Volume Ii Part 22 (2/2)
RANELAGH GARDENS.
This famous place of entertainment was opened in 1742, on the site of the gardens of Ranelagh House, eastward of Chelsea Hospital. It was originally projected by Lacy, the patentee of Drury Lane Theatre, as a sort of Winter Vauxhall. There was a Rotunda, with a Doric portico, and arcade and gallery; a Venetian pavilion in a lake, to which the company were rowed in boats; and the grounds were planted with trees and _allees vertes_. The several buildings were designed by Capon, the eminent scene-painter. There were boxes for refreshments, and in each was a painting: in the centre was a heating apparatus, concealed by arches, porticoes and niches, paintings, etc.; and supporting the ceiling, which was decorated with celestial figures, festoons of flowers, and arabesques, and lighted by circles of chandeliers. The Rotunda was opened with a public breakfast, April 5, 1742. Walpole describes the high fas.h.i.+on of Ranelagh: ”The prince, princess, duke, much n.o.bility, and much mob besides, were there.” ”My Lord Chesterfield is so fond of it, that he says he has ordered all his letters to be directed thither.” The admission was one s.h.i.+lling; but the ridottos, with supper and music, were one guinea. Concerts were also given here: Dr. Arne composed the music, Tenducci and Mara sang; and here were first publicly performed the compositions of the Catch Club. Fireworks and a mimic Etna were next introduced; and lastly masquerades, described in Fielding's _Amelia_, and satirized in the _Connoisseur_, No. 66, May 1, 1755; wherein the Sunday-evening's tea-drinkings at Ranelagh being laid aside, it is proposed to exhibit ”the story of the Fall of Man in a Masquerade.”
But the promenade of the Rotunda, to the music of the orchestra and organ, soon declined. ”There's your famous Ranelagh, that you make such a fuss about; why, what a dull place is that!” says Miss Burney's _Evelina_. In 1802, the Installation Ball of the Knights of the Bath was given here; and the Pic-nic Society gave here a breakfast to 2000 persons, when Garnerin ascended in his balloon. After the Peace Fete, in 1803, for which allegorical scenes were painted by Capon, Ranelagh was deserted, and in 1804, the buildings were removed.
There was subsequently opened in the neighbourhood a New Ranelagh.
CREMORNE TAVERN AND GARDENS.
This property was formerly known as Chelsea Farm, and in 1803, devolved to the Viscount Cremorne, after whom it was named, and who employed Wyatt to build the elegant and commodious mansion. In the early part of the present century, Cremorne was often visited by George III., and Queen Charlotte, and the Prince of Wales. In 1825, the house and grounds devolved to Mr. Granville Penn, by whom they were much improved. Next, the beauty of the spot, and its fitness for a pleasure-garden, led to its being opened to the public as ”the Stadium.” After this, the estate fell into other hands, and was appropriated to a very different object. At length, under the proprietors.h.i.+p of Mr. T. B. Simpson, the grounds were laid out with taste, and the tavern enlarged; and the place has prospered for many years as a sort of Vauxhall, with mult.i.tudinous amus.e.m.e.nts, in variety far outnumbering the old proto-gardens.
THE MULBERRY GARDEN,
Upon the site of which is built the northern portion of Buckingham Palace, was planted by order of James I., in 1609, and in the next two reigns became a public garden. Evelyn describes it in 1654 as ”ye only place of refreshment about ye towne for persons of ye best quality to be exceedingly cheated at;” and Pepys refers to it as ”a silly place,” but with ”a wilderness somewhat pretty.” It is a favourite locality in the gay comedies of Charles II.'s reign.
Dryden frequented the Mulberry Garden; and according to a contemporary, the poet ate tarts there with Mrs. Anne Reeve, his mistress. The company sat in arbours, and were regaled with cheesecakes, syllabubs, and sweetened wine; wine-and-water at dinner, and a dish of tea afterwards. Sometimes the ladies wore masks. ”The country ladys, for the first month, take up their places in the Mulberry Garden as early as a citizen's wife at a new play.”--Sir Charles Sedley's _Mulberry Garden_, 1668.
”A princely palace on that s.p.a.ce does rise, Where Sedley's n.o.ble muse found mulberries.”--_Dr. King._
Upon the above part of the garden site was built _Goring House_, let to the Earl of Arlington in 1666, and thence named _Arlington House_: in this year the Earl brought from Holland, for 60_s._, the first pound of tea received in England; so that, in all probability, _the first cup of tea made in England was drunk upon the site of Buckingham Palace_.
