OCTOBER 8.
66. Cestius, the Syrian prefect, in his fatal retreat, was defeated by the Jews at the pass of Bethhoron. Nero received this disastrous news at Achaia, and called in Vespasian.
451. Fourth œcumenical council assembled at Chalcedon, where the heretic Eutyches was finally condemned.
622. Mahomet made his public entry into Medina. He was mounted on a she camel, and an umbrella shaded his reverend shoulders.
1200. John, king of England, and his new queen, Isabella, were inaugurated. The devil was to be released at that year's close, said the lipticians on the canon.
1202. The Venetian crusade sailed, under Boniface, of Montferrat.
1635. John Winthrop, son of the governor of Massachusetts, arrived from England with a commission from the patentees as "governor of the river Connecticut, and places thereto adjoining," bringing men, ordnance, ammunition, and £2000 sterling for the erection of a fort.
1636. John Everard, better known by his bibliographical name, Johannes Secundus, a Dutch Latin poet, died. His works have gone through many editions, and the Kisses of Johannes Secundus have been translated into various languages. He also distinguished himself by his skill in painting, sculpture, and engraving.
1684. Geraud de Cordemoi died; a
French academician, and a great partisan of Descartes' systems.
1729. Richard Blackmore, an English physician, died. He was an indefatigable writer, and has left a great number of works, theological, poetical, and medical.
1744. John Balchen, a celebrated English admiral, perished at sea, in the Victory man-of-war, 110 guns, and 1100 seamen, all of whom were lost.
1754. Henry Fielding, an eminent English novelist, died, aged 48.
1755. The remains of Braddock's army, in 33 transports, passed the city of New York on their way to winter quarters at Albany.
1767. Burchard Christopher de Munich died; a German who learned the art of war under Eugene and Marlborough, and distinguished himself in the service of Peter I of Russia.
1774. Congress resolved to support Massachusetts, if the acts of parliament were attempted to be carried into execution by force. The general court of Massachusetts met at Salem on the same day, although general Gage had ordered them not to assemble, resolved themselves into a provincial congress, and chose John Hancock president.
1785. L'Evesque de Burigny, a French author, died, aged 94. He wrote a work on the authority of the pope, a learned history of pagan philosophy, and several other works, historical and biographical.
1785. The Lounger appeared at Edinburgh, conducted principally by Henry Mackenzie.
1791. A jury at Sudberry, England, not being able to agree, oppressed by hunger, broke open the doors and went home.
1792. Pietro Antonio Crevenna, an Italian bibliographer, died. He collected a choice library, which he sold by auction in 1790. The learned catalogues of his books, prepared by himself and others, have given to the works which belonged to him, great value, in the eyes of amateurs, and the catalogues themselves have bibliographical authority.
1793. John Hancock, the master spirit of the American revolution, died. He was president of the congress which issued the declaration of independence, and his name stands out in bold relief on that document.
1793. Lyons, in France, surrendered to the republicans, and a most terrible massacre of the inhabitants ensued. The convention decreed that the walls should be razed, and Lyons called La ville affranchie.
1795. Andrew Kippis, a very celebrated English biographer, died. His connection with the publication of the Biographia Britannica, will carry down his name with distinguished reputation to posterity.
1809. James Elphinstone, a Scottish grammarian, died. He undertook the reformation of English orthography by spelling words as they are pronounced.
1820. Henry Christophe, king of Hayti, shot. He was a slave, and served in the American war. His activity in the revolution of the slaves in the island of St. Domingo, led to his elevation.
1822. Eruption of mount Galongoon, in the island of Java. It commenced at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of a fine day, by a loud explosion, which was followed by a thick cloud, that wrapped the whole country in darkness, while immense columns of mud, boiling hot, and mixed with burning brimstone, were projected from the mountain like a water spout, with such prodigious violence, that large quantities fell at the distance of 40 miles. The destruction was at its height at 4 o'clock, and had ceased at 5, having in the short space of three hours, laid a fruitful and thickly peopled country under a crust of boiling mud, in some places to the depth of sixty feet. Five millions coffee trees were destroyed, 87 canals, numerous rice fields, 114 villages, and upwards of 4000 inhabitants. The scene presented a bluish, half-liquid waste, where bodies of men, women and children, partly boiled and partly burned, were strewed about in every variety of death. It was followed by a rain storm of four days' duration, which inundated the country, when another eruption took place, more violent than the first.
1822. The first boats passed from the west and the north, through the Erie and Champlain canals, into the tide waters of the Hudson at Albany, amidst the acclamations of thousands of spectators.
1831. Great earthquake in South America. The town of Arica was utterly ruined, and the shock was felt along the coast, including seven degrees of latitude, shaking to its centre the immense breadth of the main Cordillera. It was attended by a violent vertical movement of the earth, during about 70 seconds, which threw down or shattered the houses, and in some cases pieces were detached from the middle of walls, leaving the rest of the edifice uninjured.
1832. Otho proclaimed and installed king of restored Greece, at the palace of Preysing, in Bavaria.
1837. Charles Fourier, founder of the system of social and industrial reform which bears his name, died at Paris.
1841. Johann Heinrich Dannecker, the Nestor of German sculptors, died at Stuttgardt, aged 82.
1848. The populace of Vienna, which had
been in a state of insubordination two days, became calm, and the emperor was invited to return.
1851. The Hudson river rail road was opened throughout, from New York to Albany.
1853. Thomas Childs, one of the bravest and most distinguished officers in the United States army, died at Tampa bay.
1854. Gideon Tomlinson, a Connecticut statesman, died, aged 74.
1854. The steam boat E. K. Collins, from Sault St. Marie to Cleveland, took fire on the lake and was burned, by which 23 persons lost their lives.
1855. Samuel Dickinson Hubbard, sometime post master general of the United States, died at Middletown, Ct., aged 55.
1855. The grand jury in New York city returned indictments against several city officers, for corruption and malversation in office.