1602. Bartholomew Gosnold, in search of a suitable place to settle a plantation, discovered a head land in 42 deg., where he came to anchor; and taking a great number of cod at this place, they called it cape Cod, which name it still retains.
1618. The celebrated Kepler discovered his canon for the periodical motion of the planets.
1645. Battle of Alderne, in which the earl of Montrose defeated the Scots under Urrey with great slaughter.
1664. The Dutch governor surrendered the island of Cayenne to the French, by treaty.
1674. Besançon, an ancient city of France, taken by Louis XIV.
1679. The Ashmolean museum, at Oxford, England, founded for the purpose of receiving the antiquary's "twelve cartloads of rarities."
1716. John Bagford, an English antiquary, died. He was originally a shoemaker, became a bookseller, and an amateur of old English books and curious prints, with which he enriched several famous libraries.
1719. Francis Malaval died; a Frenchman, who, although he lost his sight when 9 months old, acquired celebrity as a mystical writer on quietism.
1737. Alexander Cunningham, a Scottish historian, died. He wrote a valuable History of Great Britain in Latin, which remained in manuscript till 1787, when it was translated by Thompson, and published in 2 vols. quarto.
1740. Ephraim Chambers, an English encyclopedist, died. He was apprenticed to a globemaker, and during his minority projected his Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, which appeared in 1728 in 2 vols. folio. It was extended by Dr. Rees to 45 vols. quarto.