129 B. C. Three ambassadors from John Hyrcanus, the Jewish pontiff, were received at Rome, when the senate decreed a renewal of the league of amity and assistance with that "good and friendly people," and dismissed the delegates with presents. 1554. JOHN WYATT and a number of others executed for an insurrection and riot, on account of Queen Mary's marriage with Philip II of Spain. 1593. JAMES AMYOTT, grand almoner of France, died; a writer on various subjects, but chiefly known as the translator of _Plutarch's Lives and Morals_. 1623. JUAN MARIANA, a Spanish historian, died. He wrote several works, theological and historical; the most considerable of which is his _History of Spain_. 1649. The Rump parliament voted the house of peers to be useless and dangerous, and accordingly that branch of the legislature and the office of king, were abolished by two brief resolutions. 1685. CHARLES II, king of England, died. At the time of the death of his father he was a refugee at the Hague, on which he immediately assumed the royal title. In 1660 he entered London amidst the universal acclamations of the people. He was a confirmed sensualist and voluptuary, says Lardner, and owing to the example of him and his court, his reign was the era of the most dissolute manners that ever prevailed in England. His career was terminated by a fit of apoplexy, at the age of 55. It was during this reign that the great plague and the great fire of London occurred. He was the twenty-sixth king of England. 1693. A party of about 700 French and Indians fell upon the Mohawk villages near Schenectady, and took about 300 prisoners in the English interest, without doing much other damage. They were pursued by Col. Schuyler with a party from Albany, and several skirmishes ensued. The French escaped by crossing the north branch of the Hudson, on a cake of ice. They lost in this enterprise 80 men killed, and were reduced to great want before they got home. 1696. A plot to assassinate WILLIAM III of England, was discovered. 1736. Earthquake in New England. 1738. JOSEPH MITCHELL, a Scotch dramatic poet, died. 1740. CLEMENT XII (Laurence Corsini), pope of Rome, died. He was very popular, and corrected many abuses in the church. 1755. MAURICE JOHNSON, a noted English antiquary, died. 1756. Birthday of AARON BURR, at Newark, N. J. His father was the Rev. William Burr, second president of New Jersey college at Princeton, and his mother a daughter of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, third president of that institution. His wife is well known. 1777. Great Britain granted letters of marque and reprisal against America. 1778. The French avowed the independence of the United States, by concluding a treaty of defensive alliance with them. 1778. New York acceded to the confederation.