Fabius, the Roman praetor, was choked by a single goat-hair in the milk which he was drinking.—Pliny, Hist. vii. 7.
Frederick Lewis, prince of Wales, died from the blow of a cricket ball.
Itadach died of thirst in the harvest field, because (in observance of the rule of St. Patrick) he refused to drink a drop of anything.
Louis VI. met with his death from a pig running under his horse, and causing it to stumble. Margutte died of laughter on seeing a monkey try ing to pull on a pair of his boots.
Philom'enes (4 syl.) died of laughter at seeing an ass eating the figs provided for his own dessert.—Valerius Maximus.
Placut (Phillipot) dropped down dead while in the act of paying a bill.—Backaberry the elder.
Quenelault, a Norman physician of Montpellier, died from a slight wound made in his hand in the extraction of a splinter.
Saufeius (Spurius) was choked supping up the albumen of a soft-boiled egg.
Zeuxis, the painter, died of laughter at sight of a hag which he had just depicted.
Death Ride (The), the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, October 25, 1854. In this action 600 English horsemen, under the earl of Cardigan, charged a Russian force of 5,000 calvary and six batallions of infantry. They galloped through the battery of thirty guns, cutting down the artillerymen, and through the calvary, but then discovered the batallions and cut their way back again. Of the 670 who advanced to this daring charge, not 200 returned. This reckless exploit was the result of some misunderstanding in an order from the commander-in-chief. Tennyson has a poem on the subject called The Charge of the Light Brigade.