The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
Orders were received from Paris by Murat, king of Naples, to seize and immediately dispose of all American vessels and cargoes.
1814. Dantzic surrendered to the duke of Wurtemberg.
1815. The prince regent of England extended the military order of Bath, and divided it into three classes, namely: 1. Knights grand crosses; 2. Knights commanders; 3. Companions.
1816. Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, a French chemist, died. He was born at Dijon 1737, and distinguished himself in 1773 by the invention of the method of purifying the air by means of chlorine. He was an upright, able, eloquent and business man; and founded a school at Dijon for the study of his favorite science, chemistry. He was a member of the national assembly and convention at the time of the revolution, and assisted to establish the polytechnic school.
1827. John Mason Good, an English physician, poet and philological writer, died. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a surgeon; in 1793 removed to London, and by talent and perseverance, succeeded in establishing both a literary and professional fame. He was a voluminous writer, and the extent and variety of his works evince the greatest industry, and a retentive and orderly mind. He acquired thirteen European and Asiatic languages, and at the time of his death had just completed a translation of the Psalms.
1829. Forty men and thirty horses destroyed by an explosion of fire damp in a mine near Lyons, France.
1831. Berthold George Niebuhr the historian, died. He was the son of Niebuhr the traveler, born at Copenhagen 1777, and finished his education at Edinburgh. He traveled much and received great attention wherever he went. In 1810 he delivered his lectures on Roman history at Berlin; and in 1815, on the death of his father, planned and published his biography. In 1827 he published the first volume of a remodeled edition of his Roman history; the second volume appeared a few months before his death, leaving the third unpublished.
1835. Robert Hindmarsh, the most distinguished among those who supported the religious views of Emanuel Swedenborg, died at Gravesend.
1837. John Cuffee, a negro slave, died at Norfolk, Va., at the remarkable age of about 120 years. He was a native of Africa, was sold as a slave in the island of Barbadoes, and brought to Norfolk about 1740.
1850. George Blatterman, professor of modern languages in the Virginia university, died at Charlottesville.
1853. A new and stringent law against the liberty of the press was published in Spain.
1857. Andrew Ure, author of the Dictionary of Arts, died at London, aged 89.
JANUARY 3.
456. BC Myronides the Athenian general defeated the Bœotians at Enophyta.
106. BC Birthday of Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator.
1641. Jeremiah Horrox, an English astronomer, died. He seems to have been the first to observe the transit of Venus over the sun's disc, from which he deduced many useful observations, though not aware of the full importance of that phenomenon.
1661. Secretary Pepys seeing the comedy of the Beggars' Bush performed at Lincoln Inn Fields, says: "And here the first time that ever I saw women upon the stage."
1670. George Monk, duke of Albemarle, died. He entered the British army at an early age; and in 1639 was engaged in the unfortunate expedition of Charles I against the Scots. He was confined three years in the Tower under the parliament, during which he wrote a work on military and political affairs; but finally accepted a commission in the republican army against the Irish, the Scotch and the Dutch. But at the death of the Protector he employed his influence to reinstate the Stuarts. In 1666 he was again employed against the son of his old antagonist Tromp, in which the English fleet was much damaged, and both claimed the victory.
1717. Lambert Boss, an eminent Dutch philologist, died. He was born in Friesland 1670; studied under his father who was a clergyman, became private tutor in a family of rank, and subsequently professor of Greek in the university of Franeker. He was an indefatigable student, and regretted every moment which could not be devoted to his favorite pursuit. The number and character of his works mark his industry.
1724. Philip V of Spain abdicated the throne in favor of his son Louis; but he dying the same year, Philip resumed the crown again.
1730. The Turks began to learn the art of war and fortification after the European model, from Count Bonneval of France, who became a Musselman.
1777. Battle of Princeton, N. J., between the British and a division of the American army, under General Washington. The British lost 100 men, and 300 more who had taken refuge in the college, were forced to surrender.
1795. Josiah Wedgewood died. His father was a Staffordshire potter, to whose business he succeeded, and soon distinguished himself by his discoveries and improvements, insomuch that in a few years England, instead of importing the finer earthen wares, was enabled to supply her neighbors. He was a scientific, as well as an active and enterprising man—and benevolent withal.
1797. Three of the large stones in the antique pile at Stonehenge in England fell, the smallest of which weighed 20 tons. They were loosed, it was supposed, by the severe frost of that season.
1805. Charles Townley, an English antiquarian, died. He employed his liberal fortune in the collection of rare manuscripts and relics of ancient art, and died at the age of 68, bequeathing his collection of antiquities to the British Museum.
1805. Alexander Wedderburn, lord of Rosslyn, died. He distinguished himself as a lawyer, and was appointed solicitor general in 1771, in which office he is remarkable for having insulted Franklin in arguing on American affairs before the privy council. He joined the administration under Pitt, in 1793, and succeeded Lord Thurlow as chancellor; from which office he retired in 1801, with the title of Earl of Rosslyn. He is the author of a work on the management of prisons.
1815. British frigate Junon, Capt. C. Upton, captured the American privateer Guerrier, of 4 guns and 60 men, from Portsmouth, N. H.
1844. Levi Hedge, author of a treatise on logic and editor of an improved abridgment of Dr. Brown's Lectures on the Philosophy of Mind, died at Cambridge, England.
1847. John Shepherd, a soldier of the revolution, died at Royalton, Ohio, aged 119.
1853. The Pantheon in Paris reopened as the church of St. Genevieve.
JANUARY 4.
100. Titus, disciple of St. Paul, died at Crete.
1569. Burial of Roger Ascham, at St. Sepulchre's, London. He was a man of learning, and author of numerous works, among others, The Schoolmaster.
1649. Some barrels of gunpowder exploded and destroyed 60 houses in Tower street, London. A child in its cradle was found alive and unhurt on the roof of Barking church.
1689. Col. Henry Sloughter appointed governor of New York.
1698. The palace, except the banqueting house, of White-hall palace, in England, destroyed by fire.
1707. Louis William I, marquis of Baden-Baden, died. He was born at Paris 1655, where his mother wished to educate him; but his father and grandfather stole him away at the age of three months, that he might pass his childhood among the people whom he was destined to govern. He served his first campaign under Montellucco against Turenne. He was in Vienna when that city was besieged