1687. Edmund Waller, an eminent English poet and political writer, died.
1692. A commission was granted by William and Mary to Benjamin Fletcher, governor of New York, conferring on him the government of Pennsylvania, and depriving Penn of that office. He was however, restored again in two years after.
1716. James Gronovius died; a Dutch writer on the belles-lettres, and a man of learning.
1766. Cumana, the capital of New Andalusia in South America, entirely destroyed by an earthquake.
1771. Tobias Smollet, a Scottish physician, died; better known as a historian and novelist.
1771. William Clarke, an English divine and antiquary, died.
1774. The provincial congress of Massachusetts determined to raise and enlist men for the defence of the province for the first time, under the name of minute men.
1777. Samuel Foote died; a celebrated English dramatist and actor, called the English Aristophanes.
1783. Congress insulted at Philadelphia by a band of mutineers, whom the authorities were unable to quell, adjourned to Princeton; a circumstance which doubtless led to the agitation of the question of a permanent seat of government.
1794. Coblentz surrendered to the French revolutionists. The fortifications of this city, celebrated for having been the court of the emigrant princes, had been vastly augmented during the course of the war, but the Austrian commander evacuated it on the first appearance of the French.