evening resort of holiday-makers,[88] but it does not appear to be
mentioned at a later date.
In Horwood’s Plan (G) of 1799 the garden (or its site), together with
a few buildings, is marked as Spring Garden Court. Later on, in the
present century, the ground was known as Spring Grove. Nicholas Street
and Willow Street, between Globe Road and St. Peter’s Road on the west,
now appear to occupy part of the site.
About the middle of the last century Stepney is described as[89] a
village consisting principally of houses of entertainment to which vast
crowds of people of both sexes resorted on Sundays and at Easter and
Whitsuntide, to eat Stepney buns and drink ale and cyder.
One of these inns was known as The Treat; and there is a print[90] of
it, dated 1760, inscribed with the couplet:--
At Stepney now with cakes and ale,
Our tars their mistresses regale.
I.
MARYLEBONE GROUP
MARYLEBONE GARDENS
§ 1. _Origin of Marylebone Gardens._
The principal entrance[91] to these well-known gardens was through The
Rose (or Rose of Normandy), a tavern situated on the east side of the
High Street, Marylebone, opposite (old) Marylebone Church. The gardens
extended as far east as the present Harley Street; and Beaumont Street,
part of Devonshire Street, part of Devonshire Place, and Upper Wimpole
Street now occupy their site. When enlarged (in 1753) to their fullest
extent they comprised about eight acres, and were bounded on the south
by Weymouth Street, formerly called Bowling Green Lane or Bowling
Street.
As a place of amusement of the Vauxhall type, the gardens date,
practically, from 1738, but the Marylebone garden and bowling-green
came into existence at a much earlier period.
The gardens were originally those belonging to the old Marylebone
Manor House,[92] and were detached from it in 1650. There were several
bowling-greens in the immediate vicinity, the principal of which was
a green appurtenant to the Rose, and situated in the gardens behind
this tavern. In 1659 the gardens of the Rose, the nucleus of the later
Marylebone Gardens, consisted of gravel walks, a circular walk, and the
bowling-green which formed the central square. The walks at that time
were “double-set with quick-set hedges, full grown and indented like
townwalls.” On the outside of the whole was a brick wall, with fruit
trees.
Pepys records a visit in 1668 (7 May):--“Then we abroad to Marrowbone,
and there walked in the garden: the first time I ever was there, and a
pretty place it is.”
In 1691 the place was known as Long’s Bowling Green at the Rose, and
for several years (_circ._ 1679–1736) persons of quality might be
seen bowling there during the summer time:--
At the Groom Porter’s batter’d bullies play;
Some Dukes at Marybone bowl time away.[93]
Less innocent amusement was afforded by the tavern, which, at the end
of the seventeenth and in the early part of the eighteenth century, was
notorious as a gaming-house. Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham (_d._
1712) was wont at the end of the season to give a dinner at the Rose to
its chief frequenters, proposing as the toast, “May as many of us as
remain unhanged next spring meet here again.” “There will be deep play
to-night (says Macheath in the _Beggar’s Opera_), and consequently
money may be pick’d up on the road. Meet me there, and I’ll give you
the hint who is worth setting.”
Some special attractions were occasionally offered to the quality who
frequented the Bowling Green; thus, in 1718 there were illuminations
there, and a consort of musick to celebrate the King’s birthday. In
1736 we hear of scaffolding, 135 feet high, that was erected in the
gardens for the Flying Man who was to fly down it by a rope with a
wheelbarrow before him.
§ 2. _Marylebone Gardens under Gough and Trusler._ 1738–1763.
Daniel Gough, who was proprietor of the Rose and its gardens in 1737,
first made a regular charge for admission,[94] and in the summer of
1738 (July 12) advertised and opened “Marybone[95] Gardens” as a place
of evening entertainment. He selected a band from the Opera and the
Theatres to play, from six to ten, eighteen of the best concertos,
overtures and airs; erected a substantial garden-orchestra, in which
was placed (1740) an organ by Bridge; and built (1739–1740) the House
or Great Room for balls and suppers. Gough was succeeded as manager
(in 1751?) by John Trusler,[96] who being by profession a cook paid
attention to the commissariat of the Gardens. The rich seed and plum
cakes, and the almond cheese-cakes made by his daughter, Miss Trusler,
became a spécialité of the place. Sir John Fielding, the magistrate,
was of opinion that Londoners should not want Mrs. Cornelys’s
entertainments in Soho, when they had Ranelagh with its music and
fireworks and Marybone Gardens with their music, wine and plum-cakes.
