1636. James Callot, an eminent French engraver, died. He carried the art to a greater state of perfection than any other before him, and attained all that it then seemed possible for human industry to reach.
1638. William Kieft arrived at New Amsterdam as governor of the colony.
1663. At Laucha, near Naumburg, in Prussia, there fell a great quantity of a fibrous substance, represented as resembling blue silk.
1676. The Indians attacked Rehoboth, Mass., and burnt 40 houses and about 30 barns.
1677. Wentzel Hollar, a Bohemian engraver, died. His talents were noticed by Arundel, the English ambassador, by whom he was induced to visit England, where he executed a great number of portraits and views; but though his graver gave celebrity to so many, he was himself the victim of want, and was barely permitted by his creditors to die on his own bed.
1678. James Dixwell, one of the regicides, died at New Haven, Conn.
1678. Claudius Francis Milliet Dechales, a French mathematician, died. His works, published in 3 vols. folio, are a complete course of mathematics.
1741. The British Capt. Knowles destroyed the batteries at Passa Cavallo, Carthagena.
1745. Ventilators, invented by the Rev. Dr. Hales, ordered by the council of England to be introduced into Newgate.
1757. Robert Francis Damiens executed at Paris for an attempt to assassinate Louis XV. He was the son of a poor farmer, and from his vicious inclinations acquired the title of Robert le Diable. As the king was getting into his carriage at Versailles, surrounded by his train, Damiens stabbed him in the right side with a knife. He was seized, tried and condemned