Also in May 1803…
17th: A US patent is issued to Richard French and TJ Hawkins of New Jersey for their horsedrawn grain reaping machine. Believed to have consisted of a rotary set of scythes supported on a pair of wheels, it is the first of several such contraptions to be patented in the US over the next couple of decades.
18th: Britain ends the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France, beginning the Napoleonic Wars. Signed in 1802 to end the French Revolutionary Wars, the treaty has led to an uneasy truce during which Napoleon has annexed Elba and Piedmont. Neither country has fully met the stipulations of the treaty, with France failing to evacuate Holland and Britain retaining its forces in Malta.
23rd: During a stay in St Petersburg, German violinist and composer Louis Spohr goes to hear violinist Anton Tietz, who has not performed for six months due to mental illness, play his own concerto. ‘Though Tietz is not a great violinist, much less the greatest in the world as his admirers maintain,’ writes the 19-year-old Spohr, ‘he is undoubtedly a musical genius, as his compositions prove.’ 25th: Charles Abbot, the Commons Speaker, arranges for news reporters to be formally allocated a place in the House of Commons to cover proceedings. Up until now, writers have had to queue for debates with the rest of the public, resulting in William Pitt’s recent important speech about Napoleon going unreported due to overcrowding.
29th: The French historian, poet and biographer Louis-antoine Caraccioli dies in Paris aged 84. Author of titles such as
Interesting Letters of Pope Clement XIV and Advice of a Lady of Quality to Her Children, Caraccioli was, as a religious apologist, viewed by many as an enemy of philosophy. Though closely linked to the aristocracy, he survived the French Revolution but was left penniless.