DECEMBER 22.
640. Alexandria taken from the Greeks, by the Saracens, under Amri, after a siege of 14 months. "I have taken," he addressed the caliph Omar, "the great city of the west. It is impossible for me to enumerate the variety of its riches and beauty; and I shall content myself with observing that it contains 4,000 palaces, 4,000 baths, 400 theatres, or places of amusement, 12,000 shops for the sale of vegetable food, and 40,000 tributary Jews." It is well known that the second Alexandrian library, established by Cleopatra, was then destroyed, to feed the baths. The collection consisted of 300,000 volumes, and those 200,000 rolls, brought by Mark Antony from Pergamus, with the accumulation of seven centuries.
937. A severe frost which lasted 120 days, began in England.
1332. Found in the library of St. Mary, at Florence, the whole of the New Testament in silk; at the end of it is this inscription in Greek: "By the hand of the Sinner, and most unworthy, Mark, in the year of the world 7840."
1483. William d'Estouteville, a Norman cardinal, died; who reformed the university of Paris.
1530. The famous protestant league of defence, against a decree of the imperial diet, was concluded this day.
1558. The great seal of England delivered to sir Nicholas Bacon, with the style of lord keeper, then first adopted.
1585. Virginia Accoramboni, celebrated for her beauty and poetical talents, was assassinated at Padua.
1592. Alexander Farnese, duke of Parma, and governor of the Low Countries, died of a wound given by Henry IV, of France, at the siege of Rouen.
1620. Landing of the first settlers at Plymouth. The total number of them was 101; of which 50 died during the winter.
1662. George Phillips, with three others, styled fanatics, executed for conspiring the death of Charles II.
1681. Richard Allein died; a puritan of great learning, whose writings are mostly on theology.
1694. Francis Nicholson made governor of Maryland.
1699. The protestants of Germany here introduced the Gregorian or new style of supputation, by the omission of ten days, concluding this year.
1715. The Pretender (Chevalier de St. George), son of James II of Scotland, the deposed king of England, arrived at Peterhead, and was proclaimed king of England.
1719. Andrew Bradford issued the first number of the American Weekly Mercury, the first paper printed in Pennsylvania, and the second in the United States.
1722. Pierre Varignon, a distinguished French architect and mathematician, died. He was professor of mathematics, and an able writer on that science.
1723. James Basnage, a French protestant minister, died. He was a man of talent and erudition. His works are numerous and valuable, particularly his History of the Jews, 15 vols.
1729. Michael Baron, the Roscius of the French theatre, died.
1753. A Mr. Braithwaite died at Carlisle, England, at the age of 110. In 1652 he commenced singing in the cathedral, and at the time of his death had continued singing one hundred years.
1768. Charles Littleton, bishop of Carlisle, died; an eminent English antiquary.
1788. Percival Pott, a very eminent English surgeon, died.
1789. A number of ice islands, of great magnitude, discovered, which had been wafted from the southern polar regions. The ship Guardian struck them near the cape of Good Hope, on her passage to Botany bay. These islands were wrapt in darkness; they were 150 fathoms long, and more than 50 fathoms above the surface of the waves. A fragment from the summit of one of them broke off, and plunging into the sea, caused a tremendous commotion in the water, and dense smoke all around it.
1796. Kehl, a fortress on the Rhine, surrendered by the French, under Dessaix, to the Austrians, under the archduke Charles, after a siege of 51 days, and a blockade of 115. The garrison were permitted to withdraw, with their artillery and baggage, with drums beating and colors flying.
1798. Bonaparte arrived at Suez, with several officers and men of science, and, having forded the Red sea, visited the fountains of Moses. Whilst here he
received a deputation from the monks of mount Sinai, and countersigned the charter they had received from Mahomet.
1803. Louisiana taken possession of by the Americans.
1807. Embargo; the ports of the United States closed against British commerce.
1812. James Clinton, an American general, died. He was a firm and undeviating patriot of the revolution.
1812. Peter Henry Larcher, a French writer, died. He translated some of the principal Greek classics.
1813. The Indians attacked and defeated at Ecchanachaca, by the Americans under general Claiburn, who destroyed the town, 200 houses, with a large quantity of provisions.
1818. Philip Francis, an English statesman, died. He was an active promoter of the impeachment of the famous Warren Hastings, and was considered by some as the author of Junius's Letters.
1822. William Lowndes, a distinguished orator and patriot, of South Carolina, died at sea.
1828. William Hyde Wollaston died, aged 62; one of the ablest and most renowned of English chemists and natural philosophers. Very little of his personal history is known, his biography not having been written (1846).
1832. Francis Huber, a Swiss naturalist, died, aged 82. He lost his sight at the age of 17. Notwithstanding this difficulty in the way of scientific pursuits, with the assistance of his wife, he wrote and published a very accurate work on the habits of bees, and some other works.
1835. Edmund Fry died in London, at a very advanced age. He was a member of the society of Friends, originally bred to the medical profession, but was more generally known as an eminent and learned type founder.
1835. David Hosack, an eminent physician, died at New York, where he was professor of the theory and practice of physic, and was held in high estimation as a man of talent, learning and worth.
1838. Hugh James Rose, a talented and eloquent English divine, died. Besides numerous works of which he was the author, he projected the British Magazine, and edited the Theological Library.
1842. 250 troops from Texas invading Mexico, were defeated and taken prisoners.
1854. Martin Joseph Routh, president of Magdalen college, died at Oxford, England, aged 99; a man of great learning, talent and virtues.
1854. The British parliament passed a law permitting the enlistment of foreigners, as officers and soldiers, in her majesty's service.
1855. Valerian Krasinski, one of the most distinguished members of the Polish emigration, and an eminent author, died at Edinburgh, Scotland.