1812. Bonaparte evacuated Orcha on his retreat from Moscow. He left there 23 cannon, some prisoners, and an immense number of sick and wounded, who fell into the hands of the Cossacks.
1813. John Baptist Bodoni, the celebrated printer of Parma, and probably the most distinguished in his profession during the last century, died.
1815. France ceded to the kingdom of the Netherlands whatever it still retained of the Austrian Netherlands, particularly a rich mineral district situated in the center of the Ardennes, and the fortresses of Marienburg and Philippeville.
1840. A series of extensive hurricanes and storms, which commenced on the 13th and swept over England, Ireland and a part of France, ceased their fury. The destruction of lives and property, on land and at sea, was immense.
1843. Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, aged 74, died at Philadelphia. He was director of the United States coast survey.
NOVEMBER 21.
53 B. C. Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of the triumvirs with Cæsar and Pompey, killed at Haran in Syria. He was surnamed Dives, the rich, on account of his vast fortune. He once gave an entertainment to the whole people, in which 10,000 tables were set, and besides distributed corn enough to last each family three months. He perished, with a great part of his army, in an expedition against the Parthians, undertaken from motives of avarice and ambition.
533. The famous institutes, or system of elementary law, were completed by the delegates of Justinian. They were divided into four books, proceeding methodically, from 1, persons to 2, things; and from things to 3, actions, and 4, private wrongs, terminated, as in Blackstone, by the principles of criminal law.
1555. George Agricola died; a physician of Glaucen, in Misnia, known for his learning and works on minerals.
1579. Thomas Gresham, an eminent London merchant, died. His knowledge of commerce was considered complete, and he acquired a great fortune. He transacted the queen's commercial affairs, and his house was sometimes appointed for the reception of foreign princes. The first royal exchange was planned and executed by his munificence.