1550 Horfe guards instituted in England.

1555 The Ruffian company established in England.

1558 Queen Elizabeth begins her reign.

1560 The Reformation in Scotland completed by John Knox.

1563 Knives first made in England.

1569 Royal Exchange first built.

1572 The great maffacre of Proteftants at Paris.

1579 The Dutch fhake off the Spanish yoke, and the republic of Holland begins. English East India company incorporated-eftablished 1600.

Turkey company incorporated.

1580 Sir Francis Drake returns from his voyage round the world, being the first English circumnavigator.

Parochial register first appointed in England.

1582 Pope Gregory introduces the New Style in Italy; the 5th of October being counted 15.

1583 Tobacco first brought from Virginia into England.

1587 Mary queen of Scots is beheaded by order of Elizabeth, after 18 years imprison

ment.

1588 The Spanish Armada destroyed by Drake and other English admirals.

Henry IV. paffes the edict of Nantes, tolerating the Proteftants.

1589 Coaches first introduced into England; hackney act 1693; increased to 1000, in

1770.

1590 Band of penfioners inftituted in England.

1591 Trinity College, Dublin, founded.

1597 Watches firft brought into England from Germany.

1602 Decimal arithmetic invented at Bruges.

1603 Queen Elizabeth (the last of the Tudors) dies, and nominates James VI. of Scotland (and first of the Stuarts) as her fucceffor; which unites both kingdoms under the name of Great Britain.

1605 The gunpowder-plot difcovered at Westminster; being a project of the Roman catholics to blow up the king and both houses of parliament.

1606 Oaths of allegiance firft administered in England.

1608 Galileo, of Florence, firft difcovers the fatellites about the planet Saturn, by the telescope, then just invented in Holland..

1610 Henry IV. is murdered at Paris, by Ravaillac, a priest.

1611 Baronets first created in England, by James I.

1614 Napier, of Marchefton, in Scotland, invents the logarithms.

Sir Hugh Middleton brings the New River to London from Ware.

1616 The first permanent fettlement in Virginia.

1619 Dr. W. Harvey, an Englishman, difcovers the doctrine of the circulation of the blood.

1620 The broad filk manufactory from raw filk introduced into England.

1621 New England planted by the Puritans.

1625 King James dies, and is fucceeded by his fon, Charles I.

The island of Barbadoes, the first English fettlement in the Weft Indies, is planted.

1632 The battle of Lutzen, in which Guftavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, and head of the Proteftants in Germany, is killed.

1635 Province of Maryland planted by lord Baltimore.

Regular pofts eftablished from London to Scotland, Ireland, &c.

1640 King Charles difobliges his Scottish fubjects, on which their army, under general Lefley, enters England, and takes Newcastle, being encouraged by the malcon. tents in England.

The maffacre in Ireland, when 40,000 English Proteftants were killed.

1642 King Charles impeaches five members, who had opposed his arbitrary measures, which begins the civil war in England.

1643 Excife on beer, ale, &c. firft impofed by parliament.

1649 Charles I. beheaded at Whitehall, January 30, aged 49.

1654 Cromwell affumes the protectorship.

1655 The English, under admiral Penn, take Jamaica from the Spaniards.

1658 Cromwell

1658 Cromwell dies, and is fucceeded in the protectorship by his fon Richard. 1660 King Charles II. is reftored by Monk, commander of the army, after an exile of twelve years in France and Holland.

Epifcopacy restored in England and Scotland.

The people of Denmark, being oppreffed by the nobles, furrender their privileges

to Frederic III. who becomes abfolute.

1662 The Royal Society eftablished at London, by Charles II.

1663 Carolina planted; 1728, divided into two feparate governments.

1664 The New Netherlands, in North America, conquered from the Swedes and Dutch, by the English.

1665. The plague rages in London, and carries off 68,000 perfons.

1666 The great fire of London began Sept. 2. and continued three days, in which were defroyed 13,000 houfes, and 400 ftreets.

Tea firit ufed in England.

