1814. John George Jacobi, a German poet, died. He was the son of a wealthy merchant; studied theology; became professor of theology and eloquence at Halle, where he published a periodical for the ladies called the Iris. He was afterwards connected with several periodicals. His works are published in 7 vols.
1825. Ferdinand IV of Naples died. The life of this prince is remarkable for the uncommon length of his reign, and its many vicissitudes, embracing a period of 65 years, and being closely connected with all the great events of Europe during the last half century. He was born 1751, and came to the throne at the age of eight. The first thirty years of his reign were attended with peace and happiness; but in 1798 the country was invaded by Bonaparte, before whom Ferdinand fled to Sicily: and afterwards in 1820 the Carbonari effected a revolution which again banished the royal family. The interposition of the Austrians, however, restored the ancient order of things, which continued till the death of the king, four years after.
1827. James Chambers, an eccentric poet, died in misery at a farm-house in Stratbroke, England. From the age of 16 to 70 he wandered about the country, gaining a precarious subsistence by selling his own effusions, of which he had a number printed in a cheap form. His compositions were mostly suggested to him by his muse, during the stillness of the night while reposing in some friendly barn or hay-loft. When so inspired, he would arise and commit the effusion to paper. He continued through life in hopeless poverty, and was a lonely man and a wanderer, who had neither act nor part in the common ways of the world.
1835. Thermometer 40 deg. below zero, at Lebanon, N. Y., the mercury becoming solid. It was severely cold throughout the United States.
1843. Steven Thompson Mason, formerly governor of Michigan, died at New York, aged 31.
1845. Benjamin Russell, chiefly known as the conductor of the Columbian Centinel, died at Boston.
1849. Samuel Jenkins, a negro died at Lancaster, aged 115. He drove his master's provision wagon over the Alleganies in Braddock's expedition, and was supposed to be the last survivor of that expedition.
1849. The town of Moultan in India, after a long siege was taken by the British, but with great loss.
1852. Eliot Walburton, an author of considerable note, perished in the Amazon steamship, on his way from Southampton to the West Indies.
1853. Mr. Ingersoll, the American envoy to England, was feted by the chamber of commerce at Liverpool.