During this period (1738–1763) Marybone Gardens were opened in the
morning for public breakfasting in the Great Room, and for a concert,
beginning at twelve, to which the admission was two shillings, or one
shilling. The admission for the evening entertainment was the same, but
was raised on exceptional nights to three shillings.
In August 1738, there were introduced “two Grand or Double Bassoons,
made by Mr. Stanesby, junior, the greatness of whose sound surpass
that of any other bass instrument whatsoever.” In 1741 a grand martial
composition was performed by Mr. Lampe in honour of Admiral Vernon.
In 1744 Knerler, the violinist, was the principal executant; and Mr.
Ferrand performed on “the Pariton, an instrument never played on in
publick before.”
In 1747 Miss Falkner made her appearance and remained the principal
female singer[97] till about 1752.
[Illustration: _W^m. Defesch._]
Mary Ann Falkner (or Faulkner),[98] was the niece of George Faulkner,
the Dublin printer, and was a vocalist of celebrity in her day, though
she never aspired beyond such songs as “Amoret and Phillis,” “The Happy
Couple,” “Fair Bellinda,” “Delia,” and “The Faithful Lover.” She had
many admirers, among whom were the Earl of Halifax (the second Earl),
Lord Vane, and Sir George Saville; but she behaved circumspectly, and
bestowed her hand upon a young man named Donaldson, the son of a
linendraper. Unfortunately, her husband, who had been brought up in
what Dr. Trusler calls “the line of a gentleman,” was extravagant and
idle, and consented (about 1753) to a base arrangement by which his
wife was taken under the protection of Lord Halifax.
The Earl built a house for Mrs. Donaldson at Hampton Court Green,
where she seems to have lived quietly. At a later time when Halifax
was contemplating marriage with the wealthy daughter of General Drury,
she surprised him one evening in the walks at Vauxhall Gardens, and so
exerted her influence that the Earl not only left his Vauxhall friends
without an apology, but broke off his engagement with Miss Drury.[99]
Other vocalists of this period were Thomas Lowe (from 1750); Mr.
Baker (1750); Master Michael Arne (1751); Madame Ramelio (1752–1753);
Mrs. Chambers (1753); Champness (1757); Kear (1757); Thomas Glanville
(1757); and Reinhold (from 1757). Defesch, the well-known musician, was
engaged as first violin in 1748.
In 1758 “La Serva Padrona, or the Servant Mistress,”[100] the first
Burletta ever given in the gardens, was performed and was often
afterwards repeated. It was an adaptation of Pergolesi’s composition
by the elder Storace, and by Dr. Trusler, the proprietor’s son.
The younger Trusler subsequently became a clergyman and finally a
bookseller. He distinguished himself by selling to his clerical
brethren original sermons printed in script characters, and made in
this way, as he told his Bishop, an income of £150 a year.
During this period of the Gardens’ history the evening entertainments
were usually confined to concerts, though balls were given from time
to time in the Great Room. Fireworks were not often displayed, but on
26 September, 1751, after a masquerade, they were introduced with a
kind of apology:--“the playing-off the fireworks (which will begin at
eleven o’clock) will not incommode the ladies.” “A large collection” of
fireworks was announced for display on the June evenings of 1753.
A view of Marybone Gardens in 1755 shows smartly-dressed people
promenading in the Grand Walk, with the Orchestra and the Great Room
on either hand. At this period families of good position had country
houses in the High Street, Marylebone, and they probably availed
themselves of the subscription tickets for the balls and concerts in
the Gardens. Old Dr. John Fountayne, for instance, would stroll in from
the Manor House School with his friend Mr. Handel. On one occasion the
great composer begged for Fountayne’s opinion on a new composition that
the band was performing. They sat down together, and after a time the
clergyman proposed that they should move. “It is not worth listening
to--it’s very poor stuff.” “You are right, Mr. Fountayne,” said Handel,
“it _is_ very poor stuff. I thought so myself when I had finished
it.”[101]
[Illustration: MARYBONE GARDENS, 1755–1761.]
