APRIL 6.
323 B. C. Alexander (the Great,) of Macedon, died of intemperance. The death of this famous hero took place at Babylon, on the 6th day of the Athenian month Thagelion, which then corresponded with the 28th of the Macedonian month Dæsius. He lived 32 years and 10 months, and
reigned, computing from the Olympiad six months prior to the death of Philip, 12 years and 10 months—a brief career of extraordinary, but profitless glory.
1190. Richard I (Cœur de Lion), killed at the siege of Chalus, in France. He commenced his career by rebellion against his father. On ascending the throne of England, he plundered and massacred the Jews, and set sail for Palestine with the bravest of his subjects. Taking the lead in the crusade, he gained a series of victories over the Moslem. On his way home he was seized and imprisoned, and ransomed by his subjects with 150,000 marks. He was preparing for another crusade, when his career was suddenly terminated by a wound from a cross-bow, in the 42d year of his age.
1348. Laura de Noves, Petrarch's mistress, died. She was descended of a Provencal family which became extinct in the 16th century, inherited a large fortune by the death of her father, and married Hugh de Sade of Avignon. She was considered the most beautiful woman of the city. Petrarch says it was 6 o'clock in the morning of the 6th April, 1327, that he first saw her in the church of the nuns of St. Clara; and it was at the same hour of the same day, 1348, that she died of the plague. Nearly two centuries after, some antiquarians obtained permission to open her grave. They found a parchment enclosed in a leaden box, containing a sonnet bearing Petrarch's signature.
1453. Mohammed II besieged Constantinople, which terminated in the overthrow of the Christian empire.
1528. Albrecht Duerer, a celebrated German painter and engraver, died. He is still esteemed in Germany as one of the brightest jewels in her crown of fame. He was the reformer if not the founder of the German school of painting, and was the first to bring the art of engraving to any degree of perfection.
1574. Paul Manutius, a learned Venetian printer, died, aged 62. He wrote valuable commentaries on Cicero, and four treatises on Roman antiquities.
1580. Earthquake which was felt throughout England. The bells rang, and chimneys toppled down.
1590. Francis Walsyngham, an English statesman, died, aged 90. He flourished in the reign of Elizabeth, and was of infinite service to the state, by the energy and zeal with which he performed the duties of his offices. Yet he died so poor that his remains were privately buried by night, without any ceremony.