APRIL 18.
515 B. C. The Jewish passover, a festival in commemoration of the destruction of the first born of the Egyptians, while the houses of the Jews were spared, was celebrated in the new temple.
1551. Nicholas Udall obtains a patent to print the works of Peter Martyr and the English Bible.
1552. John Leland, styled the father of antiquaries, died in London. He applied himself to his favorite pursuit with so much ardor as to impair his reason. He was the most accomplished writer of the age.
1556. Lewis Alemanni, a Florentine statesman, died. He was at the head of the faction that sought to expel the Medici; but finding himself unable to keep his popularity, he fled to France, where he was employed as a diplomatist.
1587. John Fox, the martyrologist, died, aged 70. His attention was early turned to the reformation, and he studied the early writers with so much devotion that his seclusion and frequent absence from church excited the persecution of his enemies, and occasioned him a great deal of misfortune.
1593. Shakspeare's poem of Venus Adonis entered in the books at Stationer's Hall.
1610. Robert Parsons, an English Jesuit, died at Rome. His abilities procured him the patronage of the pope, and he was employed in educating missionaries to convert protestants in England. He possessed the elements of turbulence and intrigue to a great extent, but his operations were entirely unsuccessful.
1630. Manors in America created.
1640. Peter Kirstenius, a German physician, died at Upsal. He applied himself with great assiduity to literature and science, acquired 26 languages, and published among other things an Arabic grammar.