1784. John Baptist Anthony Visconti, an Italian antiquary, died. In his researches for ancient monuments at Rome, he discovered the tomb of the Scipios.
1792. The prisons of Paris, filled with nobles, ecclesiastics and opulent citizens, suspected of favoring the court and aristocratical party, were burst open, and the inmates massacred to the number of 12,487, during this and the following day. Neither age, rank nor sex were respected by the Jacobins, who urged the expediency of destroying these persons before the Austrians should reach the capital.
1792. Marie Therese de Lamballe, an Italian princess, murdered in Paris. She escaped from Paris at the same time with the royal family, by another road, and reached England. But on hearing the fate of her friend the queen, hastened back to share her fortune, and met with a barbarous death from the hands of the mob.
1806. An immense rock forming the summit of the Rosenburg in Switzerland was precipitated into the valley with a vast amount of rubbish, overwhelming several villages, and partly filling lake Lauwertz. Upwards of 1,000 persons perished, and three villages totally disappeared.
1813. Jean Victor Moreau, one of the most distinguished generals of the French revolution, died of wounds received at the battle of Dresden.
1832. Francis Xavier de Zach died of cholera at Paris. He was a native of Hungary, and one of the most eminent astronomers of the age.
1832. John Olding Butler died; an English writer, author of a Geography of the Globe.
1834. Thomas Telford, a distinguished architect and civil engineer, died at London. He was a self-made man, rising from a shepherd boy in Eskdale, Scotland, to rank with the most learned of his age.
1836. William Henry, a celebrated writer on chemistry, died.