February 8
Posted by sydney on Feb 8th, 2009
- 1793: February 8, 1793 – War declared & letters of Marque granted against the french Republic.
- 1792: February 8, 1792 – The hasels in my hedges are illuminated by numbers of catkins. Bantam lays.
- 1789: February 8, 1789 – The open catkins illuminate the hazels; these are the male blossoms: the fameal are so minute as to be scarce discernible.
- 1782: February 8, 1782 – Venus shadows very strongly, showing the bars of the windows on the floors & walls.
- 1775: February 8, 1775 – Many species of muscae come-out. Earth-worms lie out at their holes after ’tis dark.
- 1774: February 8, 1774 – Freezes sharply all day. The cones of last year fall very fast from ye spruce-firs.
- 1773: February 8, 1773 – Severe frost. Ground hard all day.
- 1770: February 8, 1770 – Bunting, emberiza alba, in small flocks.
Notes:
A “Letter of Marque”, as all Patrick O’Brian fans know, authorizes a private vessel to undertake what was essentially legal piracy, harassing, sinking, and capturing ships provided they belonged to the enemy. From a 1799 Letter of Marque: “These are to certify that Joseph Freeman of Liverpool in the Province of Nova Scotia Master of the Ship called the Duke of Kent a British Ship Navigated by one hundred men including officers Mounting Twenty Carriage Guns having Applied to me for an Authority to cruise against all His Majesty’s Enemies & having received his Majesty’s Commands to encourage all His Majesty’s Subjects by every means in their power to distress and annoy the Trade of all His Majestys Enemies.”