Читать книгу The Every Day Book of History and Chronology - Joel Munsell - Страница 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1799. The habeas corpus act suspended in Great Britain.

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

1809. Congress passed laws to enforce the embargo.

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

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

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

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

1813. British manifesto against the United States.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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