1608. Champlain, who took the charge of conducting the French colony in Arcadie, after examining all the eligible places on the St. Lawrence, selected a spot at the confluence of that river and the St. Charles, about 320 miles from the sea, where he erected barracks, cleared the ground for tillage, and on this day laid the foundation of Quebec.
1642. Mary de Medicis, of France, died; the promoter of the massacre of St. Bartholomews.
1672. Francis Willoughby, an English naturalist, died. To rank and fortune he added great application, and had traversed the principal countries of Europe in pursuit of his favorite study, the history of animals, when he was cut off at the early age of 37.
1676. Indian battle near Narraganset; the main body of the Indians were surprised at a large cedar swamp, and attacked so suddenly that a considerable number were killed or taken on the spot, and those who fled into the thicket were surrounded. They lost 171 on this occasion.
1743. Gabriel Romanovitch Dershavin, a celebrated Russian poet, died.
1769. The first theatrical performance enacted in Albany, by a company from New York, having gained permission "for one month only" from "his excellency the governor." The play was Venice Preserved; the place, the hospital.
1776. Three towns in Turkey, containing 10,000 inhabitants, destroyed by an earthquake.
1779. Grenada, in the West Indies, taken by the French under count d'Estaing.
1789. James Bernouilli II, a learned German mathematician, died of apoplexy while bathing in the Neva at St. Petersburg.
1794. Earthquake in Natolia, Asia Minor, destroyed several large and populous towns and villages, one of which was Amasia, the birth place of Strabo.