Part 57

1848. EDMUND SIMPSON died; thirty-eight years manager of the Park theatre, New York, during which time he paid John Jacob Astor half a million dollars rent.

1850. The great diamond called Koh-i-noor, or mountain of light, was brought to England. It is valued at $2,000,000.

1854. The defenders of the barricades, at Madrid, 3,000 in number, defiled before the queen's palace, her majesty appearing on the balcony, with the king on one side, and Espartero, who had entered the city the day before, on the other.

1855. The official announcement was made of the removal of governor Reeder, of Kansas, and the appointment of John L. Dawson as his successor.

AUGUST.

AUGUST 1.

30 B. C. Defection of the entire fleet of Marc Antony, at Alexandria, which suddenly passed over to Octavius, afterwards Augustus Cæsar.

117. MARCUS ULPIUS TRAJAN, emperor of Rome, died. He admired and copied the virtues of Nerva, his predecessor, and reigned nearly twenty years in the hearts of his people, when Hadrian received his mantle.

432. CELESTINE I, pope, died. The doctrines of Nestorius were condemned by him.

643. OSWALD, king of Northumberland, slain at Maserfield. Bede says he erected in the shape of a wooden cross the first altar to Christ among the Bernicians.

725. The old English tax called _Peter's pence_, was first laudably imposed by Ina, king of the west Saxons, for the support of an English college at Rome, but afterwards appropriated by the church for very different purposes.

1137. LOUIS VI, king of France, died. He was a wise and popular monarch, but during his reign, which continued nearly thirty years, the country was disturbed by external quarrels and internal factions.

1202. King JOHN of England obtained a victory over his nephew Arthur, whom with his sister Eleanor he took prisoner.

1221. The convent belonging to Westminster abbey destroyed; which issued in several individuals being severely punished.

1464. COSMO DE MEDICIS, a Florentine merchant, died. He bestowed vast expense and attention in the promotion of learning, and presided over the commonwealth 34 years, with so much wisdom and popularity, as to acquire the title of _Father of the People_. (See Oct. 4, 1434.)

1498. COLUMBUS, on his third voyage, first set his foot upon the continent of America at Terra-Firma, mistaking it for an island. This was more than a year after the English expedition under the Cabots had reached its shores.

1560. The Scottish parliament assembled which overturned the Roman church in Caledonia, and established a new ecclesiastical system on a Calvinistic and presbyterian model.

1589. HENRY III, of France, assassinated. He was a weak and vicious prince, during whose reign the country was desolated with factions and civil and religious wars. He was the last of the house of Valois.

1605. EDMUND ANDERSON, an eminent English lawyer, died. He was one of the ablest and most learned of queen Elizabeth's judges; his law works are of great authority.

1625. The first parliament of Charles I, of England, on account of the plague, met at Oxford.

1714. ANNE, queen of England, died, in the 50th year of her age.

1716. JAMES BOILEAU, a celebrated French theologian, died; a doctor of the Sorbonne, and a man of great wit and learning.

1720. JOHN LEAKE, a brave English admiral, died. He signalized himself in many important victories in different parts of the world.

1732. WILLIAM COSBY arrived at New York as governor of that province and New Jersey.

1743. RICHARD SAVAGE, an eminent English poet, died in prison, aged 46. His great natural abilities were over-balanced by vices and follies which rendered him an unhappy man.

1759. Battle of Minden; the British and German forces under Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated the French, who met with great losses.

1766. France stipulated not to aid the Pretender if England would suffer a Romish bishop to be sent to Canada; it was acceded to.

1768. The merchants and traders of Boston entered into a non-importation agreement against Great Britain.

1769. JEAN CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, a French astronomer, died at California, whither he had gone to make an observation. He was distinguished for learning and abilities.

1770. Battle of Cahal; the Turkish army of 150,000 defeated by 18,000 Russians under marshal Romanzow.

1772. A revolution was effected in Sweden by the army, and dissimulation of the crown.

1774. Dr. PRIESTLY discovered _dephlogisticated air_, which has been called the birth day of pneumatic chemistry.

1780. The village of Canajoharie laid waste by the Indians.

1790. JOHN KNOX, the book seller, and the improver of the herring fisheries in Scotland, died.

1793. Action without the harbor of New York between the French frigate L'Ambuscade, and British frigate Boston. The battle was severe, and both vessels were greatly damaged; but the Boston would have been captured if she had not been enabled to retreat. The Ambuscade had 6 killed, 20 wounded. The British lost their captain and nearly all their officers killed. The crews of the two frigates were about the same, 350 each.

