the printing and setting up in churches the solemn league and covenant.

1686. James II forbade the bishops to preach on controverted points.

1695. Henry Wharton died; an English divine and historian of uncommon abilities.

1701. Robert, earl of Bellamont, governor of the province of New York, died, two years after his installment into that office.

1708. William Beveridge, an English divine, and bishop of St. Asaph, died, leaving many learned and valuable works.

1710. John Holt died. He had been for more than 20 years lord chief justice of the king's bench court in England.

1737. The servants called footmen occasioned a riot at Drury lane theatre, London, alleging that they had been shut out of the gallery, to which they were entitled.

1744. At Huddersfield, Yorkshire, a Roman temple was discovered and an altar inscribed to Antonius Modestus of the sixth conquering legion.

1770. Boston massacre. This occurrence, which is variously stated, is supposed to have arisen as follows: a crowd surrounded a corporal's guard in the evening, and commenced pelting them with snow balls, which exasperated his majesty's legions to such a pitch of valor, that they turned their muskets upon the citizens. The leaden balls of the soldiers were more than a match for those of the people, and five men fell mortally wounded. Their names were Mattucks, Gray, Caldwell, Maverick, and Carr.

1773. Philip Francis died at Bath, England; distinguished as a translator of Horace and Demosthenes.

1775. Peter Laurence Buyrette du Belloi died; a French comedian and tragedian, who by his own pieces became extremely popular in his day.

1775. The citizens of New York held a town meeting, in which it is said the question of congress or no congress was carried in the affirmative by the aid of hoop poles obtained from a neighboring cooper's yard.

1778. Thomas Augustus Arne died; an English musician and opera writer. He received the degree of doctor of music.

1785. Joseph Reed died at Philadelphia, aged 43. He was one of Washington's aids in the revolutionary war, and subsequently an adjutant-general, member of congress, and governor of Pennsylvania.

1794. County of Onondaga, in New York, erected.

1798. An Algerine barque arrived at Baltimore, 85 days out, manned by Algerines; being the first that ever entered an American port.

1811. Battle of Barrosa in Portugal, between the French under Victor, and the English, Spanish and Portuguese allied army, under Graham. The French were defeated with the loss of 3,000; allied loss 2,742.

1827. Pierre Simon Laplace, the French mathematician, died. His principal work, which will render him an object of admiration to posterity, the Mechanique Celeste, has been translated by our countryman Nathaniel Bowditch, in a manner creditable alike to the author, to himself and the literature of his country.

1827. Alessandro Volta died. He was born at Como, Italy; devoted his attention to experiments in electricity, and made many important discoveries.

1829. Battle near the river Natonebi, in Asiatic Turkey, between the Turks and Russians, in which the former lost 1,000 and the latter 200 men.

1837. Oliver Elliot died at Mason, N. H., aged 103. He was a soldier of the French war of 1756, and of the revolutionary war.

1846. John Pickering, president of the American Oriental society, &c., &c., died at Boston.

1849. The emperor of Austria, after a series of decrees, promulgated a new constitution.

1853. Gervinus tried at Manheim for high treason, published in a work on the history of the nineteenth century, was found guilty of exciting to sedition, and sentenced to ten months imprisonment, and his book ordered to be destroyed.

1856. Covent garden theatre, London, burnt at the close of a masked hall.

MARCH 6.

13 B. C. Augustus Cæsar assumed the office of high priest, in which capacity he destroyed 2,000 books of prophecy, for want of authority!

1393. John Hawkwood, an Englishman, died at Florence. He was bred a tailor, but signalized himself so greatly in the wars in Italy, that he was promoted to the highest posts; and after his death the Florentines erected a block marble statue as an acknowledgment for the services he had done them.

1521. Magellan, in the service of the king of Spain, on his voyage round the world, discovered the Ladrone, or Marian islands, and may be considered as the first discoverer of that portion of the world called Australia. This opened the way for the subsequent discoveries made in that quarter.

1557. Lord Stourton hung at Salisbury in a halter of silk, to mark his dignity. His crime was the murder of two persons whom he had decoyed to his house.

1577. Remi Belleau, one of the seven poets called the Pleiades of France, died. He excelled as a pastoral writer.

1615. The yacht Halve Maan, 80 tons burden, in which Hudson entered the river which bears his name, was wrecked and destroyed on the island of Mauritius.

1716. Aurora Borealis first seen in England, and was gazed upon with every degree of alarm till nearly three o'clock in the morning.

