JULY 16.
523 B. C. One hour before midnight at Babylon the moon was eclipsed 6 digits on her northern disk. This is believed to be the 5th eclipse on record.
622. The Hegira, or Mohammedan era, commenced. It was instituted by Omar, the second caliph, in imitation of the era of the martyrs, beginning with the first appearance of the new moon (the crescent), 68 days before the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina.
1054. Michael Cerularius, the Greek patriarch, excommunicated at Constantinople by the pope's legates. "Shaking the dust from their feet, they deposited on the altar of St. Sophia, a direful anathema, which enumerates the seven mortal heresies of the Greeks, and devotes them to the eternal society of the devil and his angels." The Greeks have never abandoned their errors, the popes have never repealed the sentence, and from this thunderbolt we may date the consummation of the schism between the two churches.
1212. Battle of Tolosa in Spain; the Moors defeated by Alphonso of Castile. This day became an anniversary festival called The triumph of the Cross.
1216. Innocent III died; he was a steadfast friend of king John of England.
1377. The baron Percy created earl of Northumberland, by Richard II at his coronation.
1429. The town of Rheims in France was taken from the English by Joan of Arc, and on the following day the dauphin was crowned, an exploit which Joan had sworn to accomplish.
1439. Commencement of a direful pestilence and famine, which scourged England and France for two years, and caused an intermission of hostilities between the two countries.
1519. The first embassy sailed from Cortez to the king of Spain. He accompanied his letter by a present of all the gold he had received from the king of Mexico, including the two great wheels, one of gold, representing the Mexican century, curiously wrought, valued at 10,000 sequins, and the other of silver, representing the Mexican year, also wrought with figures in bas-relief. His object was to prepossess the king against the representations which might be made by the governor of Cuba.
1546. Anne Askew (or Ascough), an accomplished protestant lady, after having been tortured, was burnt for heresy. It is remarkable that her husband was accuser, the lord chancellor extortioner, and the mayor of London incendiary, in that unmanly work.
1640. Cornelius Van Tienhoven, secretary of New Netherland, at the head of one hundred men, made a rash attack upon the Raritans, who lived at a small river five miles behind Staten island; the soldiers committed excesses, which the Indians resented the following year.
1647. Thomas Anello (or Massaniello), a fisherman of Naples, killed. He headed an insurrection, caused by the viceroy's laying a new tax on fruit, fish, &c. The sedition continued for ten days, when all kinds of barbarity were practiced, and Anello became supreme dictator over 150,000 people. He gave himself up to debauchery, and was despatched by four assassins and his body dragged through the streets with every mark of indignity.
1676. Maria Margaret de Brinvilliers, a French lady known for her intrigues and crimes, executed at Paris. She cut off her relatives by poison, and spared her husband only because he looked upon her crimes with indifference.
1691. Francis Michael le Tellier, a French statesman, died. He was a great favorite with Louis XIV, who on a certain occasion treated him with so much coolness that he returned home from the levee and died in his own apartment of vexation and grief. He was endowed with splendid talents, which he exerted for the benefit of his country.
1696. John Pearson, an English prelate, died; known by his valuable Exposition of the Creed.
1710. Battle of Alamanza, in Spain; Philip V of France defeated by the allies under Stanhope, with the loss of 1500 killed.
1717. Battle under the walls of Belgrade; the Austrians under prince Eugene defeated the Turks.
1719. James Keill, a Scottish physician, died in England; author of several valuable medical works.
1736. Thomas Yalden, an English poet and physician, died. His works are not the most polished, yet deserving of perusal.
1760. Battle of Exdorff; the prince of Brunswick defeated the Prussians, and took their commander Glaubitz, the prince of Anhalt-Cothen, and five battalions prisoners.
1761. Battle of Fillinghausen in the palatinate, between the allies under the hereditary prince Ferdinand, and the French under Broglio and Soubise. The French were defeated with the loss of 5000 and 9 cannon; loss of the allies 1200.
1767. Charles Molloy, an English dramatic writer, died. He also conducted Fog's Journal, and Common Sense.
1779. Stony point taken by the Americans. The assault was made at half-past 12 at night, when both columns rushed forward under a tremendous fire of musketry and grape shot, entered the works at the point of the bayonet. American loss 98 killed and wounded; British loss 63 killed, 543 prisoners, with 15 cannon and a considerable quantity of military stores.
1780. John Nicholas Hubert Hayer, a French ecclesiastic, died. His works display great zeal and learning.
1794. Mark Anthony Charrier, a French lawyer, beheaded at Paris. He was a member of the states general, and boldly opposed all innovations.
1786. Treaty of peace between the emperor of Morocco and the United States.
1789. The parliament of Paris insulted the king by a vote of thanks, but communicated their resolution only to the national assembly. The same day a great number of the nobility left France.
1794. Battle of Wigoya; the Poles defeated the Russians.
1795. Attack on the heights of St. Barbe at Quiberon, by the French emigrants, who were defeated by the French under Hoche, with the loss of 300.
1799. Aboukir in Egypt attacked and carried by assault by the Turks under Seid Mustapha Pasha, and the whole garrison, 700 in number, put to the sword. The castle of Aboukir with a garrison of 400, also surrendered immediately after.
1808. Battle of Baylen, in Spain, which terminated in the defeat and capture of general Dupont and his division, one of the first serious reverses of Napoleon in the peninsula.
1812. Colonel Cass with 280 men attacked and carried the bridge over the river Aux Canards, four miles from Malden. It was defended by a part of the British 41st regiment and some Indians.
1815. Bonaparte sent a flag of truce and entered the Bellerophon man-of-war, captain Maitland, who proceeded with his illustrious ruin to Torbay.
1832. The German diet, at Franckfort, issued a protocol suppressing the liberty of the press in Baden.
1833. Corner stone of New York University laid.
1838. George Domberger, a soldier under prince Eugene, died, aged 130. He married for the first time when in his 100th year. He was a special pensioner of the emperor of Austria.
1843. Samuel Hahnemann, founder of the homeopathic system of medical practice, died at Paris, aged 88.
1849. David B. Ogden, an eminent New York attorney, died. For more than half a century he was associated with the councils of the state and city of New York.
1849. Frost was seen at Pittsfield and vicinity, although the thermometer had been at 90° the day before.
1852. Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian revolutionist, left New York in the steamship Africa, for Liverpool, under the assumed name of Alexander Smith.
1854. Nathaniel Bowditch Blunt, an eminent New York attorney, died at Lebanon Springs.
1854. A day of humiliation and prayer observed at Bombay, and all over India, by the natives as well as the Europeans, for the success of the British arms.
1856. A formidable insurrection which had broken out at Madrid in Spain two days before, was suppressed after a sanguinary contest of 30 hours.
1857. Pierre Jean de Beranger, a French lyric poet, died, aged 77. His
songs are at once a storehouse of gayety and satire, and a record of the history of his time.