1798. Battle of the Nile; the French fleet of 13 sail and 4 frigates defeated by the British, 13 ships of 74s, and a 50 gun ship under Nelson. Nine of the French ships were taken and 2 burnt, and 2 of the frigates destroyed. Admiral Brueys was mortally wounded and blown up in the Orient, 120 guns and 1070 men. Of the French 3,105 were put on shore by cartel, and 5,225 perished.

1801. JONATHAN EDWARDS, president of Union college, died; a man of uncommon powers of mind.

1803. WILLIAM WOODFALL, an English printer, died. He possessed a remarkably retentive memory, and was the first who gave a full and immediate detail of the proceedings of parliament.

1807. JOHN WALKER, the English lexicographer, died.

1819. JAMES FORBES died; a civil servant in the East India company, and creditably known as the author of _Oriental Memoirs_, which were selected from a mass of manuscripts written during 17 years' residence in India, stated to occupy 52,000 folio pages, in 150 vols. The plates, from drawings of plants and animals made by the author, have rarely been surpassed in spirit and beauty.

1821. WILLIAM FLOYD, one of the signers, died.

1821. ELIZABETH INCHBALD, an English dramatic writer and actress, died. She possessed great beauty and talent, and an unsullied reputation; many of her pieces are still _stock plays_.

1829. Capture of Jambouli and destruction of the Turkish camp by a brigade of Hulans and Cossacks, after having defeated on the road a body of 15,000 Turks.

1834. ROBERT MORRISON, an eminent English orientalist, at Canton, died. He was considered the best Chinese scholar in Europe. He translated the whole of the _New Testament_ into Chinese, which was printed in 1813; but the great monument of his literary fame is his _Dictionary of the Chinese Language_, 6 vols. quarto.

1834. The slaves in the British colonies emancipated, and a temporary apprenticeship commenced.

1834. The bill admitting dissenters to the honors of the English universities, which had passed the house of commons, rejected in the house of lords by a majority of 102--a grand halt to the march of mind in England.

1838. JOHN ROGERS died; a distinguished naval officer, and senior commander in the American navy. He had been fifteen months a resident of the naval asylum, and the greater part of the time in close confinement as a confirmed lunatic.

1838. The entire emancipation of the negro apprentices in the islands of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Chevis, Montserrat, St. Christophers, St. Vincent and Tortola, took place, in compliance with the acts of the colonial legislatures.

1848. The city of Vera Cruz delivered up to the Mexicans by the United States; general Smith embarked for home.

1849. HENRY A. BRECKINGHAM, known as the author of several historical sketches and other interesting reminiscences of the early days of the American colonies, died at Brooklyn, of cholera.

1849. Queen VICTORIA embarked at Cowes on her visit to Ireland.

1851. HARRIET LEE, an English authoress, died, aged 95. Jointly with her sister Sophia, they were the authors of various works, chiefly novels or dramas. Harriet was almost the exclusive author of the _Canterbury Tales_, 5 vols., perhaps the best known of their labors.

1853. The Austrian government, in a circular addressed to the European courts, protested against the proceedings of Capt. Ingraham, in the port of Smyrna, in rescuing Martin Koszta, claiming to be a citizen of the United States.

1854. KENNETH MURCHISON formerly governor of Penang and Singapore, died in London, aged 60.

1854. The yellow fever became epidemic at New Orleans. It disappeared in November, when the number of deaths was 2441. There were 600 deaths in Savannah from the same disease.

AUGUST 2.

338 B. C. Battle of Cheronea, on the Cephisus, and defeat of the Athenians and Thebans by Philip of Macedon.

338 B. C. The army of Archidamus, the Spartan, overthrown in Lucania, and himself killed.

322 B. C. Joint victory of Antipater and Craterius, near the walls of Cranon, in Thessaly.

10. Three Roman legions under Varus cut off in Germany. "Quintilius Varus, give me my legions again," exclaimed the father of his country. Varus, however, had shared the fate of his legions.

44. King AGRIPPA (_the Great_), smitten with disease in the public theatre at Cæsarea, on the second day of the games exhibited in honor of Claudius.

