1851. Spencer Compton, marquis of Northampton, died, aged 61. He was president of the Royal society; was associated with Wilberforce in the anti-slavery
cause, and with Macintosh as a criminal law reformer.
1854. Two rail road bridges and crossings at Erie, Pa., destroyed by a mob of women, who were afterwards escorted through the town with banners, headed by a band of music.
1856. Zadock Thompson died, aged 59; author of several historical works relating to Vermont, and a naturalist.
JANUARY 18.
1486. Henry VII married the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV. Thus uniting the houses of York and Lancaster, blending the Roses.
1534. Lima, the present capital of Peru, founded by Pizarro; thirty years before a single town was founded within the limits of the United States, St. Augustine, Florida, being founded 1565.
1546. The council of Trent assembled and agreed upon a confession of faith.
1561. The first English tragedy performed, at Whitehall, before the queen. It was entitled Gorboduc, from the name of a supposed ancient British king, and was written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton. It consists of five acts, each preceded by a dumb show, prefiguring what is to occur; the first four acts close by choruses in rhyme, and the fifth by a didactic speech of nearly two hundred lines. Sir Philip Sydney pronounced it "full of stately speeches and well-sounding phrases, climbing to the height of Seneca his stile, and full of notable morality, which it doth most delightfully teach."
1701. Frederick III of Brandenburgh crowned first king of Prussia, by the title of Frederick I.