grace and ornament of the Chase-a royal hunting; as if the genius of the place, now about to take leave for ever, was to bid farewell to his ancient haunts, in the presence of the Prince, and during the exercise of his favourite sports. The most animating sight which any modern sportsman can expect to behold, is finding a fox in woodlands, followed by a sharp burst over a well cultivated country; but what is that compared with rousing a noble stag from his lair, in the wilds of his native forest; when "The antler'd monarch of the waste Sprung from his heathery couch in haste, and when the royal train, “Knight and Page and household Squire," clad in all the various and fanciful costume of the time, rode along the open glades, and dashed through the thick vert and shallow waters which abounded in this Chase, and which must have added greatly to the pleasures of hunting, and given a peculiar and interesting character to the sport. "The next day the Chief Regarder of Thorne, and Robert Portington, Esq. promised like that sport:" he answered, "yes; but I should better like another kind of hunting, the hunting of thieves and rebels, with brave men and horses....... He was so exact," says an anonymous Har leian MS. entitled a Relation of Prince Henry's Noble and Virtuous Disposition, and of his sundry Witty and Pleasant Speeches, "in all the duties of filial piety to the king; he was strictly pious and most exact in the exercise of his public and private devotions; and had such an aversion to the profanation of the name of God, that he was never heard to use it but devoutly. His household was a little monarchy, which he ruled with equal power, policy, and dignity. He was master theoretically of the art of war:" and Cornwallis informs us, " that he performed military exercises with so much dexterity and skill, that he became second to no prince in Christendom, and superior to most persons who practised with him. He loved, and did mightily strive to do somewhat of every kind, and to excel in the most excellent. He greatly delighted in all kinds of rare inventions and arts, and in all kinds of engines belonging to the wars, both at land and sea." The same Author tells us, that "he was extremely courteous and affable to strangers, and easily gained their affections upon a very short acquaintance; but that he had a certain height of mind, and knew well how to keep his distance, which indeed he did to all, admitting no near approach either to his power or his secrets." He died on Friday, the 6th of November, 1612, of a fever, which seems to have proved fatal through the ignorance of his physician. promised to let the Prince see such sport as he never saw in his life before. The Prince and his retinue went with them, and having come to Tudworth, where Mr. Portington lived, they all embarked themselves in almost a hundred boats that were provided there ready; and having frightened some five hundred deer out of the woods, grounds, and closes adjoining, which had been driven there the night before, they all, as they were commonly wont, took to the water, and this little royal navy pursuing them, soon drove them into that lower part of the Levels called Thorne Meer, and there being up to their very necks in water, their horned heads raised themselves to represent a little wood. Here being encompassed about with the little fleet, some ventured amongst them, and feeling such and such as were fattest, they either immediately cut their throats, and threw them up into their boats, or else tying a strong long rope to their heads, drew them to land and killed them." Having thus taken several, they returned in triumph with their booty to land. The Prince that day dined with Robert Portington, Esq. and was very merry, and pleased with his day's work. During this celebrated hunting there rode in the train of that Royal Prince a phlegmatic Dutchman, who beheld the scene before him not so much with the eye of a sportsman as with a view of turning the country to his own profit: this person was Cornelius Vermuyden*, who is said to have then first conceived the idea of draining the whole Level. This happened in the year 1609; and before the conclusion of the reign of James the First, we find him in treaty with that monarch, respecting the drainage of certain lands in the county of Cambridge, which undertaking, owing to conflicting claims, did not at that time proceed. He then seems to have turned his attention, to the Level of Hatfield Chase; and in the second year of King Charles the First, articles of agreement were signed between the Crown and Vermuyden to the following effect. That * Cornelius Vermuyden was the Son of Giles Vermuyden, by Sarah his Wife, daughter of Cornelius Workendyke. His parents lived at St. Martin's Dyke, of the Isle of Tholen, near the mouth of the Scheldt. What first brought him to England is not known. That the said Cornelius Vermuyden should, at his own charge, drain the whole Chase and overflowed lands adjoining; that he should begin the work in three months after the King had agreed with those persons who had interest of Common therein; that the King should issue a Commission for that purpose under the Great Seal of England. In consideration thereof the said Cornelius should have one third part of the grounds so drained and recovered, the Crown another third, and the remaining third was to be given to the tenants. He was to be allowed to import his working implements duty free, and to make what water-courses he pleased. He was empowered to take land for the works on paying the owners such sums of money as they should be thought worth, by four Commissioners, whereof two were to be named by the Lord Treasurer of England, and two by Vermuyden; and he was to set out land, not exceeding three thousand acres, to receive any extra overflowings of the water. He was to nominate certain persons, after the works were finished, who were to constitute a corporation, and who were to make acts and ordinances for the better preservation of the same. And three years after the completion of the said works, six Commissioners were to be chosen, three by Vermuyden and three by the Lord Treasurer of England, who should view them, and estimate what would be the annual expence for their perpetual preservation; whereon Vermuyden was to convey to the afore-mentioned Corporation such lands, in trust, as should be of sufficient yearly value to defray such charge, in default of him or his heirs making reparation of the same. From this it appears that Vermuyden was to have one entire third of the drained lands, the Crown was to have another, and the remaining third was to be given to the tenants of those Manors in which the lands so recovered were situated. The original grant was solely to Vermuyden. He sold shares to several of his countrymen, who thus became Partners, or Participants, with him in this great undertaking, by which latter demonstration the holders of these lands have ever since been distinguished. Several of these Participants were very rich and of noble extraction, and most of them resided in Holland; but some few individuals came over, and took an active part in conducting the operations. These were, The names of the other Participants were as follows: · Mr. Andrew Bocard, who shared with John Corsellis The Heirs of Derrick Semey, of Amsterdam, 300 Roelof and Sebastian Franken,at Dort, :: 200 :: The Heirs of Jacob Droogbroot, at Middleborch, 80 67 :: It is to be observed that Vermuyden proposed not only to drain the Chase, but the overflowed grounds in the adjoining Manors of Wroot, Finningley, Misterton, and on the Commons in the Isle of Axholme. In the Chase, being the sole property of the Crown, there could be no disputes to be settled, nor claims to be satisfied; but on the east side of the Level, the case was far otherwise. "Certain persons," says the original grant, “did claim common of pasture in sundry of the said grounds;" and therefore the Crown undertook to issue a Commission, to enable claimants "to treat with such Commissioners, by way of composition in land or money, concerning the same." The Commission was issued accordingly; but the endeavours of those appointed to settle these claims were by no means successful, and the number of consents obtained never exceeded three hundred and seventy. This number, the Participants asserted, constituted the whole of the persons interested, except those who claimed on Epworth Common. The Commoners* replied, that many of those who had signed had no common right; that some of the names were signed three or four times over, to make up the list,-so that the way to get a number of signatures seems to have been as well understood two * See Appendix in State of the Case of the Manor of Epworth. |