Part 60

50. The first of the month Thoth, in the movable Egyptian year, corresponded, as Pliny intimates, with this Julian day (798 of the era of Narbonasser); and with the 30th July, A. D. 97 (845 era Narb.), in the Greek month Metagitnion, as we collect from Plutarch.

1332. Battle of Gladsmuir, near St. Johnstown, in which David of Scotland was defeated by Baliol.

1454. NICHOLAS DE CUSA, an Italian cardinal, died. He rose from extreme indigence and obscurity by his own merit, to great dignity and fame. His talents and learning were extraordinary; for besides his profound knowledge of law and divinity, he was distinguished as a natural philosopher and geometrician.

1576. MARTIN FROBISHER entered the strait bearing his name.

1607. A party of English under George Popham landed at the mouth of the Sagadahock or Kennebec river. It consisted of 100 men, with ordinance and all provisions necessary until they might receive farther supplies. Only 45 remained, who built a store house on Parker's island, and fortified it.

1642. JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, the first minister at Albany, arrived from Holland to take charge of his church.

1654. VIRGILIO MALVEZZI, an Italian author, died. He quitted the law to enter the Spanish service, at arms, and wrote in both languages.

1673. Sanguinary engagement off the Texel between the combined English and French fleets under Rupert and d'Estrees, and the Dutch under De Ruyter and Cornelius Tromp. Both sides claimed the victory. Admiral Sprague was drowned, his boat being sunk by a cannon shot.

1693. The Indians of New Hampshire sued for peace, after a long and bloody warfare with the English colonists, incited by the French.

1718. Action off the coast of Sicily, between the British fleet, admiral Byng, and the Spanish fleet, under Castanats; the latter lost 21 ships, captured and sunk.

1744. SARAH, duchess of Marlborough, bequeathed to William Pitt £10,000, "upon account of his merit in the noble defence he had made for the support of the laws of England, and to prevent the ruin of his country."

1766. ANN SOWERBY was burnt at York, England, for poisoning her husband; one of the last relics of this mode of capital punishment.

1768. PETER COLLINSON died; an eminent English botanist and natural historian.

1772. A _charged cloud_ at Java destroyed 2,000 persons.

1778. AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY died; an eminent English Calvinistic divine and theological writer.

1781. The British took into New York the American frigate Trumbull. Congress had then but two frigates left.

1782. British evacuated Savannah.

1787. First bishop appointed for Nova Scotia. First bishops in England, 694; Denmark, 939; form of consecrating bishops in England ordained, 1549; the office abolished by parliament, 1646; restored, 1660; first episcopal bishop in America, 1784; first catholic, 1789.

1794. Battle of Wilna; the Poles defeated by the Russians, and the town taken by assault.

1809. Battle near Almonacid; the Spaniards defeated by the French under Joseph Bonaparte, and compelled to retreat, after nine hours' hard fighting.

1810. Severe earthquake at St. Michaels, one of the Azores, which continued two days; 22 houses swallowed up.

1813. HENRY JAMES PYE, an English poet, died. Having ruined his fortune, he was gratified with the office of poet laureate, and left many poems, original and translated.

1818. NIKOLAI I. NOVIKOV, sometimes called the Franklin of Russia, died, aged 74. Certain it is that by his activity and taste he contributed not a little to the improvement of Russian literature.

1822. SAMUEL AUCHMUTY, commander-in-chief of the British forces in Ireland, died. He was a native of New York, who took the side of the British in the revolutionary contest, and held various honorable and lucrative stations under the British government.

1831. Barbadoes destroyed by a hurricane. It commenced at 3 P. M., and continued two hours; 5,000 persons perished; the houses were mostly destroyed, and the face of the country changed to a desert; neither trees nor vegetables were left standing.

1834. The Ursuline convent at Charlestown, Mass., destroyed by a protestant mob. The house was occupied by females, who were driven to seek shelter where they could find it, in the midst of night, while their valuables to a large amount were plundered.

1849. General GÖRGEY, to whom the Hungarian diet had confided its powers, surrendered his army to the Russian general, Rudiger, at Vilagos, and the conquest of Hungary was consumated.

1849. A proclamation was issued by the president of the United States, warning all citizens against connecting themselves with an armed expedition believed to be fitting out with the intention to invade the island of Cuba, or some of the provinces of Mexico.

