1602. Bartholomew Gosnold sailed from England in a shallop with 32 persons to effect a colony in the northern part of Virginia. He was the first Englishman who came in a direct course to this part of America, instead of making the circuit by the Canaries and the West Indies. After a passage of 7 weeks they made land in 43 degrees.
1630. Charles I renewed the patent granted by his father to Ben Jonson, as poet laureate. The pension was augmented from 100 marks to 100 pounds, with the grace cup of "one tierce of Canary Spanish wine," to be delivered annually from the royal cellars at Whitehall.
1644. The English parliament made an ordinance to enjoin every family one meal per week, and to contribute the value thereof to the kingdom.
1649. John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts colony, died at Boston, aged 63. He came out to America 1630, as governor of the colony; to which he continued to be re-elected, with a few years intermission, till his death. He kept an accurate journal of the events of the early colony from its foundation to the time of his death, two volumes of which were published at Hartford 1790; and the third, which had been a long time lost, appeared in 1826.
1662. Brian Duppa, an English bishop, died. He was distinguished for his learning and virtues, and the firmness of his adherence to the cause of the Stuarts during their misfortunes.
1676. Marlborough, Mass., destroyed by the Indians. So completely did the enemy finish their horrid purposes here, that the inhabitants deserted their dwellings and sought shelter elsewhere. On the following evening a party of about forty men went out in search of the Indians; and coming upon them towards morning lying around their fires to the number of about three hundred, fired in upon them. Although it was so dark at a short distance from the fires that "an Indian could not be discerned from a better man," yet they discharged several volleys upon them, and came off without the loss of one of the band. The few houses which escaped the brand on this occasion were razed by the enemy soon after.
1688. Winston Churchill, an English historian, died; better known as the father of the great duke of Marlborough.
1699. "After an extraordinary storm," says Evelyn, "there came up the Thames a whale which was 56 feet long. Such and a larger of the spout kind, was killed there 40 years ago. That year died Cromwell." The reverend antiquary probably considered this a prodigious omen of the usurper's dissolution.
1702. William Courten died; a collector of whatever was curious and important in medallic and antiquarian history. He left 38 vols. folio, and 8 quarto, which together with his collection were purchased for the British museum at £20,000; scarcely the value of the coins and precious stones.
1707. The regalia of Scotland deposited in an oaken chest, at the Edinburgh castle.