235. ALEXANDER SEVERUS, emperor of Rome, murdered by his soldiers. He was a Phœnician by birth, led an exemplary life, and governed ably both in peace and war. 717. CHILPERIC, king of France, surprised in his camp, in the forest of Arden, by the duke of Austrasia, afterwards Charles Martel. 1355. Pressing for seamen to man the English navy, commenced in the reign of Edward III. 1521. Insurrection and massacre in the island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean sea. 1584. IWAN IV, VASSILIVITZ, first czar of Muscovy, died. He was denominated by the Russians the terrible, and by foreigners the tyrant. 1621. The complaint against lord BACON for corruption, drawn up by Sir Edward Coke and others, presented to the house of lords. The chancellor was sick, but addressed a letter to his peers, requesting them not to prejudge his case from "any number of petitions against a judge that makes two thousand decrees and orders in a year; but that he may answer them according to the rules of justice, severally and respectively." 1626. PETER COTON, a French Jesuit, died. He was confessor to Henry IV, whose confidence he possessed, and it was a common expression that the king was good but that he had _cotton_ in his ears. He was distinguished for eloquence and zeal. 1628. Patent for Massachusetts sold to Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young and "four other associates in the vicinity of Dorchester, England." 1631. The original patent of Connecticut made by Robert, earl of Warwick, to William, Viscount Say and Seal, Robert lord Brook and their associates. 1643. Battle of Hopton-Heath, between the forces of Charles I, and those of the parliament, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of a great part of their artillery. 1643. SPENCER COMPTON, the friend of Charles I, killed at the battle of Hopton-Heath. He was the only son of William, first earl of Northampton; and refusing to accept quarter, was despatched by the parliament forces. 1687. DANIEL GOOKIN died; for many years superintendent of the Indians in Massachusetts, whose interests he watched with so much zeal as to draw upon himself the abuse of the populace, whose outrages he constantly opposed. He published some historical collections of the Indians in New England. 1688. JOHN DENHAM, one of the minor British poets, died. He was born at Dublin, in 1615, and first became known in 1641 by his tragedy of _The Sophy_. In 1643 appeared his first addition of _Cooper's Hill_, a justly celebrated poem, of which Dryden says, for majesty of style is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing. 1691. Col. HENRY STOUGHTER published his commission from the Duke of York, appointing him governor of the province of New York. 1711. THOMAS KEN, chaplain to Charles II of England, died. He survived several reigns, and in all, his firmness and consistency, added to his piety and learning, procured him respect and patronage.