1667 The peace of Breda, which confirms to the English the New Netherlands, now known by the names of Pennfylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

1668

ditto, Aix-la-Chapelle.

St. James's Park planted, and made a thoroughfare for public ufe, by Charles II. 1670 The English Hudson's Bay company incorporated.

1672 Lewis XIV. over-runs great part of Holland, when the Dutch open their fluices, being determined to drown their country, and retire to their fettlements in the East Indies.

African company established.

1678 The peace of Nimeguen.

The habeas corpus act paffed.

1680 A great comet appeared, and from its nearness to our earth, alarmed the inhabitants. It continued vifible from Nov. 3, to March 9.

William Penn, a Quaker, receives a charter for planting Pennsylvania.

1683 India ftock fold from 360 to 500 per cent.

1685 Charles II dies, aged 55, and is fucceeded by his brother, James II.

The duke of Monmouth, natural fon to Charles II. raises a rebellion, but is defeated at the battle of Sedgmoor, and beheaded.

The edict of Nantes infamoufly revoked by Lewis XIV. and the Proteftants cruelly perfecuted.

1637 The palace of Verfailles, near Paris, finifhed by Lewis XIV.

1658 The Revolution in Great Britain begins, Nov. 5. King James abdicates, and retires to France, December 3.

King William and queen Mary, daughter and fon-in-law to James, are proclaimed, February 16.

Viscount Dundee ftands out for James in Scotland, but is killed by general Mackey, at the battle of Killycrankie; upon which the Highlanders, wearied with repeated misfortunes, difperfe.

1689 The land-tax paffed in England.

The toleration act paffed in Ditto.

Several bishops are deprived for not taking the oath to king William.

William Fuller, who pretended to prove the prince of Wales fpurious, was voted by the commons to be a notorious cheat, impoftor, and falfe accufer.

1690 The battle of the Boyne, gained by William against James in Ireland. 1691 The war in Ireland finished, by the furrender of Limerick to William.

1692 The English and Dutch fleets, commanded by admiral Ruffel, defeat the French fleet off La Hogue.

1693 Bayonets at the end of loaded muskets firft ufed by the French against the Confederates in the battle of Turin.

The duchy of Hanover made the ninth electorate.

Bank of England eftablished by king William.

The first public lottery was drawn this year.

Maffacre of Highlanders at Glencoe, by king William's troops.

1694 Queen Mary dies at the age of 33, and William reigns alone.

Stamp duties inftituted in England,

3 T

1695 The

1696 The peace of Ryfwick.

1699 The Scots fettled a colony at the ifthmus of Darien, in America, and called it

Caledonia

1700 Charles XII. of Sweden begins his reign.

King James II. dies at St. Germain's, in the 68th year of his age.

1701 Pruffia erected into a kingdom.

Society for the propagation of the Gofpel in foreign parts established.

1702 King William dies, aged 50, and is fucceeded by Queen Anne, daughter to James II. who, with the emperor and States General, renews the war against France and Spain.

1704 Gibraltar taken from the Spaniards, by admiral Rooke.

The battle of Blenheim won by the duke of Marlborough and allies, against the
French.

The court of Exchequer inftituted in England.

1706 The treaty of Union betwixt England and Scotland, figned July 22. The battle of Ramillies won by Marlborough and the allies.

1707 The first British parliament.

708 Minorca taken from the Spaniards by general Stanhope.

The battle of Oudenarde won by Marlborough and the allies.

Sardinia erected into a kingdom, and given to the duke of Savoy. 1709 Peter the Great, czar of Mufcovy, defeats Charles XII. at Pultowa, who flies to Turkey.

The battle of Malplaquet won by Marlborough and the allies.

1710 Queen Anne changes the Whig Miniftry for others more favourable to the intereft of her brother, the late Pretender.

The cathedral church of St. Paul, London, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, in 37
years, at one million expence, by a duty on coals.
The English South-Sea company began.

