Of the origin of these enchanting gardens, Mr. Aubrey, in his
"Antiquities of Surrey," gives us the following account;--"At Vauxhall,
Sir Samuel Morland built a fine room, anno 1667, the inside all of
looking-glass, and fountains very pleasant to behold, which is much
visited by strangers: it stands in the middle of the garden, covered
with Cornish slate, on the point of which he placed a punchinello, very
well carved, which held a dial, but the winds have demolished it." And
Sir John Hawkins, in his "History of Music," has the following account
of it:--"The house seems to have been rebuilt since the time that Sir
Samuel Morland dwelt in it. About the year 1730, Mr. Jonathan Tyers
became the occupier of it, and, there being a large garden belonging to
it, planted with a great number of stately trees, and laid out in shady
walks, it obtained the name of Spring Gardens; and the house being
converted into a tavern, or place of entertainment, was much frequented
by the votaries of pleasure. Mr. Tyers opened it with an advertisement
of a _Ridotto al Fresco_, a term which the people of this country had
till that time been strangers to. These entertainments were repeated in
the course of the summer, and numbers resorted to partake of them. This
encouraged the proprietor to make his garden a place of musical
entertainment, for every evening during the summer season. To this end
he was at great expense in decorating the gardens with paintings; he
engaged a band of excellent musicians; he issued silver tickets at one
guinea each for admission, and receiving great encouragement, he set up
an organ in the orchestra, and, in a conspicuous part of the garden,
erected a fine statue of Mr. Handel." These gardens are said to be the
first of the kind in England; but they are not so old as the Mulberry
Gardens, (on the spot now called Spring Gardens, near St. James's Park,)
where king Charles II. went to regale himself the night after his
restoration, and formed an immediate connexion with Mrs. Palmer,
afterwards Duchess of Cleveland. The trees, however, are more than a
century old, and, according to tradition, were planted for a public
garden. This property was formerly held by Jane Fauxe, or Vaux, widow,
in 1615; and it is highly probable (says Nichols) that she was the
relict of the infamous Guy. In the "Spectator," No. 383, Mr. Addison
introduces a voyage from the Temple Stairs to Vauxhall, in which he is
accompanied by his friend, Sir Roger de Coverley. In the "Connoisseur,"
No. 68, we find a very humourous description of the behaviour of an old
penurious citizen, who had treated his family here with a handsome
supper. The magnificence of these gardens calls to recollection the
magic representations in the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments," where
"The blazing glories, with a cheerful ray,
Supply the sun, and counterfeit the day."
Grosely, in his "Tour to London,"[4] says, (relating to Ranelagh and
Vauxhall,) "These entertainments, which begin in the month of May, are
continued every night. They bring together persons of all ranks and
conditions; and amongst these, a considerable number of females, whose
charms want only that cheerful air, which is the flower and quintessence
of beauty. These places serve equally as a rendezvous either for
business or intrigue. They form, as it were, private coteries; there you
see fathers and mothers, with their children, enjoying domestic
happiness in the midst of public diversions. The English assert, that
such entertainments as these can never subsist in France, on account of
the levity of the people. Certain it is, that those of Vauxhall and
Ranelagh, which are guarded only by outward decency, are conducted
without tumult and disorder, which often disturb the public diversions
of France. I do not know whether the English are gainers thereby; the
joy which they seem in search of at those places does not beam through
their countenances; they look as grave at Vauxhall and Ranelagh as at
the Bank, at church, or a private club. All persons there seem to say,
what a young English nobleman said to his governor, _Am I as joyous as I
should be?_"