to a death of torture. Being drawn on a sledge to the Place de Greve, he there had the flesh of his thighs and arms torn off with red hot pincers, and the hand which held the knife cut off. Afterwards his body was drawn and quartered by four horses, his members and corpse burnt and the ashes thrown into the air.
1758. Action in the North Sea between 2 French and 2 British frigates; one of the former escaped, the other was captured with 40 guns and 340 men.
1760. Margaret Woffington, an eminent Irish actress, died. Her talents and good sense were greatly aided by extraordinary beauty of features and form.
1778. Louis XVI issued letters of marque and reprisal against England.
1783. A hill 500 feet in height was carried four miles from its site by the great Calabrian earthquake.
1791. Honore Gabriel Riquetti, count de Mirabeau, the distinguished French revolutionist but debauched man, died. The French directory decreed a public mourning of eight days; and all the places of amusement in Paris were shut on the day of his death.
1794. J. B. V. Guillotine was beheaded at Lyons. There is some mistake about this event; the authority from which it is derived stating that he was the inventor of the guillotine. (See [March 20], and [April 25, 1792]; also [May 26, 1814].)
1794. John Anthony Nicholas Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, died. His mathematical essays at an early age procured him a seat in the academy of sciences, of which he was afterwards elected secretary. He published the lives of several eminent men of his day, and was an active contributor to the famous Encyclopedie. He unfortunately took part in the revolution, and failing to keep pace with the ultra views of the Robespierre party, was proscribed, and died in prison either from want or by his own hand.
1801. Ralph Abercromby died. He rose from a common soldier, through all the gradations, to the highest rank in the army; was appointed commander in chief of the expedition to Egypt, and landed after a severe contest at Aboukir bay. He was wounded and unhorsed at the battle of Alexandria, notwithstanding which he disarmed his antagonist, and kept the field during the day and was victorious. He was conveyed on board the admiral's ship where he lingered a few days, and died. He was buried beneath the castle of St. Elmo, in Malta.
1802. The planet Pallas discovered by Dr. Olbers, at Bremen. Its revolution round the sun occupies 4 years, 7 months and 11 days.