Burke threw upon the floor a Sheffield dagger to enforce his oratory.

1795. The French crossed the Waal near Bommel, and took possession of Tiel. They also captured Rosas and 540 of the garrison.

1796. Message from Gen. Washington to congress, accompanied by the French flag presented by the committee of public safety, which was deposited among the archives.

1804. Charlotte Lenox, the popular author of the Female Quixotte, &c., died.

1814. John George Jacobi, a German poet, died. He was the son of a wealthy merchant; studied theology; became professor of theology and eloquence at Halle, where he published a periodical for the ladies called the Iris. He was afterwards connected with several periodicals. His works are published in 7 vols.

1825. Ferdinand IV of Naples died. The life of this prince is remarkable for the uncommon length of his reign, and its many vicissitudes, embracing a period of 65 years, and being closely connected with all the great events of Europe during the last half century. He was born 1751, and came to the throne at the age of eight. The first thirty years of his reign were attended with peace and happiness; but in 1798 the country was invaded by Bonaparte, before whom Ferdinand fled to Sicily: and afterwards in 1820 the Carbonari effected a revolution which again banished the royal family. The interposition of the Austrians, however, restored the ancient order of things, which continued till the death of the king, four years after.

1827. James Chambers, an eccentric poet, died in misery at a farm-house in Stratbroke, England. From the age of 16 to 70 he wandered about the country, gaining a precarious subsistence by selling his own effusions, of which he had a number printed in a cheap form. His compositions were mostly suggested to him by his muse, during the stillness of the night while reposing in some friendly barn or hay-loft. When so inspired, he would arise and commit the effusion to paper. He continued through life in hopeless poverty, and was a lonely man and a wanderer, who had neither act nor part in the common ways of the world.

1835. Thermometer 40 deg. below zero, at Lebanon, N. Y., the mercury becoming solid. It was severely cold throughout the United States.

1843. Steven Thompson Mason, formerly governor of Michigan, died at New York, aged 31.

1845. Benjamin Russell, chiefly known as the conductor of the Columbian Centinel, died at Boston.

1849. Samuel Jenkins, a negro died at Lancaster, aged 115. He drove his master's provision wagon over the Alleganies in Braddock's expedition, and was supposed to be the last survivor of that expedition.

1849. The town of Moultan in India, after a long siege was taken by the British, but with great loss.

1852. Eliot Walburton, an author of considerable note, perished in the Amazon steamship, on his way from Southampton to the West Indies.

1853. Mr. Ingersoll, the American envoy to England, was feted by the chamber of commerce at Liverpool.

1854. Albion college, Michigan, destroyed by fire.

1856. Jean Pierre David, a celebrated French sculptor, died at Paris, aged 65.

JANUARY 5.

62. B. C. Lucius Sergius Catiline, the Roman conspirator, killed in Etruria. The history of his life unfolds a series of most revolting crimes; but there is reason to believe that some of them are unreal. Murder, rapine and conflagration, were the

first pleasures of his life. Pompey, Crassus and Cæsar favored his schemes with a view to their own aggrandizement. Only two Romans remained determined to uphold their falling country—Cato and Cicero. The speeches of the latter in the Roman senate on the crisis of affairs are imperishable monuments of eloquence and patriotism, and produced the overthrow of the conspirators. Five of them were put to death, and Catiline being surrounded by the army under Petreius resolved to die sword in hand. The battle was fought with desperation, and the insurgents fell, with their leader at their head.

1066. Edward the Confessor, king of England, died. He was called to the throne 1041. He was not the immediate heir, but his claim was supported of Godwin, earl of Kent, whose daughter Editha he married. He was a weak and superstitious prince, and acquired the title of Saint or Confessor, by abstaining from nuptial connection with his queen. He was the first English monarch who undertook to cure the king's-evil by touching the patient. With him ended the Saxon line of kings.

1477. Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, killed in battle on this or the following day. This prince, the son of Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal, early displayed a violent, impetuous and ambitious disposition; and in after life was constantly embroiled in unjust and cruel warfare, in which he performed many daring exploits. But having turned his arms against the Swiss, the fortune of war turned against him; and being deserted by his allies, with his usual temerity risked a battle with only 4000 men against a vastly superior force, was defeated and killed by the thrust of a lance in the 44th year of his age. His body covered with blood and mire, and his head imbedded in the ice, was not found till two days after the battle, when it was so disfigured that his own brother did not recognize it. With him expired the feudal government of Burgundy.

1531. The electoral college assembled at Rome and elected Ferdinand, brother of Charles V, king of the Romans. He was crowned a few days after at Aix-la-Chapelle.

1536. Catharine of Arragon, the repudiated queen of Henry VIII, died. She was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, born 1483. She was first married to Arthur, prince of Wales, who died five months after; and the king unwilling to return her dowry caused her to be contracted to his remaining son, Henry. The prince, at the age of 15, made a public protest against this proceeding, but finally consented to the match. Notwithstanding the inequality of their ages and the capricious disposition of the king, they had been married 20 years when the division took place. This separation led to a divorce from the pope also, and was the cause of mighty effects.

1559. Catharine de Medicis died. She was born at Florence 1519; married, 1533, the dauphin, afterwards Henry II, of France. She was three times regent of France, and during her administration made a conspicuous figure in the annals of Europe by her political genius. By her was begun the palace of the Tuilleries; but the lasting monument of her fame and iniquity is the massacre of St. Bartholomew's, which was brought about by her intrigues, when more than 50,000 protestants were massacred in one day.

1621. Paul Van Somer died in London. He was born at Antwerp, 1576, and arrived at great proficiency as a painter. His pencil was chiefly employed on portraits of royal and eminent personages, and is said to have equalled Vandyke.

1636. De Vries, who had recently arrived from Holland in the capacity of a patroon, sent his colonists over to Staten island from fort Amsterdam, to commence the colony and buildings.

1675. Turenne defeated the imperialists at Turkheim.

1705. Second volcanic opening of the peak of Teneriffe, in the ravine of Almerchiga, a league from Icore. It closed on the 13th of the same month.

1722. Bell, the Traveler, arrived at Moscow on the return from China. (See July 14,