The Gardens appear to have been generally conducted in a respectable
way, though the Duke of Cumberland, if Dr. Trusler[102] has not
maligned him, used to behave in a scandalous manner when he visited the
place. Probably, gentlemen did not always accede to the proprietor’s
humble request that they should not “smoak on the walks”; and a scene
occasionally occurred. One Saturday night in August 1751, an angry
gentleman drew upon another who was unarmed, but had his sword struck
out of his hand by a “nobleman” standing by, so that the disputants
were reduced (we are told) to the use of cane and fist. But on the
whole, Marybone Gardens was a decent and social place of amusement, and
little parties were to be seen chatting and laughing in its latticed
alcoves. In May 1753 when the Gardens had been extended and improved,
the place could boast (according to a contemporary account) of the
largest and politest assembly ever seen there.
A guard of soldiers and peace-officers conducted the company
(_circ._ 1741) to and from the Gardens, and at eleven and twelve
o’clock a special guard set off to take people along the fields as
far as the Foundling Hospital. (_circ._ 1743). The neighbourhood
of the Gardens was, in fact, by no means safe. On a June night of
1751 when the entertainment was in full swing, some thieves entered
the house of Mr. William Coombs, a wine merchant residing at the
Gardens, and carried off his plate and china. About three weeks later a
gentleman who was in the fields at the back of the Gardens, listening
to the strains of the band, had a pistol pointed at him by a man who
demanded his money and his watch. On June 30, 1752, a servant going to
the Gardens was attacked in the fields and robbed by two footpads.[103]
At a later date (1764) the proprietor felt it necessary to offer “a
premium of ten guineas” for the apprehension of any highwayman or
footpad found on the road to the Gardens, and a horse-patrol to and
from the City was provided at that time. It is said that Dick Turpin
once publicly kissed in the Gardens a beauty of the time related to Dr.
Fountayne. The lady expostulated, but Turpin exclaimed “Be not alarmed,
Madam, you can now boast that you have been kissed by Dick Turpin.
Good morning!”
§3. _The Gardens under Thomas Lowe._ 1763–1768.
In 1763 the Gardens and adjoining premises were taken at a yearly
rent of £170[104] by Thomas (“Tommy”) Lowe, the favourite tenor of
Vauxhall Gardens, who had already appeared at Marybone Gardens in 1750.
He engaged, among other singers, Mrs. Vincent, Mrs. Lampe, and the
beautiful Nan Catley, then only eighteen. Lowe opened in May (1763)
with a “Musical address to the Town,” in which the singers (Lowe,
Miss Catley and Miss Smith) apologised for the absence of some of the
attractions of Ranelagh and Vauxhall:--
Yet Nature some blessings has scatter’d around;
And means to improve may hereafter be found.
The entertainments under Lowe’s management consisted principally of
concerts in which he himself took a prominent part.[105] The Gardens
were opened at 5 p.m.: the concert began at 6.30, and the admission
was one shilling. In 1765 the concerts included songs from Dr. Boyce’s
“Solomon,” and Mrs. Vincent sang “Let the merry bells go round” by
Handel, accompanied by a new instrument called the Tintinnabula. There
was a new Ode (August 31), called “The Soldier,” “wrote and set to
music by a person of distinction.” In 1767 (August 28), Catches and
Glees were performed.
[Illustration: THOMAS LOWE.]
A wet season, combined, as would appear, with insufficient enterprise,
involved the manager in difficulties, and by a Deed of 15 January,
1768, he assigned to his creditors all the receipts and profits
arising from the Gardens. He retired in 1769, and was glad to accept
an engagement at Finch’s Grotto, though at one period he had been
making, it is said, £1,000 a year. He died 2 March, 1783. Dibdin says
that Lowe’s voice was more mellow and even than that of Beard, but that
“Lowe lost himself beyond the namby-pamby of Vauxhall”; while “Beard
was at home everywhere.”
§4. _Later History of the Gardens._ 1768–1778.
During 1768,[106] the Gardens were carried on by Lowe’s creditors. The
receipts for the season from season-tickets (£1 11_s._ 6_d._ each) and
money at the doors and bars, were £2,085 1_s._ 7½_d._, but the result
was a deficit of £263 10_s._ 3_d._, though the salaries do not appear
to have been excessive. Miss Davis for six nights got three guineas;
Mr. Phillips three guineas; Master Brown four guineas; Werner, harpist
for six nights, two guineas. The Band cost £27 13_s._ a week.
Dr. Samuel Arnold, the musician, became proprietor of the Gardens in
1769; and though he eventually retired (in 1773?) a loser, the Gardens
probably offered more attractions under his management than at any
other period. The weather being wet and cold, the opening of the season
of 1769 was postponed till after the middle of May. The proprietor
sedulously advertised the “very effectual drains” that had been made in
the Gardens, “so that they become very dry and pleasant in a short time
after heavy rains.” A few light showers, moreover, would not hinder the
performances, and when dancing took place there was a covered platform
in the Garden.
