The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
Herrera, ex-president of the republic of Mexico, died. He was one of the veterans of the war of independence, and as a statesman, had given proofs of the loftiest patriotism and disinterestedness.
1856. President Rivas decreed the annexation of the whole Mosquito territory to Nicaragua.
FEBRUARY 11.
641. Heraclius, emperor of the East, died. He was the son of a governor of Africa, conspired against Phocas, whom he beheaded, and ascended the throne of Constantinople.
1225. Henry III subscribed the great charter of English liberties, which was witnessed by 13 bishops, 20 abbots, and 32 earls and barons.
1451. Amurath II, emperor of the Ottomans, died. He was the first Turk who used cannon in battle.
1502. Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII, died in childbirth, in the tower of London, on her birth day, aged 36. She married Henry in 1486, by which the antagonist houses of York and Lancaster were united.
1503. James Tyrell supposed to be one of the murderers of Edward V, executed as a traitor. He is said to have confessed his agency in the death of both the young princes.
1543. An alliance was formed between Henry VIII of England, and the emperor Charles V.
1573. Drake the navigator was conducted by the Symerons to a tree notched with steps, which served them for a watch tower, and from the summit of which he had a view of the two oceans, one of which no English vessel had ever yet navigated.
1650. Rene Descartes, a celebrated French philosopher and mathematician, died, aged 54. His superior intellect early manifested itself. He embraced the military profession, and served in various countries, the better to make observations and form satisfactory conclusions on scientific subjects. He finally settled in Holland, where during the last 20 years of his life, the greater part of his works were written. It is said of him that he extended the limits of geometry as far beyond the place where he found them, as Sir Isaac Newton did after him.
1659. Francis Osborne died; an English writer of great abilities.
1733. John Perry, a celebrated English engineer, died. He was patronized by czar Peter of Russia, of which country he wrote a history.
1761. A usurer fined at Guildhall, London, £300 for having exacted six guineas to discount £100 for six weeks.
1763. Peter Carlet de Mariveaux, a French romancer, died. The great characteristic of his works, is to convey a useful moral under the veil of wit and sentiment.
1763. William Shenstone died, aged 50. His father was a gentleman farmer, who cultivated a moderate estate, called the Leasowes, which were rendered celebrated by the taste of the son. Having finished his studies, and come into possession of the paternal property, he gave himself up to rural embellishments and the cultivation of poetry. He wrote for fame, which was not awarded him by his cotemporaries and he died broken hearted. "He was a lamp that spent its oil in blazing." His principal poem is The Schoolmistress.
1771. Jean de Beaurain died; a French negotiator and geographer. He was made geographer to Louis XV at the age of 25.
1771. John Burton, a learned English divine, died, leaving some ingenious writings, collected under the title of Opuscula Miscellanea.
1780. The British under Sir Henry Clinton landed in St. John's Island, about 30 miles from Charleston, S. C.
1793. Great Britain issued letters of marque and reprisal against France.
1797. Francis Lightfoot Lee, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and a brave officer in the American revolution, died at Richmond, Va., aged 63.
1807. Revolution in St. Domingo, in which a profusion of blood was shed.
1810. The spire and part of the tower of St. Nicholas' church at Liverpool, fell through the roof and killed several in the church.
1811. Battle of Laffesat, in which the Prussians defeated the Turks, after a sanguinary contest.
1814. Battle of Montmirail between the French under Bonaparte, and the Russians under D'Yorck.
1815. Fort Boyer, Mobile, with a garrison of 375, surrendered to 5,000 British under Lambert, with a fleet of 13 ships of the line and 25 smaller vessels. Col. Lawrence received a wound, and seeing that it was useless to contend against such odds, struck his flag. British loss 31; American 10.
1821. Adam Walker died. He was apprenticed to a weaver; but ultimately became a lecturer on philosophy, which he adopted as a profession, and traveled in England for the purpose of lecturing on that science.
1827. Jose Maria Abrantes, a Portuguese nobleman died in exile. He was the friend of Don Miguel, of infamous memory.
1828. De Witt Clinton died at his residence in Albany, aged 59. He was born in the town of Little Britain, Orange county, N. Y., 1769, and educated for the bar. He was at an early age elected to a seat in the legislature, and continued to hold offices of honor and emolument until the day of his death, at which time he was governor of the state of New York. It is to his perseverance in a great measure, that we owe the construction of the Erie canal. As a public character he is entitled to durable renown, and no one was ever more ambitious of a reputation for science and literature.
1837. John Latham, an eminent English naturalist and ornithologist, died, aged 97. He was one of the founders of the Linnean society, and commenced the publication of his last work at the age of 82.
1844. Henry Kifer, a soldier of the revolution, died at North Woodbury, Pa., aged 110½ years.
1856. Caroline Lee Hentz, a well known American novelist, died.
FEBRUARY 12.
590. Pelagius II, pope of Rome, died. In his time a plague raged at Rome of so strange a nature, that persons seized with it died sneezing and gaping.
1401. William Sawtry, a Lollard, condemned and burned to death at London for heresy.
1448. A general poll tax of 6d. with 6s. 8d. on every merchant stranger, and 20d. on their clerks, granted by parliament to Henry VI.
1542. Catharine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, beheaded. The execution of this ungrateful woman excited no commiseration, as she had been the principal instrument in the accusations against Anne Boleyn, her predecessor.
1554. Jane Grey beheaded, at the age of 17. She was the daughter of Mary, youngest sister of Henry VIII, and a woman of uncommon beauty, talents and learning, for her years, to which she added great amiability of disposition, and fortitude of mind. Her disastrous fate created an extraordinary interest in her favor, which has continued unabated. "Good Christian people, you come here to see me die; not for any thing I have offended, for I will deliver to my God a soul as pure from trespass, as innocence from injustice."
1589. Blanche Perry died, chief gentlewoman to Queen Elizabeth, and a great lover of antiquities, besides a very tasteful writer.
1640. William Alexander, Lord Stirling, died; a dramatic poet and statesman in the time of James and Charles I. His poetry, for purity and elegance, is far beyond the generality of the productions of the age in which he lived.
1660. General Monk, now reconciled