1856. Covent garden theatre, London, burnt at the close of a masked hall.
MARCH 6.
13 B. C. Augustus Cæsar assumed the office of high priest, in which capacity he destroyed 2,000 books of prophecy, for want of authority!
1393. John Hawkwood, an Englishman, died at Florence. He was bred a tailor, but signalized himself so greatly in the wars in Italy, that he was promoted to the highest posts; and after his death the Florentines erected a block marble statue as an acknowledgment for the services he had done them.
1521. Magellan, in the service of the king of Spain, on his voyage round the world, discovered the Ladrone, or Marian islands, and may be considered as the first discoverer of that portion of the world called Australia. This opened the way for the subsequent discoveries made in that quarter.
1557. Lord Stourton hung at Salisbury in a halter of silk, to mark his dignity. His crime was the murder of two persons whom he had decoyed to his house.
1577. Remi Belleau, one of the seven poets called the Pleiades of France, died. He excelled as a pastoral writer.
1615. The yacht Halve Maan, 80 tons burden, in which Hudson entered the river which bears his name, was wrecked and destroyed on the island of Mauritius.
1716. Aurora Borealis first seen in
England, and was gazed upon with every degree of alarm till nearly three o'clock in the morning.