1754. Pelham, premier of England, died suddenly in the meridian of life. He was much opposed to the German alliances of the kingdom, but had not influence enough in the face of a hostile court to break them up.

1762. The ghost that had for so long a time alarmed the people of Cocklane, London, was detected.

1767. James Malfillastre, a French poet, died.

1781. Battle of Whitsell's mill, an important pass of Reedy fort creek, in which the British were worsted.

1784. Francis Xavier Hall, a Jesuit, professor of belles lettres and ecclesiastical law in several German universities, died.

1796. William Francis Raynal died. He was a French Jesuit, who distinguished himself as a historian of the European settlements in both Indias, and as a political writer.

1799. The French under Bonaparte took Jaffa by assault. The garrison consisted of 1,200 Turkish artillery and 2,500 Magrubins or Arnauts who were put to the sword.

1812. James Madison, an eminent American prelate, died, aged 63. His great attainments placed him in the presidential chair of William and Mary college at the early age of 28, and the reputation of the institution advanced under his charge.

1815. Lewis XVIII declared Napoleon Bonaparte a traitor and a rebel, for having entered by main force the department of the Var.

1815. A great riot around the British parliament house, on account of the corn bill. A great many lives lost.

1817. Insurrection at Pernambuco, Brazils, headed by Domingos Jose Martins. The insurgents took possession of the town, and the governor fled to Rio de Janeiro.

1822. Owing to a strong south-west wind the tide in the Thames near London bridge was so low, that several persons forded the river and picked up many valuable articles that had laid for years on the bottom of the river.

1825. Samuel Parr, an eminent English divine and critic, died. He was possessed of a prodigious memory, and in curious and elegant classical knowledge he seems to have been at the head of the English scholars of his day.

1838. Vilette Easton, a colored woman, died at Providence, Rhode Island, at the age of 110.

1854. The block of marble sent by the pope as a contribution to Washington's monument, was destroyed by unknown persons at night.

MARCH 7.

161. Antoninus Pius, emperor of Rome, died at Lorium, aged 23.

1274. Thomas Aquinas died. He was descended from the counts of Aquino, in Italy. There was a great contest for him between his family and the monks when he was a youth; but he eluded the vigilance of his keepers, became a theologian, and was called the evangelical doctor. His works have been often reprinted in 17 vols, folio.

1575. The general assembly of Scotland enacted that no comedies, nor tragedies, or such plays, shall be made on any history of canonical scriptures, nor on the Sabbath day.

1589. Walther Raleigh, having expended £40,000 in attempting the colonization of Virginia, without realizing the expected gain, made an assignment of his patent to Thomas Smith and others, with a donation of £100 for the benefit of the colony.

1661. Goffe and Whalley, the regicides, arrived at New Haven, where by the connivance of the deputy governor and clergyman, they effectually eluded discovery during the remainder of their lives.

1755. Thomas Wilson died; bishop of Sodor and Man, an excellent prelate and an eminent writer on theology.

1769. Samuel Derrick died; originally a linen draper in Dublin; subsequently a writer of pamphlets in London, and finally master of ceremonies at Bath and Tunbridge.

1771. Thomas Martin, an English antiquarian, died. He wrote a history of his own native town, and made a valuable collection of antiquities, &c.

1777. James Aitken, alias John the painter, was hanged on a gallows 60 feet in height for setting fire to the rope yard at Portsmouth. He confessed his having set fire to the vessels at Bristol quay and that he was stimulated to these acts by Silas Dean of the American congress.

1778. American frigate Randolph, Capt. Nicholas Biddle, 36 guns and 305 men, blown up about 9 at night, in an action of fifteen minutes with the British ship Yarmouth, 64 guns. Capt. Biddle perished, at the age of 27; only 4 of the crew were saved.

1781. A British soldier jumped over the pallisades at Gibraltar, and notwithstanding 1143 musket balls were fired at him, succeeded in reaching the Spanish lines, waving his hat.

1788. Clinton county, in New York, erected.

1794. Revolution at Warsaw. The Russians with Gen. Inglestrom and their ambassador, driven out of the city by the Poles.

1794. The mulatto Gen. Bellegarde and his second, Pelocque, with 300 followers, surrendered to the British at St. Domingo. The chiefs were sent to the United States.

1795. The British squadron, Sir Edward Pellew, captured near the Penmarks, 8 French vessels, burnt 2 ships, 3 brigs and 2 sloops.