1100. WILLIAM II (_Rufus_), king of England, killed by an arrow. He possessed vigor, decision and policy, and acquired great wealth, by which he was enabled to purchase two French provinces. He founded Westminster hall.

1553. The _peace of religion_ signed at Passau, on the Danube, between the confederates under Maurice of Saxony and the emperor Charles V, which established the protestant church in Germany.

1563. That great scourge, the plague, began in London.

1651. CROMWELL, after a week's siege, erected the colors of the commonwealth on the walls of Perth.

1675. Brookfield destroyed by the Indians. This town was situated in the country of the Nipnets, whom Philip finally succeeded in engaging to himself in his plan of a general extermination of the English colonies. The inhabitants being alarmed had scarcely time to flee to the principal house in the village, before the savages came pouring in, and fired every other house. The whole number of people thus collected together was about seventy. They withstood the assaults of the Indians two days, who kept up the attack night and day, and endeavored to fire the house by means of poles with firebrands and rags dipped in brimstone tied to their ends. They also filled a cart with hemp and flax, and other combustibles, and having set it on fire thrust it backward with poles spliced together to a great length. A storm of rain defeated this last scheme; and several companies of soldiers came to the relief of the besieged so unexpectedly that the Indians, although they had surrounded the town to cut off assistance, were disheartened and fled.

1676. King PHILIP, the Wampanoag, surprised in his quarters by a party of the colonists under captain Church; 150 of his men were killed, his wife and sons were taken prisoners, and he narrowly escaped with his life.

1684. A treaty of peace concluded at Albany, between the colonists and the Five Nations, who, since the peace of 1761, had extended their arms southward, and conquered the country from the Mississippi to the borders of the plantations; involving Virginia and Maryland in the calamities of their Indian allies, whom they were unable to protect.

1689. INNOCENT XI died. He has been called the protestant pope.

1704. Battle of Blenheim, in Bavaria; the English and Austrians under the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene, obtained a famous victory over the French and Bavarians, who lost 12,000 killed and drowned, and 13,000 prisoners, including marshal Tallard. (13th by some authorities.)

1713. MENSEN ALTING, a Dutch writer, died; author of an excellent description of the Low Countries.

1732. RIP VAN DAM, upon whom the government of the province of New York devolved, finished his administration, on the arrival of William Cosby, with a commission over New York and New Jersey.

1748. Attack on fort Massachusetts by 300 French and Indians. Captain Williams sallied with 30 men and drove the enemy before him, when an ambuscade arose and attempted to cut off his retreat to the fort. By a quick movement he regained the place, and returned their fire with so much spirit that the enemy withdrew, carrying off their dead and wounded.

1763. Battle of Nuncas Nullus; the English defeated the troops of Mir Cossim, 28,000, took all their artillery and 150 boats laden with grain and stores.

1770. The Russians under Romanzow, defeated the Turks with great slaughter on the Pruth.

1776. MATTHEW MATY, an English writer, died. He published at the Hague, during six years, the _Journal Britannique_, containing an account of the productions of the English press, in French.

1786. MARGARET NICHOLSON, supposing herself to be queen of England, made an attempt to assassinate George III. She was afterwards confined as a lunatic.

1788. THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH died; one of the most celebrated English landscape painters of the last century.

1793. MARIE ANTOINETTE, queen of France and daughter of an emperor, taken from the temple prison in the night, and removed to a cell in the Conciergerie, 8 feet square, and partly under ground. As a matter of favor she was permitted to take under her arm a small bundle of clothing.

1798. JOHN PALMER, a popular English actor, died on the stage during a performance, immediately on uttering the words, "There is an other and a better world."

1802. BONAPARTE declared consul of France for life.

1803. JOHN HOOLE, an ingenious English poet, died. He translated some of the best Italian poets, wrote three tragedies, and several other works.

1811. WILLIAM WILLIAMS, one of the signers died, aged 81. He advanced money and obtained supplies for the army, and also contributed by his writings and speeches to arouse the spirit of freedom in his countrymen.

1813. Defence of fort Stephenson by 160 men with 1 six pounder, under Col. Croghan, then aged 21. The British, consisting of 500 regulars under Proctor, and about 800 Indians under Tecumseh, with 5 six pounders and 1 howitzer, were defeated with considerable loss.

1814. The remarkable steeple of Kelwinning, in Scotland, fell. It was built in 1140.

1815. Convention between the representatives of Great Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia, who declared Bonaparte to be the prisoner of the allies, and entrusted his custody especially to Great Britain.

