MAY 2.
373. Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, died. His parents were pagans; he became a Christian, and distinguished himself by his learning, and the zeal with which he opposed the Arian heresy.
1450. The duke of Suffolk, prime minister to Henry VI of England, beheaded in a boat at Calais. During his ministry England lost most of her possessions in France. Yet his murder was resented by the formidable rebellion of Jack Cade.
1487. Lambert Simnel, an impostor, crowned at Dublin, by the title of Edward VI.
1494. Columbus discovered the island of Jamaica.
1519. Leonardo da Vinci, a celebrated Italian painter, died. He distinguished himself in early youth by the variety of studies which he accomplished. He afterwards became the head of the Florentine school of painting.
1520. Sebastian Brandt died; counsellor of Strassburg, a lawyer, and author of a curious poem.
1550. Joan Bocher, of Kent, England, burnt for heresy.
1568. Mary, queen of Scots, aided by the gallant George Douglass, escaped from the castle of Lochleven, where she was confined after the murder of Darnley.
1595. Anthony, titular king of Portugal, died at Paris, a fugitive from the victorious arms of the Spaniards.
1606. Fernand de Quiros discovered the New Hebrides islands.
1611. The Half Moon, in which Hudson made his memorable voyage of discovery, sailed in company with another vessel to the East Indies, under captain Laurens Redel, and was lost. (March 6.)
1635. Horace Vere, an English general, died. He was created baron Tilbury by Charles I for meritorious services.
1667. George Withers, an English pastoral poet, died. He was so zealous a partisan of democracy, and of Cromwell, that the authorities frequently placed him in a straight jacket. His poems were numerous and quaint.
1679. James Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews, assassinated for his zeal in the cause of the episcopacy in Scotland.
1691. George Mackenzie, a Scottish lawyer, died. He figured conspicuously in trials of witchcraft, which puzzled the best heads in those days, and it is probable that he dealt with that sin most thoroughly, for he received the appellation of "the blood thirsty advocate." He was a literary character, however, of no small note, and was among the first Scotchmen who wrote the English language in a style approaching to purity.
1711. Lawrence Hyde, earl of Rochester, died; deservedly respected as an able statesman.
1753. Leonor Jean Christine Soulas d'Allainval died; a native of Chartres, in France, and author of several comedies of merit.
1774. Permission was given to the society of antiquaries to open the stone coffin of Edward I, and it was found that the body was in a perfect state of preservation, and measured 6 feet 2 inches. It had been placed in wax.
1777. David Wooster, a revolutionary officer, died of a wound received in pursuing the British from Danbury (April 27). He graduated at Yale college, and at the commencement of hostilities was appointed to the chief command of the Connecticut troops.
1785. John Lewis Moreau de Beaumont, a French political author, died. His works are much and deservedly admired.
1795. The number of prisoners confined in the 12 prisons of Paris amounted to 2338.
1802. Bonaparte constituted first consul for a second term of ten years.
1808. Embargo laid on American shipping in France.
1808. The royal family of Spain sent prisoners to France. At the sight of this procedure, there was a general insurrection of the inhabitants of Madrid, who attacked the French soldiers with knives, and a bloody contest took place, which was only quelled by scouring the streets with grape shot. The Spaniards finally desisted on seeing their resistance fruitless. It is estimated that 4,000 French and 6,000 Spaniards lost their lives.
1808. John Collins died; author of The Evening Brush, an oral entertainment of story, song and sentiment, which he delivered many years with great success, in all the principal towns in Great Britain. In this sort of entertainment he has had many followers, among whom the most noted was Charles Matthews.
1809. Battle of Amaranta, in Portugal, in which the Portuguese were defeated by the French under Soult.
1813. Battle of Lutzen, between the French army under Bonaparte, and the allies, under the kings of Russia and Prussia. The attack was commenced by the allies under Blucher upon the French centre, with a fury irresistible. The battle was for a long time maintained by both armies with obstinate energy. It was the more desperate and deplorable, says sir Walter Scott, that on the one side fought the flower of the Russian youth, which had left their universities to support the cause of national honor and freedom; and on the other, the young men of Paris, many of them of the best rank, who bravely endeavored to sustain their country's long pre-eminent claim to victory. Both combatted under the eyes of their respective sovereigns, maintained the honor of their country, and paid an ample tribute to the carnage of the day. The victory finally resulted to the arms of the French, by the superior generalship of their great leader, and the determined bravery of his troops. The allies sustained a loss of 20,000, and among them several experienced officers. The French loss was severe.
1817. Catharine Rush died at Philadelphia, aged 110 years, 11 months.
1821. Hester Lynch Piozzi, an English
authoress, died. She is known as Mrs. Thrale, the friend of Dr. Johnson.
1825. Adam Seybert, an American statistical writer, died at Paris. He was a member of congress from Philadelphia, and a man of science.
1836. Jeremiah Holme Whiffen, an English poet, died. He belonged to the society of friends, published a variety of miscellaneous poems, a translation of the Spanish poet Garcilasso de la Vega, and of Tasso.
1840. Thomas Manning, an eminent English linguist, died, aged 67. Having made several ineffectual attempts to penetrate China, his services were solicited by the British government, to accompany lord Amherst in his embassy to that country. He made himself one of the first Chinese scholars in Europe, and collected one of the finest Chinese libraries to be found in that quarter of the world.
1844. William Beckford, author of the Arabian tale entitled Vathek, with many other works, died at Fonthill, England.
1855. George Head, a British commissariat, died, aged 73. He published several valuable works, relating to different parts of the world, where his duties called him, and was knighted in 1831.
1856. James Gates Percival, an eminent American poet and philosopher, died in Wisconsin, aged 60. He was a native of Connecticut, graduated at Yale college, and studied medicine, but devoted himself to the cultivation of poetry, and the pursuit of science. He assisted in preparing Webster's Dictionary for the press, and superintended the publication of Malte Brun's Geography. He afterwards made a geological survey of Connecticut, and in 1854 was appointed state geologist of Wisconsin, in which service he died. Although distinguished for his attainments in philology and general science, he will be chiefly remembered as one of the eminent American poets.