MAY 18.
975. Edward (the martyr), murdered by his step-mother. He was the son of king Edgar who enacted laws against excessive drinking, ordaining a size with pins in the cup with penalties on any who should presume to drink deeper than the mark. Hence the phrase drinking deep.
1291. The city of Acre, in Palestine, taken by the Turks; after a siege of 30 days the double wall was forced by the Moslems, the principal tower yielded to their engines, the Mamelukes made a general assault, the city was stormed, and death or slavery was the lot of 60,000 Christians, and the Holy Land was again in the hands of the Turks.
1410. Robert, emperor of Germany, died, just as a powerful combination had been formed to deprive him of the crown.
1539. Ferdinand de Soto, governor of Cuba, sailed for the conquest of Florida with nine vessels, 900 men besides sailors, 213 horses and a herd of swine. He landed on the west coast of the peninsula, with 300 men, and pitched his camp; but about day break the next morning they were attacked by the natives, and obliged to retire.
1565. The Turks under Mustapha, pasha, to the number of 30,000 choice troops, landed on the island of Malta, with a view to extirpate the knights. But the desperate resistance they encountered compelled them to abandon the island with the loss of 25,000 men. Loss of the knights 7,000.
1596. Heemskerk, accompanied by Jan Cornelissen Ryp, with two vessels again attempted the discovery of a northern passage to India. In this voyage he became embayed in ice, and passed the winter in the arctic regions, exposed to the rigors of the climate, and other perils. The ill success of this expedition destroyed all hope with the Dutch of finding a northern passage to China.
1652. Naval action near Dover, England; admiral Van Tromp refusing to pay honor to the British flag by lowering his own, brought on a furious battle between him and admiral Blake. One of the Dutch ships taken, and one sunk.
1663. Samuel Des Marets, a French protestant divine, died; celebrated for his controversies, in which he was diligently engaged 18 years, and displayed astonishing knowledge and erudition.
1664. "His sacred majesty," Charles II, advertised that he would attend to healing his people of the king's evil, by touching, during the month of May.
1675. Stanislaus Lubienietski, a celebrated Polish Socinian, died in exile at Hamburg. His theological works are numerous, but he is better known by a work on comets, entitled Theatrum Cometicum, which was written to show that comets portend both good and evil, in opposition to the prevailing notion that they were the harbingers of misfortune only! It contained an elaborate account of all the comets recorded in history (415), down to the year 1665.
1676. Indian battle at Turner's falls, on Connecticut river above Greenfield. The Indians having planted nothing, were unwilling to lose the fishing season also, and had encamped here in great security; when three of the towns below hearing of their position mustered about 150 men, mounted on horses, and set out for their camp. Arriving towards morning, they tied their horses, and proceeding about a quarter of a mile farther, found them sleeping in their huts, without any sentinels or guard. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that they fled, many into the river where they perished, and others were killed under the banks where they had concealed themselves. The Indians at first supposed they had received a visit from their friends the Mohawks, but the daylight disclosing the error, and the fewness of their assailants, they rallied and
turned upon their pursuers. The English retreated in turn, unable to resist the superiority of numbers, and not managing their retreat well, thirty-eight were cut off and lost. The Indians acknowledged a loss of 300.
1692. Elias Ashmole, a noted English antiquary, died. His valuable collection of coins, to the number of 9,000 besides books and other curiosities, were destroyed by fire; but his most valuable gold coins and manuscripts escaped. He was an indefatigable laborer in the cause of science.
1701. Frederick Spanheim died; a noted divinity professor at Leyden, and a voluminous writer.
1724. Cardinal Vincent Maria Orsini elected pope and took the name of Benedict XIII.
1733. Edmund Chishull, an English traveler, died; author of a book of travels in Turkey.
1742. Richard Joy (the English Samson), died; a man of wonderful strength.
1769. Virginia entered into the non-importation agreement.
1773. Boundary line between New York and Massachusetts agreed upon.
1787. First attempt made to engrave on glass by M. de Puymaurin, at Toulouse.
1794. Battle of Bullion; French under Jourdan defeated by the Austrians under Beaulieu with the loss of 1,200 killed.
1794. Battle of Tournay; British defeated by the French.
1794. Battle of Lannoy, in France, between the French under Pichegru, and the British under the duke of York; the latter defeated with the loss of sixty pieces of cannon.
1800. Peter Alexis Wasiliowitsch, count Suwaroff-Rimnitskoy, died; a Russian general, known in the wars of Europe as Gen. Suwarrow; distinguished for his bravery and abilities, and equally so for his inhumanities.
1803. War was again declared between France and England. Who, asked Bonaparte, is responsible for the consequences. Ah! who indeed.
1804. The conservative senate of France declared Bonaparte emperor.
1805. Battle of Derne, in Barbary, which was attacked by the Tripolitan army, and defended by the American general Eaton, who repulsed the assailants with great slaughter.
1807. John Douglas, bishop of Salisbury, died. He was one of the first literary characters of the age, and the last surviving member but one of the beef steak club, celebrated by Goldsmith in his poem of Retaliation.
1821. Timothy Bigelow, an eminent lawyer of Massachusetts, died. He was 11 years speaker of the assembly, and during a practice of thirty-two years, argued 15,000 causes.
1822. Iturbide declared emperor of Mexico by the army under the title of Augustin I.
1832. Cassimir Perrier, prime minister of France, died. He left the army in 1800 to become a banker, in which capacity he acquired an immense fortune, with the advantages of which he combined great mental capacity, talent for business and habits of public speaking. He was one of the few victims of cholera in the higher ranks of life.
1843. Charles Bagot, governor-general of the British North American provinces, died at Kingston, in Canada.
1848. Commander Henry Pinckney, of the United States navy, was drowned by the swamping of a boat.
1850. Great fire at the village of Corning, Chemung county, New York.
1855. John C. Spencer, an American statesman, died at Albany, aged 67. He was a man of intellect and energy, and was in public life from an early age. He achieved his highest fame from his connection with the revision of the statutes of New York.