17. Titus Livius died at Padua. His history of Rome, to which he devoted twenty years, rendered him so celebrated, that a Spaniard is said to have gone from Cadiz to Rome for the purpose merely of seeing him. His history was written in 140 books, of which only 35 are extant. Five of these were discovered at Worms 1731, and some fragments are said to have been since found at Herculaneum. Few particulars of his life are known, but his fame was great even while he lived, and his history has made him immortal.
17. Publius Ovidus Naso, the Roman poet, died in exile at Tomos (a town on the inhospitable coast of the Black sea), aged 60. He exhibited an unconquerable predilection for poetry, and the ease and the enjoyments of life, which his fortune placed within his power. He traveled in Greece and Asia which added to his accomplishments; his works were adapted to the public taste, and he was esteemed by the learned: Horace and Virgil were his friends, and he was a welcome visitor at the court of Augustus. Until his fiftieth year he appears to have lived almost solely for poetry and pleasure. He might have hoped to pass the remaining years of his life in peace, under the shadow of his laurels, but he was suddenly banished by Augustus, for some unknown cause. His Metamorphoses, and Art of Love are often republished in our language. He painted nature with a masterly hand, and his genius imparted elegance to vulgarity; but impurity defiles the sweetness of his numbers, and his finest productions are sullied with licentiousness.
1547. Conspiracy of Genoa, headed by John Lewis Fiesco; his being drowned in the night, occasioned the failure of the scheme, in the very moment of success.
1604. The Jesuits reinstated in France.
1731. A reprieve sent to a prisoner at Newgate on condition he would suffer Mr. Chiselden to make an experiment on the tympanum of his ear. The experiment was never performed.
1741. John Barber, printer to the city of London, and the first printer that rose to the rank of mayor, died.
1757. Calcutta retaken by the English and permitted to be fortified by the subah.
1758. The Whitefield methodists observed this day in thanksgiving for the victories of the king of Prussia in favor of England.
1759. The French surprised and captured Frankfort on the Maine.
1766. James Edward Francis Stuart, the Pretender, died. He was the eldest son of James II, born at London 1688. He was five months old when his father was dethroned, and the royal family fled to France. His elder sister Anne afterwards came to the throne, and some effort was made to secure his own succession; but it does not appear that he entered into the project with much spirit.