THE TUNNEL AT WELBECK ABBEY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVI, Issue 71, 28 March 1892, Page 2

THE TUNNEL AT WELBECK ABBEY.

: w Sll ° hos heard of tha fanw « a tunnel which burrows for a mile aud a half under the soil and forms the ohiof high red 5 K ? 9n " UMtutal « l 00,!1 ' itiauot ?M' ab ever ? twenty paces a oiroulac skylight appears iuthe vaulting above. Gas- ' Ze g a P f P r de 3 th l paß3a^ Here and .. there a jet may bo seen still burning. , Much has beeu said ia censure of fctna i apparently purposeless excavation. Such 1 w^r 0 ' however . seams a waste of wordß. Wishm certain notorious bjuuds, every man i has the right to do what he likes with his own; and it the lato Duke of Portland obose - to spend a couple of millions upoa worka ' ■. that seem tufc.le, the world need nocoouiplain. • A m,u of modest means, when the whim . taa.es him, orders a new autumer-houee. It i may not bu wanted, aud it may bo pronounced ■ da.ostubiy ugly wheu ifc ii made. Similarly, • the Duke, having a fauoy ot t.uly remartabl* intensity for aolitude and seclusion, ehoae to cut these i'itautio oonidora And- paragon and ouambsM in the solid earth to h?ep Himself a oof from daylight. Whiteve? may have beeu the primary oause of hia love quest ot it He did not associate wifch his equals, and he preferred not to be recognised even by the workmen whom he employed" liberally. Thab he wa. no mere vulgar co. ccutno, with a craving for fame of an ua. common kiad, his bu«t in the large pioture gallery proves to oonviotion. Oueoinnot but wonder, however, that the nobility ia such a maa did not find issue by somewhat worthier means. -From Historic Hou«ea.