412 A FOBEST WONDEB. [April, 



beauty. Undoubtedly the oldest of the group is Welbeck Abbey, 

 the seat of the Duke of Portland, a mansion constituting the wonder 

 of which we wish to speak. It is the chef d'mivre of human eccen- 

 tricity, a palace as labyrinthine as Mount Ida, a gorgeous specimen of 

 perverted ingenuity as perplexing as it is astonishing. Originally it 

 was a monastery for monks of the Prsemonstratensian Order, and, like 

 aU structures devoted to the ' mortification of the flesh,' it is situated 

 in a goodly vale surrounded by a thickly-wooded barrier, with every 

 forest luxury obtainable at a moment's notice. As a work of archi- 

 tectural art little need be said ; but the proportions are ample, and 

 what it lacks in external grace is compensated for by internal comfort. 

 The great work of reconstructing Welbeck was undertaken by the 

 ' Invisible Prince,' as the late Duke of Portland was called, and was 

 far from complete at the time of the eccentric nobleman's death. For 

 years he spent his princely income, amounting from land alone to 

 upwards of .£175,000 per annum, in the reconstruction of the Abbey, 

 and enough of the work was finislied at his death to make the house 

 one of the most extraordinary buildings in the world. Five years 

 ago Welbeck was like a ' sealed book,' and the fortunate visitor who 

 had penetrated the mysterious region felt as elated as if he had 

 discovered the North-west Passage, and did not fail to retail his 

 experiences on every favourable occasion. Shut up in his favourite 

 library the invisible duke pursued his daily avocation of planning and 

 plotting — planning for the constriiction of some ingenious marvel, or 

 plotting to keep his magnificent mansion more completely secluded 

 from the eyes of the vulgar world. At that time upwards of one 

 thousand artificers were employed on the estate ; so that to keep the 

 Abbey from the rude gaze of even his own workmen required a 

 stretch of genius which in its accomplishment has never been sur- 

 passed. Across the park the workmen were in the habit of passing 

 to their homes at Cress well, Whitwell, and Worksop, and the 

 occasional glances they gave at the ducal residence disturbed that 

 feeling of seclusion which the owner desired, and consequently 

 ingenuity was taxed, and cost disregarded, in the attempt to make 

 the mile-and-a-half footpath across the park as joyless as possible. 

 Following a strange inclination for subterranean construction, the late 

 duke hit upon the expedient of making a tunnel across the park, so 

 that his army of workmen could pass to and fro without disturbing 

 the serene repose which he longed for ; and in the famous Welbeck 

 Tunnel, he created — what Mr. Gladstone has endorsed — one of the 

 wonders of the world. The structure is as wonderful as it is gigantic. 

 During the day it is lighted by enormous plate-glass buU's-eyes, super- 

 seded at night by hundreds of gas jets. The floor is excellently 

 asphalted, and the tunnel is high enough and wide enough for 



