In 1844 there was a change of proprietors. Edward Cross retired, {88b} and was succeeded by William Tyler, who had been the secretary to the gardens. Next year a gigantic and very ugly orchestra was erected for the accommodation of a band of 300 under Jullien, {89} who had made a name by his promenade concerts at Covent Garden and Drury Lane. Post-horn gallops and polkas now enlivened the multitude, and in this ‘Concert monstre’ the brass too often got the better of the strings. Some vocalists (Mlle. Lovarny and Miss Huddart) were also introduced (1848). These concerts and the panoramas bring us to 1855, which was practically the last year of the _old_ Zoo. For Tyler then disposed of his property, and sold off the wild beasts. The popular taste was no doubt changing, though Tyler had done his best, and lit up the glass conservatory so that (as his advertisements stated) the ‘matchless collection of carnivora could be viewed by gaslight.’ [Picture: ‘Old London’ at the Surrey Zoological Gardens. After a lithograph published by Webb, 1844] The gardens were now taken in hand by the Surrey Music-Hall Company, who had a working capital of over £30,000, and rented the gardens for £346. The chairman of this company was Sir W. de Bathe, but Jullien had a considerable stake in the enterprise. At a cost of £18,200 a music-hall (in the classical sense of the word) was erected near the lake, on the site of the circular conservatory. This building, by Horace Jones, was on a great scale, and would hold an audience of 12,000 and an orchestra of 1,000. Its general appearance was not ineffective, but a critic described its style as degenerate Italian relieved in the French taste. It was opened on July, 15, 1856, with a performance of ‘The Messiah,’ with Jullien, Clara Novello, Sims Reeves, Miss Dolby, and Piatti. In the autumn the new hall had a strange tenant in Mr. C. H. Spurgeon, who, finding Exeter Hall and his own chapel too small, hired the building for four Sundays for a payment of £15 each Sunday. On the evening of October 19 there was an enormous congregation. While Spurgeon was engaged in prayer an extraordinary panic occurred. Some mischief-maker raised a shout of ‘Fire!’ or, according to another account, there was an agonized cry of ‘The roof! The roof!’ A mad rush was made for the doors, some of which seem to have been locked to prevent people strolling in and out of the gardens. Spurgeon kept calm, and, when the terror subsided, some of the congregation found their way back to the hall, but seven persons had been killed and about fifty injured in the crush.