The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
destroyed off St. Vincent by the British fleet of 19 sail, under Rodney. Langara was dangerously wounded and taken prisoner. One of the Spanish ships with 600 men on board was blown up, and all perished. The British lost 32 killed and 102 wounded.
1790. The bean-fed friars ejected from their convents by an augean labor of the French revolution.
1794. Edward Gibbon, the historian, died, aged 57. During his visit to Rome in 1764, he formed the plan of writing the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In 1774 he obtained a seat in parliament, and two years after appeared the first quarto volume of his history. A disorder which he had endured twenty three years terminated in a mortification.
1795. Retreat of the British from Utrecht, in Holland, upon which the inhabitants capitulated to the French.
1796. The first theatre at Botany bay opened by the convicts at Sydney cove.
1809. Battle of Corunna in Spain, between the French and English, and death of Sir John Moore, who fell mortally wounded by a cannon shot, at the moment of victory achieved by the troops under his command. His men buried him in his cloak, and the French, in testimony of his gallantry, erected a monument over his remains. He was unmarried and in his 47th year.
1812. The king of Sicily, on account of ill-health, abdicated the throne in favor of his son, until he should recover. It is remarkable that Great Britain, Spain, Portugal and Sweden were governed by regents or viceroys at the same time.
1813. Lewis Barney died at Champlain, New York, aged 105. He had 24 children by one wife.
1815. Henry Thornton, founder of the Sierra Leone company, and a writer on the credit of Great Britain, died.
1816. The bridge at the falls of the Schuylkill fell with the great body of snow upon it.
1816. John Wright, the first constable of Cumberland county, Virginia, died, aged 107.
1817. Alexander James Dallas, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, died. He filled the office of secretary of state in Pennsylvania many years; and also that of secretary of the treasury of the United States a short time previous to his death.
1838. Dorothy Torrey died at Windsor, Conn., aged 107.
1843. State lunatic asylum, at Utica, New York, went into operation.
1854. Alden Partridge died at Norwich, Vt.; nearly fifty years engaged in military instruction, and some time principal of West Point academy.
JANUARY 17.
86. BC Caius Marius, the Roman consul, died. He was the son of a farmer in indigent circumstances; but by his talents and energy raised himself to the highest dignity of the greatest state in the world.
395. The Emperor Theodosius died at Milan, soliciting his heirs faithfully to execute his will.
1009. Abd-el-Malek, a Moorish prince, crucified by his conqueror.
1380. An act of parliament passed, by which foreign ecclesiastics were incapacitated from holding benefices in England.
1467. John Castriotto, (or Scanderbeg) prince of Albania, died. His father placed him as a hostage with the sultan of Turkey, by whom he was educated in the Mohammedan faith, and at the age of 18 placed at the head of a body of troops. He afterwards deserted to the Christians, and on ascending the throne of his fathers renounced the Mohammedan faith. He obtained repeated victories over the Turks. After his death, when Albania submitted to the Moslem dominion, the Turks dug up his bones which they wore to transfer his courage to themselves.
1524. Verrazano sailed from a desolate rock near Madeira, with fifty men and provisions for eight months, arms, munitions and other naval stores, on his voyage westwardly, expecting to reach Cathay.
1546. Martin Luther preached his final sermon at Wittemberg.
1556. Philip Nerli, the Florentine historian, died.
1684. Wentworth Dillon, earl of Roscommon, died at Rome. The early part of his life was spent in dissipation, but he afterwards conducted with more discretion, and became distinguished among the wits of the day. Johnson calls him the most correct writer of English verse before Dryden.
1694. A powder magazine of 218 barrels exploded at Dublin, doing much damage.
1701. Roger Morris, an English chaplain, died, aged 73. He was a diligent collector of ecclesiastical manuscripts relating to the history of the English church, whereof, says Strype, "he left vast heaps behind him."
1705. John Ray, an English naturalist, died. He was the son of a blacksmith; received a liberal education at Cambridge, and devoted himself to science and literature. His publications were numerous.
1706. Birthday of Benjamin Franklin.
1733. George Byng, an English admiral, died. He entered the navy at the age of 15, and gradually rose to the highest honors and distinctions.
1746. Battle of Falkirk, in which the forces of the Pretender were victorious over the royal army.
1750. The singular ceremony of the Greek church of consecrating the water in memory of Christ's baptism, performed at St. Petersburg.
1766. Frederick V, king of Denmark and Norway, died.
1781. Battle of the Cowpens, in South Carolina, and defeat of 1100 British under Tarleton, by an inferior force of Americans under Morgan. British loss 100 killed and wounded, and 500 prisoners; 800 muskets, 2 field pieces, 35 baggage wagons, and 100 dragoon horses fell into the hands of the conquerors. The loss of the Americans was 12 killed and 60 wounded.
1783. Action between the British frigate Magicienne and the French frigate Sybille. The latter lost her masts, and was captured a few days after by the Hussar.
1789. John Ledyard, the traveler, died. He was born at Groton, Conn., 1751; entered Dartmouth college at the age of 19, but for some reproof resolved to escape: accordingly he felled a tree on the bank of the Connecticut, of which he constructed a canoe, and descended the river 140 miles to Hartford: studied theology a while, and then enlisted as a common sailor for a voyage to Gibraltar; accompanied Capt. Cook in one of his voyages, of which he published an account. Not meeting with assistance to prosecute any of the daring enterprises he proposed, he finally determined to make the tour of the globe from London east, on foot; and had proceeded as far as Yakutsk in Siberia, when he was arrested by order of the queen as a French spy and hurried back to the frontiers of Poland. He returned to London, he says, "disappointed, ragged, pennyless, but with a whole heart." He had scarcely taken lodgings when Sir Joseph Banks proposed an African expedition. He accepted the offer and proceeded as far as Cairo, where he was attacked by a disease which carried him off.
1789. Charles IV proclaimed king of Spain.
1791. Lord Dungarvon, an Irish peer, was tried at the Old Bailey, London, for stealing three and a half guineas from a poor woman in town, but was acquitted.
1792. George Horne, bishop of Norwich, died. His Sermons and Commentary on the Psalms, are well known.
1795. The stadtholder, William V, obtained permission from the States General to withdraw from Holland.
1800. The church at Chelmsford, England, fell; it was first built in 1424.
1804. Charles Nisbet died, aged 67. He was a Scotch clergyman, and the first president of Dickinson college in Pennsylvania.
1806. An iris or lunar rainbow was seen for one hour (9¼ to 10¼) at