| “C. H. Simpson, Esq., M.C.R.G.V.” | [Frontispiece.] | |
| (Coloured print published by W. Kidd, 1833; Robert Cruikshank del. W. cp. infra, “Vauxhall Gardens,” pp. 319, 320.) | ||
| “A Tea Garden” | To face page | [6] |
| (G. Morland pinxit; Mlle. Rollet sc. W.) | ||
| Plan showing distribution of the London PleasureGardens | „ | [12] |
| “Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham” | „ | [17] |
| (Mezzotint. G. Kneller pinx.; Faber fecit 1732. W.) | ||
| “Vincent Lunardi, Esq.” | „ | [79] |
| R. Cosway del.; F. Bartolozzi sc., frontispieceto Lunardi’s An Account of the First AërialVoyage in England. London, 1784. W.) | ||
| “William Defesch” | „ | [97] |
| (Soldi pinx.; F. Morellon le Cave sc., 1751. W.) | ||
| “Ann Catley” | „ | [105] |
| (Lawrenson pinx.; Evans sc., published by Matthews and Leigh, 1807.) | ||
| “South-east View of Copenhagen House,” 1783 | „ | [157] |
| (See [Views, Copenhagen House, No. 2.]) | ||
| The Rotunda at Ranelagh, circ. 1751 | „ | [202] |
| (From the 1754 ed. of Stow’s Survey.) | ||
| The Chinese House, the Rotunda and the Company in Masquerade in Renelagh (sic)Gardens” | „ | [205] |
| (A coloured print, Bowles del. et sc., 1751. W.) | ||
| “St. Helena Tavern and Tea Gardens” | „ | [239] |
| (See [Views, St. Helena Gardens, No. 1.]) | ||
| “Mrs. Baddely” | „ | [243] |
| (Mezzotint. Zoffany pinx.; R. Lowrie sc. [1772]. W.) | ||
| “View of the Savoy, Somerset House and thewater entrance to Cuper’s Gardens” | „ | [249] |
| (See [Views, Cuper’s Gardens, No. 1.]) | ||
| General Prospect of Vauxhall Gardens, 1751 | „ | [301] |
| (From the 1754 ed. of Stow’s Survey.) | ||
| The Rotunda (Music Room), Vauxhall, 1752 | „ | [303] |
| (Printed for Tho. Bowles, 1752. W.) | ||
| Admission ticket to the Vauxhall Jubilee Ridotto,29 May, 1786. With the seal and autographof Jonathan Tyers the younger. W. | „ | [305] |
| “Vauxhall” | „ | [307] |
| (From Rowlandson’s drawing engraved byR. Pollard, aquatinted by F. Jukes, 1785.W. For details, see Grego’s Rowlandson,I. p. 62f. and p. 156f.) | ||
| “Vauxhall on a Gala Night” | „ | [311] |
| (Pugh del.; Rhodes sc., published by Richard Phillips, 1804.) | ||
| “Mrs. Martyr” | „ | [313] |
| (Engraved by W. Ridley for Parson’s Minor Theatre, 1794.) | ||
| Plan of Vauxhall Gardens in 1826 | „ | [318] |
| (From Allen’s Lambeth.) | ||
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| Islington Spa in 1733 | [19] |
| (See [Views, Islington Spa, No. 2.]) | |
| May Day at the London Spa, 1720 | [31] |
| (See [Views, London Spa, No. 2, Brit. Mus. Library.]) | |
| A View of the English Grotto near the New River Head, circ. 1760 | [38] |
| (See [p. 37, note 1, No. 1, infra. W.]) | |
| Sadler’s Wells Anglers, 1796 | [46] |
| (Woodward del. Cruikshank sc. Coloured print [W.] “New River Head, Islington,” in Woodward’s Eccentric Excursions, 1796.) | |
| Sadler’s Wells in 1792, and as it was before 1765 | [49] |
| (See [Views, Sadler’s Wells, No. 3.]) | |
| Spinacuti’s Monkey at Sadler’s Wells, 1768 | [51] |
| (“The curious and uncommon performances of a monkey as they will be introduc’d every evening at Sadler’s Wells by Signor Spinacuta” (sic). Engraved placard, circ. 1768. W.) | |
| “The Bread and Butter Manufactory,” Bagnigge Wells, 1772 | [59] |
| (See [Views, Bagnigge Wells, No. 2, mezzotint. W.]) | |
| Frontispiece for the Sunday Ramble | [63] |
| (See [Views, Bagnigge Wells, No. 5. W.]) | |
