1772. The first court of general quarter sessions of the peace for the county of Tryon was held at Johnstown, so called after sir Wm. Johnson; Guy Johnson, judge.
1775. John Leyden, afterwards a poet and famed oriental scholar, was born at Denholm, Roxburghshire.
1781. Battle of Eutaw Springs; the British regulars, 2,000 in number, under colonel Stewart, were defeated by the Americans under general Greene, 1,400 regulars and 500 militia. British loss in killed, wounded and prisoners about 1,000; American loss about 500. This battle closed the war in South Carolina.
1782. Tremendous cannonade and bombardment from Gibraltar with red hot balls and carcasses, upon the Spanish besiegers. Two floating batteries were consumed.
1793. The British under the duke of York raised the siege of Dunkirk, in France, defended with great bravery and resolution by Hoche.
1794. Battle of Brescia; the Poles defeated by the Russians under Suwarrow, with the loss of 8,000 men, and their whole park of artillery.
1795. A monument by Flaxman to the memory of Collins, the poet, was set up at Chichester, England.
1797. Richard Farmer died; a celebrated scholar and critic. He is noted for a single work, his Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare, in which he maintains that the bard obtained his knowledge of ancient history and mythology from translations and not from original classic authors. It is probably the best commentary which has been produced.
1798. The first number of the Allgemeine Zeitung (General Gazette) published at Augsburg, in Bavaria. Under the charge of baron Cotta, it is probably the most celebrated newspaper in the world. It has correspondents in all countries of Europe, and in America.
1798. Battle of Standtz, in Switzerland. The hardy mountaineers defended their homes against the French with clubs, spears and fragments of rock; but were forced to retire before the regular artillery and muskets of their enemy, their beautiful valley was destroyed by fire, and neither age nor sex spared by the furious soldiery.