BV 1: London Chronicle January – June 1762
January - February - March - April - May - June
January 1762
Jan. 2 King ready to sign Declaration of War against Spain / Murderer hanged - breaks rope, then uses friends' rope / Chinese proverbs
Jan. 5 King hires privateers to raid Spanish ships / Synopsis of peace treaty between England and Spain, signed August 15, 1761 / Land forces of Spain, first published in 1753
Jan. 7 Town of Nordheim declared neutral for one month / Woman commits suicide after marrying without her father's consent / Essay on "The Governing Providence of God" / Duke of York visits London
Jan. 9 All abroad officers should rejoin their regiments by order of the King
Jan. 12 News from South Carolina / "A recipe for sweetening sour wines" / Synopsis of "The Lyar" [sic], a new comedy
Jan. 14 Spain has attacked Portugal / Treaty - France must assist Spain / Reader argument over tax on dogs / Troops ordered to Portugal to oppose Spain
Jan. 16 Mar. 12 to be a day of Fast / News from South Carolina / "Of the Administration and Improvement of the Revenue of Spain"
Jan. 19 Good hemp grown in SC / Ghost seen at St. Sepulchure's in Cock-Lane
Jan. 21 Questions for the ghost of Cock-Lane / "We are well assured, that there is no design of abandoning the German war"
Jan. 23 King's appointees to the Courts of Admiralty in Great Britain, Ireland and America
Jan. 26 "The Story of the Cock-Lane Ghost exploded" / 110-year-old man dies in Dublin / List of deserters
Jan. 28 The Genoese complain about the English / Reader letter - tax extravagances to financially support the war / "The Last Hymn of Ossian" / Elizabeth, Empress of Russia and second daughter to Peter the Great, dies
Jan. 30 The Great Duke becomes Emperor of Russia, takes name Peter III / Story of how Elizabeth came to be Empress / Anecdotes / Prologue to Florizel and Perdita (adapted from Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale)
February 1762
Feb. 2 King of Spain orders subjects to inventory all their English effects / Votes of the House of Commons of Ireland
Feb. 4 Court of Common council appointees / Account of a fight between a snake and a buffalo / An essay on "Publick Credit" [Pubic Credit] / Yearly bill of mortality for Dublin
Feb. 6 Empress Elizabeth died "with a violent effusion of blood" / "The Use of Copper Vessels in the Navy, one principle Cause of the Sea Scurvy" / Conspiracy of Negroes in Bermuda / Spain may convince Portugal to take up arms against England
Feb. 9 Lord Chamberlain orders the Court into mourning for Empress Elizabeth, beginning Feb. 14 / "A Dropsical Case" by Dr. Alexander Mackenzie
Feb. 11 Six whales towed in from Canterbury - all dead / "The Military Manners of the Turks and Tartars"
Feb. 13 "Part of the King of Prussia's Military Instructions to his General Officers" / Prologue and Epilogue to The School for Lovers / Fears that Jamaica will be in danger if France and Spain attack
Feb. 16 Boy smothered when buried accidentally in wind-blown haystack / King and Council lay embargo on grain export ships / News from South Carolina: Cherokee Indians acting friendly
Feb. 18 Genealogical table of the House of Russia / "An Ode to Solitude" / Jamaica has good defenses
Feb. 20 Heir to the Ottoman Empire born, named Selim / King of Prussia releases all Russian prisoners without ransom / Russian mourning for Elizabeth to end Feb. 2, 1763 (Elizabeth to be referred to as "Elizabeth the Clement" throughout history texts) / "The ill effects, and the remedy of low Spirits"
Feb. 23 English Court goes out of mourning on Mar. 7 for Empress Elizabeth / Emperor of Germany not dead as reported - but very ill / Suicide note of Essex Lilly / Mystery of Cock-Lane Ghost revealed
Feb. 25 Speech of Russian Archbishop of Novograd to Emperor / Reader letter - let people believe in the Cock-Lane Ghost
Feb. 27 Russian Emperor declared nobility and gentry free of service to military / Physician of French King dies at 91 from "retention of urine"
March 1762
Mar. 2 The Pope grants license to Spain to eat meat four days of the week during Lent / "Thoughts on ancient and modern travel" / Emperor of Russia orders French ministry to pay subsidies
Mar. 4 Proceedings from the American General Assembly / "Anecdotes of Painting in England" / "Importance, and defenceless [defenseless] State of Jamaica"
Mar. 6 King of Denmark recovers from measles / "Elements of Criticism" by Henry Home, Lord of Kaims
Mar. 9 "The House of Feasting, and the House of Mourning" / Czar would like to see peace between Russia and Germany, if it did not break alliances / Report of a 2-year-old girl in Stockholm who has not eaten or drank since birth
Mar. 11 Emperor of Russia proposes terms of peace / "A lift of the Queen's Band of Chamber Musick" [Music] / "The Principles of Gardening and Architecture considered as Fine Arts"
Mar. 13 King's Appointments / "Extracts from the Papers relative to the Rupture with Spain.Published by Authority" / News from South Carolina: Treaty signed between Cherokee Indians and America
Mar. 16 18,000 Spanish troops march to Cadiz / Poem about the Cock-Lane ghost / "The History of Male Fashions. First Chapter of Hats, after Hippocrates."
