1836. JEREMIAH HOLME WHIFFEN, an English poet, died. He belonged to the society of friends, published a variety of miscellaneous poems, a translation of the Spanish poet Garcilasso de la Vega, and of Tasso. 1840. THOMAS MANNING, an eminent English linguist, died, aged 67. Having made several ineffectual attempts to penetrate China, his services were solicited by the British government, to accompany lord Amherst in his embassy to that country. He made himself one of the first Chinese scholars in Europe, and collected one of the finest Chinese libraries to be found in that quarter of the world. 1844. WILLIAM BECKFORD, author of the Arabian tale entitled _Vathek_, with many other works, died at Fonthill, England. 1855. GEORGE HEAD, a British commissariat, died, aged 73. He published several valuable works, relating to different parts of the world, where his duties called him, and was knighted in 1831. 1856. JAMES GATES PERCIVAL, an eminent American poet and philosopher, died in Wisconsin, aged 60. He was a native of Connecticut, graduated at Yale college, and studied medicine, but devoted himself to the cultivation of poetry, and the pursuit of science. He assisted in preparing _Webster's Dictionary_ for the press, and superintended the publication of _Malte Brun's Geography_. He afterwards made a geological survey of Connecticut, and in 1854 was appointed state geologist of Wisconsin, in which service he died. Although distinguished for his attainments in philology and general science, he will be chiefly remembered as one of the eminent American poets. MAY 3. 1324. A poetic festival at Toulouse called _jeux floraux_, to which all the poets of the _Langue d'Oc_ were invited, where the composer of the best poem was to receive a violet of fine gold. The celebrated troubadour, Arnaud Vidal, won the prize. 1381. JOHN BALL, a priest and compeer of the notorious Wat Tyler, preached to Tyler's army from the proverbial rhyme: "When Adam dalfe and Eve span, Who was then a gentleman?" 1410. ALEXANDER V, pope, died. He was originally a beggar, but found means to cultivate his mind, and rose by degrees in the church till he reached the pontifical chair. He is distinguished as a man of great firmness, liberal and munificent. 1481. MAHOMET II, sultan of Turkey, died. He took Constantinople from the Christians, thereby driving many learned men into the West, which was a great cause of the restoration of learning in Europe. 1493. The pope issued a _great bull_, by which the infidel world was divided between Ferdinand and Isabella on the one hand, and the Portuguese on the other. That is, the Spanish were granted the full right to all countries inhabited by infidels which they should discover west of an imaginary line drawn from pole to pole, at a distance of 100 leagues westward of the Azores, while the Portuguese were to have all east of that line.