The Every Day Book of History and Chronology / Embracing the Anniversaries of Memorable Persons and Events in Every Period and State of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time

by Joel Munsell

APRIL 4.

357. B. C. A transit of the moon over the planet mars observed by Aristotle.

397. Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, died. He was famous for the zeal which he manifested in the cause of the church, and the severity with which he censured the emperor Theodosius, who had barbarously ordered several innocent persons to be put to death at Thessalonica. The Te Deum is attributed to him.

1284. Alphonso X, of Castile, died. He was elected emperor of Germany 1258, but neglecting to visit the empire, Rodolphus was chosen in his place. He was dethroned by his own son, and compelled to seek protection among the Saracens. His fame as an astronomer and a man of letters, is greater than as a monarch. He is the first Castilian king who had the

public laws and the scriptures drawn in the vulgar tongue.

1581. Drake, the navigator, was knighted on board his famous ship, the Pelican, at Deptford.

1588. Frederick II, of Denmark, died. He was a liberal and enlightened ruler, who enlarged the happiness of his people and patronized learning. The astronomer Tycho Brahe, particularly, was indebted to him for munificent protection and advancement.

1589. Lady Burleigh, eldest daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, and a highly distinguished literary character, died, aged 63. This age was prolific of literary women.

1593. Three Samuels of Warboys condemned for bewitching the children of Mr. Throgmorton at Huntington, England.

1594. Sylvester Wyet, of Bristol, England, made a voyage up the gulf of St. Lawrence, for the barbs or fins of whales and train oil. He met with 60 sail of French, and 28 sail of Englishmen, engaged in fishing at this early day.

1634. Robert Naunton, an English statesman, died. He was secretary of state to James I, and published some curious anecdotes of the reign of Elizabeth, under the title of Fragmentia Regalia.

1638. Massachusetts patent demanded. A quo warranto having been brought by the attorney general of England against the governor and corporation of Massachusetts, and judgment given that the liberties and franchises should be seized into the king's hand, the council made an order requiring that the charter should be returned by the next ship. Arbitrary measures were pursued in reply to the petitions of the colony, and 8 ships prepared to sail for New England were detained in the Thames by order of the privy council. By this order, Oliver Cromwell, Arthur Hazelrig, John Hambden and other malcontents, were forcibly prevented from emigrating to America. How little did Charles anticipate that by this high-handed measure he was detaining the very men who were destined to overturn his throne, and terminate his career by a violent death.

1643. Simon Episcopius, an able Dutch divine, died. He embraced the doctrines of Arminius in relation to predestination, which exposed him to much persecution and obloquy, and finally led to his banishment from the commonwealth: he afterwards was permitted to return, and became minister of the remonstrant church. His death happening at the moment of an eclipse of the moon, was considered as an emblem of the departure of the brightest ornament of the church.

1656. Andrew Rivinus, (alias Barchmann) a Saxon physician, died. He became professor of poetry and philosophy at Leipsic, and published several works of considerable merit.

1669. Johann Michael Moscherosch, a German writer, died. His celebrity consisted chiefly in some satirical pieces entitled Wunderliche und wahrhafte Geschichte Philanders von Sittewald.

1704. The first newspaper printed in the United States, appeared at Boston, called the Boston News Letter.

1706. John Bayles, an English buttonmaker, died, aged 130. He used to walk to the neighboring markets with his buttons till he was 120 years of age.

1720. Knightly Chetwode, dean of Gloucester, died. He wrote several poems, and a life of lord Roscommon.

1743. Robert Ainsworth, an English teacher, died. In 1714 he was invited by the English booksellers to undertake the compilation of an English and Latin dictionary, on the plan of Faber's Thesaurus. The task proved to be more difficult than had been anticipated, and was not completed till 1736.

1747. Number Four (Charlestown, N. H.) attacked by a large body of French and Indians under M. Debeline, and gallantly defended by 30 men, under major Stevens. The enemy kept up a brisk assault night and day; when, on the third day, being in a starving condition, and finding it impracticable to force or persuade a surrender, they retired and were seen no more. This was considered one of the most chivalrous feats of the time.

1764. Michael Lomonozof, a Russian poet, died. From the occupation of a fishmonger he rose to be the "father of Russian poetry," and a philosopher of no mean pretensions. He published a history of the Russian sovereigns, and an ancient history of Russia, from the origin of the nation. His odes are greatly admired for the originality of invention, sublimity of sentiment, and energy of language.

