JULY 9.
597 B. C. An eclipse of the sun, foretold by Thales.
518. Anastasius I, the silentiary, died; who from obscure birth became emperor of the East by marrying the widow of the emperor Zeno.
551. The city of Berytus overthrown by an earthquake. It gave birth to Sanconiatho, the Phœnician historian, about the period of the Trojan war, in the time of Hercules.
552. The Armenians commenced their era, Tuesday. The year, like the Noetic, consists of twelve months of thirty days, with an insertion of five, or (in leap year) six days, after the 5th of August, when their ecclesiastical year commences. In their correspondence with Europeans, they usually adopt, as in Russia, the old Julian style, and the months.
1228. Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, died. He was a man of great abilities as a writer and a politician. He was nominated to the office of archbishop by the pope, 1207, which being considered as an usurpation of the rights of the king of England, lead to a quarrel between those dignitaries, which terminated disastrously to the king.
1386. Battle of Sempach, in the canton of Lucerne, which established the independence of Switzerland. Leopold II, duke of Austria, was killed in this battle.
1535. Anthony Duprat, a very eminent French statesman, died. He was president of the parliament of Paris, and a man who, to increase his fortune or enlarge his power, did not hesitate to sacrifice either fame or virtue.
1546. Robert Maxwell died. He was chiefly instrumental in bringing and procuring the passage of an act in the Scottish parliament permitting the reading of the scriptures in the vulgar tongue.
1598. David Bouchard, governor of Perigord, killed at the siege of Lisle. He was a famous chieftain under Henry IV of France.
1669. The encenia, or dedication of the incomparable theatre at Oxford, endowed and founded 1664, by archbishop Selden. The first act held in a secular building was kept there on the same day. Wren adopted his ground plan from the theatre of Marcellus at Rome.
1693. The English or confederated army defeated by the French at Landon.
1742. John Oldmixon, an English historian and poet, died. He was a man of learning and abilities, but a violent party writer, and a severe and malevolent critic.
1746. Philip V of Spain, died. His accession to the throne was opposed by the archduke of Austria, and gave rise to one of the most bloody wars on record.
1755. Memorable defeat of Braddock on his march to fort Du Quesne. The English army of 1,200 was ambuscaded, the general having neglected all precautions
against such an event, and totally routed by the French and Indians, about 900 in number. Of 85 officers 64 were killed, and about half the privates. The remains of the army were brought off by Washington, who was the only officer on horseback that escaped.
1762. Revolution in Russia, followed by the abdication of Peter III. The empress Catharine was declared autocratrix, and Peter imprisoned, where he died seven days afterwards.
1762. A substance called honey dew fell in the neighborhood of Rathiermuc, Ireland, which loaded the trees and long grass in such a manner that quantities of it were saved by scoops.
1766. Jonathan Mayhew died; a distinguished American clergyman, and missionary among the Indians.
1776. The leaden statue of George III, in New York, thrown down by the revolutionists, and sent to Litchfield, Conn., where the women manufactured it into bullets.
1781. Captain Eggleston, of Lee's legion, routed a British foraging party at Friday's ferry, Congaree river, and took 45 dragoons.
1785. William Strahan, an eminent Scottish printer, died. Having served a regular apprenticeship, he settled in London, where he rose to great eminence in his profession, and finally sat in parliament.
1790. Action off cape Musalo, between the Swedish fleet under the king in person, and the Russian fleet. It continued into the following day, and resulted in the destruction of 5 Russian frigates, 15 galleys, 2 floating batteries, 9 galliots, and 2 other floating vessels. The Swedes lost but one of their galleys burnt.
1794. Seventy-one persons were guillotined at Paris.
1805. George Wolfgang Panzer, a distinguished German bibliographer, died. He published a catalogue of all the works known to have been printed from the invention of the art of printing to the year 1536. The works in all languages are chronologically arranged, the place of printing given, also a short account of them, and the libraries and publications in which they are contained.
1806. Confederation of the Rhine signed at Paris, between Bonaparte and several of the smaller German states, who placed themselves under the protection of France, and renounced their connection with the German empire.
1810. The kingdom of Holland annexed to France; Amsterdam to rank as the third city in the empire, Paris being first and Rome second.
1814. United States army under general Brown left Riall's works on the Chippewa, and pursued the British to Queenstown, and encamped there.
1816. Rio de la Plata declared itself independent of Spain, and took the title of the United Provinces of South America.
1818. Richard Beatniffe, the well known author of the Norfolk Journal, died at Norwich, England.
1830. Erzeroum, the capital of Turkish Armenia, surrendered to the Russians.
1831. The Belgian congress acceded to the articles agreed on at London by the plenipotentiaries of the five great powers, and declared Leopold of Saxe-Coburg king of Belgium.
1838. Robert Grant, governor of Bombay, died; a man greatly respected for his talents and his public services.
1843. Washington Alston, the great historical painter of South Carolina, died.
1850. Zachary Taylor, president of the United States, died, aged 65. He was a general in the United States army, and won laurels in the Mexican war.
1853. Charles Caldwell, a medical writer and teacher of great celebrity, died at Louisville, Ky., aged 90.
1854. Richard Shubrick Pinckney, a naval officer of the United States, died at Charlestown, S. C., aged 57. He entered the navy in 1814, and was engaged in the operations against the Algerine pirates of the Mediterranean, where he was severely wounded. He commanded the Decatur during the Mexican war.