( 9^0 ) 
HI. Part of a Letter from the Re?jeren4 Mr Abra- 
ham dela Prvme to the Fublifher^ concemhg 
Trees found under Ground in Hatfield Ghace. 
Thorn, Nov. 19. 1 701; 
Honoured Sir y orr 
IT hath been the good Providence of Odd to fettle me in 
this part of the Country, where near abouts I was bred 
and born (and therefore may write With moreaflured- 
ii:fs thereof, than any one can from afuperficial and tran- 
fitory view and enquiry) to wit, at the Ancient Town of 
Thorn^ within the famous Levels oi Hatfield Chace (fo well 
known in the Courts of H^e/?/^^^/er, f of the great Siiits 
that have been depending there about thetn, this threefcore 
and ten years) which Levels w^ere the greateft Chaee of Red 
Dear that K. Ch. the Firft had in 2\\ England^ containing 
within all Limits above 180000 Act'es^pf Land- aboat half 
of which was yearly drowned^ a1id ^ Mrtfully ftjrroun^^ 
with an Ocean of Waters. This he^lJ^i'gaifis with, and 
fells unto one Sir Cornelius Vermuiden a Dutchman^ to dif- 
chace, drain and reduce to conftant Arable and Pafture 
Grounds, which to the wonderful furprize of the whole 
Nation, the vaft advantage of the whole Country round 
about, which before v/as but Barbarous, thinly Inhabited, 
Poor and Beggarly, and at the incredible labour, and 
charges of above 400000 /. he at length bravely and efFeftu- 
ally performed. Whofe name deferves a thoufand times 
more to be honourably mentioned and recorded in all our 
Fiiftories than Scaurui^ was in thofe of Rome^ for drain- 
ing a great Lake in Italji^ not a quarter fo big as this. 
In 
