Natural Situations changed by Art.-Where the ground near a mansion is evidently unnatural, it is necessary to begin the inquiry by endeavouring to discover to what extent art has interfered: three cases, nearly similar in this respect, have occurred at Welbeck, at Woburn Abbey, and at Kidbrook. The ground near each of these houses consists of a plain, which has been formed by levelling and filling in the cavities produced by the junction of two brooks, although scarcely any traces remain of their original courses. It has been remarked 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 under ground. The same thing is done at Woburn Abbey, and also at Kidbrook. It is now, perhaps, equally impossible and unadvisable to restore the ground to its natural shape; but an inquiry into such original shape of ground facilitates the operations of any change in the surface.
