APRIL 18.
515 B. C. The Jewish passover, a festival in commemoration of the destruction of the first born of the Egyptians, while the houses of the Jews were spared, was celebrated in the new temple.
1551. Nicholas Udall obtains a patent to print the works of Peter Martyr and the English Bible.
1552. John Leland, styled the father of antiquaries, died in London. He applied himself to his favorite pursuit with so much ardor as to impair his reason. He was the most accomplished writer of the age.
1556. Lewis Alemanni, a Florentine statesman, died. He was at the head of the faction that sought to expel the Medici; but finding himself unable to keep his popularity, he fled to France, where he was employed as a diplomatist.
1587. John Fox, the martyrologist, died, aged 70. His attention was early turned to the reformation, and he studied the early writers with so much devotion that his seclusion and frequent absence from church excited the persecution of his enemies, and occasioned him a great deal of misfortune.
1593. Shakspeare's poem of Venus Adonis entered in the books at Stationer's Hall.
1610. Robert Parsons, an English Jesuit, died at Rome. His abilities procured him the patronage of the pope, and he was employed in educating missionaries to convert protestants in England. He possessed the elements of turbulence and intrigue to a great extent, but his operations were entirely unsuccessful.
1630. Manors in America created.
1640. Peter Kirstenius, a German physician, died at Upsal. He applied himself with great assiduity to literature and science, acquired 26 languages, and published among other things an Arabic grammar.
1676. Sudbury, Mass., attacked by the Narragansetts. Several houses and barns were burnt, and a small party who had hastened from Concord to their relief were intercepted and cut off. Another party of 50, sent from Boston for the relief of Marlborough, which the Indians had totally destroyed the day before, went in pursuit of the enemy, were drawn into an ambush and suddenly surrounded by a body of 500. The gallant leader and his brave band fought with desperate valor to the last
man: but they fell a prey to the numbers, the artifice, and the bravery of their enemies. The Indians lost about 120.
1689. Sir Edmund Andros, governor of Massachusetts, seized and imprisoned by the people, and the old magistrates reinstated. This revolution was brought about after the colonists had borne the impositions of the new administration about three years, on the circulation of a rumor that a massacre was intended by the governor's guards.
1689. George Jeffreys, baron Wem, the infamous lord chancellor under James II, died. He was never formally admitted to the bar, yet continued to practice unrestrained until he attained the highest employments in the law. He was one of the advisers and promoters of all the oppressive and arbitrary measures of the reign of James II, till the revolution transferred him to the tower, where he died.
1710. Alexander Lainez, a French poet, died. His pieces possess great vivacity and elegance.
1710. Four Indian chiefs from eastern New England and Canada, arrived at London and were carried in the royal coaches to their audience with the queen.
1768. Madame Bontems, a French poetess, died at Paris. She was respected for her wit and knowledge; she published a translation of Thompson's Seasons.
1781. British evacuated Camden, S. C., after burning the jail, mill, several houses, the greater part of their baggage and stores, and a large quantity of private stores. They left 31 American and 58 British soldiers, and 3 officers, all too badly wounded to be removed.
1782. Naval action between the French and British fleets, in which Rodney of England defeated and took prisoner Count de Grasse of France.
1791. Louis XVI and the royal family arrested by the populace, while on their way to St. Cloud, and compelled to return to Paris.
1794. Charles Pratt, earl of Camden, died, aged 80. He was an eminent English statesman and judge, and particularly distinguished himself by his animation and eloquence in parliament.
1794. Jean Joseph de Laborde, a wealthy French merchant, guillotined. At the breaking out of the American revolution, he alone furnished the government with twelve million livres in gold at Brest, which enabled the expedition under Rochambeau to set sail. He sustained an admirable character and bestowed immense sums for charitable and benevolent objects. He fell a sacrifice to the fury of the revolution, at the age of 70, for no offence but that of being rich.
1796. Sidney Smith was taken prisoner on the French coast, and sent strongly guarded to Paris.
1797. Austria made peace with France, ceding the Netherlands, free navigation of the Rhine, &c., to France.
1802. Erasmus Darwin, an English poet, died. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and first appeared before the world as a poet in 1781, by the publication of the Botanical Garden. He has left behind him the character of an able man of great eccentricity. His publications tended to materialism, and although popular for a time, have nearly fallen into oblivion.
1831. John Abernethy, an eminent English surgeon, died. During his studies he was remarkable rather for the oddity of his conversation and manners, than for any indications of genius; and passed by the name of the ostler, on account of his attending the lectures in the dress of a groom. His medical and surgical works are numerous, and his eccentricity was proverbial.
1838. Enactment of the New York general banking law.
1842. Charles Bell, a distinguished medical author, and brother to the anatomist, John Bell, died at Edinburgh.
1847. The American army carried the heights of Cero Gordo with much loss, but took many prisoners.