1718. Action off the coast of Sicily, between the British fleet, admiral Byng, and the Spanish fleet, under Castanats; the latter lost 21 ships, captured and sunk.
1744. Sarah, duchess of Marlborough, bequeathed to William Pitt £10,000, "upon account of his merit in the noble defence he had made for the support of the laws of England, and to prevent the ruin of his country."
1766. Ann Sowerby was burnt at York, England, for poisoning her husband; one of the last relics of this mode of capital punishment.
1768. Peter Collinson died; an eminent English botanist and natural historian.
1772. A charged cloud at Java destroyed 2,000 persons.
1778. Augustus Montague Toplady died; an eminent English Calvinistic divine and theological writer.
1781. The British took into New York the American frigate Trumbull. Congress had then but two frigates left.
1782. British evacuated Savannah.
1787. First bishop appointed for Nova Scotia. First bishops in England, 694; Denmark, 939; form of consecrating bishops in England ordained, 1549; the office abolished by parliament, 1646; restored, 1660; first episcopal bishop in America, 1784; first catholic, 1789.
1794. Battle of Wilna; the Poles defeated by the Russians, and the town taken by assault.