Читать книгу The Every Day Book of History and Chronology - Joel Munsell - Страница 84

Table of Contents

565. Belisarius, a distinguished Roman general, died. He is memorable for his signal and momentous victories, and for his misfortunes. He was degraded to beg alms at the gates of Constantinople by the ungrateful emperor Justinian, to whom he had rendered the most important services.

1470. Battle near Stamford, England, in which Edward IV gained an important victory over his adversaries.

1493. Columbus arrived at Palos, from his first voyage of discovery.

1519. Cortez, on his expedition for the conquest of Mexico, landed at the mouth of the river Tabasco, and prepared to attack the town of the same name, in which about 12,000 warriors had assembled. Calling upon St. Jago, he fell upon the Indians, who were repulsed.

1521. Magellan discovered the Phillipine islands, on one of which he was killed by the natives.

1573. Michael de l'Hospital, chancellor of France, died. He was distinguished for the ability, integrity and mildness of his administration, which was cast in the midst of turbulence and faction.

1604. Arnaud d'Ossat, a celebrated French cardinal and statesman, died. His Despatches is highly recommended to the ambassador who hopes to succeed in his object.

1614. Bartholomew Legat burnt at Smithfield for the heresy of Arianism, under the reign of James I.

1676. Attack on Groton, Mass., by a body of 400 Indians, who had concealed themselves as usual in every part of the town during the night, in order to shoot down the inhabitants as they issued from their doors. The town was gathered into five garrisons, as those houses were called which were palisaded and otherwise protected from assault. Every man went constantly armed; and thus on a moment's warning, two of the enemy having been accidentally discovered, pursuit was made until they were drawn into an ambush and compelled to retreat. Another ambush in the meantime fell upon the opposite part of the town, and the flames arose from every unprotected building. Having pillaged every thing that fell in their way, and cast every indignity upon the bodies of their victims, they gave the garrison two or three volleys and disappeared. About 40 dwellings were burnt, with their outhouses; the town soon after broke up, and the inhabitants scattered to other settlements of greater safety.

1695. John de la Fontaine, the French poet, died. His compositions are characterized by a faithfulness to nature, and are totally unaffected.

1695. Peter Mignard, an eminent French painter, died. He was director and chancellor of the royal academy of painting.

1717. John Bell, the traveler, arrived at Ispahan, the residence of the Persian court, being in the retinue of the Russian ambassador, in the quality of physician. They were nearly two years on their journey from St. Petersburgh.

1726. Michael Bernard Valentin, a German botanist and professor of medicine at Giessen, died. He was an author on both sciences.

1775. George III gave his assent to the act restraining the commerce of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.

1778. Charles le Beau, an eminent French scholar, died. He was professor of belles lettres at Paris, and author of a history of the lower empire, in 22 vols.

1779. Kerim Khan, king of Persia, died a natural death, an extraordinary circumstance in the modern history of that country. He was of the family of an obscure tribe of robbers, the Zunds of Kirdistan.

1781. Herschel discovered the planet which bears his name, then the most distant of all the known planets, its revolution round the sun occupying a period of not less than 83 of our years. He had devoted 18 months in surveying the heavens star by star, with a seven feet reflector when he made the discovery of this primary planet.

1798. The body of a hair dresser at Newport, England, was buried in the highway; reason assigned, his gluttonous eating, whereof he died.

1799. A fire broke out at Constantinople which destroyed 1300 houses, including the hotels of the British minister, and Austrian internuncio, and several other magnificent edifices.

1801. Battle near Lake Maadie in Egypt, between the British and French forces, in which the former were the greatest sufferers, losing 143 killed and 946 wounded.

1808. Christian VII of Denmark, died. He may be said to have been virtually dead for many years.

1813. Edward Long died. During a residence in the West Indies he collected materials for his History of Jamaica, in 3 vols. quarto. It contains a large mass of valuable information, and many spirited delineations of colonial scenery and manners. He returned to England and spent the remainder of his long life in literary pursuits.

1815. The allied powers engaged to aid Louis XVIII and declared Bonaparte to be without the pale of social and civil relations.

1815. General Jackson having received the ratification of the treaty of peace, revoked his order relative to martial law, ordered a final cessation of hostilities, and granted a general pardon for all military offences. The British took with them 199 negroes.

1824. Sophia Lee, an English dramatic writer and poetess, died, aged 74. The profits of her comedy of the Chapter of Accidents, were of great benefit to herself and sisters.

1835. A remarkable eruption of Vesuvius took place.

1845. John Frederick Daniel, who contributed so much to lighting the cities of Europe with gas, died of apoplexy while attending a meeting of the royal society, in London.

1848. Ambrose Spencer died at Lyons, Wayne co., N. Y.; one of those jurists who gave such a preeminence to the supreme court of the state of New York.

1852. Ninety-five Americans who were engaged in the Lopez expedition against Cuba, and captured and sent to Spain, arrived in New York, having been pardoned by the queen and sent home.

1853. The funeral of Madame Raspail, at Paris was the occasion of a formidable socialist demonstration; 40,000 persons marching in procession to Pere la Chaise.

1854. A convention signed between England, France and Turkey, against Russia.

1855. The floor of the new town hall, at Meredith, N. H., gave way, while 800 persons were present attending an election; 300 were precipitated below, several killed and a large number had their bones broken.