Читать книгу The Every Day Book of History and Chronology - Joel Munsell - Страница 72

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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 Bruyere has said of him, that his verses will be read when the language is obsolete, and will be the last ruins of it!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.