1801. The British expedition under Lord Keith, consisting of nearly 200 sail and an army of 15,330 men, arrived in Aboukir bay, Egypt.

1803, Francis Edgerton, duke of Bridgewater, died. He was the projector of the Medway canal in England.

1804. British and Foreign Bible society founded in London. A clergyman of Wales, whom the want of a Welsh Bible led to London, occasioned its establishment.

1808. The Portuguese royal family arrived in Brazil, fleeing before the arms of Napoleon to the colonies.

1809. Schenectady county, New York, taken from Albany.

1810. Cuthbert Collingwood, the English admiral, died in his ship off Minorca. He entered the British navy at an early age, and by his talents rose to the highest rank. His most distinguished service was the part he bore at the battle of Trafalgar. On the fall of Nelson in that conflict, the command devolved on him. The victory on that occasion was attributable to the nautical skill, prudence and courage of Collingwood; and his ship was the first to break through the French line.

1814. Battle of Craonne in France, in which the French under Victor and Ney defeated the allies, took 6 generals and about 6,000 prisoners.

1828. Richard Stockton, a son of the signer of the Declaration of American Independence of that name, died at Princeton, New Jersey. He was one of the foremost supporters of Washington's administration.

1844. Florida admitted into the Union. (Query 3d.)

MARCH 8.

1096. Walter the Pennyless departed from France with the van of the Crusaders.

1639. Dudley Digges, master of the rolls under Charles I, died. He was noted for his patriotism, and was the author of several literary performances.

1663. The great frost at Paris, which had endured three months, broke up on this day.

1702. William III of England, died. He was celebrated as a politician, and formidable as a general. (16th?)

1721. Pope Clement XI died, aged 72. He reigned over twenty years.

1748. The British squadron, Admiral Knowles, attacked and carried Port Louis, in St. Domingo, which he also destroyed. The French lost about 130 killed; British loss 20 killed and 50 wounded.

1750. An earthquake at London which shook the whole city. It occurred at half past five in the morning, awoke people from their sleep, threw some persons out of bed and rung the bells.

1757. Thomas Blackwell, an eminent Scottish writer, died. His modesty was such that he published his works anonymously.

1766. The bill repealing the American stamp act received the royal assent, and was passed.

1766. William Chambers, the architect, died. He was born in Sweden, but was brought over to England at two years of age. As an architect, the building of Somerset house will place his name with the best of the British schools. He was the author of several works, principally on architecture.

1775. An inhabitant of the town of Billerica, Mass., tarred and feathered by the British troops. The British were the first to introduce this practice, which, afterwards became a popular mode of punishing tories.

1793. The French national convention abolished imprisonment for debt, and decreed that all actually confined for debt in the republic should be set at liberty. From this law however were excepted all defaulters in public money.

1793. The city of Liege in Belgium, taken by the Austrians.

1796. A viscid and resinous substance fell near Bautzen, in Upper Lusatia, composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Several distinguished men of science examined specimens of it. It had the smell of the yellowish and very much dried gum of the juniper.

1796. Banda, an East India island, taken by the British under Admiral Rainer. A large quantity of spices and considerable money fell into the hands of the victors.

1799. Cayuga county, New York, erected.

1799. Massena took by assault the fortress of Luciensteig, cut out of the rock in the channel of the Rhine. This opened a passage through the Rhætian Alps.

1801. The British effected a landing in Egypt, at Aboukir bay, with the loss of 700 men. The French under Menou opposed their landing with great bravery.

1803. Francis Egerton, duke of Bridgewater, died. He is styled the father of canal navigation in England. He planned the Worsley canal, near Manchester, which he completed with the assistance of Brindley. He died immensely rich.

1804. Goeree, an island of the Netherlands, which had fallen into the hands of the French a few weeks previous, was retaken by the British on this day.

1807. Sawrey Gilpin, an English painter, died. He excelled particularly in delineating animals. His masterpiece is a group of tigers.

1808. Third day's action between the British frigate St. Fiorenza and the French frigate Piedmontaise, 50 guns, off cape Comorin. The action lasted one hour and twenty minutes, when the French struck, having 48 killed and wounded. The British lost 17 killed besides their commander, Capt. Hardinge.

1814. Lord Wellington defeated the French and entered Bordeaux.

1814. Unsuccessful attack by the British under Gen. Skerret upon Bergen-op-Zoom. Of 4,500 British it is supposed that not more than 1,500 escaped.