1830. CHARLES X, of France, subscribed his abdication in favor of his grandson the young duke of Bordeaux.

1842. JOHN CLIFFORD, a lieutenant in the revolutionary army, died at Bethlehem, Hunterdon co., N. J., aged 94.

1843. FRANCIS W. P. GREENWOOD, pastor of King's chapel, Boston, died at Dorchester, Mass., aged 50. He was also an accomplished scholar and naturalist.

1843. JAMES RICHARDS, professor of theology in the Auburn theological seminary, died, aged 75; an eminently useful man.

1849. MEHEMET ALI, pacha of Egypt, died at Alexandria, aged 80. He was a powerful sovereign, and gave the sultan much trouble. He did more than any of his predecessors towards introducing improvements into his territories.

1849. GARIBALDI, the Roman chief, escaped on board some fishing vessels at Cesenatico, on the Adriatic, accompanied by 300 followers. The remainder of his band surrendered to the Austrians.

1849. STEPHEN LONGFELLOW, a New England lawyer of note, died at Portland, Me., aged 73. He was a member of the Hartford convention from Massachusetts, and distinguished for great acuteness and penetration. He compiled 16 volumes of the _Massachusetts Reports_, and 12 of the _Maine_, extending over a period of thirty years.

1852. THOMAS THOMSON, a Scottish author, died, aged 60. He was professor of chemistry in the university of Glasgow, and established a highly scientific reputation. In 1812 he began the _Annals of Philosophy_, in London, which he conducted ten years.

1852. A violent earthquake occurred at St. Jago de Cuba, causing a great destruction of property.

AUGUST 3.

479 B. C. The fatal battle of Platea, between Mardonius the Persian and Pausanius the Spartan general. The other sanguinary victory over the Persians, on the promontory of Mycale was achieved the same day, third of Boedromion.

431 B. C. An eclipse of the sun noticed by Thucydides, eight days after the first invasion of Attica under Archidamus, king of Sparta, at the head of 60,000 Peloponesian confederates, and whilst Pericles was in the act of embarking against Epidaurus, the sacred city.

678. A morning comet, shaped like a fiery pillar, seen in England. It was visible during three months, and caused the conversion of the South Saxons from paganism.

1274. EDWARD I landed in England from Palestine. He sailed from his winter mansion, Trepano, Sicily, on the 20th April, 1271.

1414. JAMES I of Scotland conveyed from the tower to Windsor; there this bird of song was _wired in_ for three years.

1460. JAMES II (_with the fiery face_), king of Scotland, killed by the bursting of a gun, aged 29, after a reign of 24 years.

1492. COLUMBUS embarked in the carack Santa Maria, with two other vessels and 120 persons, from the Isle of Saltes, against Palos, in Andalusia, to find a western continent.

1546. STEPHEN DOLET, a learned Frenchman, a painter and a bookseller, burnt at Lyons for atheism.

1554. The first letter in Europe known to have been sealed with sealing wax bears this date, and was written at London, addressed to the rheingrave Philip Francis von Daun, from his agent in England, Gerhard Hermann. The wax employed in sealing this letter is of a dark red color, very shining, and the impress bears the initials of the writer.

1554. Battle of Marciano; the troops of Cosmo de Medici, under Medicini, defeated the French under Peter Strozzi, a Florentine nobleman, who was wounded.

1592. The English earl of Cumberland captured a Spanish carack, Madre de Dios (Mother of God), valued at $150,000.

1612. JOHN BOND, a learned English commentator on the Latin classics, died.

1645. Battle of Nordlingen; the allies under Merci, defeated by the French under Turenne, Conde and Grammont. Merci was killed and Grammont taken prisoner.

1672. JOHN FRANCIS SENAUDT, a Dutch theological writer, died.

1692. Battle of Steenkerken; the English under William III defeated with great slaughter by the French.

1712. JOSHUA BARNES died; an eminent English critic and professor of Greek. He wrote the _Life of Edward III_, and several Latin and English poems.

1715. A cobbler of Highgate, London, was whipped from Holloway to that place for reflecting on the government.

1720. N. HEINSIUS, an eminent Dutch statesman, died. He was 30 years grand pensionary of Holland, and exerted the energy of his mind and the resources of his country to abridge the power of the French monarch.

