Antwerp. His pieces are distinguished for good taste, and for freshness and warmth of coloring.
1829. John George Henry Hassel, a distinguished German geographer and statistical writer, died at Weimar.
1834. Nathaniel Ames died at Providence. He was the son of Fisher Ames, and a seaman by profession. He is the author of Mariners' Sketches, Nautical Reminiscences, and Old Sailor's Yarns.
1848. John Deidrich Peterson died at Markham, Canada. He was the pioneer pastor of that town.
1854. Judah Touro died at New Orleans, aged 78; bequeathing nearly two millions of dollars to the public institutions of that city.
1854. William Walker proclaimed the republic of Sonora.
JANUARY 19.
1472. Birthday of Copernicus, at Thorn in Prussia.
1514. Vasco Nunez de Balboa returned to his colony at Darien, after having made the discovery of the Pacific ocean. His expedition occupied four months and a half; his triumph was complete. The whole population poured down to the shore to meet him, to hail him as the author of their fortunes, as less a man than a gift of heaven, to guide them into the possession of glories and riches incalculable. The expedition had been undertaken in consequence of the extravagant representations by the Indians, of a people who lived on the borders of that ocean, six suns distant, who owned large ships, and whose eating and drinking vessels were of pure gold. They referred to the Peruvians.
1535. Date of the probate of the will of the famed early English printer, Wynkyn de Worde.