| “Summer Amusement” | [69] |
| (An engraving printed for Bowles and Carver. W.) | |
| Bill of Peerless Pool, circ. 1846 | [83] |
| (See [Views, Peerless Pool, No. 3. W.]) | |
| Marybone Gardens, 1755–1761 | [99] |
| (See [Views, Marylebone Gardens, No. 2]; published by J. Ryall. W.) | |
| Thomas Lowe | [102] |
| (“Mr. Lowe at Sadler’s Wells.—With early Horn salute the morn.” Engraving in The Vocal Magazine, 1778, song 1091. W.) | |
| Jew’s Harp House, 1794 | [114] |
| (From a water-colour copied from Crace Coll., Cat. p. 569, No. 106.) | |
| The Bayswater Tea Gardens, 1796 | [118] |
| (See [Views, Bayswater Tea Gardens]. Coloured prints. W.) | |
| Bill of Pancras Wells, circ. 1730, showing the Wells, and the “Adam and Eve” tavern, near St. Pancras Church (west end) | [125] |
| (Photographed from a drawing in Crace Coll., reproducing engraved bill of circ. 1730: see Views, Pancras Wells, No. 1.) | |
| White Conduit House | [136] |
| (Engraving published 1 May, 1819, by R. Ackermann.) | |
| “A representation of the surprising performances of Mr. Price” at Dobney’s, circ. 1767 | [142] |
| (See [Views, Dobney’s Bowling Green, No. 2.]) | |
| Johnson at the Three Hats, 1758 | [149] |
| (See [Views, Three Hats, No. 3. W.]) | |
| Highbury Barn in 1792 | [163] |
| (See [Views, Highbury Barn, No. 2. W.]) | |
| A view of ye Long Room at Hampsted, 1752 | [179] |
| (See [Views, Hampstead Wells, No. 3.]) | |
| South View of The Spaniards, 1750 | [185] |
| (See [Views, The Spaniards, No. 1. W.]) | |
| Belsize House and Park | [190] |
| (From a water-colour drawing by F. Kornman, after an eighteenth-century engraving.) | |
| The Attack on Dr. John Hill at Ranelagh, 6 May, 1752 | [207] |
| (A print published by H. Carpenter, 1752. W.) | |
| Regatta Ball at Ranelagh, 1775 | [214] |
| (Admission ticket, G. B. Cipriani inv.; F. Bartolozzi sc. W.) | |
| A West View of Chelsea Bridge, showing Jenny’s Whim, 1761 | [223] |
| (See [Views, Jenny’s Whim, No. 2. W.]) | |
| Orchestra and Dancing-platform, St. Helena Gardens, circ. 1875 | [239] |
| (See [Views, St. Helena Gardens, No. 3.]) | |
| Admission ticket, Finch’s Grotto | [242] |
| (From Wilkinson’s Londina Illustrata.) | |
| Plan of Cuper’s Gardens, 1746 | [255] |
| (From Wilkinson’s Londina Illustrata.) | |
| “The Folly,” before circ. 1720 | [259] |
| (Drawn by F. Anderson (1896) from the engraving “Somerset House, La Maison de Somerset.” W. See [Views, “The Folly,” No. 2.]) | |
| “Labour in Vain” (St. George’s Spa in background), 1782 | [275] |
| (See [Views, Dog and Duck, No. 4. W.]) | |
| The Black Prince, Newington Butts, 1788 | [278] |
| (Printed for C. Bowles, 1788. W.) | |
| Waterside entrance to Cumberland Gardens | [284] |
| (See [Views, Cumberland Gardens.]) | |
| Vauxhall ticket by Hogarth (“Amphion”) | [291] |
| (From a silver ticket in the British Museum.) | |
| Vauxhall ticket by Hogarth (“Summer”) | [294] |
| (From a silver ticket in the British Museum.) | |
| The Citizen at Vauxhall, 1755 | [297] |
| (A plate in the Connoisseur published by Harrison and Co., Aug. 12, 1786, illustrating “The Citizen at Vauxhall” in 1755. W.) | |
| Title-page of a Collection of Hook’s Songs, 1798. W. | [309] |
| Charles Dignum | [313] |
| (An engraving by Jas. Heath from a painting by Augs. Callcot, forming frontispiece to Vocal Music ... composed and adapted by Charles Dignum, London, 1803. W.) | |
| Madame Saqui | [315] |
