The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
of Contents
747 BC The era of Narbonassar (a king of Babylon) called also the Egyptian year, began on the first day of the month Thoth, corresponding with this day in the Julian calendar. The years are vague, containing 365 days without intercalation, so that in the year 31 BC the beginning of the year fell on the 29th August, and at the end of 1460 years it ran through all the Julian months.
The Mexican year began also on the 26th February. It is also certain that the Mexican calendar conformed greatly with the Egyptian.
387. In consequence of a sermon preached by John Chrysostom on drunkenness and blasphemy, a sedition broke out at Antioch. The statues of Theodosius and the imperial family were thrown from their pedestals and demolished by the tumultuous citizens.
398. John Chrysostom, or the preacher with the golden mouth, elected archbishop of Constantinople.
1426. John de Brogni died; originally a swine herd in Savoy; he distinguished himself for learning, virtue and piety, and was raised to the dignity of cardinal.
1512. Robert Fabyan, an English historian, died. He was brought up to a trade, became a merchant, and an alderman of London. His Chronicle was burnt by Wolsey.
1553. Four English noblemen, namely, Ralph Vane, Miles Partridge, Michael Stanhope and Thomas Arundel, were executed as accomplices to the duke of Somerset.
1611. Anthony Possevin, a Jesuit, died at Ferrara. He was distinguished as a preacher, and employed by the pope in embassies to different countries.
1616. Galileo appeared before Cardinal Bellarmine to renounce his heretical opinions; and having declared that he abandoned the doctrine of the earth's motion, and would neither defend nor teach it, in his conversation or his writings, he was dismissed from the bar of the inquisition.
1638. Claude Meziriac, a Jesuit, died; known as a poet in several languages.
1686. Godfrey, count d'Estrades, died.
1696. Charles Scarborough, an eminent English physician and mathematician, died. He succeeded Dr. Harvey as lecturer on anatomy and surgery.
1723. Thomas d'Urfey, an English poet, died. He was a man of sparkling talents, but his poetic and dramatic pieces are now forgotten. His Pills to Purge Melancholy is yet upon the shelves of many English libraries.
1726. Emanuel Maximilian, elector of Bavaria, died. He distinguished himself under the emperor Leopold, was placed at the head of the Hungarian army, and made governor of the Low Countries by the king of Spain.
1729. The British parliament resolved that it was an indignity and a breach of privilege for any one to publish the debates or report the proceedings of the house.
1767. Hyder Ally and the nizam of Deccan defeated by the British at Errour, near Trincomalee, in Ceylon.
1769. William Duncombe, an English dramatic author, died. He translated Horace.
1770. Joseph Tartini died at Padua; an Italian musician, distinguished for his extraordinary performances on the violin.
1774. John Tice died at Hagley, England, aged 125.
1775. Gen. Gage despatched 140 soldiers under Col. Leslie to seize the military stores collected at Salem. The people foiled the expedition by drawing up a bridge and causing other delays till it was too late to effect any thing, and they returned bootless.
1789. The Cayugas sold their lands to the state of New York.
1802. Alexander Geddes died at Paddington, England. He was a catholic and is represented as a man of profound research in biblical literature, and employed himself many years in a new translation of the Bible, which he did not live to finish.
1807. Battle of Braunsberg in Prussian Poland, in which a division of 10,000 Russians were overthrown by the French, who took 2,000 prisoners and 16 cannon.
1810. John Dalrymple, a Scottish author, died, aged 84. He was for many years baron of the exchequer in Scotland.
1813. Robert R. Livingston, an American statesman, died. He was one of the committee which drew up the Declaration of Independence. He was afterwards chancellor of the state of New York, and minister to France. He assisted Fulton with means to carry his experiments into effect, which gave to this country the honor of the first successful steam boat.
1815. Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba, accompanied by 1000 of his old guards, who had followed him into exile.
1823. John Philip Kemble died; one of the most eminent tragedians of the British stage since the days of Garrick. He possessed talent and learning, and was an author.
1826. John Kay, caricaturist, engraver, barber, and miniature painter, died in Edinburgh. His small shop in Parliament close, was a great lounging place for the idlers of the town.
1827. William Kitchener, an English physician, died. He is distinguished for his experiments in cookery; he treated eating and drinking as the only serious business of life, and promulgated the laws of the culinary art, under the title of the Cook's Oracle, professedly founded on his own practice. He possessed an ample fortune, which enabled him to follow the bent of his eccentricities.
1831. John Bell, who gave direction and name to Bell's Weekly Messenger at London, died.
1833. Elizabeth Pearce died in Johnson county, North Carolina, aged 111.
1833. The spasmodic cholera appeared at Havana, and in about one month from that time had destroyed 7000 persons.
1834. Aloys Senefelder, inventor of lithography, died at Munich, aged 63.
1852. Thomas Moore, the celebrated Irish poet, died, aged 73.
1854. The gallery of the French opera house at New Orleans fell during the performance, carrying away the second tier, by which the occupants were precipitated into the parquette, killing 3, and badly wounding 56 persons.
1854. Three shocks of an earthquake at Manchester, Kentucky, by which the houses were violently shaken.
1855. Gen. Jackson's sword presented to congress by the heirs of Gen. Armstrong.
1855. Henry Pierpont Edwards, an American judge, died at New York, aged 46.
1856. At the breaking up of the ice on the Mississippi at St. Louis, 23 steam boats were wrecked.
FEBRUARY 27.
212. Geta, emperor of Rome, slain by his brother Caracalla, who was incited to the deed by jealousy.
1411. The charter of the university of St. Andrews, at Aberdeen in Scotland, granted.
1642. Tobias Crisp died; a controversial writer on divinity, and a great champion on antinomianism.
1697. John Berkley, baron of Stratton, died; a noted commander in the English fleet.
1706. John Evelyn, the English diarist, died. He is ranked among the greatest philosophers of England, who turned his pen readily to almost every topic. His Diary is a curious book, extending nearly from his childhood to his death, and contains much information not elsewhere to be found.
1735. John Arbuthnot, a Scottish physician, died. He was attached to the court of Queen Anne, was eminent