PIMLICO TAVERNS.
Pimlico is a name of gardens of public entertainment, often mentioned by our early dramatists, and in this respect resembles ”Spring Garden.” In a rare tract, _Newes from Hogsdon_, 1598, is: ”Have at thee, then, my merrie boys, and hey for old Ben Pimlico's nut-browne!”
and the place, in or near Hoxton, was afterwards named from him. Ben Jonson has:
”A second Hogsden, In days of Pimlico and eye-bright.”--_The Alchemist._
”Pimlico-path” is a gay resort of his _Bartholomew Fair_; and Meercraft, in _The Devil is an a.s.s_, says:
”I'll have thee, Captain Gilthead, and march up And take in Pimlico, and kill the bush At every tavern.”
In 1609, was printed a tract ent.i.tled _Pimlyco_, or _Prince Red Cap, 'tis a Mad World at Hogsden_. Sir Lionel Hash, in Green's _Tu Quoque_, sends his daughter ”as far as Pimlico for a draught of Derby ale, that it may bring colour into her cheeks.” Ma.s.singer mentions,
”Eating pudding-pies on a Sunday, At Pimlico or Islington.”--_City Madam._
Aubrey, in his _Surrey_, speaks of ”a Pimlico Garden on Bankside.”
Pimlico, the district between Knightsbridge and the Thames, and St.
James's Park and Chelsea, was noted for its public gardens: as the Mulberry Garden, now part of the site of Buckingham Palace; the Dwarf Tavern and Gardens, afterwards Spring Gardens, between Ebury-street and Belgrave-terrace; the Star and Garter, at the end of Five-Fields-row, famous for its equestrianism, fireworks, and dancing; and the Orange, upon the site of St. Barnabas' church. Here, too, were Ranelagh and New Ranelagh. But the largest garden in Pimlico was Jenny's Whim, already described. In later years it was frequented by crowds from bull-baiting in the adjoining fields. Among the existing old signs are, the Bag o' Nails, Arabella-row, from Ben Jonson's ”Baccha.n.a.ls;” the Compa.s.ses, of Cromwell's time (near Grosvenor-row); and the Gun Tavern and Tea-gardens, Queen's-row, with its harbours and costumed figures taken down for the Buckingham Gate improvements.
Pimlico is still noted for its ale-breweries.
LAMBETH,--VAUXHALL TAVERNS AND GARDENS, ETC.
On the south bank of the Thames, at the time of the Restoration, were first laid out the New Spring Gardens, at Lambeth (Vauxhall), so called to distinguish them from Spring Garden, Charing Cross. Nearly two centuries of gay existence had Vauxhall Gardens, notwithstanding the proverbial fickleness of our climate, and its ill-adaptation for out-door amus.e.m.e.nts. The incidents of its history are better known than those of Marylebone or Ranelagh Gardens; so that we shall not here repeat the Vauxhall programmes. The gardens were finally closed in 1859, and the ground is now built upon: a church, of most beautiful design, and a school of art, being the princ.i.p.al edifices.
”Though Vauxhall Gardens retained their plan to the last, the lamps had long fallen off in their golden fires; the punch got weaker, the admission-money less; and the company fell in a like ratio of respectability, and grew dingy, not to say raffish,--a sorry falling-off from the Vauxhall crowd of a century since, when it numbered princes and amba.s.sadors; 'on its tide and torrent of fas.h.i.+on floated all the beauty of the time; and through its lighted avenues of trees glided cabinet ministers and their daughters, royal dukes and their wives, and all the red-heeled macaronies.' Even fifty years ago, the evening costume of the company was elegant: head-dresses of flowers and feathers were seen in the promenade, and the entire place sparkled as did no other place of public amus.e.m.e.nt. But low prices brought low company. The conventional wax-lights got fewer; the punch gave way to fiery brandy or doctored stout. The semblance of Vauxhall was still preserved in the orchestra printed upon the plates and mugs; and the old fire-work bell tinkled as gaily as ever. But matters grew more seedy; the place seemed literally worn out; the very trees were scrubby and singed; and it was high time to say, as well as see, in letters of lamps, 'Farewell for ever!'”[52]
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