The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
for him an unenviable notoriety.
1750. John Bland, the renowned writing master, died at his academy in London.
1759. Battle of Wandewash, in India. The French under Lally defeated with the loss of 800 killed and wounded, by the British under Col. Coote, who lost 262 do.
1769. The first letter of Junius appeared in Woodfall's Public Advertiser; and the last number was also published on this day, 1772.
1773. Alexis Piron, a French dramatist, died. His first effusions were satires, which procured him so many enemies that even in the latter part of his life he could not get admission into the Academy. He revenged himself by calling them les invalides du bel esprit, and composing his own humorous epitaph:
Ci-git Piron, qui ne fut rien,
Pas même académicien.
1774. Mustapha III, emperor of Turkey, died, and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamet.
1775. Pugatchef, the daring chief of the Tartars, defeated by the Russians, into whose hands he fell and was put to death.
1780. Admiral Rodney of the English fleet arrived with his prizes and transports for the relief of Gibraltar; the garrison was short of provisions.
1782. Grand fete in Paris on the birth of the dauphin.
1793. Louis XVI beheaded at Paris, aged 38. He had reigned 17 years and 7 months, and is now represented as an amiable and benevolent man, anxious to make his subjects happy; who in turn treated him in the vilest manner, and executed him as a tyrant and a traitor. His behavior on many trying occasions vindicated him effectually of timidity, and showed that the unwillingness to shed blood by which he was particularly distinguished, arose from benevolence, and not from pusillanimity. Upon the scaffold he exhibited a firmness that became a noble spirit.
1814. Jacques Bernardin Henry de St. Pierre, a French philosophical writer, died, at his estate near Paris. He is best known as the author of Paul and Virginia, which appeared in 1788, and passed through fifty editions in one year. It has been generally translated in Europe.
1815. Matthias Claudius, a German poet, died. His prose and poetry are said to bear a peculiar stamp of humor, frankness and cordiality, and many of his songs, set to music by the first composers, have become a part of the national melodies. He filled several public offices.
1816. Day of general mourning in France, on account of the death of Louis XVI, twenty-three years after his execution.
1820. Ambroise Marie Francis Joseph Palisot de Beauvais, a French naturalist, died. He came to America in the pursuit of science, and while at Philadelphia learnt that he had been proscribed by the revolutionists as an emigrant. He supported himself as a teacher of music and languages until the arrival of the French minister, who afforded Palisot the means of prosecuting inquiries into the natural history of America. He was employed to arrange Peale's collection. On returning to France with his rich collections, he was admitted into the Institute, in the place of Adanson.
1824. Charles Macarthy killed. He commanded at the Cape-Coast against the Ashantees. Whilst making preparations to repel these savages in 1821, the king sent his compliments to him, and said he hoped to have his head as an ornament to their great war drum. Subsequently Sir Charles marched against the enemy with a mixed force of Europeans and blacks; the latter ran away, and the whites being defeated and their commander captured, the ferocious menace was realized. The trophy however was afterwards recovered.
1839. Great conflagration at Constantinople, in which the grand vizier's palace, called the Sublime Porte, including the ministerial and administration offices, was destroyed. Loss estimated at 20,000,000 piasters.
1847. Major James Morton, died at High Hill, Virginia, aged 90. In the revolutionary war he acquired the cognomen of Solid Column, by which soubriquet he was recognized by La Fayette in 1824, at Richmond.
1854. The magnificent British vessel Tayleur on its voyage to Melbourne, wrecked on the Irish coast, and 370 persons lost.
JANUARY 22.
The Catagogia, an erotic and bacchanalian festival celebrated at Ephesus by its licentious devotees, about the first century.
97. Timothy, to whom St. Paul addressed several epistles, is said to have been killed at Paris (Ephesus).
1265. First English parliament constituted of members from counties, &c., as at present, met.
1528. Henry VIII and Francis I declared war against Charles V of Germany.
1552. The duke of Somerset beheaded on pretence of inciting others to imprison Dudley, the duke of Northumberland. He was a distinguished writer of that age.
1561. Birthday of Francis Bacon, the English philosopher.
1562. The two houses of convocation subscribed the 39 articles of the English church.
1575. Queen Elizabeth granted to Thomas Tallis and William Birde an exclusive patent for printing music, for the term of twenty-one years.
1683. Anthony Ashley Cooper, first earl of Shaftsbury, died. The career of this able, but dubious and versatile statesman was cast in a stormy period, and his acts have been severely reprehended. Yet much of it is to be attributed to the odium excited by opposing party feelings. His vices appear to have been redeemed by corresponding virtues, and had he appeared in a different age, it is likely he would have developed a different character.
1689. The British parliament having met under the name of a convention, declared that the king, James II, had abdicated the throne. William and Mary succeeded him.
1696. Birthday of James Brucker, a German scholar, remembered by his Critical History of Philosophy, 6 vols. 4to. He gives an account of every school, from the Hebrew, Chaldaic and Egyptian, down to the Huron in America.
1749. Matthew Concanen, some time attorney-general of Jamaica, and a dramatic writer, died.
1788. Birthday of Lord Byron.
1795. The French under Macdonald entered Naarden, Holland.
1800. George Stevens died, best known as the editor of Shakspeare, though to the versatility and richness of his talent there are numerous testimonials. His literary collections were extremely curious, and as regards the days that are gone, of great value.
1809. Naval action off Guadaloupe between the British frigate Cleopatra and sloop of war Hazard, and the French frigate Topaz, 40 guns. The engagement lasted 45 minutes, and resulted in the capture of the Topaz, which was laden with provisions to relieve the garrison at Cayenne.
1810. The French forced the passage of the Sierra Morena, in Spain.
1812. Madame Reichard ascended in a balloon to a great height at Kœnigsberg in Prussia. The balloon was totally destroyed by a hurricane, and the aeronaut precipitated to the earth, yet escaped with life.
1813. Second battle of Frenchtown in Michigan. The van of Gen. Harrison's army, about 750 men, was attacked at day break by 2000 British and Indians under Proctor and Tecumseh. Notwithstanding the superiority of the latter in numbers, the Americans fought with desperation six hours, when they surrendered. British loss, as stated by Proctor, 24 killed, 128 wounded; the loss of the Indians is supposed to have been greater. American loss, 200 killed, 522 prisoners, 27 escaped. Proctor was promoted.
1815. The remains of Louis XVI and his queen taken up from the burial ground, and deposited with much solemnity in the royal