1594. Sylvester Wyet, of Bristol, England, made a voyage up the gulf of St. Lawrence, for the barbs or fins of whales and train oil. He met with 60 sail of French, and 28 sail of Englishmen, engaged in fishing at this early day.
1634. Robert Naunton, an English statesman, died. He was secretary of state to James I, and published some curious anecdotes of the reign of Elizabeth, under the title of Fragmentia Regalia.
1638. Massachusetts patent demanded. A quo warranto having been brought by the attorney general of England against the governor and corporation of Massachusetts, and judgment given that the liberties and franchises should be seized into the king's hand, the council made an order requiring that the charter should be returned by the next ship. Arbitrary measures were pursued in reply to the petitions of the colony, and 8 ships prepared to sail for New England were detained in the Thames by order of the privy council. By this order, Oliver Cromwell, Arthur Hazelrig, John Hambden and other malcontents, were forcibly prevented from emigrating to America. How little did Charles anticipate that by this high-handed measure he was detaining the very men who were destined to overturn his throne, and terminate his career by a violent death.
1643. Simon Episcopius, an able Dutch divine, died. He embraced the doctrines of Arminius in relation to predestination, which exposed him to much persecution and obloquy, and finally led to his banishment from the commonwealth: he afterwards was permitted to return, and became minister of the remonstrant church. His death happening at the moment of an eclipse of the moon, was considered as an emblem of the departure of the brightest ornament of the church.
1656. Andrew Rivinus, (alias Barchmann) a Saxon physician, died. He became professor of poetry and philosophy at Leipsic, and published several works of considerable merit.
1669. Johann Michael Moscherosch, a German writer, died. His celebrity consisted chiefly in some satirical pieces entitled Wunderliche und wahrhafte Geschichte Philanders von Sittewald.
1704. The first newspaper printed in the United States, appeared at Boston, called the Boston News Letter.
1706. John Bayles, an English buttonmaker, died, aged 130. He used to walk to the neighboring markets with his buttons till he was 120 years of age.
1720. Knightly Chetwode, dean of Gloucester, died. He wrote several poems, and a life of lord Roscommon.
1743. Robert Ainsworth, an English teacher, died. In 1714 he was invited by the English booksellers to undertake the compilation of an English and Latin dictionary, on the plan of Faber's Thesaurus. The task proved to be more difficult than had been anticipated, and was not completed till 1736.