57 



are extracted from the " Sketches and 

 Hints"), in which the greatest contrast 

 may be discovered. 



Where the ground near a mansion is Natural 



Situations 



evidently unnatural, it is necessary to changed by 

 begin the enquiry by endeavouring to 

 discover to what extent art has inter- 

 fered : three cases, nearly similar in this 

 respect, have occurred at TVelbecky at 

 JFobum Abbey, and at Kidbrook. The 

 oTound near each of these houses consists 

 of a plain, which has been formed by 

 levelling and filling in the cavities pro- 

 duced by the junction of two brooks, 

 although scarcely any traces remain of 

 their original courses. It has been re- 

 marked that in many parts of America 

 and the West Indies the destruction of 

 woods has rendered the brooks and rivers 

 almost dry; and doubtless the same cause 

 has operated in this country, as may be 

 observed in the vicinity of former great 

 forests. In Leland's Itinerary, Welbeck 

 is described as standing at the conflux of 

 two streams, one of which is now become 

 so small, as to be carried through an arch 



