1839. Fernando Paer, an Italian dramatic composer, died at Paris. He was a native of Parma; his pieces have been performed in Germany, France and Italy, with success.
1840. James Morison, self-styled The Hygeist, died at Paris, aged 70. He was the inventor of the vegetable universal medicines, known as Morison's Pills, from which he realized great profits, and is said to have paid the English government in ten years £60,000 for medicine stamps.
1849. A serious insurrection occurred at Dresden, in Saxony, but was in a few days put down.
1852. Sarah Coleridge died; the accomplished and only daughter of S. T. Coleridge. She translated from the Latin the curious works of Dobrizhoffer on Paraguay, 3 vols., and completed the editorial care of her father's Literary Remains, begun by her husband.
1853. John B. Gibson, an eminent Pennsylvania jurist, died at Philadelphia, aged
73; at which time he was judge of the supreme court.
1856. Adolphe Charles Adam, the noted French music composer, died at Paris, aged 54.
MAY 4.
1471. Battle of Tewkesbury, between the York partisans and the Lancastrians, in which the latter were defeated, and queen Margaret and her son Edward taken prisoners. The young prince was basely murdered on the spot, by the dukes of Gloucester and Clarence.
1605. Ulysses Aldrovand, a Bolognese philosopher, died. He was the most celebrated naturalist of the 16th century, and spent his life and exhausted his resources in the pursuit of science. He lost his sight, and ended his days in a hospital at the age of 80.