| (An engraving by Alais published 1820. W.) | |
| Darley in the Orchestra at Vauxhall | [317] |
| (An engraving, circ. 1792. W.) | |
| Admission ticket for Green’s Balloon Ascent, 31 July, 1850 | [321] |
| (Ticket with Green’s autograph. W.) | |
| Vauxhall in 1850 | [323] |
| (Doyle’s View from Punch, July, 1850.) | |
| “The Farewel to Vaux Hall” | [325] |
| (From Bickham’s Musical Entertainer, 1733 &c. W.) |
THE
LONDON PLEASURE GARDENS
OF
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
THE
LONDON PLEASURE GARDENS
INTRODUCTION
An entry in the diary of Samuel Pepys records how on the 7th of June, 1665, “the hottest day (he says) that ever I felt in my life,” he took water to the Spring Garden at Foxhall and there stayed, pleasantly walking, and spending but sixpence, till nine at night. The garden that he visited was that which formed the nucleus of those Vauxhall Gardens which, seventy or eighty years later, became the most favoured summer resort of pleasure-seeking Londoners. Vauxhall with its great concourse of high and low, its elaborate concerts, its lamps and brightly painted supper-boxes, is far removed from the simple garden in which Mr. Pepys delighted to ramble, but not only Vauxhall, but several other pleasure gardens of the eighteenth century may be traced to comparatively humble beginnings in the period between the Restoration and the reign of Anne.[2]
In the early days of these gardens no charge was made for admission, but a visitor would naturally spend a trifle in cheese-cakes and syllabubs for the ladies, and would order for himself some bottle-ale and such substantial viands as were afforded by the tavern or the master’s dwelling-house attached to the garden. The musical entertainments that afterwards became a feature of the principal gardens were originally of little account. The Wells of Lambeth (1697) and Hampstead (1701) provided a concert of some pretensions, but Mr. Pepys at the Spring Garden was content with the harmony of a harp, a fiddle, and a Jew’s trump.
In some places, however, a Long (or Great) Room was at an early period built for the dancing that generally took place there in the morning or the afternoon; and booths and raffling-shops were set up for the benefit of card-players and gamblers. The quiet charm of a garden was, moreover, sometimes rudely broken by the incursion of gallants like “young Newport” and Harry Killigrew—“very rogues (says Pepys) as any in the town.” At last, about 1730–40, the managers of the principal public gardens found it desirable to make a regular charge for admission: they requested gentlemen “not to smoak on the walks,” sternly prohibited the entrance of servants in livery, and, generally, did their best to exclude improper characters.
The author of the Sunday Ramble, a little guide-book of the last century often quoted in this work, visited, or says that he visited, on a single Sunday all the best known gardens near town. But it would have required an abnormally long life and a survey far less hurried to make acquaintance with all the open-air resorts that flourished during the whole, or part, of the eighteenth century. Such a long-lived Rambler who wished to know his gardens at first hand would probably have visited them (as in this volume we invite the reader to do) in five or six large groups, paying little heed to what might seem the pedantry of Parishes and Hundreds.