Читать книгу The Every Day Book of History and Chronology - Joel Munsell - Страница 74

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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.