1712 Duke of Hamilton and lord Mohun killed in a duel in Hyde-Park.
1713 The peace of Utrecht, whereby Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Britain, and
Hudfon's Bay, in North America, were yielded to Great Britain; Gibraltar
and Minorca, in Europe, were alfo confirmed to the faid crown by this treaty.
1714 Queen Anne dies, at the age of fifty, and is fucceeded by George I.

Intereft reduced to five

per

cent.

1715 Lewis XIV. dies, and is fucceeded by his great-grandfon, Lewis XV. the late king of France.

The rebellion in Scotland begins in September, under the earl of Mar, in favour of the Pretender. The action of Sheriff-muir, and the furrender of Prefton, both in November, when the rebels difperfe.

1716 The Pretender married to the princefs Sobieski, grand-daughter of John Sobieski, late king of Poland.

An act paffed for feptennial parliaments.

1719 The Miffiffipi fcheme at its height in France.

Lombe's filk-throwing machine, containing 26,586 wheels, erected at Derby; takes up one-eighth of a mile; one water wheel moves the reft; and in 24 hours it works 318,504,960 yards of organzine filk thread.

The South-Sea fcheme in England begun April 7; was at its height at the end of June; and quite funk about September 29.

1727 King George I. dies, in the 68th year of his age; and is fucceeded by his only fon, George II.

Inoculation firft tried on criminals with fuccefs.

Ruffia, formerly a dukedom, is now established as an empire.

1732 Kouli Khan ufurps the Perfian throne, conquers the Mogul empire, and return with two hundred and thirty-one millions fterling.

Several public-fpirited gentlemen begin the fettlement of Georgia, in North
America.

1736 Capt. Porteus, having ordered his foldiers to fire upon the populace at the extcution of a muggler, is himfelf hanged by the mob at Edinburgh.

1738.Weftminfter

1738 Westminster-Bridge, confifling of fifteen arches, begun; finished in 1750, at the expence of 389,000l. defrayed by parliament.

1739 Letters of marque iffued out in Britain against Spain, July 21, and war declared, October 23.

1743 The battle of Dettingen won by the English and allies, in favour of the queen of

Hungary.

1744 War declared againft France.

Commodore Anion returns from his voyage round the world.

1745 The allies lofe the battle of Fontenoy.

The rebellion breaks out in Scotland, and the Pretender's army defeated by the duke of Cumberland, at Culloden, April 16, 1746.

1746 British Linen Company erected.

1748 The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, by which a reftitution of all places, taken during the war, was to be made on all fides.

1749 The intereft of the British funds reduced to three per cent. British herring fishery incorporated.

1751 Frederic, prince of Wales, father to his prefent majefty, died. Antiquarian fociety at London incorporated.

1752 The new style introduced into Great Britain, the third of September being count

ed the fourteenth.

1753 The British Museum erected at Montagu-houfe.

Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, inftituted in London.

1755 Lifbon destroyed by an earthquake.

1756 146 Englishmen are confined in the black hole at Calcutta, in the East Indies, by order of the Nabob, and 123 found dead next morning.

Marine fociety established at London.

1757 Damien attempted to affaffinate the French king.

1759 General Wolfe is killed in the battle of Quebec, which is gained by the Englifh.

1760 King George II. dies, October 25, in the 77th year of his age, and is fucceeded by his prefent majefty, who, on the 22d of September, 1761, married the princefs Charlotte of Mecklenburgh Strelitz.

Black-Friars bridge, confifting of nine arches, begun; finished 1770, at the expence of 52,8401. to be discharged by a toll. Toll taken off 1785.

1762 War declared against Spain.

Peter III. emperor of Ruffia, is depofed, imprifoned, and murdered.
American Philofophical Society established in Philadelphia.

George Auguftus Frederic, prince of Wales, born August 12.

1763 The definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, concluded at Paris, February 10, which confirms to Great Britain the extenfive provinces of Canada, Eaft and Weft Florida, and part of Louisiana, in North America; alfo the islands of Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, and Tobago, in the Weft Indies.

