1617. Francis Bacon made lord chancellor of England, in place of Ellesmere, who died within a fortnight of his resignation. The new chancellor soon disgusted the public by his vanity, love of show, meanness and corruption.
1622. The Indians, by a preconcerted conspiracy, fell upon the Virginia colony, 347 of whom, unresisting and defenceless, were massacred with indiscriminate barbarity. This massacre was plotted by Opecancanough, and was followed by an exterminating war between the parties.
1625. James VI of Scotland (I of England) died, aged 59. He was the son of Mary and Lord Darnley, and succeeded to the throne at an early age. In 1603 he succeeded to the crown of England, on the death of Elizabeth. It was during his reign that the famous plot was concerted for blowing up the king and parliament. It was also during his reign, and through his weakness, that Walter Raleigh lost his life. He was an encourager of learning, though a pedant himself. The translation of the Bible in present use bears his sanction and authority.
1634. Leonard Calvert, having been appointed governor of Maryland by his brother Lord Baltimore, arrived with two hundred settlers, and settled the town of St. Marys, establishing religious liberty and granting lots of fifty acres to each emigrant.
1654. Monsieur Bourdeaux, ambassador extraordinary from the king of France to Cromwell, arrived in London, and on obtaining an audience, recognized the principle that God shows his love to men by giving them wise rulers.
1660. Tobias Venner, an English physician, died. His medical works were popular, and for talent are above mediocrity.
1669. Mount Trumento formed of an indurated mass of lava by the great eruption of mount Etna.
1676. Battle of Patuxet, between fifty English and twenty friendly Indians under Capt. Pierce, and six hundred of Philip's Indians. The English were drawn into an ambush, or deceived in the force of their enemies, and making an error in drawing down by the side of the river to prevent being surrounded, the Indians crossed over, and galled them from the opposite side, so that they were constrained to fight it out to the last.
1699. Edward Stillingfleet, an eminent English prelate, died. His first work was entitled Weapon Salve for the Church's Wounds, which was ably written, notwithstanding the quaintness of the title. His works were principally polemical, and were published in 6 vols. folio.
1710. Sacheverell's two sermons burnt before the Royal Exchange in the presence of the lord mayor of London, and he himself forbid to preach for 3 years.