1815. Action between the British ship Tiber, Capt. Dacres, and the American privateer Leo, 7 guns, 93 men, Capt. Hemes, which resulted in the capture of the latter.

1819. Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, a French statesman under Bonaparte, died at his ancient seat, on the day following his return from exile, of gout in the stomach.

1844. Charles John Bernadotte, king of Sweden, died, aged 81. He rose from the humble rank of a sergeant in the army, to the highest rank under Bonaparte; and in 1810 founded a new dynasty in Sweden. Having fortunately joined the allied powers in 1812 against Napoleon, he survived the overthrow of the other newly erected dynasties, and transmitted the crown to his son, Oscar I.

MARCH 9.

1403. Bajazet I, sultan of Turkey, died. He was celebrated as a warrior, but his disposition was cruel and tyrannical. Being conquered by Tamerlane, and exposed by him in an iron cage, he dashed his head against the bars of his prison, and killed himself.

1405. Battle of Grosmont, in which Henry IV defeated the Welch under Griffith Glendowr.

1566. David Ricci (or Rizzio), an Italian musician, residing at the court of Mary, queen of Scots, assassinated in her presence. His skillful performance of the national melodies of Scotland, tended not a little to their general improvement with the higher classes.

1609. William Warner, an English poet, died; author of Albion's England.

1615. Francis Beaumont, an English dramatist buried. He was jointly concerned with Fletcher in the production of several excellent plays, and assisted Jonson in some of his. He died under 30 years of age.

1649. The duke of Hamilton, earl of Holland, and Lord Capel beheaded with others who were suspected of royalism. Bad faith is attributed to their judges.

1661. Julius Mazarin died; cardinal and prime minister of France under Louis XIV. His name is identified with the history of his time.

1678. Ghent surrendered to Louis XIV of France.

1679. A declaration forbidding pardon to be granted to any who killed another in a duel, issued by the council of England.

1694. Gaspard Sagittarius, a German historian, died. He was an able supporter of the doctrines of the reformation.

1735. Violent hurricane occurred at Kilverton in Norfolk rolling the lead of the roofs of houses and doing in the few minutes it lasted, incredible damage. A strong smell of sulphur followed.

1762. Joseph Calas, a merchant of Toulouse, executed on the wheel. He was unjustly condemned for the murder of his own son. His innocence was confirmed by a public arret, on this day the next year.

1770. William Guthries, a voluminous Scottish writer, died. He became celebrated as a bookmaker, and lent his name to the works of less popular authors.

1778. Great council at Johnstown between the Six nations and New York company.

1782. Mangalore, a seaport of Hindostan, surrendered to the British under General Matthews.

1783. Michael Etmuller, a German physician, died. His works have been published in 5 vols. folio.

1793. Congress passed the act to organize the militia; enacting the enrollment of every able bodied white male citizen between the ages of 18 and 45.

1795. The Fingal, or 118th regiment, mutinied at Birmingham, England.

1796. Charette, the famous Vendean chief, tried and shot at Nantes, aged about 33. He refused to have his eyes bandaged, and gave the signal to fire himself.

1801. Johann Christian Ackermann, a celebrated German physician and bibliographer, died, aged 45.

1810. London rendered impassable for several hours by a heavy rain.

1811. Battle of Pombal, in Portugal, in which the French were defeated with the loss of 470, by the British.

1812. John Henry's plot to dismember the Union disclosed to congress. Henry received $50,000 public money for disclosing it, and sailed immediately for France.

1814. Battle of Laon, in which Napoleon was defeated by Marshal Blucher.

1822. Edward Daniel Clarke, professor of mineralogy at Cambridge and a celebrated traveler and tourist, died.

1823. John Henry Van Swinden, a Dutch philosopher, died. He was an author on various subjects, and a man of great erudition.

1825. Anna Letitia Barbauld, an English authoress of great reputation in her day, died. She was early taught the languages, and became distinguished for her learning. She retained great vigor of mind and body to the extreme age of 90.

1834. Snow fell at Rome, the first event of the kind on record in 240 years. (See March 25, 1595.)

1840. George Gleig died at Stirling, Scotland, aged 87; distinguished for more than half a century as a scholar, critic, metaphysician and theologian.

1847. Battle of Vera Cruz.

MARCH 10.

