The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
Wakefield in Yorkshire, England.
1810. Masquerades and masked balls prohibited by the authorities in the city of Philadelphia.
1811. The Mexican patriots under Hidalgo totally defeated near Guadalaxara by the Spaniards under Calleja.
1813. Capture of the United States brig Vixen, 12 guns, Capt. Henley, by the British frigate Narcissus.
1815. The king of Spain issued an edict against freemasonry.
1817. At Philadelphia and Albany the singular phenomena of snow, clear weather, rain, snow, thunder and lightning, hail and snow, was observed in succession.
1836. Two engagements in the mountains of Arlaban, between the forces of the queen of Spain under Gen. Cordova and the Carlists, in which the latter were defeated.
1841. Rezin P. Bowie died at New Orleans, aged 48; "well known in the southwest by his many deeds of valor in its early history, among the Mexicans and savages."
1851. Spencer Compton, marquis of Northampton, died, aged 61. He was president of the Royal society; was associated with Wilberforce in the anti-slavery cause, and with Macintosh as a criminal law reformer.
1854. Two rail road bridges and crossings at Erie, Pa., destroyed by a mob of women, who were afterwards escorted through the town with banners, headed by a band of music.
1856. Zadock Thompson died, aged 59; author of several historical works relating to Vermont, and a naturalist.
JANUARY 18.
1486. Henry VII married the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV. Thus uniting the houses of York and Lancaster, blending the Roses.
1534. Lima, the present capital of Peru, founded by Pizarro; thirty years before a single town was founded within the limits of the United States, St. Augustine, Florida, being founded 1565.
1546. The council of Trent assembled and agreed upon a confession of faith.
1561. The first English tragedy performed, at Whitehall, before the queen. It was entitled Gorboduc, from the name of a supposed ancient British king, and was written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton. It consists of five acts, each preceded by a dumb show, prefiguring what is to occur; the first four acts close by choruses in rhyme, and the fifth by a didactic speech of nearly two hundred lines. Sir Philip Sydney pronounced it "full of stately speeches and well-sounding phrases, climbing to the height of Seneca his stile, and full of notable morality, which it doth most delightfully teach."
1701. Frederick III of Brandenburgh crowned first king of Prussia, by the title of Frederick I.
1703. Thomas Hyde died. He was an Oriental interpreter during the reigns of Charles II, James II, and William III.
1713. Arcangelo Corelli, an Italian composer, died. He became so great a master in the science of music, that his countrymen bestowed on him the cognomen of Il Divino.
1718. Samuel Garth, an English poet and physician, died. He settled in London where by his professional skill he soon acquired a very extensive practice; and by his wit and conversational powers distinguished himself among the literati of the day.
1739. Samuel Bernard, one of the richest and most celebrated financiers of Europe, died at Paris. His funeral procession equaled that of a prince in point of magnificence and in the train of distinguished attendants.
1775. John Baskerville, an eminent English printer, died. He was a man fertile in invention, and effected improvements in the art which could scarcely have been expected from the exertions of a single individual.
1777. Battle of Kingsbridge, N. Y., between the Americans under Gen. Heath and the Hessians.
1782. Dumiter Raduly died at Haromszeck, at the remarkable age of 140.
1793. George Gordon, an English nobleman, after five years' imprisonment, appeared to give bail; but the attorney-general refused to accept of it. He was therefore remanded.
1795. The French under Salm took Utrecht in Holland, and Gen. Van Damme took Arnhem; the prince of Orange and his family escaping to England.
1797. Francis Lightfoot Lee, an American statesman, died at his residence in Virginia, aged 63.
1804. Goree taken by the French from the English.
1806. Eugene Napoleon Beauharnais married to Augusta Amelia, daughter of the king of Bavaria.
1810. Lyon Levy, a jeweler, threw himself from the monument in London.
1811. Gen. Junot wounded in the face by a musket ball, while reconnoitering the British lines.
1813. Battle at Frenchtown in Michigan, between the United States troops and the British and Indians, when the latter were defeated. American loss, 12 killed, 55 wounded.
1815. The British decamped from before Fort St. Philip, on the Mississippi, which they had bombarded from the 9th. About 12 o'clock at night they took to their boats, leaving 80 of their wounded, 14 pieces heavy artillery, and a great quantity of shot.
1815. Stanislaus, chevalier de Bouffleurs, died at Paris, aged 78. He was the son of the marchioness de Bouffleurs, mistress of Stanislaus, king of Poland. He distinguished himself in the army, which however he left to give his attention to literature. He was considered one of the most ingenious men of his time, and was noted for the elegance of his manners and conversation. The epitaph on his tomb, written by himself, is characteristic of him: Mes amis, croyez vous que je dors?
1816. Thanksgiving throughout England on the restoration of peace.
1819. John Willson, died in London, aged 52. He sometime held the chief command at Ceylon, and subsequently administered the government of Upper Canada.
1826. Ommeganck, one of the most celebrated Dutch landscape painters, died at Antwerp. His pieces are distinguished for good taste, and for freshness and warmth of coloring.
1829. John George Henry Hassel, a distinguished German geographer and statistical writer, died at Weimar.
1834. Nathaniel Ames died at Providence. He was the son of Fisher Ames, and a seaman by profession. He is the author of Mariners' Sketches, Nautical Reminiscences, and Old Sailor's Yarns.
1848. John Deidrich Peterson died at Markham, Canada. He was the pioneer pastor of that town.
1854. Judah Touro died at New Orleans, aged 78; bequeathing nearly two millions of dollars to the public institutions of that city.
1854. William Walker proclaimed the republic of Sonora.
JANUARY 19.
1472. Birthday of Copernicus, at Thorn in Prussia.
1514. Vasco Nunez de Balboa returned to his colony at Darien, after having made the discovery of the Pacific ocean. His expedition occupied four months and a half; his triumph was complete. The whole population poured down to the shore to meet him, to hail him as the author of their fortunes, as less a man than a gift of heaven, to guide them into the possession of glories and riches incalculable. The expedition had been undertaken in consequence of the extravagant representations by the Indians, of a people who lived on the borders of that ocean, six suns distant, who owned large ships, and