1853. JOHN DOWNES, an American commodore, died at Charlestown, Mass., aged 69. He entered the navy in 1802, was in active service during the war of 1812, and commanded the Potomac, which bombarded the piratical town of Quallah Battoo, in reprisal for injuries done American sailors by the Malay pirates.

1853. Great heat from this day to the 14th throughout the United States, and Canada; the thermometer everywhere ranging at about 100° Fahrenheit; 200 deaths in New York on the last of these days, and the total deaths of the four days from that cause exceeded 400.

1855. SAMUEL J. PETERS died at New Orleans, aged 54. He held various offices, and the city owed much of its prosperity to his energy and enterprise.

AUGUST 12.

403 B. C. Act of amnesty, which restored the Athenian democracy, between Thrasybulus and the decemvirate, in the archonship of Euclides, 12th of Boedromion--the year when Thucydides returned from exile.

243 B. C. Liberation of Corinth, by Aratus, in his 2d prætorship.

1099. Battle of Ascalon; the Saracens under the sultan of Egypt defeated by Godfrey de Bouillon, and totally overthrown.

1204. BONIFACE, marquis of Montferrat, disposed of the isle of Candia, with the ruins of a hundred cities, to the Venitians, for 10,000 marks.

1241. GREGORY IX, pope, died. He incited the European powers to undertake a crusade, which was joined by Frederick of Germany, who had been twice excommunicated.

1332. Battle of Duplin moor; Edward Baliol defeated the Scots with terrible slaughter. Donald, earl of Mar, the new regent, fell with the host.

1417. HENRY V, by a letter to his chancellor, dated Tonques, in Normandy, gave directions for the sealing annuities of £6 13s. 4d. each, to seventeen masters of the "grete shippes, carracks, barges and balyngers," belonging to the royal navy.

1560. THOMAS PHAER, an English physician, died. He published various medical works, chiefly compiled from the French, and translated a part of the _Æneid_.

1577. THOMAS SMITH died; a learned English statesman, historian, and critic, and secretary of state under Edward VI, and Elizabeth.

1606. HENRY CHALLONS sailed in a ship of 50 tons to make farther discoveries on the coast of North Virginia, and if it should appear expedient to leave as many men as he could spare in the country. He was fitted out by lord chief-justice Popham, sir Ferdinando Gorges and others of the Plymouth company.

1652. Cardinal MAZARINE exiled the second time from France.

1652. An act of the protectorate for the _settlement of Ireland_.

1662. CHARLES SEYMOUR, "the proud duke of Somerset," died. He was in office under several successive sovereigns.

1676. King PHILIP (or _Metacom_), killed at Mount Hope, in Rhode Island, whither he had been driven by the English, as a last refuge. One of his confederates proposing peace, so irritated Philip that he killed him. A brother of the murdered Indian repaired to the English camp, and offered to lead them to Philip's retreat. Captain Church set out with a small body of men, accompanied by a few friendly Indians, and attacked the chief in his den. He formed his men in extended order, placing an Englishman and an indian together, with orders to fire on any who should attempt to escape. At the dawn of day the sentinels alarmed the camp, when Philip seized his arms and attempted to escape; as he approached two of Church's guards, the Englishman leveled his gun, which missed fire; the Indian sent two balls through his body, one of which piercing his heart, laid him dead upon the spot. When the battle was over, the English repaired to the place where he lay. He had fallen on his face in a muddy spot of the ground, from which he was drawn; the head was taken off and the body left to be devoured by wild beasts. Thus fell a powerful chief, and a ferocious savage. It was then hailed with joy as the extinction of a virulent and implacable enemy; but is now often viewed as the fall of a great statesman and a mighty prince, who died in defence of his just rights. This was a war of extermination; it was a general rising of the Indians, under a powerful and sagacious warrior, against the English, not a vestige of whom would have been left had they been victorious. As it was, several of the tribes were annihilated; a miserable remnant of the others incorporated themselves with distant and strange nations. In this short but tremendous war, about 600 of the white inhabitants, composing its principal strength, were either killed in battle or murdered; 12 towns entirely destroyed, and 600 dwellings burnt. The English triumphed, indeed, but the ravages of the enemy left them in a deplorable condition.

1689. INNOCENT XI (_Benedict Odescalchi_), pope, died. He effected several important and useful measures and reformations during his reign.

