Sentence:  And becauſe in the beginning of my Trouble, when in the midſt of the Tempeſt, I had a <WSD>kenning</WSD> of the Harbour, which I hope now by your Majeſty's Favour I am entring into; I made a tender to your Majeſty of two Works, a Hiſtory of "England", and a "Digeſt of your Laws": as I have performed a Part of the one; ſo I have herewith ſent your Majeſty, by way of an Epiſtle, a New Offer of the other. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Sight, view; "specifically" a distant view at sea.