[Original]
* “By a company of English, French, and Germans, at
Phillips's New Wells, near the London Spa, Clerkenwell, 20th
August 1743.
“This evening, and during the Summer Season, will be
performed several new exercises of Rope-dancing, Tumbling,
Vaulting, Equilibres, Ladder-dancing, and Balancing, by Ma—
dame Kerman, Sampson Rogetzi, Monsieur German, and Monsieur
Dominique; with a new Grand Dance, called Apollo and Daphne,
by Mr. Phillips, Mrs. Lebrune, and others; singing by Mrs.
Phillips and Mrs. Jackson; likewise the extraordinary
performance of Herr Von Eeekenberg, who imitates the lark,
thrush, blackbird, goldfinch, canary-bird, flageolet, and
German flute; a Sailor's Dance by Mr. Phillips; and Monsieur
Dominique flies through a hogshead, and forces both heads
out. To which will be added The Harlot's Progress. Harlequin
by Mr. Phillips; Miss Kitty by Mrs. Phillips. Also, an exact
representation of the late glorious victory gained over the
French by the English at the battle of Dettingen, with the
taking of the White Household Standard by the Scots Greys,
and blowing up the bridge, and destroying and drowning most
part of the French army. To begin every evening at five
o'clock. Every one will be admitted for a pint of wine, as
usual.”
Mahommed Caratha, the Grand Turk, performed here his
“Surprising Equilibres on the Slack Rope.”
In after years, the imitations of Herr Von Eeekenberg were
emulated by James Boswell. (Bozzy!)
“A great many years ago, when Dr. Blair and I (Boswell) were
sitting together in the pit of Drury Lane Playhouse, in a
wild freak of youthful extravagance, I entertained the
audience prodigiously by imitating the lowings of a cow. The
universal cry of the galleries was, 'Encore the cow!' In the
pride of my heart I attempted imitations of some other
animals, but with very inferior effect. My revered friend,
anxious for my fame, with an air of the utmost gravity and
earnestness, addressed me thus, My dear sir, I would confine
myself to the cow!'”
the New Red Lion Cockpit; * the Mulberry Gardens; **
* “At the New Red Lion Cockpit, near the Old London Spaw,
Clerkenwell, this present Monday, being the 12th July 1731,
will be seen the Royal Sport of Cock-fighting, for two
guineas a-battle. To-morrow begins the match for four
guineas a-battle, and twenty guineas the old battle, and
continues all the week, beginning at four o'clock.”
** “Mulberry Gardens, Clerkenwell.—The gloomy clouds that
obscured the season, it is to be hoped, are vanished, and
nature once more shines with a benign and cheerful
influence. Come, then, ye honest sons of trade and industry,
after the fatigues of a well-spent day, and taste of our
rural pleasures! Ye sons of care, here throw aside your
burden! Ye jolly Bacchanalians, here regale, and toast your
rosy god beneath the verdant branches! Ye gentle lovers,
here, to soft sounds of harmony, breathe out your sighs,
till the cruel fair one listens to the voice of love! Ye who
delight in feats of war, and are anxious for our heroes
abroad, in mimic fires here see their ardour displayed!
“Note.—The proprietor being informed that it is a general
complaint against others who offer the like entertainments,
that if the gentle zephyrs blow ever so little, the company
are in danger of having their viands fanned away, through
the thinness of their consistence, promises that his shall
be of such a solidity as to resist, the air!”—Daily
Advertiser, July 8, 1745.
The latter part of this picturesque and poetical
advertisement is a sly hit at what, par excellence, are
called, “Vauxhall slices.”
the Shakspeare's Head Tavern and Jubilee Gardens; * the New Tunbridge Wells, **
* In 1742, the public were entertained at the “Shakspeare's
Head, near the New Wells, Clerkenwell,', with refreshments
of all sorts, and music; “the harpsichord being placed in so
judicious a situation, that the whole company cannot fail of
equally receiving the benefit.” In 1770, Mr. Tonas exhibited
“a great and pleasing variety of performances, in a
commodious apartment,” up one pair.
** These once beautiful tea-gardens (we remember them as
such) were formerly in high repute. In 1733, their Royal
Highnesses the Princesses Amelia and Caroline frequented
them in the summer time, for the purpose of drinking the
waters. They have furnished a subject for pamphlets, poems,
plays, songs, and medical treatises, by Ned Ward, George
Col-man the elder, Bickham, Dr. Hugh Smith, &c. Nothing now
remains of them but the original chalybeate spring, which is
still preserved in an obscure nook, amidst a poverty-
stricken and squalid rookery of misery and vice.
a fashionable morning lounge of the nobility and gentry during the early part of the eighteenth century; the Sir Hugh Middleton's Head; the Farthing Pie House; * and Sadler's Music House and “Sweet Wells.” ** A little to the left were Merlin's Cave,
* Farthing Pie Houses were common in the outskirts of London
a century ago. Their fragrance caught the sharp set citizen
by the nose, and led him in by that prominent member to
feast on their savoury fare. One solitary Farthing Pie House
(the Green Man) still stands near Portland Road, on the way
to Paddington.
** Originally a chalybeate spring, then a music-house, and
afterwards a “theatre-royal!” Cheesecakes, pipes, wine, and
punch, were formerly part of the entertainment.
“If at Sadler's sweet Wells the wine should be thick,
The cheesecakes be sour, or Miss Wilkinson sick,
If the fume of the pipe should prove pow'rful in June,
Or the tumblers be lame, or the bells out of tune,
We hope you will call at our warehouse at Drury,—We've a
curious assortment of goods, I assure you.” Foote's Prologue
to All in the Wrong, 1761.
Its rural vicinity made it a great favourite with the play-
going and punch-drinking citizens. See Hogarth's print of
“Evening.”
“A New Song on Sadler's Wells, set by Mr. Brett, 1740.
'At eve, when Sylvan's shady scene
Is clad with spreading branches green,
And varied sweets all round display'd,
To grace the pleasant flow'ry meads,
For those who're willing joys to taste,
Where pleasures flow and blessings last,
And God of Health with transport dwells,
Must all repair to Sadler's Wells.
The pleasant streams of Middleton
In gentle murmurs glide along,
In which the sporting fishes play,
To close each weary summer's day;
And music's charm, in lulling sounds,
With mirth and harmony abounds;
While nymphs and swains, with beaus and belles,
All praise the joys of Sadler's Wells.'”
Bagnigge Wells, * the English Grotto (which stood near the New River Water-works in the fields), and, farther in advance, White Conduit House. **