1684. WILLIAM BROUNCKER, an English mathematician, died. He is celebrated for his attachment to the royal cause during the civil wars. On the institution of the Royal society, he was the first president, and adorned the office by his polite manners and extensive erudition. 1707. Battle of Almanza, in Spain; the allied British, Dutch, and Portuguese army defeated with the loss of 1000, attributed to the bad conduct of the Portuguese troops. 1725. BENJAMIN IBBOT, an eloquent English divine, died. A selection of his sermons was published after his death by his friend Dr. Samuel Clarke. 1735. WILLIAM DERHAM, an able English philosopher and divine, died. He accomplished much in the advancement of science by a long life of industry; his publications amounting to not less than 40, mostly on philosophical subjects. 1746. THOMAS HANMER, an English statesman, died. He was for 30 years a distinguished member of Parliament, from which he retired to devote himself to literary pursuits. 1748. Unsuccessful attempt by the British under admiral Knowles on St. Jago de Cuba. 1753. Parliament passed an act to raise £20,000 by lottery to purchase the library of Sir Hanse Sloane, of his daughters, for the public use. It formed the basis of the British museum. 1758. The first number of Johnson's _Idler_ appeared. 1762. Granada surrendered to the British. 1776. GRAINGER, vicar of Shiplake and author of the _Biographical History of England_, died suddenly while administering the sacrament. 1779. The refugees plundered Nantucket and carried off with them two loaded brigs, and several other vessels. 1780. ALEXIS HUBERT JAILLOT, a French geographer, and sculptor to the king, died. 1790. ELIZABETH WELSH died at New York, aged 104. 1794. GEORGE JAMES DANTON, a French Revolutionary Leader, guillotined. Robespierre, dreading the dauntless intrepidity of Danton, Fabre d'Eglantine, Bazire, Chabot, and others of the most noted of his fellow desperadoes in the convention, caused them to be arrested as conspirators against the republic, and after a summary trial, they were executed by the guillotine on this day. The government of France was now almost entirely vested in one man, under whose sanguinary administration the prisons of Paris contained at one time more than seven thousand persons, and a day seldom passed without sixty or eighty executions by the revolutionary axe. 1794. MARIE JEAN HERAULT DE SECHELLES, a French statesman, guillotined. He conducted before the revolution as an able and upright officer; but as the scene progressed he became identified with the terrorists, and went to the scaffold with Danton, Desmoulins, (q. v.) and others. The two conducted with as much levity in their last moments as if they had been going to a party of pleasure.