1754. Jacob Powell died at Stebbing, England. He weighed five hundred and sixty pounds. His body was five yards in circumference, and his limbs were in proportion. He had sixteen men to carry him to his grave.
1771. John Gill, an eminent English Calvinistic divine, died. He was a learned orientalist and voluminous writer on theological subjects; his greatest work is a commentary on the Bible.
1777. Esopus, on the Hudson river, burnt by the British under general Vaughan; not a house escaped.
1782. Battle in Persia for the sovereignty, between Abdul Fatcan and Murat Kan, the lord regent. The latter and his three sons were slain, and Abdul caused himself to be proclaimed king.
1793. The allies under Wurmzer invested Landau, and carried the lines of Weissembourg; the French retreated with loss.
1797. Benjamin Hammett fined £1,000 sterling, for refusing the office of lord mayor of London.
1812. Battle of Queenston, in Canada; the Americans, under colonel Van Rensselaer, attacked and carried the heights and fort; but owing to the refusal of 1,200 militia to cross over to their support, and the arrival of British regulars and Indians from fort George, the Americans, to the number of 764, were obliged to surrender. General Brock was killed in this affair, and Van Rensselaer was wounded by four balls. American loss, 90 killed, 82 wounded.
1815. Joachim Murat, king of Naples, shot. He was a soldier of fortune, who emerged from obscurity during the French revolution, became a distinguished general in the armies of France, married a sister of Napoleon, and was placed upon the throne of Naples.
1815. Napoleon Bonaparte landed at St. Helena, a perpetual exile.
1822. Antonio Canova died; the most eminent sculptor of the age. His statues are in possession of the noble and the rich throughout Europe.