1853. The first ground broken of the European and North American rail road, at St. John, by lady Head, assisted by the lieutenant-governor in the presence of 25,000 people.
1854. Alexander W. Stowe, chief justice of the state of Wisconsin, died at Milwaukee.
SEPTEMBER 15.
1590. Gerard Bontius, professor of medicine at Leyden, died. He was the first who immortalized himself by pills, having invented a kind, the secret of which was long unknown.
1596. Cadiz taken and plundered by Howard and Essex. Loss computed at 20,000,000 ducats.
1607. Hudson returned to England from his first voyage of discovery, having discovered the island of Spitzbergen, but failed in the great object, the discovery of a north-west passage to India.
1609. Hudson, in his first ascent of the great river, came in view of mountains which lay from the river's side, and anchored, it is supposed, near the present site of Catskill landing.
1613. Thomas Overbury, a polite English writer, poisoned in the Tower. He wrote in verse and prose. (See [17th].)
1623. Nicholas Bergier, historiographer of France, died. He wrote a history of the great roads of the Roman empire.
1643. Richard Boyle, the great earl of Cork, died. He went to Dublin with a small fortune, and by his great industry and ability enriched himself and benefited his country.