A.C. 15,000 men; the prince of Orange then bombarded Dunkirk, Calais, Dieppe, Havre, and St. Malo; while Dugué Trouin committed dreadful devastations on the commerce of the enemies of France.

September 28th.-The English East India Company had a second charter of regulations granted.On the 30th, King William terminated this year's campaign, and returned to England.

Establishment of the bank of England.

November 22d.-Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, died at Lambeth, aged 65.

December 22d.-King William assented to an act for granting tonnage and poundage, as well as to another for the frequent assembling of parliaments. This was the important Triennial Act. -28th, Queen Mary died, aged 33, in the sixth year of her reign, and was buried on the 5th March following, in Henry the Seventh's chapel.

1695 In March, died David Teniers, the celebrated Dutch painter.

April 22.-An act was passed, granting King William rates and duties on marriages, births, burials, bachelors, and widowers, for a term of five years, for prosecuting the war against France with vigour.

of

In the month of May, the parliament of Scotland inquired into the facts of the horrible massacre of the Macdonalds, at Glencoe, in Scotland, which had taken place on the 13th of February, 1692. That barbarous deed, whereby so many the rebels were slaughtered, had created a great sensation throughout Europe, and was regarded as a reflection on King William himself. No one was, however, punished for that execrable butchery.On the 12th, King William embarked at Gravesend for Holland, which he gained on the 14th.

July 3d.--The town and castle of Namur were invested by the confederates. 9th, Casal surrendered to the duke of Savoy. 28th, Dixmude, with eight battalions of the confederates, surrendered to the French forces, and on the 30th, Deinse, with six battalions, was also captured by Marshal Villeroy.

August 13th, Marshal Villeroy bombarded Brussels, destroying 2500 houses, with churches, &c., which was effected in order to retaliate for those places the English had bombarded on the French coast.

September 2d. The fortress of Namur capitulated, and on the 5th the garrison marched out, when Marshal Boufflers

was arrested, in order to procure satisfaction from Louis the A.C. Fourteenth for the garrisons of Dixmude and Deinse, which were held prisoners, in defiance of the cartel. The marshal was then conveyed to Maestricht, but released on parole, having promised that those garrisons should be sent back. October 10th.-King William landed in England from Holland.

Achmet the Second, emperor of the Turks, died, and was succeeded by his nephew, Mustapha the Second, son of Mahomet the Fourth.

In January, the king of Poland, who had refused to re- 1696 cognise the title of King William to the English crown, consented to acknowledge the same, as well as the republic of Venice.--27th, the Royal Sovereign, (being the first manof-war of the usual dimensions now constructed,) which had been built in England, caught fire in the Thames and was burnt.

May 5th.-King William embarked at Margate for Holland, where he landed on the 7th.

Louis the Fourteenth despatched fresh forces against Piedmont, and laid siege to many places, when the duke of Savoy quitted the coalition, and signed a contract of marriage between his daughter Mary Adelaide with the duke of Burgundy, from which union was born Louis the Fifteenth.

Peter, who had reigned alone in Russia from the period of his brother Ivan's death, took the city of Azof, in the Crimea, from the Turks.

In September, it was found that the old coins of England having been called in, and a fresh coinage being issued, the loss to the nation amounted to 2,200,000.

October 6th.-King William returned to England, nothing having been attempted by the confederates. The reason alleged for the inactivity of the British was the scarcity of money in England, in consequence of the re-coinage.

In November, sixpence per month was deducted from every seaman's wages for the maintenance of Greenwich Hospital.

-The Corporation of the Trinity House laid the foundation of a Light House on the Eddystone rock, Plymouth. King William appointed a board for Trade and Plantations, consisting of a Lord Commissioner and seven others, each with a salary of 1000l. per annum. The famous John Locke

was appointed first Lord Commissioner.

In March, the Hand-in-Hand Fire-office was incorporated. 1697 An act was passed in April for completing and adorning the Cathedral of St. Paul's, London, and repairing the Col

A.C. legiate Church of St. Peter's, Westminster. An act passed for paving the Hay-market, in the parish of St. Martin-inthe-Fields.- -14th, a rising of the weavers took place, owing to the importation of calicoes, &c., from India, when the disaffected had nearly possessed themselves of the treasure of the East India House.Notwithstanding the enormous weight of taxation, the national debt greatly increased, owing to frauds committed by revenue officers as well as government contractors.-29th, Conferences for treating of a general peace were opened at Ryswick, when Mr. Letinroot, the ambassador of Sweden, was appointed mediator.

May 6th.-Aeth, in Flanders, was invested by the French, under Catinat, and surrendered on the 26th.

On the 2d June, the French invested Barcelona, when Prince Hesse Darmstadt, the governor, bravely defended that place, but was compelled to surrender to the duke of Vendosme, on the 5th August following.

John the Third, Sobieski, the martial king of Poland, died at Warsaw, aged 72; when Louis de Bourbon, prince of Conti, and Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, were elected kings of Poland by two opposite factions, the latter, however, succeeded over his opponent.