222. Heliogabalus, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was a cruel, vindictive and licentious tyrant.

1333. Ladislaus III of Poland died. He oppressed the people till they revolted and placed Wenceslaus upon the throne. On the death of the latter he was reinstated and governed with justice and moderation.

1668. John Denham, a British poet, died. One of his poems, Cooper's Hill, is commended by the ablest critics.

1673. Henrietta Coligni, a French poetess of much celebrity, died.

1683. The first council and assembly of Pennsylvania met at Chester. The session occupied 22 days.

1686. James II granted a general pardon to many of his subjects, excepting among others the girls of Taunton who gave a Bible and sword to Monmouth. James never favored the Bible.

1726. The Lyford giant born; when five years of age he could lift one hundred weight with one hand.

1736. William Cosby, captain general and commander in chief of the province of New York, died, almost universally detested.

1774. William Browne, an English physician, died. The active part he took in the contest against the licentiates, occasioned his being introduced by Foote into his play of the Devil upon Two Sticks. He is distinguished by many lively essays in English, and Latin prose and verse.

1776. Elias Catherine Freron, a French litterateur, died. He was the constant subject of Voltaire's satire, who called him the tyrant, rather than the king of literature.

1776. The British soldiery, contrary to orders, plundered Boston.

1783, Anthony Loydi, a farmer of Amezquet, Spain, died, aged 114. He had never been sick until a few days before his death, always abstained from wine and tobacco, and retained his senses, his teeth and hair until he died.

1785. N. Sablier, an eminent French author, died at Paris.

1789. The city of London brilliantly illuminated on account of the convalescence of the king.

1792. John, earl of Bute, died. He was made prime minister of England, from which he voluntarily retired to enjoy a life of learned leisure.

1797. The city of Albany made the capital of the state of New York.

1797. Delaware county, in the state of New York, erected.

1812. Bonaparte issued a decree denationalizing all flags that should submit to the British orders in council.

1813. Action at night in Chesapeake bay between the United States schooner Adeline and the British schooner Lottery; the latter it is supposed was sunk.

1819. Frederick Henry Jacobi, a German philosophical writer, died.

1820. Benjamin West, the painter, died at London, aged 82. He was born at Springfield, Penn., 1738. The first indications of his genius were elicited at the age of seven years, by drawing the portrait of his sleeping sister in red and black ink. He began painting as a profession at the age of 18, and four years after went to England. He was subsequently induced by Sir Joshua Reynolds to take up his residence in London, where he acquired a reputation seldom attained, and at the time of his death was president of the Royal academy.

1826. John Pinkerton, an eminent and voluminous Scottish author, died at Paris, aged 68.

1829. The William and Anne, a British trading vessel, wrecked at the mouth of Columbia river, on the north-west coast of America, and the whole crew, 16 Europeans and 10 Sandwich islanders, murdered by the natives.

1833. Samuel Tucker, an American revolutionary commodore, died at Bremen, Maine. He was distinguished as a brave and able commander, and at the time of his death, was supposed to have been, next to Lafayette, the highest surviving officer of the revolution.

1855. James Brown, an eminent book-publisher of Boston, Mass., died, aged 55. He not only was eminent in his profession, but possessed the taste and spirit of a scholar.

1855. Carlos, the claimant of the Spanish throne from the time of the death of Ferdinand in 1833, died at Trieste, where he was known as the conde de Molina.

1855. The college building at Princeton, N. J., known as Nassau hall, was destroyed by fire. It was built in 1756 and in the Revolutionary war was used for barracks, by both the British and Americans.

MARCH 11.

1302. The marriage of Romeo Montocchio with Juliet Capelletto was solemnized at the church of the Minorites, at Citadella. These were Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

1444. The university of Paris issued a circular addressed to all the French clergy, expressing the opinion of the church, that the feast of fools, about the calends of January, was a well imagined institution, connected with Christianity, and that those who attempted to suppress it should be curst and excommunicate.

1513. John Medici elected pope and assumed the title of Leo X. From his grave appearance it was often said he seemed never to have been a child.

1544. Birthday of Torquato Tasso, styled the prince of Italian poets.

1669. The memorable eruption of Mount Etna began at sunset.

1722. John Toland, a very famous English political, polemical and miscellaneous writer and antiquary, died at Putney.

1732. Peter Chirac, a French author and physician to the king, died.

1732. Kouli Khan, usurped the Persian throne.

1738. It was ascertained that 12,000 persons were convicted in London in a few months for selling gin without a license, and 3,000 paid a fine of £10 rather than be committed to the house of correction.