Mar. 18 Mass. Governor gives audience to Oneidas Indian chief / "The History of Male Fashions. Chapter II Upon Wigs" / King of Denmark prohibits exportation of butter, cheese, etc. until next June / "A Scheme for Raising Money for the War"
Mar. 20 Counterfeit guineas being struck / Dispatches from General Monckton / Lists of killed and wounded
Mar. 23 Report that Carthagena in America is destroyed by an earthquake / "Observations on the Papers relative to the Rupture with Spain" / Birth and death rates for Norway, 1761 / Martial law proclaimed in Jamaica
Mar. 25 Earthquake in Wexford, Ireland
Mar. 27 Reader letter on vails to servants / "From the Police to the Publick" [Public]
Mar. 30 Russia will sacrifice their conquests to prompt the Allie Courts to peace / Russian Emperor forbids the use of torture in trials of offenders / "Of Vocal and Sentimental Harmony in Poetry" / The Island of Martinico surrenders to the English Army
April 1762
Apr. 1 "Articles of Capitulation" / "Story of a Gentlemen-Tradesman in London"
Apr. 3 Convention signed between Emperor of Russia and Prussian King / "The Poisonous quality of Muscles, whence" / "Reflections on keeping Lent" / "A Short Review of the late Negotiations for Peace"
Apr. 8 Prussian King sets sights on Silesia / "Dispute between the English and Dutch East India Companies"
Apr. 10 Rioters in Tipperary, Waterford, and Limerick, Ireland / "The Description of a Country Funeral"
Apr. 13 Edict on the re-establishment of the Jesuits / Reader letter about a murdered infant
Apr. 15 Strange political dissertation appears in Germany / Paris woman invents machine that will curl feathers / King of Corsica: the Genoese can only use Corsican ice / "The Cock and Doves - A Fable" / Russian Emperor annexes land from the Clergy and gives them yearly stipend instead
Apr. 17 Essay on the "Medical Virtues of Hemlock" / "Ode to Pity" / "The Bachelor's Soliloquy" modeled after Hamlet's famous soliloquy
Apr. 20 Reader letter - response to vails of servants from a servant / Rioters leveling walls and ditches in Ireland
Apr. 22 Englishman's essay on "The Rupture with Spain"
Apr. 24 News from America: Creek Indians scalping Spaniards / A historical essay on Sumatra / Petrified body parts found in Kent / Catholic King in Spain limiting numbers of Clergy
Apr. 27 Reader eyewitness account of "the Martyrdom of the Rev. M. Rochette"
Apr. 29 Empress Queen of Hungary takes loan from Italy / "Some Account of the late Henry Fielding" / Spanish King orders troops to enter Portugal, but "not to commit any hostilities"
May 1762
May 1 Distemper epidemic in Cologn / "The Utility of Leeches in the Head-Ach" [Headache]
May 4 Memorials to a Spanish Ambassador (translated)
May 6 King of Poland demands a Cardinal's hat from the Pope for the King's son
May 8 Essay on the laws of training the Militia / Russian emperor holds grand ball and invites prominent Prussians
May 11 Russian Emperor wants to borrow Prussian officers to introduce "Prussian discipline amongst his troops" / "The Self-Revival"
May 13 "The Works of Nicholas Machiavel" [Machiavelli] to be published / "Account of three Prostitutes" / Description of Buckingham-house, recently purchased by the King
May 15 Reader letter on experiments on oil
May 18 Russian Emperor moves to new Palace / A new complaint between the English and Dutch East India companies / Max, an ancient electoral palace in Munich, caught fire
May 20 Jesuits make affidavits to protect effects / "New Dialogues of the Dead" / "Extract of Hemlock"
May 22 Woman struck by lightning in Guildford / Buckingham-house to be called the Queen's Palace
May 25 Court of Copenhagen makes military preparations to make a respectable Navy
May 27 Reader letter on improvements made in agriculture in North Britain / Coronation of Majesties in Russia may not take place this year / Wine merchant arrested for building three houses for the Jesuits / "A Short View of the Character and Writings" by Voltaire
May 29 Distemper epidemic in Cologne spreading through the air / Thanksgiving in Martinico strictly enforced / "A new kind of Mummy" / "Sermon of the Rabbin Akib" - said to be written by Voltaire
June 1762
June 1 "Account of a Girl who subsisted nearly Four years on Water alone" / "The Rise of Chivalry, and the Origin of Justs [Jousts] and Tournaments" / Transcript of King's speeches to the Houses of Parliament
June 3 Fire starts at soapboiler's house in Devonshire and consumes 26 houses / A song in honor of the King's birthday / "Milton's own Account of his Designs"
June 5 Peace treaty signed between Russia and Prussia
June 8 Jesuits have powerful friends / "A receipt to make Customs house Officers honest"
June 10 Russian Czar raising his coin as a "necessary policy" / Peace in the Persian capital / Bust of the widow of Julius Caesar found in Casan
June 12 "Crazy Tales" / Children mistake rat poison for sugar in Corke, Ireland - one dies / Spanish Indians driven to the Island of Cuba
June 15 Report of a comet over Paris / Many surprised of peace treaty between Russia and Prussia
June 17 Pope embarrassed by Jesuit situation / American Massachusetts Governor puts embargo on all ships carrying "warlike stores"
June 19 Death of a Prince in Venice - "figure in wax" lays in state at Ducal Palace / Trial of the White Boys in Ireland
June 22 King of Denmark ill / Peace is made between America and the Cherokees / "Rural Poems" from Germany / "A Serious Address to the Vulgar"
June 24 Shipyard set on fire in Paris - 40 new boats destroyed / "Occasional Thoughts on the Characters of Classical Authors" / Reader poem "A Tale"
June 26 The English will avenge anything Spain does to Portugal, says the Court of Madrid / "Characters of Theophrastus" / "An Account of Hamburg"
For questions, please contact Dr. Doug Cumming.