APRIL 29.
997. Adalbert, archbishop of Prague, murdered. His zeal led him among foreigners as a missionary; after visiting Bohemia, he went among the Poles, by whom he was killed. Boleslaus purchased his body for its weight in gold.
1075. Waltheof, earl of Huntingdon and Northampton, executed by William the conqueror. He had married Judith, William's niece; and being considered by the English as the last resource of their nation, they most grievously lamented his death.
1205. King John, along with wine of various kinds to be transmitted to Windsor,
ordered to be sent immediately the romance of the History of England.
1594. Thomas Cooper, an English prelate, died; highly commended for his great learning and eloquence.
1643. Ferdinando, lord Fairfax, the father of the famous General Fairfax, defeated at Bramham moor, by the earl of Newcastle.
1649. Dockier, a prominent leader of the Levelers, in the times of the English commonwealth, was shot by order of the government.
1652. A great eclipse of the sun in England. The almanacs of the day did not let so favorable an opportunity escape for exercising their power over the ignorant, and accordingly their prognostics created such a terror among the inhabitants "and so exceedingly alarmed the whole nation," says Evelyn, "that hardly any one would work, nor stir out of their houses. So ridiculously were they abused by ignorant and knavish star-gazers."
1659. John Cleveland, an English poet, died. He was contemporary with Milton, and preferred before him by critics of the day, but has now sunk into oblivion.
1676. Michael Adrian de Ruyter, the famous Dutch admiral, died. He began his military career at the age of 11, and continued in the service nearly 60 years.
1685. Luc d'Acheri, a French ecclesiastic, died. He displayed great learning as an antiquary and an author.
1688. Frederick William, elector of Brandenburg, died. Posterity awards to him the character of a brave, generous and patriotic prince, who devoted his attention to the commerce and general welfare of his people.
1735. The Turks defeated by the Persians under Thomas Kouli Khan, 60,000 slain.
1740. Charles Drew, executed at St. Edmundsburg, in Suffolk, for the murder of his father.
1740. The English parliament prorogued. It was at this parliament that the famous acts against horse racing and deceitful gaming were passed.
1743. Charles Irenæus Castel de Saint-Pierre, a French ecclesiastic, died; distinguished as a politician, a man of letters, and an author.
1746. Curtis Barnet, a British commodore, died.
1758. Action off fort St. Davids, East Indies, between the British under admiral Pococke, and the French fleet under count d'Ache. British loss, 29 killed, 89 wounded; French loss, 600 killed and wounded, and one of their vessels sunk.
1762. The book of Cornelius Nepos in Latin was issued from the Russian press, being the first in that language ever printed in Russia.
1779. John Ash, an English dissenting minister, died. His Complete English Dictionary, until the appearance of Mr. Todd's octavo edition of Johnson's, was the best compendium of words that could be referred to.
1783. Bernard de Tanucci died; professor of jurisprudence in the university of Pisa, and prime minister of Naples, an office which he sustained with dignity, ability and integrity, for 50 years, when he resigned.
1788. Election of representatives from New York to consider the federal constitution held.
1793. A French privateer with her prize, the Spanish ship San Jago, was captured by the English. Cargo valued at £1,500,000.
1805. The constitution of the Batavian republic changed for the third time; the state was divided into 8 departments, and a legislative body of 19 members, with a pensionary (Schimmelpenninck), chosen for the term of five years, who administered the executive power.
1810. Augustenburgh, crown prince of Sweden, and heir to the throne, seized with an apoplexy while reviewing some corps of cavalry, fell from his horse and expired immediately.
1813. United States frigate Essex, Capt. Porter, captured, near Albemarle island, in the Pacific, British ships Montezuma and Policy, of 10 guns each, and Georgiana, of 6 guns and 4 swivels.
1813. British admiral Cockburn burnt the store-houses at Frenchtown, Chesapeake bay, in which was a great quantity of goods belonging to Philadelphia and Baltimore merchants. He also burnt two vessels, and plundered the private houses.
1814. Action between the United States sloop of war Peacock, 20 guns, 160 men, and British king's brig of war Epervier, 18 guns, 128 men, off cape Carnaverel. The Epervier was captured in 42 minutes, with the loss of 8 killed and 15 wounded; the Peacock had 2 wounded. The Epervier had on board $118,000, exclusive of $10,000 which the crew plundered before she was boarded. The Epervier was sent in 1815 from Algiers, with American prisoners, liberated there, but never arrived.
1827. Rufus King, an American statesman, died. He was many years a senator in congress, and twice minister to England. All parties have borne testimony to the value of his services, and the eminence of his talents.
1849. The republicans at Rome repulsed the French republicans under the city walls.
1849. The emperor Nicholas of Russia declared, by ukase, his purpose to assist Austria. (See [April 26th].)
1851. C. C. Pepys, earl of Cottenham, died in Italy, aged 70. He passed through all the honors of the law, and in 1836 became lord chancellor.
1854. Great excitement at Louisville, occasioned by the acquittal of Matthew F. Ward, who murdered Prof. Butler.
1855. Robert Hamilton Bishop died, aged 78. He was a native of Scotland, was licensed to preach in 1801; on coming to this country, he assisted in rearing several institutions of learning in the western states.
1855. John Wilson, a celebrated landscape and marine painter, died at Folkstone, aged 81.
1855. The United States troops under Col. Fauntleroy, attacked a camp of Utah Indians near the Arkansas river, twenty miles north of the Puncha pass, killed 40, captured 6, and took a large amount of Indian property and plunder.