1730. The British parliament passed an act prohibiting any subject lending money to a foreigner or other nation.
1740. The English Capt. Knowles took from the Spaniards the castle of St. Lorenzo in South America; a large amount of spoil fell into the hands of the conquerors.
1742. Peter Sabbathier, a French Benedictine, died. He was engaged 23 years in making a collection of the Latin versions of the Bible, which was published 1743 in 3 vols. folio.
1744. War between France and Great Britain declared.
1751. Fredrick, prince of Wales, died.
1754. John James Wetstein, a learned Swiss divine, died. He traveled through several countries of Europe to examine the various manuscripts of the Greek Testament, and on his return to Basel published his Prologomena; he was immediately persecuted as a Socinian, and compelled to flee his country. He found protection at Amsterdam, where he died.
1764. Thomas Slack commenced the New Castle Chronicle, a paper still well sustained in England.
1773. Philip Dormer Stanhope, earl of Chesterfield, died, aged 79. He was one of the most celebrated wits of his age, an eminent statesman, political, epistolatory and miscellaneous writer. His Letters, containing advice to his son, prove him to have been an excellent scholar; but the critical reader will find that they insidiously inculcate the loosest principles.
1773. Stephen Leake, an ingenious writer on coins and heraldry, died at Thorp, England.
1776. John Harrison, an eminent English mechanic, died. He was the son of an obscure mechanic, but made himself famous by the invention of a time-keeper, in the form of a watch, for ascertaining the longitude at sea, for which he received from parliament about $90,000.