The seasons of 1769[107] and 1770 were sufficiently gay. The ordinary
admission at this time, and until the final closing of the gardens
was one shilling, raised to half-a-crown, three shillings or three
shillings and sixpence on the best nights, when the performers had
their benefits. On such nights there were fireworks by Rossi and
Clanfield; the transparent Temple of Apollo was illuminated, and a
ball concluded the entertainment. In 1769 nearly the whole staff took
a benefit, in their turn. Mrs. Forbes, Mr. Hook, Mr. Pinto, Piquenit
the treasurer, the doorkeepers, and finally the waiters. Thomas
Pinto was engaged as leader, James Hook, father of Theodore Hook, as
organist (1769–1772), Mrs. Forbes and Miss Brent (afterwards Mrs.
Pinto) as singers. Hook’s “Love and Innocence,” a pastoral serenata,
was performed for the first time on 10 August (1769), and there were
Odes by Christopher Smart, set to music by Arnold, and an “Ode to the
Haymakers,” by Dr. Arne.
[Illustration:
_Lawrenson pinx^t._ _Evans sculp._
_Published July 1807, by Matthews & Leigh._]
In 1770[108] the leader was F. H. Barthelemon, one of the best known
violinists of his time, and distinguished for his firmness of hand,
and purity of tone. His burletta, “The Noble Pedlar,” was successfully
produced this year. “The Magic Girdle,” and “The Madman,” were also
produced; and the “Serva Padrona,” was revived. On 4 September the
Fourth Concerto of Corelli, with the additional parts for trumpets,
French horns and kettledrums, was performed. In 1771[109] “The Magnet”
was performed (first time, 27 June) and Miss Catley, now principal
singer at Covent Garden, made her re-appearance.
From 1772 to 1774 the productions of Torré[110] the fireworker made
the gardens very popular. Residents in the neighbourhood thought the
fireworks a nuisance, and attacked Torré in the newspapers. Mrs.
Fountayne produced a rocket-case found in her own garden, and in 1772
Arnold, as proprietor, was summoned at Bow Street. He pleaded, however,
a license from the Board of Ordnance, and the fires of Torré continued
to burn bright. Torré’s masterpiece, often repeated at the Gardens, was
called the Forge of Vulcan. After the fireworks were over, a curtain
rose, and discovered Vulcan and the “Cyclops” at the forge behind Mount
Etna. The fire blazed, and Venus entered with Cupid, and begged them to
make arrows for her son. On their assenting, the mountain appeared in
eruption, and a stream of lava poured down its sides.
Numerous singers were engaged for 1772,[111] Charles Bannister,
Reinhold, Mrs. Calvert and others, and the musical entertainments
were “The Divorce,” by Hook; “The Coquet,” by Storace; “The Magnet,”
and “La Serva Padrona.” Bannister gave his clever musical imitations
of well-known singers and of “the Italian, French and German manner of
singing.” At Hook’s Annual Festival on 28 August (1772) “Il Dilettanti”
(by Hook) was given for the first time with choruses by “the young
gentlemen from St. Paul’s Choir.” The pyrotechnic entertainments
included a representation of Cox’s Museum, and a magnificent temple
consisting of “upwards of 10,000 cases of different fires all ...
lighted at the same time.” During the fireworks, martial music was
performed under Hook’s direction in the Temple of Apollo.[112]
In 1773[113] the Gardens were open for three evenings in the week.
Handel’s “Acis and Galatea” was performed (27 May), and Barthelemon’s
“The Wedding Day,” in which “Thyrsis, a gay young swain, is beloved by
Daphne, an antiquated damsel.” Arne conducted his catches and glees at
a concert on 15 September.[114]
In 1774[115] there was music every week-day evening. Several novelties
were introduced, but the fortunes of the Gardens appear to have been
waning. Dr. Arnold’s “Don Quixote” was performed for the first time
on 30 June. The first Fête Champêtre took place in July, but the
newspapers attacked the management for charging five shillings for
an entertainment which consisted of a few tawdry festoons and extra
lamps. Some of the visitors, we are told, “injured the stage and broke
its brittle wares.” One cannot help suspecting that Dr. Johnson was at
the bottom of this outrage: at any rate during a visit of his to the
Gardens at some time between 1772–1774 a similar incident occurred.