1744. Action off Toulon between part of the British fleet under Matthews and Lestock, and the combined French and Spanish fleets.

1797. Two discharged servants informed the police that Ladies Buckinghamshire, Luttrel and Stuart played faro, in consequence of which their ladyships were fined.

1800. The Royal institution of London for the promotion of the fine arts held their first sitting.

1808. Franklin, Chatauque, Cattaraugus and Niagara counties in the state of New York, erected.

1809. Hannah Cowley died, aged 66. She was born at Tiverton, England, and distinguished as a poetress, and a dramatic writer.

1811. Badajos in Spain surrendered to the French under Soult. About 9,000 prisoners were taken, 170 cannon, 80,000 quintals of gunpowder, a large quantity of infantry cartridges, and two complete bridge equipages.

1812. Philip James de Louhterbourg, a distinguished landscape painter, died at London. He was born at Strasburgh, 1740, and studied under Casanova. He gained considerable reputation by his paintings at Paris, after which he went over to England. Here he got up under the name of Eidophusikon, a novel and highly ingenious exhibition, displaying the changes of the elements and their phenomena, in a calm, a moonlight, a sunset and a storm at sea.

1813. Action off Surinam river between the United States privateer schooner Gen. Armstrong, 18 guns, and a British 24 gun frigate. The privateer sustained the attack 45 minutes within pistol shot, and succeeded in escaping with the loss of 6 killed and 16 wounded.

1848. Henry Wheaton, an American statesman, philanthropist and classic writer, died at Roxbury, Mass.

1856. President Rivas, of Nicaragua, declared war against Costa Rica.

MARCH 12.

1470. Battle of Erpingham, in England, and defeat of the rebels under Sir Robert Welles.

1507. Cæsar Borgia killed by a cannon shot before the castle of Biano. He was the natural son of Pope Alexander VI, and by him invested with the purple. He was a man of such conduct and character that Machiavel has thought fit to propose him, in his famous book, called The Prince, as a pattern to all princes who would act the part of wise and polite tyrants. He allowed no one to stand in his way to promotion from any scruples to removing them by the foulest means.

1578. Alexander Piccolomini died; author of dramatic and other pieces. He was the first who used the Italian language in philosophical subjects.

1581. William Fulke preached a sermon within the tower of London in the hearing of such obstinate papists as were there imprisoned.

1612. The third charter of Virginia granted, by which new privileges and immunities were given for the encouragement of the colony.

1664. Charles II, of England, granted to his brother the duke of York, all Mattawacks, now Long Island; all Hudson's river, and all the lands from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay, together with the royalties and rights of government.

1676. Action between the French fleet under Duquesne, and the Spanish and Dutch fleets under De Ruyter, who was mortally wounded.

1682. Chelsea hospital, England, founded.

1683. The first assembly of Pennsylvania was holden at Philadelphia, two years from the time that Penn obtained the charter.

1697. Ludovick Muggleton, a schismatic English tailor, died. He entertained notions peculiar to himself, and damned all who differed from him. He was pilloried and imprisoned, and his books burnt by the hangman.

1703. Aubrey de Vere died. His father was the valiant Robert de Vere, who married the daughter of a Friesland boor, named Beatrix Van Hemims. He was lord of the bed chamber to Charles I; was found so passive under Cromwell, that he escaped even the fine; conformed to the manners of the court of Charles II; went over from James II to William the conqueror; and was graceful in old age at the court of Queen Anne. He had been privy councilor to each of these sovereigns, and was hereditary lord chamberlain, senior knight of the garter, and premier earl of England.

1713. Steele commenced his paper The Guardian.

1716. Isaac Briand was fined £2000 by the court of aldermen, London, for marrying Miss Elizabeth Watson, an orphan of 13 years of age and a great fortune, without their consent.

1761. The shock of an earthquake felt in Massachusetts and the adjoining states, at half past two in the morning.

1768. Six students of Edmund hall, Oxford, were expelled the university for methodism. Their crime was praying, expounding the scriptures and singing psalms.

1772. Montgomery (originally Tyron) county, N. Y., erected.

1775. The earl of Effingham resigned his command in a regiment ordered to America. He refused to bear arms against his fellow subjects in the colonies.