1764 The parliament granted 10,coal. to Mr. Harrison, for his difcovery of the longitude by his time-piece.

1765 His majesty's royal charter paffed for incorporating the Society of Artifs.

An act paffed annexing the fovereignty of the island of Man to the crown of
Great Britain.

1766 April 21, a fpot or macula of the fun, more than thrice the bigness of our earth, paffed the fun's centre.

1768 Academy of painting established in London.

The Turks imprifon the Ruffian ambaffador, and declare war against that empire.

1771 Dr. Solander and Mr. Banks, in his majefty's fhip the Endeavour, lieut. Cock, return from a voyage round the world, having made feveral important difcoveries in the South Seas.

1772 The king of Sweden changes the conftitution of that kingdom.

The Pretender marries a princefs of Germany, grand-daughter of Thomas, late

earl of Ayletbury.

3772

The emperor of Germany, emprefs of Ruffia, and the king of Pruffia, ftrip the king of Poland of great part of his dominions, which they divide among themselves, in violation of the most folemn treaties.

1773 Captain Phipps is fent to explore the North Pole, but having made eighty-one degrees, is in danger of being locked up by the ice, and his attempt to dif cover a paffage in that quarter proves fruitless.

The Jefuits expelled from the Pope's dominions.

The English East India company having, by conqueft or treaty, acquired the extenfive provinces of Bengal, Orixa, and Bahar, containing fifteen millions of inhabitants, great irregularities are committed by their fervants abroad; upon which government interferes, and fends out judges, &c. for the better adminiftration of justice.

The war between the Ruffians and Turks proves difgraceful to the latter, who lofe the islands in the Archipelago, and by fea are every where unfuccessful. 1774 Peace is proclaimed between the Ruffians and Turks.

The British parliament having paffed an act, laying a duty of three pence per
pound upon all teas imported into America, the Colonists, confidering this as
a grievance, deny the right of the British parliament to tax them.

Deputies from the feveral American colonies meet at Philadelphia, as the first
General Congrefs, Sept. 5.

First petition of Congrefs to the King, November.

1775 April 19, The first action happened in America between the king's troops and the provincials at Lexington.

May 20, Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the American
provinces.

June 17, A bloody action at Bunker's Hill, between the royal troops and the
Americans.

1776 March 17, The town of Boston evacuated by the King's troops.

An unfuccefsful attempt, in July, made by commodore Sir Peter Parker, and lieutenant-general Clinton, upon Charles Town, in South Carolina.

The Congress declare the American colonies free and independent states, July 4. The Americans are driven from Long Ifland, New York, in Auguft, with great lofs, and great numbers of them taken prifoners; and the city of New York is afterwards taken poffeflion of by the king's troops.

December 25, General Washington takes 900 of the Heffians prifoners at Tren

ton.

Torture abolished in Poland.

1777 General Howe takes poffeffion of Philadelphia.

Lieutenant-general Burgoyne is obliged to furrender his army at Saratoga, in Canada, by convention, to the American army under the command of the generals Gates and Arnold, October 17.

1778 A treaty of alliance concluded at Paris between the French king and the thirteen united American colonies, in which their independence is acknowledged by the court of France, February 6.

The remains of the earl of Chatham interred at the public expence in Westminfter Abbey, June 9, in confequence of a vote of parliament.

The earl of Carlisle, William Eden, Efq; and George Johnstone, Efq; arrive at Philadelphia the beginning of June, as commiffioners for reftoring peace between Great Britain and America.

Philadelphia evacuated by the king's troops, June 18.

The Congrefs refufe to treat with the British commiffioners, unlefs the independence of the American colonies were first acknowledged, or the king's fleets and armies withdrawn from America.

An engagement fought off Breft between the English fleet under the command of admiral Keppel, and the French fleet under the command of the count d'Orvilliers, July 27.

Dominica taken by the French, Sept. 7.

Pondicherry furrenders to the arms of Great Britain, Oct. 17.

St. Lucia taken from the French, Dec. 28.

1779 St.