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I WELBECK.] Besides the character which the style and size of the house will
confer on a place,
there is a natural character of country, which must influence the site and
disposition of an house; and
'though, in the country, there is not the same occasion, as in towns, for
placing offices under ground,
'or for setting the principal apartments on a basement story, as it is far
more desirable to walk
'from the house on the same level with the ground, yet there are situations
which require to be
'raised above the natural surface: this is the case at Welbeck, where the
park not only abounds with
'bold and conspicuous inequalities, but in many places there are almost imperceptible
swellings in
'the ground, which art would in vain attempt to remedy, from their vast breadth;
though they are evi-
'dent defects whenever they appear to cut across the stems of trees and hide
only half their trunks; for if
'the whole trunk were perfectly hid by such a swell, the injury would be
less, because the imagination
'is always ready to sink the valley and raise the hill, if not checked in
its efforts by some actual stand-
' ard of measurement. In such cases the best expedient is to view the ground
from a gentle eminence,
'that the eye may look over, and of course lose, these trifling inequalities.
' The family apartments are to the south, the principal suite of rooms to
the east, and the hall and some
'rooms of less importance to the west; when, therefore, the eating-room and
kitchen offices shall be
removed to the north, it is impossible to make a better disposition of the
whole, with regard to aspect.
I shall therefore proceed to the fourth general head proposed for consideration,
viz. the shape of the
'ground near the house: and as the improvement at Welbeck, originally suggested
by his Grace the
Duke of Portland, has, I confess, far exceeded even my own expectations,
I shall take the liberty of
drawing some general conclusions on the subject, from the success of this
bold experiment. At the
time I had the honour to deliver my former opinion, my idea of raising the
ground near the