1780. The British garrison at Mobile, Capt. Durnford, capitulated to the Spaniards under Don Bernardo de Galvez. The garrison consisted of 284 regulars, 54 inhabitants and 51 armed Indians.

1797. The French under Serrurier crossed the Piave, having defeated the Austrians who opposed their passage.

1801. The British fleet sailed from Aboukir bay, Egypt, and the army under Abercrombie, having effected their landing, took up their line of march for Alexandria.

1807. British order in council, interdicting all trade between port and port in France.

1809. Gustavus Adolphus IV, king of Sweden, dethroned, and the reigns of the government assumed by his uncle the duke of Sudermania, afterwards Charles XIII. (By some authorities, March 15.)

1811. The French under Massena attacked at Redinha, Portugal, by the duke of Wellington, and compelled to fall back.

1813. Warren county, N. Y., erected.

1814. The allied British and Portuguese, under Marshal Beresford, took possession of Bordeaux in France, in the name of Louis XVIII.

1819. Robert Watt, author of the Bibliotheca Britannica, died. His family were severe sufferers by the failure of Constable & Co., of Edinburgh.

1837. M. de Pradt, archbishop of Malines, died at Paris, aged 78. He bore a conspicuous part in the political history of France, was often employed in important missions, and was the author of many political publications.

1843. Littleton Hunt, aged 107, died at Guinett, Ga. When a soldier of the revolutionary army he was severely wounded at the battle of Eutaw springs.

1844. Edward R. Shubrick, a brave and accomplished American naval officer, died on board his ship, the Columbia, off the coast of Brazil, aged 50.

1846. Jonathan Elliot, a well known newspaper editor and political writer, died at Washington, D. C.

1854. Hugh Macpherson died, aged 86; for 61 years professor of Greek at the university of Aberdeen.

1857. Rail road accident on the Great Western railway in Canada, by which a great number of persons were killed at a bridge over the Des Jardins canal.

1857. John Johnson, an old revolutionary soldier, died in Alleghany township, Westmoreland county, Penn., aged 103. He served in the continental army during the whole of the revolutionary war; fought at the battles of the White plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony point, Guilford court house, and Yorktown where Lord Cornwallis capitulated and surrendered to Gen. Washington, in all the battles and skirmishes of Gen. Anthony Wayne; and at the storming of Stony point by Wayne, he formed one of the forlorn hope.

MARCH 13.

565. Belisarius, a distinguished Roman general, died. He is memorable for his signal and momentous victories, and for his misfortunes. He was degraded to beg alms at the gates of Constantinople by the ungrateful emperor Justinian, to whom he had rendered the most important services.

1470. Battle near Stamford, England, in which Edward IV gained an important victory over his adversaries.

1493. Columbus arrived at Palos, from his first voyage of discovery.

1519. Cortez, on his expedition for the conquest of Mexico, landed at the mouth of the river Tabasco, and prepared to attack the town of the same name, in which about 12,000 warriors had assembled. Calling upon St. Jago, he fell upon the Indians, who were repulsed.

1521. Magellan discovered the Phillipine islands, on one of which he was killed by the natives.

1573. Michael de l'Hospital, chancellor of France, died. He was distinguished for the ability, integrity and mildness of his administration, which was cast in the midst of turbulence and faction.

1604. Arnaud d'Ossat, a celebrated French cardinal and statesman, died. His Despatches is highly recommended to the ambassador who hopes to succeed in his object.

1614. Bartholomew Legat burnt at Smithfield for the heresy of Arianism, under the reign of James I.

1676. Attack on Groton, Mass., by a body of 400 Indians, who had concealed themselves as usual in every part of the town during the night, in order to shoot down the inhabitants as they issued from their doors. The town was gathered into five garrisons, as those houses were called which were palisaded and otherwise protected from assault. Every man went constantly armed; and thus on a moment's warning, two of the enemy having been accidentally discovered, pursuit was made until they were drawn into an ambush and compelled to retreat. Another ambush in the meantime fell upon the opposite part of the town, and the flames arose from every unprotected building. Having pillaged every thing that fell in their way, and cast every indignity upon the bodies of their victims, they gave the garrison two or three volleys and disappeared. About 40 dwellings were burnt, with their outhouses; the town soon after broke up, and the inhabitants scattered to other settlements of greater safety.

1695. John de la Fontaine, the French poet, died. His compositions are characterized by a faithfulness to nature, and are totally unaffected.