1712. The first stamp on English newspapers used this day.

1715. NAHUM TATE, an English dramatic writer and poet, died. He succeeded Shadwell as poet laureate, and assisted in a version of the _Psalms_.

1724. Battle of Norridgewock, in New Hampshire, and death of Ralle. He was a Jesuit, and a principal agent in instigating the Indians against the English colonies; had resided at this place twenty-six years, and become thoroughly acquainted with the country. An expedition was fitted out to destroy his den. The place was attacked by 240 men, and carried. Ralle was found in his cabin firing upon the English; orders had been given to take him alive, if possible; but refusing to ask quarter he was shot down. Eighty were killed, among which were some of the most noted warriors of the tribe, and the remnant scattered. Ralle was a man of extensive learning, and of great service to the French; he wrote a dictionary of the Norridgewock language, which was taken, and is deposited in Harvard library. He was sent out as a missionary, had acquired the languages of nearly all the tribes in America, and spent thirty-seven years among them.

1728. WILLIAM SHERARD (_Sherwood_), an eminent English botanist and antiquarian, died. He spent the greater part of his life, abroad, in the pursuit of his favorite studies, and founded a professorship of botany at Oxford.

1759. Battle of Kunersdorf; the Prussians under Frederick II defeated with great loss by the Russians and Austrians. The allies by their own confession lost 24,000 men, says Gillies (Smollet says 10,000); the Prussians fought desperately and left 20,000 dead on the field, among whom were several generals. The king had two horses killed under him, and his clothes perforated by several balls. He lost his whole train of artillery.

1759. EWALD CHRISTIAN DE KLEIST, a Prussian general and poet, killed at the battle of Kunersdorf.

1765. The great mogul constituted the East India company receivers of all the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa.

1778. The French fleet under count d'Estaing dispersed in a gale off Rhode Island, and much damaged.

1778. ROBERT GOADBY died; an English printer and bookseller, and author of several useful publications.

1801. THOMAS HASTINGS, author of the _Wars of Westminster_, and other political papers, died. He was an itinerant bookseller.

1803. Agra taken by the British under the duke of Wellington. Among the trophies was an immense gun, 25 feet long, said to have carried shot into the camp of the British, though out of the range of all ordinary weapons, also a howitzer 14 feet long and 22 inches calibre, throwing a shot of 1,494 lbs.

1805. Capt. LEWIS arrived at the head of the Missouri river, and having crossed the mountain this day struck the waters of the Columbia, in the Shoshone country, which he named Lewis's river.

1806. Spaniards recaptured Buenos Ayres, and made the British troops there prisoners.

1811. MIRANDA reduced New Valentia, in South America.

1812. Lord WELLINGTON entered Madrid, Joseph Bonaparte having evacuated it the day before.

1812. Sanguinary battle on the heights, near Kobrine, between the allied French, Austrian and Saxon army, under Schwartzenberg, and the Russians under Tormozoff. The latter retired with the loss of 4,000; loss of the allies 5,000. Many officers of rank were wounded on both sides.

1813. SAMUEL OSGOOD, an officer of the revolution, and for a time postmaster-general, died, aged 65. He published several works of a religious character.

1814. LODOWICK MORGAN, major 1st U. S. rifle regiment, killed, with 10 of his men, in an attack on the British near fort Erie.

1822. ROBERT STUART, lord Castlereagh, premier of England, committed suicide by opening the jugular vein with a penknife.

1828. WILLIAM BLAKE, an English painter, died. He is described as a gentle visionary in shapes and fancies, and airy somethings upon paper.

1830. First American rail road, Mohawk and Hudson, between Albany and Schenectady, completed.

1849. ALBERT GALLATIN, a statesman and scholar, died at Astoria, N. Y., aged 88. He was a native of Switzerland, and emigrated to America in 1780. He settled in Pennsylvania, and became soon a prominent member of the legislature, and then of congress. He was secretary of state under Jefferson, and spent many years abroad as American minister.

1851. The steamer Prometheus arrived in New York from San Juan, the Atlantic terminus of the Nicaragua route, now for the first time opened.

1854. Lord JOCELYN died in London, aged 38; military secretary of the Chinese expedition, and author of _Six Months in China_.

AUGUST 13.

582. TIBERIUS II, emperor of Constantinople, died. His character was conspicuous for humanity, justice, temperance and fortitude.

