The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
and subsequently several other papers, and manifested his literary abilities by the production of several successful comedies. He obtained a baronetcy, and at the time of his decease was a magistrate for eleven counties.
1824. John Lempriere died, author of the Biographical Dictionary. He was an English prelate, and an excellent classical scholar.
1833. Elizabeth Moore died, in Pitt county, North Carolina, aged 101.
1837. A memorial was presented to congress, signed by 56 authors of Great Britain, praying that body to secure to them the exclusive right to their respective writings in the United States.
1837. Edward Donovan died, near London, a celebrated author on natural history.
1837. Simpson, in the service of the Hudson Bay company, reached Athabasca, having completed since the first of December a journey of 1277 statute miles, the preliminary step of the expedition.
1845. Samuel McGwinn, known as the Caithness Veteran, died at Andover, New-Hampshire, aged 110.
1851. Mary Wolstonecraft, widow of Percy Bysshe Shelley, died, aged 53; known in authorship by her Travels and Frankenstein.
1852. Ohio state house burnt, and a large mass of valuable papers perished with it.
1854. Silvio Pellico died near Turin in Italy. In 1820 he was seized by the Austrians as a carbonaro, while employed as a tutor, and confined in the fortress of Spielberg ten years. On his release he was employed as librarian by the Marchesa Barolo until his death.
1854. The splendid Parliament house at Quebec, with the government library and philosophical apparatus, were destroyed by fire.
1855. The United States surveying steamer Water Witch, ascending the Paraguay in violation of the ordinance that no man of war should enter that river, was fired at from the fort, and one man killed. The Water Witch returned the fire and backed down the stream.
1856. Ivan Fedorowitch Paskiewitsch, vice-roy of Poland, died, aged 74. He distinguished himself in all the wars of the Russian empire, beginning with that of the invasion of 1812.
FEBRUARY 2.
1141. Battle of Lincoln, and defeat of Stephen, king of England, by the earl of Gloucester. The king, whose valor deserved a better fortune, was taken prisoner, loaded with irons, and Matilda proclaimed queen.
1421. Henry V entered London from the complete conquest of France, which had been accomplished in about five years, and was received by the people amidst such pageants and popular rejoicings as that capital had never witnessed.
1461. Battle of Mortimer's Cross near Ludlow, where the king's forces were defeated, Owen Tudor taken and beheaded.
1529. Balthazar Castiglione, an Italian nobleman and poet, died. He was also so well skilled in painting, sculpture and architecture, that it is said Raphael and Michael Angelo, though incomparable artists, never thought their works perfect unless they had his approbation.
1626. Charles I of England crowned at Westminster. He wore the white rather than the purple robe, and to prevent the increase of the plague omitted the usual ceremony of riding in state.
1643. Prince Rupert took Cirencester for Charles, by storm; 200 slain.
1653. New York city incorporated.
1682. John Pautre died; an eminent French designer and engraver. His works were published in 3 vols. folio, and contained more than 1000 engravings.
1688. Abraham du Quesne died. He was a native of Normandie in France, and distinguished himself in the navy by a series of valorous and successful engagements.
1705. A new eruption of the peak of Teneriffe, forming the third volcanic mouth.
1723. Richard Sare, an eminent printer, died. A sermon preached at his death was well received and went through many editions.
1745. A conspiracy of 900 negroes to murder their masters in Jamaica was discovered by a negress to her mistress, because the plotters would not save a child she had nursed.
1752. The contributors to the Pennsylvania hospital, having rented a house, admitted their first patients.
1768. Arthur Onslow died. He was 33 years speaker in the English house of commons and the third of his family that had been nominated to that office.
1771. John Lockman, an English dramatic writer, died.
1787. Gen. Arthur St. Clair elected president of the American congress.
1788. James Stuart died; sometimes called Athenian Stuart, a very celebrated traveler and delineator of Athenian architecture.
1794. The French convention decreed it treason for any officer to surrender his ship to a force less than double his own!
1797. Mantua surrendered to the French, who now became entire masters of the pope's dominions; whereupon Napoleon dictates to his holiness those pious terms of pacification signed ten days after.
1798. The Federal street theatre, in Boston, entirely destroyed by fire.
1799. Thomas Paine, often called the Literary Merchant, died. Few mercantile men become literary men.
1799. Elizabeth Woodcock, an English woman, returning home from market in one of the most stormy nights ever known in England, was overwhelmed in a snow drift, where she remained eight days without sustenance. When discovered her mental faculties were unimpaired, but she had lost the use of her feet, and died some months after.
1801. The first imperial parliament of Great Britain assembled in London.
1804. George Walton died, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was a native of Virginia, served an apprenticeship to a carpenter, removed to Georgia and studied law. He was foremost among the patriots of that state who assembled to devise measures of resistance to the acts of parliament in relation to American taxations.
1806. Miranda sailed from New York on his expedition to revolutionize South-America.
1806. Thomas Banks died. He was bred a wood carver, to which he served an apprenticeship. But having taken several premiums for models of sculpture he turned his attention to that art, and was sent to Rome to study at the academy's expense. From Italy he repaired to Russia, where he stayed two years; but not meeting with any adequate encouragement, he returned to his own country. A colossal statue of Achilles mourning the loss of Briseis is his masterpiece. He closed a life of arduous exertion, at the age of 70; and there are monuments, both in Russia and England that will long attest his skill.
1807. Battle of Bergfried near the lower Vistula. Bonaparte defeated the Russians after a severe and sanguinary contest, in which Soult, Augereau, &c., distinguished themselves very highly. The French took four pieces of cannon and 1700 prisoners. Same day, the French general Guyot captured the whole of the Russian magazines at Guttstadt.
1808. The French subverted the papal government at Rome.
1814. Bonaparte defeated at Brienne with the loss of 173 cannons and 4000 men.
1817. The Scottish regalia, which had been deposited in a chest in 1707, (see March 26) was examined by a deputation. The doors were removed, and the floor was found covered with 6 inches of dust. No keys being found, the oaken chest was forced open, and found to contain the ancient crown, scepter and sword of state, as they had been deposited 111