1695. Peter Mignard, an eminent French painter, died. He was director and chancellor of the royal academy of painting.

1717. John Bell, the traveler, arrived at Ispahan, the residence of the Persian court, being in the retinue of the Russian ambassador, in the quality of physician. They were nearly two years on their journey from St. Petersburgh.

1726. Michael Bernard Valentin, a German botanist and professor of medicine at Giessen, died. He was an author on both sciences.

1775. George III gave his assent to the act restraining the commerce of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.

1778. Charles le Beau, an eminent French scholar, died. He was professor of belles lettres at Paris, and author of a history of the lower empire, in 22 vols.

1779. Kerim Khan, king of Persia, died a natural death, an extraordinary circumstance in the modern history of that country. He was of the family of an obscure tribe of robbers, the Zunds of Kirdistan.

1781. Herschel discovered the planet which bears his name, then the most distant of all the known planets, its revolution round the sun occupying a period of not less than 83 of our years. He had devoted 18 months in surveying the heavens star by star, with a seven feet reflector when he made the discovery of this primary planet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1824. Sophia Lee, an English dramatic writer and poetess, died, aged 74. The profits of her comedy of the Chapter of Accidents, were of great benefit to herself and sisters.

1835. A remarkable eruption of Vesuvius took place.

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCH 14.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1710. Michael Begon, a French avocat, died. He also distinguished himself in the marines, and as governor of the French West India islands.

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

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

1754. Peter Claude Nivelle de la Chausse, an admired French poet, died. Though favored by fortune, he preferred the honors of literature to all other distinctions, and acquired celebrity by his dramatic pieces, which possess great merit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1836. John Mayne, a Scotch poet, died near London, at an advanced age. His chief poem is The Siller Gun, four cantos.

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

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

MARCH 15.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1743. John Baptist Molinier died; a distinguished preacher and theological writer of Toulouse.

1754. Denys Francis Secousse, a learned Frenchman, died. He was one of the first pupils of Rollin, and left the bar for the study of literature.

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

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

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

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

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

1818. Hector McNeil, a most deservedly popular poet of Scotland, died. Scotland's Scaith or the Waes of War, met with the unprecedented sale of 10,000 copies in one month.

1820. Maine entered the confederacy of the United States.

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

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

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

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

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

MARCH 16.

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

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

455. Flavius Placidus Valentinian, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was a profligate and licentious ruler.

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

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

1532. John Bourchier died at Calais in France, of which he was the English governor. He translated Froissart's Chronicle into English.

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

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

1660. The long parliament dissolved by its own act.

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

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

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

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

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

1751. James Madison, fourth president of the United States, born.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCH 17.

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

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

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

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

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

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

1562. Diego Esquivel Alava, a learned Spanish bishop, died. He was at the Council of Trent, and published a work on councils.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1767. Birthday of Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States.

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

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

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

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

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

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

1795. A number of the Parisians complained to the national convention of the scarcity of bread in Paris.

1798. Thomas Jackson, an English actor, died. His epitaph is ingenious: "Sacred to the memory of Thomas Jackson, comedian, who was engaged 21st December, 1741, to play a comic cast of characters in the great theatre, the world; for many of which he was prompted by nature to excel. The season being ended, his benefit over, the charges all paid, his account closed, he made his exit in the tragedy of Death on the 17th of March, 1798, in assurance of being called once more to rehearsal, where he hopes to find his forfeits all cleared, his cast of parts bettered, and his situation made agreeable by him who paid the great stock debt, for the love of performers in general."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1849. William II, king of Holland, died.

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

MARCH 18.

251. St. Cyril, archbishop of Jerusalem, died.

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

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

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

1629. Charles James, prince of Great Britain, born, baptized and died.

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

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

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

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

1728. George Stanhope, an able English divine, died. His theological works were numerous and popular.

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

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

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

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

1768. Laurence Sterne, an eccentric English author and divine, died. His romance of Tristram Shandy and the Sentimental Journey, are well known.

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

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

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

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

1796. Steuben county erected in south western New York.

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

1805. Bonaparte assumed the title of king of Italy.

1814. John Vint, editor of the Isle of Man Gazette, and a distinguished philanthropist, died.

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

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

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

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

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

1846. First steam boat arrived at Austin, Texas.

1846. William M. Crane, of the United States navy, died by his own hand.

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

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

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

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

MARCH 19.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1736. Nicholas Hawksmoor, died; an English architect of fame, pupil of Sir C. Wren.

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

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

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

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