1716. Engelbert Kœmpfer, an eminent German botanist, died. Besides his works on botany, he wrote a History of Japan.
1726. Sophia Dorothea, queen of George I of England, died at the castle of Ahlen in Hanover, in which she had been immured since 1694 on a charge of an intrigue with count Koningsmarke; a charge which was never proved and generally disbelieved. She was often solicited to rejoin her husband. To the English who also made the proposal, she said, "If I am guilty I am not fit to be your queen; if I am innocent your king is not fit to be my husband."
1758. The Belliqueux, a French ship of war from Quebec, driven into Lundy road where she was taken possession of by the English; value estimated at £150,000.
1759. Charles Hanbury Williams, an English poet and ambassador, died.
1772. Town meeting in Boston, at which committees of correspondence were appointed by the "Sons of Liberty." Adams and Warren were among the originators of this plan, which was soon followed by the other states. These committees were undoubtedly the origin of the congress.
1783. Washington issued from head quarters, Rocky Hill, near Princeton, his farewell orders to the American armies.
1783. Charles Colle, a distinguished French comic writer, died.
1788. John Henderson, an English scholar, died. He displayed at a very early period of life, an uncommon thirst after knowledge, which he gratified with unremitted ardor. "The virtues of his heart were superior even to the astonishing powers of his understanding;" he died however, the victim of intemperance.
1794. François Joachim de Pierres Bernis, a French ecclesiastic, and courtier, died, aged 80. His talents and judgment were of a high order.
1812. Battle of Ghatz; the Cossacks under Platoff defeated a division of the French, and took 70 wagons, 20 cannons and some thousands of exhausted and helpless prisoners. Denizoff defeated another French division the same day, captured 40 loaded wagons and 1000 prisoners.