Curtseys, bows and compliments were the order of the day. A White Conduit method of effecting an introduction was for the gallant ’prentice to tread on the lady’s train, to apologise profusely, and finally to suggest an adjournment for tea in one of the arbours. By five o’clock on a fine Sunday afternoon a seat was hardly procurable; for the tea-drinking was then in full vigour, and the famous White Conduit loaves[137] in great request.
Among its frequenters White Conduit House could number Oliver Goldsmith, who was wont (circ. 1768) to call there at tea-time on his “shoemaker’s holidays.”[138] (cp. Highbury Barn, infra). On one occasion, meeting in the gardens the wife and daughters of a tradesman to whom he was under some obligation, he treated the ladies handsomely to refreshments; only to find when the reckoning came, that his purse was empty.[139] Abraham Newland, the famous cashier of the Bank of England, was also a visitor at White Conduit, and, at a later time George Cruikshank[140] made many of his character sketches there. The visitors came to dread his sketchbook, and children who made faces were set on their good behaviour by the threat that Mr. Cruikshank would put them in his book.
In 1794, or earlier, the owner of White Conduit was Mr. Christopher Bartholomew,[141] a man of considerable means, who did much to improve the grounds. At one time he owned the freeholds of both the Angel Inn, Islington, and White Conduit House, and was said to be worth £50,000. Having won a lottery prize, he gave a public breakfast in the Conduit gardens “to commemorate the smiles of fortune,” as the invitation tickets expressed it. Unfortunately his taste for gambling in the Lottery increased, and soon his entire fortune was squandered, and he ultimately died in poverty at a mean lodging in March, 1809, at the age of sixty-eight.
The surroundings of White Conduit House were still agreeable, and in 1803 we find references to the fine prospect, and the mild refreshing breezes from the abundant hay crops for which the district was noted. By about 1833, however, brickfields and rows of houses had destroyed its rural aspect.
Until about the beginning of the present century, White Conduit House appears to have had no entertainments apart from its tea-gardens, and from the organ performances[142] in the house. But under the proprietorship of Sharpe and Warren (from about 1811, or earlier, till 1828) several changes took place. The pond was filled in and planted over, and a new tea and dancing saloon, dignified by the name of the Apollo Room, and subsequently converted into a billiard-room, was erected in the north-west angle of the gardens. The tea-boxes were enlarged, and the old paintings removed or defaced. A pretty miniature steeple, set up in the last century, and a maze were still to be seen in the garden. From about 1825 White Conduit House possessed a band-stand, and a small stage erected at the north-east end of the grounds, which were further embellished with fountains and statuary.
Bowls and dutch-pins were played, and archery (in 1827) was a popular amusement. Balloon-ascents were also a feature; the most important being those made by Graham (1823–1825); Mrs. Graham (1826); Charles Green (1828); and John Hampton in 1842, and on 19 August 1844 when Hampton was accompanied by “Mr. Wells” (Henry Coxwell). In 1824 (September) at a Benefit and Gala Fête thirty kinds of fireworks were displayed: fiery pigeons flew across the gardens, and two immense snakes went in pursuit of one another.
In 1825 the place was advertised as “the New Vauxhall: White Conduit Gardens,” and evening concerts, variety entertainments and firework displays were given in the grounds. On 21 June of this year, in commemoration of the Battle of Waterloo, a grand Gala and Rural Fête took place in the evening, with a concert and fireworks. There was music in the Quadrille Room and the Country Dance Room; and for dancing in the Grand Walk, the Pandean band The gardens were illuminated by variegated lamps; “vigilant officers” were in attendance, and no person was admitted “in dishabille.” The admission was two shillings.
WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE.
Chabert,[143] the fire-eater, was here in 1826 (June). After swallowing arsenic, oxalic acid, boiling oil and molten lead, without, it is said, feeling any inconvenience, he entered a large heated oven, supported by four pillars, and there cooked a leg of lamb and a rump steak, which he proceeded to divide among the spectators. The admission was half a crown and eighteenpence. In July of this year, Mrs. Bland here made her last public appearance. This singer,[144] well-known for the sweet quality of her mezzo-soprano voice and unaffected rendering of English ballads, was long attached to Drury Lane Theatre, and for several years appeared at Vauxhall. About 1824 her mind became affected, and on her recovery she was glad to accept an engagement at an inferior place of entertainment.