587. RADEGONDE, the queen of Clotaire of France, died. At the age of 18 she renounced paganism, and was celebrated for her personal charms, and devotedness to religious duties.

875. LOUIS II, king of France and emperor of Germany, died. He was a brave and virtuous monarch.

1415. HENRY V of England sailed for the conquest of France with a fleet of about 1,300 vessels, and landed his force at Harfleur on the second day following, consisting of 24,000 foot and 6,500 cavalry.

1482. SIXTUS IV (_Francis Albecola_), pope, died. He was the son of a fisherman at Geneva, became professor of divinity at Padua, and rose by degrees to the papal chair.

1521. CORTEZ retook the city of Mexico, assisted by 10,000 Tlascalans, and an innumerable host of other Indian allies from the neighboring nations, whom he had attached to his service. It was not, however, till after seventy-five days of fierce and almost daily fighting, that he accomplished his victory. On no occasion did native Americans so bravely oppose European troops; but the superior discipline of the Spaniards carried the day: and thus a daring adventurer, regarded and treated by his countrymen as a rebel, after a bloody struggle, gained possession of a country which for more than three centuries formed one of the brightest gems in the Castilian crown. It is computed that during this siege 100,000 Mexicans were slain and 50,000 died of sickness and famine. The inhabitants being ordered to leave the city without arms or baggage, the three roads leading from it were full of men, women and children, in the most wretched condition, for three days and nights, seeking an asylum in the open country. The city contained at this time 50,000 houses. Sixty dangerous battles were fought in which 100 Spaniards were killed, or taken and sacrificed, and some thousands of the allies slain.

1535. HIPPOLYTO DE MEDICIS, an Italian cardinal, died. He possessed great talents as a negotiator and military man.

1553. The chaplain of bishop Bonner preached a sermon at St. Paul's abusing the administration of the late Edward, whereupon the people very much abused him; but he was rescued by two protestant ministers.

1587. MANTEO, a friendly Indian, who had been to England, was baptized, according to a previous order of sir Walter Raleigh, and in reward of his faithful service to the English, was called lord of Roanoke and Desamonguepeuk.

1636. DE VRIES, who had been two years on the coast of America, with a view to settling a colony, entered on his diary this day, that he requested Wouter Van Twiller to put Staten island down to his name, intending to form a colony there, which was done, and two days after he sailed on his return to Holland.

1660. A proclamation was issued by Charles II against dueling.

1667. JEREMY TAYLOR died; an eminent English theological writer and controversialist.

1704. Battle off Malaga, between the British fleet of 33 ships of the line and several frigates, admiral Rooke and Cloudesley Shovel, and the French fleet of 54 ships and 24 galleys. The action continued all day, and at night the French bore off. No vessels were taken by either.

1743. FRANCIS PECK died; an eminent English antiquary, biographer and critic.

1762. Cuba surrendered to the British. The booty was great; £3,000,000 in specie, large quantities of goods and munitions of war, 9 ships of the line and 4 frigates. It was exchanged into the hands of the Spanish again the next year for the Floridas.

1775. WASHINGTON informed congress that the whole stock of powder in New England amounted to no more than 9,927 pounds, about 9 rounds to a man. Although this information was communicated to the British by a deserter, they could not believe it possible that the Americans possessed such consummate assurance as to continue to invest them in Boston, while so destitute of ammunition.

1778. The Languedoc of 90 guns, count d'Estaing's flag ship, having lost her rudder and masts in the storm of the day before, was attacked by the British ship Renown, 50 guns, which was beaten off. At the same time a British ship of 50 guns attacked another of d'Estaing's ships, of 80 guns, having only her mainmast standing, but was also beat off.

1782. HENRY LEWIS DU HAMEL died at Paris; eminent for his knowledge of mechanics, agriculture and commerce.

1786. GILBERT STUART, an eminent Scottish historian, died.

1794. Battle of Bellegarde, between the French and Spanish. The action was a severe one; both claimed the victory.

1806. MIRANDA abandoned his conquests on the Spanish main, and sailed to Aruba.

1808. The French in the night raised the siege of Saragossa, in Spain. It had been most nobly defended since July 2d, by general Palafox and the countess de Burita, who raised a company of ladies, that exposed themselves to the greatest personal dangers and fatigues.

