DECEMBER 6.
342. St. Nicholas, an eminent Grecian bishop, and the patron of children, died. At the council of Nice he was said to be like a sun among so many stars.
884. Carloman, king of France, died.
1139. Alphonso I, king of Portugal, died; celebrated for the defeat of five Moorish kings at the battle of Ourique.
1216. Hertford, in England, taken by the French under Louis the dauphin.
1352. Clement VI (Peter Roger), pope, died. He was a doctor of the Paris university, and is represented by Petrarch as a worthy, generous and learned prelate; but is differently represented by others.
1527. Pope Clement VII escaped in disguise from prison, although, by a treaty with the emperor Charles V, he would have been liberated the following day.
1540. Diet of Worms; conference between the popish and protestant divines; Melanchton and Eckius maintained the principal part of the dispute.
1540. Thomas Davidson, licensed by the "rycht excellent prince James V, king of Scots, to print the new actis and constitutionis of parliament."
1541. Emperor Charles V, obliged by a storm to relinquish his attempt on Algiers and return to Europe.
1557. John Macchabaeus (or Macalpine) died. He was a Scotchman, who resided sometime at Wirtemberg, with Luther and Melanchton. He was afterwards invited to Copenhagen, where he assisted in translating the Danish Bible.
1648. Colonel Pride prevented about 200 members of parliament from entering the house. This is usually called Pride's purge.
1670. Henry Jenkins, an Englishman, died at the remarkable age of 169. He retained his faculties to the last, and was once examined in court on a circumstance that happened 140 years before. As he was born before parochial registers were kept, no parish would support him, and he was obliged to beg for a subsistence.
1672. Jasper Mayne died; an English divine, poet and dramatic writer.
1675. John Lightfoot died; an eminent English divine, distinguished as an able scholar and an eloquent orator.
1688. Flight of Mary d'Este, queen of
James II, of England, with her child, afterwards the pretender.
1711. Jane Schrimshaw died in Rosemary hospital, near London tower, aged 127.
1718. Nicholas Rowe died; an eminent English poet and dramatic writer.
1726. Florence Carton d'Ancourt, an eminent French actor and dramatic writer, died. He was the author of 32 plays.
1734. Abigail Masham, the favorite of queen Anne, died; noted in the history of the time for her political intrigues.
1776. The capture of Rhode Island by the British under Gen. Clinton and sir Peter Parker. "It is called the Eden of America," says an English work, "and celebrated (very naturally) for the beauty of its women."
1787. La Perouse reached the Navigator's islands, in Polynesia.
1790. Kentucky was erected into an independent state.
1798. Turin and Piedmont relinquished to the French by the king of Sardinia.
1806. Thorn, in Prussia, taken by the French under marshal Ney, after a slight resistance.
1812. Boston privateer brig Montgomery, of 18 guns, captured British ship Surinam, 20 guns.
1815. A magazine at Dantzic containing 6,000 pounds of powder, with filled bombs and shells, blew up, destroying 700 houses and killing upwards of 600 persons.
1834. Edward Irving, a celebrated and eccentric Scottish preacher, died. He was minister of the Caledonian church in London, and, by the force and eloquence of his discourses, attracted large congregations; the greatest orators and statesmen, the wealthy and fashionable hurried to hear him. But he became finally subject to the wildest vagaries, in respect to the unknown tongues, and was ejected from his place.
1835. Nathan Smith, an eminent lawyer of Connecticut, died at Washington. He was several years United States attorney for Connecticut, and senator in congress, and was respected for his integrity and ability.
1843. John M. Taylor, commissary-general of the American army under Gen. Montgomery at Quebec, 1775, died at Philadelphia, aged 92.
1844. Nathan Rogers, an artist of merit and reputation, died, aged 57. He was a member of the national academy of design, and lent his aid to institutions of morals and charity.
1848. The king of Prussia dissolved his assembly and promulgated a new constitution.
1852. Horatio Greenough, an eminent American sculptor, died at Somerville, Mass., aged 47. He spent most of his life in Italy in the pursuit of his art, where he produced his colossal statue of Washington, and other works which stamp his fame.
1855. Anselm Rothschild died at Frankfort, Germany; the founder of the great financial house of the Rothschilds.