1721. GRINLIN GIBBON died, an eminent English sculptor and carver in ivory and wood. The place or country of his birth is not known. He was discovered by sir John Evelyn, who walking by accident near a poor solitary thatched cottage, had the curiosity to look in at the window, when he saw him carving a large cartoon or crucifix of Tintoret, a copy of which Evelyn himself had brought from Venice. His performances in marble and ivory were so very fine, that they often required to be defended by a glass case. Many of his flower pieces are light almost as fancy, and shake to the rattling of passing carriages. There is no instance before him, says Walpole, of a man who gave to wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, and chained together the various productions of the elements with the free disorder natural to each species.

1732. The first stone laid of the bank of England.

1761. JOHN MATTHEW GESNER, a German scholar and critic, died. He published several valuable editions of the classics.

1763. THOMAS GODFREY, an American poet, died, aged 27. He was a watchmaker, and said to have been the real inventor of Hadley's quadrant.

1768. THOMAS SECKER, archbishop of Canterbury, died; whose lectures and sermons are masterly compositions.

1777. Fort Schuyler, at the head of the Mohawk river, invested by the British, about 1,800, under St. Leger. The garrison consisted of 600 continentals under general Gansevoort, who maintained their position till the British abandoned the siege and returned to Canada, leaving their tents standing; their artillery, and ammunition and provisions fell into the hands of the Americans.

1780. STEPHEN BONNOT DE CONDILLAC, a distinguished French philosopher, died. His works are characterized by great clearness and sagacity, and were published in 1798 in 35 volumes.

1783. A new eruption of the Skaptar Jokul, in Iceland, poured forth fresh floods of lava, which taking different directions from the others, filled the bed of a river, and formed a large lake. By this single eruption, 9,000 persons lost their lives, being nearly one-fifth of the whole population of the island. This volcano, which commenced on the 11th June, continued for two years, and the lava was not cooled in some places, when visited eleven years after.

1787. JOHN BAYNES, an English politician, died, aged 29. He was distinguished for his early attainments and devotion to the cause of liberty.

1788. LOUIS FRANCOIS ARMAND DU PLESSIS DE RICHELIEU, marechal of France, died, aged 93. He had the courage, the fortune and the talents of a great general, the sagacity, prudence and penetration of a great statesman; but with these and many amiable qualities he chose to be nothing but a common courtier.

1792. RICHARD ARKWRIGHT died; inventor of the spinning jenny, one of the most useful machines in the world. He was originally a barber, but his invention enabled him at his death to leave a property worth £500,000.

1797. JEFFREY AMHERST, a celebrated English admiral, died. He assisted in the conquest of Canada.

1802. HENRY, prince of Prussia, died. He distinguished himself at the head of several Prussian armies, and in time of peace was engaged in literary pursuits. On the death of his elder brother, he was excluded from the throne by his nephew, and resided in France.

1804. The United States squadron under Com. Preble, attacked the shipping and batteries of Tripoli. During the action the Constitution was much injured; 13 were wounded and 1 killed; 3 of the enemy's boats were captured and 3 sunk.

1805. CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, an ingenious English poet, died.

1806. MIRANDA, having received a reinforcement from the British, landed in the gulf of Paria, for the purpose of effecting a revolution.

1806. MICHAEL ADANSON, an eminent French naturalist, died, leaving an immense mass of manuscripts which he had collected with the view of publishing an encyclopedia. He passed several years in Africa making collections in natural history.

1812. Privateer schooner Atlas, of Philadelphia, captured in one hour British ships Pursuit, 16 guns, and Planter, 12 guns. The latter was recaptured.

1814. Fort Erie invested by the British, upwards of 5,000.

1814. 1,200 British crossed the Niagara, to attack Buffalo, but were repulsed by 250 riflemen under Morgan, and compelled to recross.

1814. Great disturbances in Spain, many members of the cortes arrested by order of the king.

1819. Barrow's straits rediscovered by Capt. Parry. He penetrated to Melville island. The lowest state of the thermometer was 55° below zero, Fahrenheit.

1823. LAZARE NICHOLAS MARGUERITE CARNOT, a distinguished French general, died. He possessed an uncommon talent for the mathematical and military sciences, and pursued a uniform and correct course in his politics, which enabled him to ride out the storm of the revolution, and the subsequent changes.

1848. Women's rights convention assembled at Rochester; demanded the rights of suffrage, property, preaching, teaching, &c., &c.