NOVEMBER 17.
375. Valentinian I, emperor of Rome, died. He rose by his merit to the throne, and divided the empire with his brother Valens. He defeated the Germans, and restored tranquility to his African provinces. In giving audience to the ambassadors of the Quadi, whose country he had subdued, he ruptured a blood vessel in a fit of passion, which proved fatal.
537. Belisarius, who was then defending Rome against the Goths, exiled pope Sylverius for treachery.
1292. The government of Scotland was adjudged to John Baliol, by the forty peers assembled at the congress in Berwick castle.
1307. The Swiss patriots met at night in the field of Rutli, to concert measures for their independence.
1338. Edward III, of England, issued a writ, permitting the coinage of money by the abbots of Reading.
1372. John de Mandeville, the English
warrior and traveler, died, aged 72. He received an education unusual for those times, and in 1327, went to Palestine, and joined the Turks. He afterwards served in India under the Sultan, and in Southern China, under the khan of Cathay. He resided three years at Pekin, and appears to have traveled over a large part of Asia. On his return to England, after an absence of about 33 years, he wrote a narrative of his travels.
1494. John Picus, earl of Mirandula, an Italian nobleman, and a prodigy of learning, died, aged 32. At the age of 23 he published 900 propositions in logic, mathematics, physics and divinity, drawn from classical, Jewish and Arabian authors, and challenged through Italy any philosopher or divine to enter the lists with him in disputation. He declared war against the astrologers, because they had foretold his death at the age of 32, which proved true.
1558. Mary, queen of England, died. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catharine of Arragon; was learned, but bigoted, jealous and resentful. Her memory is rendered detestable by the blood of the protestants whom she caused to be burnt.
1562. Anthony of Navarre (Pantagruel), a Spanish prince, died of a wound received in battle. He was weak and irresolute; his son was afterwards the celebrated Henry IV, of France.
1604. Trial of sir Walter Raleigh for treason.
1615. Thomas Chaloner, an English nobleman, tutor of the prince of Wales, died. He is celebrated for the discovery of the first alum mines known in England.
1640. Henry de Schomberg, a distinguished French officer, died. For his distinguished services he was promoted; and also figured as a minister to Germany and England, and as a historian.
1664. Nicholas Perret, a learned Frenchman, died; celebrated for his excellent translations of the Greek and Latin classics.
1664. A comet visible in New England, which appeared first in the east bearded, and disappeared in the west with a tail.
1665. John Earle, an English bishop, died; known by a work called the Microcosmography, or a Piece of the World, which has often been reprinted.
1679. In commemoration of queen Elizabeth's birth, the effigies of the pope, the devil, sir George Jeffries, Mr. L'Estrange, &c., were carried in procession, and burnt in Temple bar, by a whig mob, as it was then called.
1690. Fabian Phillips, a learned English antiquary, died.
1708. Jean Francois Foy Vaillant, a French antiquary and medalist, died. His father was the founder of the medalists in France, to whom Louis XIV was indebted for half his cabinet.
1747. Alain Rene Lesage, the French novelist and dramatic writer, died.
1747. Great tumults in Boston, on account of the British commodore, Knowles, having ordered several inhabitants of that city to be impressed there.
1768. Thos. Pelham Holles, duke of Newcastle, died in his 76th year. He played a bustling if not a brilliant part in the political movements of his day.
177-. Bruce, the traveler, in passing the Taranta mountain, in Abyssinia, encountered an extraordinary phenomenon. The mountain tops were hid in the clouds, and loud thunder was heard. The river scarcely ran at the time of passing it, when suddenly a noise was heard in the mountain above, louder than the loudest thunder. His guides flew to the baggage, and removed it to the top of a green hill, which was no sooner done than the river was seen coming down in a stream about the height of a man, and the breadth of the whole bed it used to occupy. An antelope, surprised by the torrent, was driven to the station where they stood.
1775. Americans, under colonel Easton, took at the point of Sorel river, Canada, 11 British vessels with stores.
1782. Edward Drinker, a quaker of Philadelphia, died, aged 103. He had been the subject of seven crowned heads, and lived to see a village become a great city.
1793. Battle of Sarbruck; the Prussians defeated by the French under Pichegru.
1794. N. Dugomier, a French revolutionary general, killed at the battle of St. Sebastian, in which his army was victorious over the Spaniards. His name was inscribed in the Pantheon.
1794. James Bentham, an English prelate and historian, died. He also directed his attention to the introduction of turnpike roads, against the popular prejudice, and to the rendering of unfruitful into valuable fields by drainage.
1795. Alexander Abercromby died; a Scottish jurist, and a cooperator with Mackenzie in establishing the Mirror and Lounger, to which he contributed.
1800. Battle of Mincio, in Italy; the Austrians defeated by the French under general Brune, with the loss of 24 cannon, and 4,000 men.
1804. Launch of the Hibernia, at Plymouth, England, of 130 guns; length of keel 167 feet, tonnage 2499—the largest man-of-war that had ever been built in England.
1812. Battle of Koutovo, near Krasnoy,
in Russia; the Cossacks under Miloradovitch surrounded the French under Davoust, and defeated them with horrible slaughter. The French general, however, maintained his reputation for bravery, and cut his way through, with the loss of 4,000 killed, and 9 prisoners, and 70 cannon. The wretched beings who escaped the swords and bayonets of their conquerors sought shelter in the woods which skirt the Dnieper, and there, wounded, starving and naked, died in great numbers.
1812. British gun boats cannonaded Ogdensburgh.
1818. Charlotte, queen of England, died, aged 75.
1823. Thomas Erskine, an English nobleman, and one of the most celebrated of modern forensic orators, died.
1832. Thos. Taylor, styled the patriarch of the states-right party of South Carolina, died at Columbus.
1835. Remarkable aurora borealis; in extent and magnificence one of the grandest forms of this mysterious phenomenon. It attracted notice throughout the United States and Canada, and on the 18th was seen in Europe.
1854. Dudley Coutts Stuart died at Stockholm, Sweden, aged 51; well known in England and elsewhere, for his devotion to Poland and the Polish exiles.