1547. Henry II, of France, caused the following to be proclaimed: "We forbid all booksellers, printers, &c., under pain of confiscation, to print any book relating to the holy scriptures."
1560. Andrew Doria, the famous Genoese admiral, died. He distinguished himself in the service of several Italian princes, and finally achieved the liberty of his own country, of which he refused to accept the sovereignty.
1624. Richard Crackanthorp, an eloquent English preacher, died. He was also an author of merit.
1626. Edward Alleyn died; an actor of great reputation in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I, and founder of Dulwich college.
1651. Henry Ireton, a republican general in the English civil war, died. He possessed great abilities and uncommon valor, and deserved the friendship of Cromwell, whose daughter he married. He died at the siege of Limerick, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster abbey; but at the restoration was dug up and exposed on Tyburn gibbet with Cromwell and Bradshaw.
1687. Nicholas Steno, an eminent Danish anatomist, died.
1694. Ismael Bullialdus, an astronomer of the isle of France, died.
1748. Isaac Watts, an English dissenting divine, died; author of several valuable works on subjects of divinity, and whose hymns and poetical version of the psalms are still in general use.
1758. Fort du Quesne taken by the British and provincial army, 8,000 men, under general Forbes; the French garrison, deserted by the Indians, being unequal to its maintenance. In compliment to the popular minister, William Pitt, it was named Pittsburgh, and has become an important place at the head of the Ohio.
1759. Battle of Chinchura, in the East Indies; the Dutch defeated by the British under colonel Forde.