prudence and energy of his mother made a disposition, naturally volatile and irritable, become a pattern of patience and perseverance. His speeches when a member of congress were highly finished.
1853. Junius Smith died, aged 74; having devoted a considerable portion of his life to the establishment of transatlantic steam-navigation, and the naturalization of the teaplant in the United States.
1854. Alexander De Bodisco died at Georgetown. He was seventeen years Russian minister at Washington, and was very popular with the American people.
1855. There was an earthquake in a part of New Zealand, by which the surface of the earth was raised between three and four feet, and the shellfish attached to the rocks died.
JANUARY 24.
41. Caius Caligula, the Roman emperor, assassinated. He commenced his reign with every promise of becoming a good monarch. But at the end of eight months he was attacked with a fever, which appears to have left a frenzy upon his mind, for his disposition was totally reversed. After committing the most atrocious acts of cruelty and folly, he was assassinated by a tribune as he came out of the amphitheatre, in the 29th year of his age, and the 4th of his reign.
76. Birthday of Publius Ælius Adrian, the Roman emperor. He was a renowned general and great traveler; who, on a visit to Britain, built the famous wall or rampart, which still retains his name, extending from the mouth of the Tyne to the Solway frith, 80 miles, to prevent the incursions of the Caledonians into England.
1559. Christian II, king of Denmark, died. His history affords a series of cruelties and usurpations almost without a parallel, from 1515, when he ascended the throne, until 1523, when he was deposed. The remainder of his life was passed in imprisonment.
1709. George Rooke, an English admiral, died. He took the fortress of Gibraltar, by surprise, 1704; since which it has continued in the hands of the British, and is considered impregnable.
1712. Birthday of Frederick the Great of Prussia.