Stewart (Lord Advocate). October 31 – King Philip V of Spain establishes the Biblioteca Nacional de España as the Palace Public Library (Biblioteca Pública de Palacio) in Madrid. November 4 – The Bandbox Plot aims to kill British Lord Treasurer Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford but is foiled by Jonathan Swift (author of “Gulliver’s Travels”). November 22 – The first performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Il pastor fido takes place at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London. December 7 – The charter of Buchach Monastery in Ukraine, founded by Stefan Aleksander Potocki and his wife Joanna née Sieniawska, is signed in Lublin. December 20 – Great Northern War: the Battle of Gadebusch is Sweden's final great victory in the war, preventing the loss of the city of Stralsund to Danish and Saxon forces. December 27 – The premiere of the opera Callirhoé by André Cardinal Destouches takes place at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. December 28 – Total eclipse of the sun visible from Date unknown The first known working Newcomen steam engine is built by Thomas Newcomen with John Calley, to pump water out of mines in the Black Country of England, the first device to make practical use of the power of steam to produce mechanical work. After many years of settlement, the Town on Queen Anne's Creek is established as a courthouse for Chowan County, North Carolina. The town is renamed Edenton in 1720, and incorporated in 1722. The VOC Zuytdorp is wrecked off the coast of Western Australia. John Arbuthnot creates the character of John Bull to represent Britain. A translation of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into Irish, made by John Richardson (1664–1747), is published. Births January–March January 1 – Sir Richard Acton, 5th Baronet, English baronet (d. 1791) January 2 – Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc, French feral child (d. 1775) January 5 Ludwig van Beethoven, Flemish-born German professional singer and music director, grandfather of the well known composer of the same name (d. 1773) Hongzhou, Manchu prince of the Qing dynasty (d. 1770) January 17 – John Stanley, English composer and organist (d. 1786) January 24 Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1740–1786) (d. 1786) Charles Moore, 1st Earl of Charleville, Irish peer (d. 1764) Georg Friedrich Schmidt, German engraver and designer (d. 1775) January 26 – James Habersham, merchant and statesman in the British North American colony of Georgia