1810. JAMES FRANCIS MENON, a French general and politician, died. He was in the employ of the national convention and of Bonaparte.

1812. The British sloop of war Alert, attacked the United States frigate Essex, captain Porter, and after an action of eight minutes struck her colors with seven feet of water in her hold, much cut to pieces and three men wounded. The Alert had been sent out to capture the Hornet, and mounted twenty 18 lb. carronades, and had 130 men.

1817. JOHN BEALE, aged 87, a member of the society of Friends, died at his residence in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in the same house in which he was born, having never resided in any other.

1819. Just after a brilliant meteor a mass of gelatinous and very fetid matter fell at Amherst, Mass.

1822. An earthquake devastated the greater part of Syria. It began about half past nine in the evening, and in ten or twelve seconds, Aleppo, Antioch, and every village and detached cottage in the pashalic of Aleppo, and several towns in the adjoining territories, were entirely ruined. There were 20,000 people destroyed by it, and as many more maimed or wounded.

1826. LAENNEC died; author of the _Auscultation System of Ascertaining Diseases of the Lungs_.

1838. JOHN FARMER, an American archæologist, died. He published several works relating to the early history of the country, which evince great patience and industry, and bring to light many important facts which would have perished otherwise. For some time previous to his death he was engaged in arranging the state papers in the public offices at Concord, containing the old province and council records, and revolutionary papers. By supplying omissions, transcribing papers that were scarcely legible, and having them arranged and bound, the state of New Hampshire has a very complete set of its early records.

1841. J. B. RICHSONVILLE, principal chief of the Miami nation, died near fort Wayne, Indiana, aged 80. He is said to have left $200,000 in specie, besides immense quantities of valuable real estate.

1842. THOMAS P. EMMET, son of Thomas Addis Emmet, and a contributor to _Silliman's Journal_, died in New York, aged 47.

1851. The people of Litchfield county, Connecticut, celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of its settlement.

1854. General PAIXHANS died at his estate of Jouy-aux-Arches, near Metz, aged 72. He was renowned by his connection with the artillery, and especially with the celebrated gun which bears his name.

1854. At Marysville, Kentucky, a powder magazine, containing 800 kegs, was fired, and the explosion caused the entire destruction of 13 houses, involving a great loss of property.

AUGUST 14.

394 B. C. An eclipse of the sun noticed by Xenophon, which just preceded the battle of Coronea, where Agesilaus stood his ground against the Greek confederates. Xenophon, who fought under the Spartan, describes it as the most desperate conflict in his time.

376 B. C. CHABRAS defeated the Lacedæmonian fleet off Naxos, full moon of Boedromion. The youth Phocion here distinguished himself.

1211. LLEWELLYN, prince of Wales, made his submission to king John of England, and delivered 28 hostages at the foot of Snowdon, for his good faith. These young noblemen were hanged the ensuing year.

1248. The great cathedral of Cologne commenced. It was prosecuted at intervals during 200 years, and then suspended 400 years. It was taken up again with new vigor in 1842, and became a popular enterprise of the day to strive for its completion.

1433. JOHN I, king of Portugal, died. It was under his reign that the Portuguese began their famous discoveries.

1457. JOHN FAUST and PETER SCHOEFFER published at Mainz the _Psalter_, supposed to be the first printed book of any magnitude, on record.

1464. PIUS II (_Æneas Sylvius_), pope, died; celebrated for his wise and witty sayings.

1613. JOHN HARRINGTON, an English nobleman, died, aged 22. He was distinguished for the talents and genius which he displayed at a very early age.

1621. An army of _fourteen men_ sent out from Plymouth colony to awe the Indians. Corbitant, a petty chief, had seized Squanto, a friendly Indian, and threatened Massasoit; the menaces of revenge in case of any disturbances, are said to have settled all difficulties.

1678. Three days after the conclusion of a peace between France and Holland, the prince of Orange fell upon the marshal of Luxemburg, by which 4,000 lives were sacrificed.

1681. The Scottish parliament adopted a resolution asserting that difference in religion does not bar the right of succession, or make void the magistrate's just and lawful authority.

1711. Sir HOVEDEN WALKER, with the British and colonial fleet intended to invade Canada, arrived at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. A succession of untoward winds and accidents rendered it necessary to put back soon after, without accomplishing any thing.