Upwards of 15,000 lamps were said to illuminate the gardens at one time,--the effect of the illumination was peculiarly beautiful in a moonlight night. The band of the Duke of York's regiment of Guards dressed in full uniform added to the attractions of these enchanting gardens; by military harmony, as a place of public entertainment, it became the most famous in Europe. The greatest season was in 1823, when 133,279 persons visited the gardens and the receipts were £29,590. The greatest number of persons in one night was on the 2nd of August, 1833, when 20,137 paid for admission. The carriages outside the gardens were so numerous that they extended in lines as far as Westminster Bridge in one direction and to Kennington Common in an opposite direction. The greatest number on the then supposed last night, 5th September, 1839, was 1089 persons. So fascinating did this place of amusement become that it acquired the name of the "fairy land of fancy," answering in conception to those enchanted palaces and gardens described in the "Arabian Nights Entertainment."[2] It was in these gardens gas was manufactured by the London Gas-light Company prior to gas being made at the Company's Works in the neighbourhood of Vauxhall Row. [Footnote 1: The true derivation is supposed to be from Falk or Faulk de Brent, a famous Norman soldier of fortune to whom King John gave in marriage Margaret de Ripariis or Redvers. To the lady belonged that Manor of Lambeth to which the Mansion called Faulks Hall was annexed.--_London_, by Charles Knight, Vol. I., p. 403.] [Footnote 2: Vauxhall Gardens were open from 1732 to 1840, they were re-opened in 1841 and finally closed in 1859, when the theatre, orchestra, firework gallery, fountains, statues, etc., were sold, with a few mechanical models, such as Sir Samuel Morland, Master of Mechanics to Charles II. had set up here nearly two centuries previously. The site was then cleared and a church, (St. Peter's) vaulted throughout, was built upon a portion of the grounds, besides a school of arts, etc.--_John Timbs_.]