1516. Ferdinand V of Spain died. He inherited the crowns of Aragon and Sicily, and united to them the kingdom of Castile by marriage. In 1492 he added to these the kingdom of Granada, the last possession of the Moors, by conquest; at the same time Columbus was discovering for him the new world. By force and treachery he acquired the kingdom of Naples, and by similar means Navarre was also added to his dominions. Thus the whole of Spain was united under him; so that he may be considered as the restorer if not the founder of the Spanish monarchy. He was the most powerful monarch of his time; but his conduct was characterized by a total want of faith, and a recklessness of principle of which he made no scruple of boasting. He was the founder of that fearful tribunal, the Inquisition.
1570. Earl Murray, regent of Scotland, shot by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh. The latter, after the battle of Langside hill, had been condemned to death as a rebel, and pardoned. A part of his estate, however, was bestowed upon one of the regent's favorites, who seized Hamilton's house and turned his wife out into the fields naked in a cold night, by which she became deranged. This injury induced him to seek revenge on the regent, after which he escaped to France.
1722. Henri De Boulainvilliers, count of St. Saire in Normandy, died. Having finished his studies he entered the army, which however, he soon left to devote his attention to literature. A marked antipathy to revelation pervades his writings, and exhibits itself in singular contrast with a superstitious reverence for judicial astrology, and the mystic sciences, which he cultivated with much diligence.
1733. O. S. Birthday of Benjamin Lincoln, a revolutionary general, at Hingham, Mass. Great reliance was placed in his abilities by Washington, and many important commissions entrusted to him. In 1781 he was appointed secretary of war, which office he held three years, and then retired to his farm. He died 1810.
1761. Action between the British frigate Minerva, 22 guns, Capt. Hood, and French ship Warwick, 34 guns, M. de Bellair, near cape Pinas, which resulted in the capture of the latter. French loss 14 killed, 32 wounded; British loss 14 killed, 33 wounded, 3 of whom died.
1765. The British under Capt. Byron colonized the Falkland islands.
1766. William Caslon, an eminent English type founder, died. He was induced to attempt letter-cutting by a friend, and
such was the perfection to which he carried the art, that the beauty of his type exceeded all others of the day, and was sought for from other countries on the continent. He was employed to cut characters for several languages of Asia.
1772. Mrs. Clum died near Litchfield, England, aged 138. She had lived 103 years in one house.
1775. The Pennsylvania convention declared their determination, in case the arbitrary laws of England were attempted to be executed by force, to repel the same by the most determined resistance.