DECEMBER 30.
944 B. C. The winter solstice fell upon this day, according to the marble, by the table of Petavius; which places the period of Homer thirty-seven years later.
1535. The society of the Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish monk, who entered into an agreement with five of his fellow students to undertake the conversion of unbelievers and a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. From this small beginning it became a powerful society under the energy and shrewd policy of its leaders, and was raised to a degree of historical importance unparalleled in its kind.
1567. Bonhill field, the ancient burial place of the dissenters, surveyed, "containing 23 acres, 1 rod and 6 poles; butting upon Chiswell street on the south, and on the north upon the highway that leadeth from Wenlock's barn to the well called St. Agnes the Cleere." It was also the common place of interment for the victims of the great plague in 1665. Bunyan, Watts, Owen, De Foe, George Fox, are among the distinguished men who rest there.
1568. The learned Roger Ascham, died; sometime tutor to queen Elizabeth, and afterwards her Latin secretary.
1582. Emanuel Alvarez died; a Portuguese Jesuit, distinguished as a grammarian.
1596. Emanuel de Saa, a Portuguese Jesuit, died; professor of theology at Coimbra and at Rome, and author of several valuable works.
1644. John Baptist Van Helmont, a physician of Brussels, died. He was a man of great learning in physic and natural philosophy. His cures were so extraordinary that he was brought before the inquisition as a man that did things beyond the reach of nature. He cleared himself of the inquisition, but to be more at liberty retired into Holland.
1655. Several persons wounded at the door of the parliament house, England, by a quaker, who pretended that he was inspired to slay all in the house.
1661. The earl of Argyle committed to Edinburgh castle for high treason.
1688. The prince of Orange received the sacrament to allay suspicions of his wishing to change the liturgy of the English church.
1691. Robert Boyle, the distinguished philosopher and chemist, died. He was the seventh son and fourteenth child of Richard, earl of Cork, and secured immortal fame by his writings and discoveries in experimental philosophy.
1695. Samuel Morland, though a great favorite with king Charles, died in poverty. He constructed an arithmetical machine.
1721. Peter de Vallemont, a French ecclesiastic, died; known by his Elements of History, and other works.
1730. James Saurin, an eminent French divine and theological and controversial writer, died in Holland, where he took shelter from persecution.
1747. Edward Holdsworth, an English poet, died.
1765. Samuel Madden, an Irish divine and dramatic poet, died. He instituted the Dublin society, and set apart an annuity of £100 to be distributed as premiums for improvements in the useful arts.
1765. James Francis Edward (the Pretender), died at Rome. He was the son of James II of England, who was compelled to abdicate by his want of discretion in the government.
1774. Paul Whitehead died; an English poet of considerable eminence.
1777. Leopold Maximilian, elector of Bavaria, died. The succession to his dominions occasioned a war between Germany and Prussia.
1781. John Tuberville Needham, professor of philosophy in the English college at Lisbon, died. He wrote various philosophical and critical works; though a learned man he was a very superstitious character.
1800. Thomas Dimsdale, an eminent English physician, died. His celebrity was such that he was invited to the court of Russia, where he inoculated the empress Catharine and her son with small pox.
1809. Augustus Francis Julian Herbin died; a native of France, distinguished as an oriental scholar.
1813. Buffalo burnt. Fort George, or Newark, in Upper Canada, having been wantonly burnt down by the American troops, a part of the British army crossed over from fort Erie, and utterly destroyed the village of Buffalo, in retaliation. It contained 100 houses.
1833. William Sotheby, an English poet and translator, died. His translations from Virgil and Homer rank in the first class of that difficult and rarely successful branch of literature.
1834. The first reformed British parliament dissolved by royal proclamation.
1836. The plague continued to rage at Constantinople; having carried off during the summer and autumn no less than 100,000 citizens.
1837. An attack made by upwards of 100 Canadian loyalists upon the American steamboat Caroline, lying in the Niagara, at Schlosser, and of 34 Americans on board 22 lost their lives. The boat was towed into the current, with part of the men on board, and precipitated down the falls.
1853. John Avery Parker, a distinguished merchant and a millionaire, died in New Bedford, Mass.
1853. The ship Staffordshire, captain Richardson, from Liverpool to Boston, struck on a rock south of Seal island, and sunk, carrying down 177 of the passengers and crew.