1702. Edward Sherburne, an English writer, died, aged 85. Besides his original works, he translated Seneca's tragedies and other Latin authors.
1713. Francis Petit de la Croix, a French ambassador, died. He was an expert linguist in Turkish and Arabic, and rendered great services to literature by his dictionaries and other works on those languages.
1749. A ball of fire burst about 40 yards above the British ship Montague, admiral Chambers, knocking down five men, shattering the maintop mast, and otherwise injuring the ship. The ball was first visible about three miles from the ship, at mid-day, and rose before it burst.
1749. At Stoke, in Glocestershire, about 6 P. M., the inhabitants were surprised by a brilliant light surpassing that of the sun. It was seen but for a few minutes.
1764. Charles Churchill, an eminent English poet, died. He was endowed with great natural abilities, and his poems, though they have lost something by time, are still preserved from oblivion.
1788. Deborah Godfrey died at Stepney, England, aged 80; celebrated as the mother of 34 children, all of whom lived to the age of maturity.
1791. The United States army, 1,400 men, under general St. Clair, defeated by the Indians, near the Miami villages. The Indians made the attack immediately after the soldiers had been dismissed, from the parade, and with so much intrepidity, that most of the officers were killed before they could form their men. The loss of the Americans was 894, being nearly two-thirds of the force. The Indians took 7 cannon, 200 oxen and a great number of horses. Their force was between three and four thousand, and their loss only 56. (Other and more reliable accounts say 1,500 Indians instead of 3,000.)
1793. Richard Tickell, an eminent English writer, was killed by a fall from a window of his apartments.
1794. Praga carried by storm by the Russians under Suwarrow; upon which Warsaw was compelled to surrender, and a massacre of the Poles followed, which issued in blotting out Poland from the nations of Europe.
1797. Earthquake at Quito; nearly 40,000 of the natives perished, either buried under the ruins of their own houses, swallowed up in the crevices of the earth, or drowned in the lakes which were suddenly formed.