‘Their royal highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales dined at Belsize House, near Hampstead, attended by several persons of quality, where they were entertained with the diversions of hunting, and such others as the place afforded, with which they seemed well entertained, and at their departure were very liberal to the servants.’ On such occasions the mounted company rode over the park with horns blowing, and beagles barking, the proprietor leading the hunt in person. I have tried in vain to find the advertisement of this royal visit, which doubtless figured on handbills, or otherwise, in advance of the event, and with as successful an issue to the treasury of Belsize House as the appearance of the Prince of Oude, or the Siamese Ambassador, at Cremorne or the Surrey Gardens in modern times, or the Shahraza at the Crystal Palace in the summer of 1895. Such visitors, of course, bestowed a certain prestige on the new place of amusement, and brought it into favour with (to use a pet phrase of the day) the bon-ton. But this ‘delightful place of amusement’ was by no means dependent on the patronage of lords and ladies; those who could not afford silver were encouraged to spend their pence, ‘a part of the house being set aside for the accommodation of the meaner sort’; while the beaux and coquettes of fashion, who promenaded the Long Room, or minced in high-heeled shoes over the lawns or through the garden alleys, sipped coffee, tea, chocolate, or ratafia, or dined at princely prices _à la Pontac_, do not appear to have secured perfect immunity from vulgar and even questionable associates, since ‘sham gentlemen’ not unfrequently crept in—anyone, according to the writer of a satirical poem, written only two years after the opening of Belsize as a place of entertainment, ‘Who would at charges be, Might keep their noble honours company.’ Indeed, the irregularities of the establishment seem to have led to the proprietor’s imprisonment in Newgate within the first year of his lesseeship. No wonder, therefore, that in May, 1722, we find Belsize included in the Justices’ order to the Head-borough of Hampstead, touching the prevention of unlawful gaming, riots, etc. Yet the fashion of the place does not appear to have declined greatly on account of its disreputable notoriety and inexclusive character, or the license of which it was said to be the scene. On the contrary, its vogue increased, so that on a day of June, 1722, the attendance of the nobility and gentry was so numerous, that they reckoned between three and four hundred carriages. On this occasion a wild deer (which in the satirist’s description becomes a starved buck) was hunted down and killed in the park, after affording the company three hours’ diversion.