DECEMBER 1.
627. Battle of Nineveh; the Romans under Heraclius defeated the Persians after a contest from daylight to the eleventh hour; 28 standards were wrenched from the hands of the conquered, and the cities and palaces of Assyria were opened for the first time to the Romans.
801. Alcuin, preceptor of Charlemagne, presented his illustrious pupil with a magnificent folio Bible, bound in velvet, the leaves of vellum, and the writing in double columns, and containing 449 leaves. Prefixed is a richly ornamented frontispiece, in gold and colors. It is enriched with four large paintings exhibiting the state of the art at this early period; there are moreover thirty-four large initial letters, painted in gold and colors, and containing seals, historical allusions, and emblematical devices, besides some smaller painted capitals. (See [April 27th, 1836].)
1135. Henry I, king of England, died of a surfeit of lampreys. He is characterized as wise and valiant, and ranks among the most accomplished of the English kings.
1252. Blanche, (of Castile,) queen of France, died. She married Lewis VIII of France, after whose death she was regent of the kingdom during the minority of her son, and governed with spirit and ability.
1521. Leo X (John de Medicis), pope, died. He was the patron of learning and learned men; but is to be remembered as the cause of the reformation, in attempting to raise money by an unlimited sale of indulgencies.
1581. Edmund Camprian executed. He was a learned English writer, who became a Roman catholic, and was hanged with three others for aiding the cause of the pope, and drawn and quartered.
1640. Michael Vasconcellos, a Portuguese statesman devoted to the interests of Spain, was murdered during a political convulsion, and his body treated with ignominy.
1640. Portugal, of which Philip II of Spain had made himself master in 1580, became an independent kingdom by a revolution, which placed John, duke of Braganza, on the throne.
1666. James Ware died, a celebrated antiquary and historian, of Ireland.
1722. Anna Louisa Karschin, a German poetess, born. She was deprived of almost every literary advantage by the peculiar circumstances under which she was placed, until she attracted the attention of some influential persons, who published some of her poems. She acquired the title of the German Sappho, and died in October, 1791.
1723. Susannah Centlivre, author of several English dramas, died. She was born in Ireland, and becoming an orphan at an early age, set out for London on foot. Her adventures were romantic. Several of her dramas still keep possession of the stage.
1750. A wager was decided at Malden, England, that five men could be buttoned within the waistcoat of a person who had died a short time previous, without breaking a stitch or straining a button. Upon trial, the five persons were buttoned into the waistcoat, and two more with them. The person who wore it died at the age of twenty-nine, and weighed at the time of his death 646 pounds, and notwithstanding his corpulency, he was remarkably agile. There is a print representing the ludicrous appearance of the seven persons buttoned up in the vest.
1775. General Montgomery, having sent several small detachments into the country to strengthen his interest with the Canadians, proceeded with the residue to Point aux Trembles, where he joined Arnold and marched directly upon Quebec.
1783. M. Charles, having made some improvements on balloons, ascended at Paris in one filled with inflammable air, the first which had been so filled. He ascended to the height of 9,000 feet. His predecessors had only reached a few hundred feet.
1787. The people at Worcester, England, rioted under the apprehension, that machines were to be introduced for spinning cotton.
1789. General Washington addressed a diplomatic letter from New York to his great and magnanimous friend Sidi Mohammed, emperor of Morocco, inclosing a copy of the new American constitution.
1793. The commune of Paris ordered all the churches to be closed. But the act exciting general abhorrence was soon repealed.
1795. Battle of Mainz; the Austrians under Clairfait attacked and carried the French entrenchments, took 106 cannon, 200 ammunition wagons and 2000 prisoners.
1795. Kreutznach carried by storm twice by the French under Pichegru, who was at length obliged to retire by the Austrians.
1795. At Lauterbach two whole battalions of French were cut to pieces by the Austrians.
1797. Oliver Wolcott, governor of Connecticut, died, aged 71. He was one of the signers of the declaration of independence, for which he was a bold advocate, and was in the army of general Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne. He was remarkable for intrepidity, integrity, strong and bold conceptions, and great decision of character.
1803. Thomas Astle, an eminent English antiquary, died.
1808. Battle of the Samo-Sierra, a narrow pass which the Spaniards had fortified with 12,000 men and 16 pieces of cannon, which completely swept the road leading to Madrid. The French began the attack at daybreak. Three battalions scattered themselves over the opposite sides of the defiles and a warm skirmishing fire commenced. At this moment Bonaparte came up. He rode into the mouth of the pass, surveyed the scene for a moment, and perceiving that his infantry were making no progress, at once conceived the daring idea of causing his Polish lancers to charge right up the causeway in face of the battery. The smoke of the skirmishers on the hill sides mingled with the thick fogs and vapors of the morning, and under this veil the brave Krazinski led his troopers fearlessly up the ascent. The Spanish infantry fired as they passed them, threw down their arms, abandoned their guns and fled.
1814. Action between American privateer schooner Kemp, of Baltimore, and 9 British merchantmen, several of which were captured.
1814. Gillis McKerhnie died at Gourock, Scotland, aged 104, supposed to be the last of the warriors that fought with prince Charles in 1754.
1825. Alexander Paulowitz, emperor of Russia, died at Taganrog. His efforts to improve his country and people were unceasing and most extensive. It was during his reign that Russia was invaded by the most formidable army ever assembled in Europe, but which in a few months returned in the most wretched defeat ever known.
1840. Battle of Kotriah, in Scinde, between 4,000 Beloochees, posted among the hills, and commanded by Nusser Khan, and 900 Sepoys with 2 field pieces, under lieutenant colonel Marshall. Of the former 500 were slain, and 6 chiefs and 132 followers captured.
1848. Hungary declared itself an independent republic.
1849. Ebenezer Elliott, called the corn law rhymer, died in England.
1852. The French senate went in a body to St. Cloud to announce officially to Louis Napoleon the result of the election, and to hail him as emperor.