The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
Clausel, adjutant general of the army of the Eastern Pyrennes, presented to the national convention 25 pairs of colors and a standard taken from the Spaniards at Figuieres.
1797. Battle of Cainin in Italy. The French under Murat passed the Tagliamento and attacked the Austrians, who were driven from the village, where the archduke had established his head quarters.
1799. John Dussaulx died. He distinguished himself in the war of Hanover under Richelieu, after which he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He took part in the French revolution, and was among the 73 proscribed deputies.
1799. A portion of the pavement in front of the Royal exchange, London, suddenly sank and a well of water was discovered which had not been used in 600 years.
1802. A military institution established by government at West Point, which was the origin of the present academy there.
1808. Joseph Bonomi, an Italian artist, died at London. He was distinguished particularly by his architectural knowledge and genius, was an associate of the royal academy, and patronized by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
1810. On a pane of glass at an inn near London, under this date, is the following inscription. "Thomas Mount Jones dined here, ate six pounds bacon, and drank nineteen pots beer." It is a question for discussion, whether in this frail memorial, the love of distinction and desire for fame were not as great as the love of brutal gluttony.
1813. Captain Berresford of the British ship Poictiers, 74 guns, demanded of the inhabitants of Lewistown, Delaware, 25 oxen and vegetables and hay, otherwise he threatened to destroy the town. The demand was refused.
1817. William Thompson, an industrious Scottish writer and compiler, died. He possessed ability, but his writings bear the marks of haste and want of care.
1838. Nathaniel Bowditch died at Boston, aged 65. His father and ancestors in several generations were by profession shipmasters. Notwithstanding the very limited advantages of his education, and his laborious employment through life for the support of his family, yet by his extraordinary genius and economy of time, he made great acquisitions in learning and science, gained most of the languages, and made himself the most eminent mathematician and astronomer that America has produced. He published the Practical Navigator, a standard book; but the great work on which his fame will rest, is the copious and profound commentary upon the Mechanique Celeste of La Place, of which he made the first entire translation, and published at his own expense in 4 vols. quarto; saying that he preferred spending a thousand dollars a year in that way to keeping a carriage.
1853. Anthony Dumond Stanley, an American mathematician, died, aged 42. Profoundly versed in the science, he had begun a series of works which would have placed his name high on the scroll of fame.
MARCH 17.
49 BC Pompey abandoned Italy, and took the sea with his legions, at Brundusium.
45 BC Battle of Munda, in Spain, between the armies of Cæsar and Pompey, which decided the fate of the Roman republic. These men did not consider the Roman empire sufficiently large for two of them.
180. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed the philosopher, died on an expedition against the Marcomanni. He was so extremely popular with his Roman subjects, that they placed him among the gods, and kept his statue in their houses.
464. St. Patrick, the tutelar saint of Ireland, died. He was carried away with many of his father's vassals by pirates, from whom he made his escape to Gaul and Italy. He received a commission from Pope Celestine to convert the Irish to Christianity, in which mission he was eminently successful.
807. A large spot noticed upon the sun's disc, which continued there eight days.
1072. Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, died. He became very powerful in Denmark, and even obliged the king to divorce his wife Gutha, because she was somewhat allied to him. Though intriguing and violent, he possessed some good qualities, and formed many wise regulations in civil and ecclesiastical affairs.
1562. Diego Esquivel Alava, a learned Spanish bishop, died. He was at the Council of Trent, and published a work on councils.
1565. Alexander Ales, a Scottish theologian, died. He first opposed the tenets of Luther, but afterwards embraced them, and suffered persecution. He wrote commentaries on some of the books of the old and new testament.
1632. Treaty of St. Germain, by which Canada and Nova Scotia were restored to the French. The capture of Quebec was unknown at the time peace was re-established, or perhaps those territories would not have been so generally given up.
1634. Thomas Randolph, an English poet, died. He was the friend of Jonson, and his works have been several times reprinted.
1640. Philip Massinger, an English dramatic poet, died. Some of his comedies still keep the stage. He was courted by the wits and learned men of his time.
1657. An offensive and defensive league concluded between France and England.
1676. Warwick, R. I., destroyed by the Indians. Only one house was left unburnt.
1677. Valenciennes, in France, taken by assault by the army under Louis XIV, in person.
1681. The members of the English parliament from London came to Oxford, the place of their meeting, armed and with ribbons on their hats inscribed with "No popery, no slavery."
1695. Augustin Lubin, an Augustine friar, died. He was geographer to the French king, and author of various works.
1715. Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, died. He was a zealous promoter of the revolution in England, which placed the present family on the throne, and of which he wrote the history.
1740. Mrs. Stevens received £5,000 from the English parliament for making public her medicine for the stone.
1741. John Baptist Rousseau, an eminent French poet, died. He possessed a fine genius, but an unhappy temper embittered his life by stimulating him to abuse those whose friendship would have procured him a place above dependence.
1767. Birthday of Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States.
1776. Boston evacuated by the British. By four in the morning the king's troops, with those Americans who were attached to the royal cause, began to embark, and before ten all of them were under sail. As the rear embarked, General Washington marched into the city, where he was joyfully received as a deliverer. The British left 250 cannon and 25,000 bushels of wheat.
1781. Johannes Evald died: the most distinguished poetical genius of Denmark, in the eighteenth century. Being left to his own reading by his tutor, his imagination was captivated with Tom Jones and Robinson Crusoe. Proposing to himself the latter hero for a model, he eloped at the age of thirteen with a view of proceeding to Batavia, but was overtaken, and his project frustrated. He next conceived the scheme of entering the Prussian army, and enlisted at Magdeburg; but being received only as a foot soldier, instead of a hussar, he deserted to the Austrians. On quitting the army he devoted himself to the study of theology, but having suddenly become violently enamored with a young lady, who regardless of his passion, bestowed her hand on another, a permanent melancholy settled upon his mind, and under this influence he took up his pen. His first work Fortune's Temple, a vision, at once stamped his reputation. In 1772 he executed his literary chef-d'œuvre, Balder's Död, a drama of extraordinary poetical beauty, and greatly superior to anything which had then appeared in the Danish language. His after life was embittered by poverty and sickness; and it was under the hospitable roof of Madame Skou that he breathed his last, after having been confined to his bed or armchair two years,