Charles the Eleventh, king of Sweden, died, and was succeeded by his son Charles the Twelfth; at which period, Sweden comprised Finland, Livonia, Carelia and Ingria, Wismar, Wiburg, the isles of Rugen and Esel, with the duchies of Bremen and Worden, the finest districts of Pomerania also constituting a portion of that kingdom.

July 26th. The earl of Portland and Marshal Boufflers settled the existing differences between King William and Louis the Fourteenth, near Brussels, without the cognizance of the allies, then treating at Ryswick. The loss sustained by the French navy during the war was 59 ships and 2224 guns, while that on the part of the British was 53 ships and 1112 guns.

King William had an interview with Czar Peter the First of Russia, who had accompanied his ambassadors in disguise to Holland, when he discovered himself to King William.

September 11th.-Peace was signed at Ryswick between France, England, Spain, and Holland, and ratified by King William, on the 15th, at Loo. By that treaty between France and Spain, the former was to restore to the latter Barcelona, Roses, Gironne, and all territory acquired in Catalonia, as well as Luxemburgh, Mons, Charleroy, &c., in the Low Countries, and every thing in America. In the

treaty between England and France, the French monarch A.C. agreed not to disturb King William in the enjoyment of his British dominions.

Prince Eugene of Savoy, who, for the first time, commanded the Imperial forces, gained a complete victory over the Turks, at Zeuta, in Hungary, on the Teissen, where he killed 30,000 men, and in two hours obtained all their baggage, ammunition, &c.

November 13th.-King William embarked for England, and made a triumphal entry into London on the 16th.

January 4th.-A fire occurred at Whitehall, which completely destroyed that palace, with the exception of the Banqueting House.

Peter, czar of Russia, determined to visit the several courts of Europe, in order to study the laws, manners, customs, and industry pursued in those several states, in the hope of thereby being enabled to civilize his own subjects. He travelled to Saardam, in Holland, as a carpenter's apprentice, under the name of Michaëloff, and there acquired the art of constructing a vessel. The czar then arrived in England, and was magnificently entertained by King William. During the residence of the Russian monarch in Britain, he greatly improved himself in the art of ship-building, and carried back with him numerous artificers to Russia.

February 3d.-Ernest Augustus, duke of Hanover, bishop 1698 of Osnaburgh, died; he was father of George the First of England, who succeeded to his dukedom and electorate. A Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was instituted in London.

In July, the Old East India Company had offered to lend government 700,000l. at four per cent. in case the trade to India was confirmed to it, exclusive of all others. Another company of merchants, however, offered to lend 2,000,000l. at eight per cent., provided the trade was vested in it. The trade was, in consequence, given to the latter, the old company being allowed to trade no longer than 1701, though offering to raise the same amount, which was thought very unjust. The two corporations were, however, united by act of parliament. It is not a little remarkable, that although the nation had been drained by so long a war, and distressed by the recoining of silver, &c., that the whole sum of 2,000,000l. was subscribed in two days, and the subscribers incorporated.King William embarked at Margate, and landed next day in Holland.

England and Holland entered into an arrangement to pos

A.C. sess themselves of the territories of the king of Spain, (Charles the Second,) when that prince, indignant at the thought of having his kingdom partitioned off while he was still existing, made a will in favour of Philip of France, duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin.

1699

September 29th.-Ambassadors being sent to the Turkish camp, near Belgrade, a congress was opened, when the Turks submitted to the terms imposed by their conquerors.The Scottish Trading Company sent 50 ships and 1200 men to form a settlement on the isthmus of Darien, where they landed the 4th November following, and erected a fort.

December 1st.-King William embarked for England, and landed at Margate on the 3d.--John Archdale, a Quaker, being elected M.P. for the borough of Chipping Wycomb, Bucks, refused to take the oaths, when a new writ was issued.

February 13th.-An order was sent to the play-houses of London, forbidding any thing to be acted contrary to religion and morality.

March 27th.-Dr. Stilling fleet, bishop of Worcester, died at his house, in Park-street, Westminster.

June 2d.-King William embarked at Margate, and landed the ensuing day in Holland.

September 4th.-Christian the Fifth, king of Denmark, died, aged 53, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick the Fourth.

October 18th.-King William returned from Holland.

The plenipotentiaries of the Turkish empire, and those of the emperor of Germany, signed a treaty of peace at the small town of Carlowitz, in Hungary, whereby the former surrendered to the emperor, Transylvania; to Poland, Kaminieck, capital of Podolia; to Russia, Azof; and to the Venetians, the Morea.

December 14th.-The house of commons having inquired into the forfeited estates in Ireland, found that 49,517 acres of land had been granted to Earl Romney; 108,633 acres to the earl of Albemarle; 135,820 acres to the earl of Portland; 26,480 acres to the earl of Athlone; 36,148 acres to the earl of Galway; and 95,649 acres, being the private estate of King James the Second, valued at 25,9951. per annum, to the Lady Elizabeth Villiers, countess of Orkney, a favourite of King William's. -15th, the commons resolved that all forfeited estates in Ireland, and interests therefrom, with revenues of the crown there, since February, 1688, should be applied to public use. The commons also