Johnson, who had heard of the fame of Torré’s fireworks, went to the
Gardens one evening, accompanied by his friend George Steevens. It was
showery, and notice was given to the few visitors present, that the
fireworks were water-soaked and could not be displayed. “This” (said
Johnson) “is a mere excuse to save their crackers for a more profitable
company. Let us both hold up our sticks and threaten to break those
coloured lamps, ... and we shall soon have our wishes gratified. The
core of the fireworks cannot be injured: let the different pieces be
touched in their respective centres, and they will do their offices
as well as ever.” Some young men standing by indulged in the violence
suggested, but failed to ignite the fireworks. “The author of _The
Rambler_,” as Mr. Steevens judiciously observes, “may be considered,
on this occasion as the ringleader of a successful riot, though not as
a skilful pyrotechnist.” A second Fête Champêtre succeeded better, and
the company did not leave till six in the morning.
During this year (1774), and in 1775 and 1776 the Gardens were open on
Sunday, after five p.m., for a promenade (without music); and sixpence,
returned in tea, coffee, and Ranelagh rolls, was charged for admission.
As far back as 1760 the Gardens had been opened on Sunday, and “genteel
persons were admitted to walk gratis,” and to drink tea there. But this
tea-drinking had been prohibited in 1764. The “Sunday Rambler,” who
visited Marybone Gardens about this time, speaks of them with profound
contempt as a place of tea-table recreation. Nobody was there, the
tablecloths were dirty, and the rubbish for Signor Torré’s fireworks
was left lying about. The Gardens, he adds, were “nothing more than two
or three gravel roads, and a few shapeless trees.”
In the same year (1774) the managers of the Gardens advertised
and opened (6 June) the Marybone Spa. In the winter of 1773 the
City Surveyor, while searching for the City Wells in Marybone, had
discovered in the Gardens a mineral spring. The public were now
admitted to drink this water from six o’clock in the morning. It was
suggested that the waters might be useful for nervous and scorbutic
disorders, but, in any case, “they strengthen the stomach, and promote
a good appetite and a good digestion.”
But the end of Marybone Gardens, as an open-air resort, was rapidly
approaching. In 1775 no concerts appear to have been advertised, though
there were several displays of fireworks by Caillot in June, July, and
August. Already in 1774, one of those profaners of the “cheerful uses”
of the playhouse and the public garden--a lecturer and reciter--had
appeared in the person of Dr. Kenrick (on Shakespeare). The management
had now (June 1775) to rely for the evening’s entertainment on “The
Modern Magic Lantern,” consisting of whimsical sketches of character,
by R. Baddeley the comedian, and on a “Lecture upon mimicry,” by George
Saville Carey. In July, a conjurer was introduced.
In 1776 there was a flicker of the old gaiety. The Forge of Vulcan was
revived in May, and there were fireworks by Caillot. A representation
of the Boulevards of Paris was prettily contrived, the boxes fronting
the ball-room being converted into the shops of Newfangle, the
milliner; Trinket, the toyman; and Crotchet, the music-seller.[116]
The Gardens closed on 23 September, 1776, and were never afterwards
regularly opened. Henry Angelo (_Reminiscences_), referring to the
Marybone Gardens in their later days, says they were “adapted to the
gentry rather than the _haut ton_.” Whatever this distinction may
be worth, it is clear from the comparative paucity of the contemporary
notices that the Marybone Gardens, though a well-known resort, at no
period attained the vogue of Ranelagh, or the universal popularity of
Vauxhall.
About 1778 the site of the Gardens was let to the builders, and the
formation of streets (_see_ § 1) begun. J. T. Smith[117] states
that the orchestra, before which he had often stood when a boy, was
erected on the space occupied by the house in Devonshire Place,
numbered (in 1828) “17.” According to Malcolm, a few of the old trees
of the Gardens were still standing in 1810 at the north end of Harley
Street.
The old Rose of Normandy (with a skittle alley at the back) existed,
little altered, till 1848–1850, when a new tavern was built on its
site. The tavern (still bearing the old name) was subsequently taken by
Sam Collins (Samuel Vagg), the popular Irish vocalist, who converted
its concert-room into a regular music hall, The Marylebone, which
he carried on till 1861, when he parted with his interest to Mr.
W. Botting. The present Marylebone Music Hall (with the public bar
attached to it) fronts the High Street, and standing on the site of the
old Rose of Normandy, from which the Marybone Gardens were entered,
may claim, in a measure, to be evolved from that once famous pleasure
resort.[118]