5© The J^tUral Hijlory 
ers, I think we have little reafon to doubt, fince we have them 
not at all, or but very weak in any Summer, or the dryer Winters : 
fuch are thofc that fore-tell (and naturally enough) the fcarcity 
and dearnefs of Corn and Viduals ; whereof that of Affenton^ near 
Henly upon Thames^ is one of the moft eminent that I know of in 
England • and no queftion is the fame mentioned by Johannes Eu- 
feb. Nieremhergiu6 ^, in his Book (as he calls it) of the Miracles of 
Nature. InBritannU territorio Chilmnfi funt fontes multi^isfc. by 
which, I fuppofe, he muft mean the Chiltern Country of Oxford- 
Jhire^ There are^ fays he, many Springs^ which in fertile years are 
always dry ; but before any dcjell^ 06 the Harbingers of an approach- 
ing dearth, thefe waters get loofe^ and 06 it were breaking prifon^ they 
quickly unite into a forcible Jiream, And fo they did lately, in An, 
1674. with that violence,that feveral Mills mjght have been driven 
with the Current ; and had not the Town of Henly made fome 
diverfion for them, their F^ir il^i/e muft have been drowned for 
a confiderable time. Of thefe there are many in the County of 
Kent^ which I know not for what reafon they call Nailbourns 
there, and prefcribe them (fome will) a certain time for their 
running, as once in fevcn, ten, or fifteen years. But the certain 
natural principle of fuch Springs, altogether depending upon 
an uncertain caufe, no heed is to be given to fuch kind of ftories, 
they being equally as vain as the pcrfons that broached them. 
19. Befide thefe conftant and intermitting Rivulets^ that al- 
ways difcharge themfelves into Seas or Lakes, we have others 
here of a peculiar kind that empty themfelves into neither of 
them : but as they firftrofe out of the Earth, fo prefently after 
a ftiort flay on it, ingulf themfelves again, and are no more 
feen. Two of thefe there are at Shot-over Eoreft^ both rifmg as 
I take it on the north fide of the hill ; the one not far from Hed- 
dington Quarry-pits, is conftantly fed with a double Spring, yet 
after it has run about two Bows (hoot, is received by a rocky fuh- 
terraneous indraught y and appears no more : for though fome have 
thought it to come forth again at the Pool of a Mill not far from 
it, yet after diligent fcarch I could find no fuch matter. Ano- 
ther there is not far from Foreft-hill^ and I think in the Grounds 
of Sir Timothy Tyrrill^ which fomtimes in Winter runs with that 
violence,and has worn its In^let to fuch a capacity, that it can and 
has received an Ox, , Mhacui.NatJtb.z.t.^L 
20. Other 
