_Dobney's Bowling-green; Wildman; Sampson_, (Vol. ix., p. 375.).--Dobney's,
or, more correctly, _D'Aubigney's_ Bowling-green, ceased to be a place of
public amusement about the year 1810. It is now occupied by a group of
houses called _Dobney's Place_, near the bottom of Penton Street. The late
Mr. Upcott had a drawing of Prospect House (as the building was called),
taken about 1780. A hand-bill of the year 1772 (in a volume formerly
belonging to Lysons) thus describes the nature of Wildman's performance:
"_The Bees on Horseback._--Daniel Wildman rides, standing upright, one
foot on the saddle, and the other on the horse's neck, with a curious
mask of bees on his face. He also rides standing upright on the saddle,
with the bridle in his mouth, and, by firing a pistol, makes one part
of the bees march over a table, and the other part swarm in the air,
and return to their proper places again."
Sampson, Price, Johnson, and Coningham were celebrated equestrian
performers towards the close of the last century. Astley was the pupil of
Sampson, and his successor in agility. Bromley, in his _Catalogue of
Engraved Portraits_, mentions a folio engraving of Sampson, without date or
engraver's name. It is hardly likely that any life of him was published.