1769. Hyder Ally, the adventurous East India chief, compelled the English to form a treaty with him.

1770. James Parsons, an eminent English physician, died. He was the correspondent of Buffon and other learned characters on the continent, and an able writer on physic, anatomy, natural history, antiquities, language, and the fine arts.

1774. Oliver Goldsmith died, aged 46. He received a partial education at Dublin college, after which he strayed from home, and making a tour on the continent, afoot and alone, with a flute in his hand, fixed himself, on his return, in London, as a builder of books. The details of his life are interesting, chequered as they are with

vicissitudes. As a bookseller's hack he was particularly successful; but the liberality of his disposition and want of economy, contributed to keep him in want, and sometimes brought him to starvation. He died about £2,000 in debt. His works, though most of them were produced on the spur of the moment, to procure the necessaries of life, are still found in almost every library.

1777. John Swinton, an English antiquary, died. His literary productions, which are numerous, appeared originally in the Philosophical Transactions, and relate principally to antiquities.

1786. Columbia county, in the state of New York, erected.

1793. General Dumouriez, accompanied by General Valance and young Egalite (Louis Philip), afterwards king of France, narrowly escaped to the Austrians.

1794. Battle of Raclawice, Poland, between the Russians and 4,000 Poles under Kosciusko, mostly armed with scythes. The battle lasted five hours, and ended in the defeat of the Russians, who left 3,000 killed on the spot.

1795. Barrere a lawyer, Varennes a monk, Collot de Herbois a comedian, and Vadier a counsellor, members of the French convention, sentenced by a decree of that body to be transported to Guiana. Barrere was president of the convention, and as such passed sentence of death upon the king; and they all voted for the king's death.

1799. Battle of Tauffers and St. Marie, in Germany. The French under Jourdan lost upwards of 4,000 men, and fell back to the heights of Villengen.

1802. Lloyd Kenyon, an English judge, died. He filled the offices entrusted to him with distinguished integrity, and to him England is indebted for much of that reform which has been introduced into the practice of the law.

1807. Joseph Jerome la Francais de Lalande died at Paris, aged 70. He received a minute religious education, and displayed his abilities while quite young by his sermons and mystical romances. His attention was first drawn to astronomy by the remarkable comet of 1744; and he pursued the study with so great success that he was sent to Berlin by the academy at the age of 19, to make some observations on the moon's parallax, when Frederick the Great could not conceal his astonishment at the phenomenon of so young an astronomer. He became editor of the Connaissance des Temps, published several works on astronomy, and wrote all the astronomical articles for the great Encyclopedie. In 1778 he published a folio volume on canals, containing a general history of all the ancient canals which had been previously undertaken, accomplished and even projected. Although a sceptic, he is said to have been "religious, in his own way."

1809. The legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law directing the poor to be sent to the most convenient school and their tuition paid.

1812. Congress passed an embargo law for 90 days.

1814. Bonaparte having received the opinions of his marshals abdicates the imperial throne in favor of his son, only to be succeeded the next day by a relinquishment in favor of his heirs also.

1815. Hostilities between France and the allied powers ceased. Alexander I, in the name of the allies, recommended Bonaparte to choose a place of retreat for himself and his family.

1817. Andrew Massena, prince of Essling, one of the ablest of Bonaparte's field marshals, died. He commanded in chief in the memorable campaign in Switzerland; when at the battle of Zurich he had to contend against the archduke Charles and prince Suwaroff; yet the fruits of this campaign were 70,000 prisoners. He ended his military career in 1810, by the command of the army of Portugal, where he was defeated by Wellington.

1831. Isaiah Thomas, a distinguished American printer, died. He was born in Boston, 1749, served an apprenticeship of 11 years, and commenced business at a very early age at Newburyport. In 1770 he printed the Massachusetts Spy at Boston, where he annoyed the provincial officers by the boldness and freedom of his articles on the difficulties that agitated the country. He was also one of the most active and dexterous of the skirmishers on the plains of Lexington. A few days after that affair he removed his paper to Worcester; and gradually established presses and book-stores in different parts of the Union, to the number of twenty-four; so that he nearly supplied the entire country with books. His Bibles, school books and almanacs, were in great repute for a long time. He was the founder of the American antiquarian society, and author of the History of Printing in America, a valuable work to the profession and the antiquary.

1841. William Henry Harrison, president of the United States, died at Washington, aged 69. He was a distinguished patriot of the revolution, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, governor of Virginia, and long a leader of the United States armies in the severe contests with the British and Indians.

1855. The Baltic fleet, fitted out by the French and British governments to act

against the northern ports of Russia, sailed from Portsmouth.