SEPTEMBER 2.
44 B. C. Cicero delivered the first of those speeches against Marc Antony, called his Philippics.
31 B. C. Battle of Actium, off the promontory of Epirus, in which the fleet of Marc Antony was defeated and his hopes utterly prostrated.
1338. Edward III was invested by the emperor at Coblentz, with the title of his vicar, but refused to kiss the imperial foot.
1483. The renowned Caxton issued from his press a book entitled, Confessio Amantis: That is to saye in Englisshe, The Confessyon of the Louer.
1504. Columbus sailed from Hispaniola to Spain—his final leave of the country which he had discovered—a discovery that had been to him a source of unutterable vexation and the vilest ingratitude.
1519. Battle of Zehuacingo, between 400 Spaniards under Cortez, and the whole force of the Tlascalan Indians, amounting to about 40,000 warriors. The Indians closed in upon the Spaniards in a dense mass, and bore down with determined bravery upon the sturdy little band of invaders. A body of them, wielding two-handed swords succeeded in killing one of the horses at a blow; but the rider was saved, and the saddle also at the cost of ten men wounded. The cannons and guns of the Spaniards made terrible havoc among the dense masses of the Indians, and they were compelled to retire with a great loss, leaving their enemy too much fatigued to follow them, and greatly
rejoiced to find that they had escaped annihilation.
1591. Richard Grenville, an English naval officer, died. He distinguished himself in battle against the Turks, and on the American coast against the Spaniards.
1592. Robert Green, an English poet, and one of the famous Grub street writers, died in London. So infamous was Grub street at that time, that Mr. Henry Welley says in his narrative, that he lived there 40 years without being seen of any one.
1666. Great fire in London, which consumed 400 streets, 13,200 houses and 89 churches—and destroyed the plague!
1685. Alicia Lisle beheaded at Winchester. Her offence was harboring a non-conforming minister named Hicks.
1701. The court of chancery of the state of New York organized.
1746. John Baptist Colbert, marquis of Torrey, died; a French statesman, celebrated for his embassies.
1755. Sir Charles Hardy arrived in the port of New York, to succeed De Lancey as governor of the province, and his commission was published on the next day, with the usual solemnities, and was followed by an entertainment, bonfires, illuminations and other expressions of joy.
1766. Archibald Bowyer, a learned Scottish Jesuit, died. He wrote a History of the Popes, and some other historical works; but is accused of much imposture.
1784. John Baptist Anthony Visconti, an Italian antiquary, died. In his researches for ancient monuments at Rome, he discovered the tomb of the Scipios.
1792. The prisons of Paris, filled with nobles, ecclesiastics and opulent citizens, suspected of favoring the court and aristocratical party, were burst open, and the inmates massacred to the number of 12,487, during this and the following day. Neither age, rank nor sex were respected by the Jacobins, who urged the expediency of destroying these persons before the Austrians should reach the capital.
1792. Marie Therese de Lamballe, an Italian princess, murdered in Paris. She escaped from Paris at the same time with the royal family, by another road, and reached England. But on hearing the fate of her friend the queen, hastened back to share her fortune, and met with a barbarous death from the hands of the mob.
1806. An immense rock forming the summit of the Rosenburg in Switzerland was precipitated into the valley with a vast amount of rubbish, overwhelming several villages, and partly filling lake Lauwertz. Upwards of 1,000 persons perished, and three villages totally disappeared.
1813. Jean Victor Moreau, one of the most distinguished generals of the French revolution, died of wounds received at the battle of Dresden.
1832. Francis Xavier de Zach died of cholera at Paris. He was a native of Hungary, and one of the most eminent astronomers of the age.
1832. John Olding Butler died; an English writer, author of a Geography of the Globe.
1834. Thomas Telford, a distinguished architect and civil engineer, died at London. He was a self-made man, rising from a shepherd boy in Eskdale, Scotland, to rank with the most learned of his age.
1836. William Henry, a celebrated writer on chemistry, died.