[252] The Florida Gardens are described as a place of entertainment in the _Modern Sabbath_, published in 1797, but they were already in the possession of the Duchess of Gloucester in September 1797. Cp. a newspaper paragraph of 25 September, 1797, in “Public Gardens” Collection in Guildhall Library: “Florida Gardens, at present in the possession of the Duchess of Gloucester, were fitted up in an elegant manner as a place of resort by the late Mr. Wilder [a successor of Hiem?] but did not answer the purpose for which they were intended.” [253] These checks in copper and lead resemble the tradesmen’s halfpenny tokens of the end of the eighteenth century, and are usually described as tokens: see descriptions in Sharpe’s _Catalogue_, p. 89; Atkins, p. 193. Miss Banks, in the MS. catalogue of her tokens (p. 210) now in the Department of Coins, British Museum, says respecting the leaden check: “One shilling was paid on going in, and this ticket given in exchange which would count for sixpence if the person chose liquor.” [254] Smith’s _Book for a Rainy Day_: the description strictly applies to the year 1795; _A Modern Sabbath_, chap. ix. (1797), implies that the place was more refined than Smith’s description would suggest. [255] Blewitt lived in Bermondsey Square, where he died in 1805. [256] Cp. “X” in _The Musical Times_ for October 1, 1893, p. 588. [257] It is possibly worth while to record the names of some of the forgotten performers at Bermondsey Spa. _Circ._ 1785–1788 the vocalists were Mr. Birkett, Mr. C. Blewitt, Mr. Burling (or Birling), Mr. Harriss; Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Byrn, Mrs. Piercy; Miss Stephenson, Miss Pay, Miss Cemmitt; Mme. Floranze. In 1792 the leader of the band was Mr. Peile, and the vocalists were Mr. Burton, Mr. Milward, Mrs. Freeman, and Mrs. Peile. Among the burlettas (1785–1788) were “The Quack Doctor,” “The Fop,” and “The Auctioneer.” [258] The fireworks in 1792 were by Rossi and Tessier, of Ranelagh. On 25 September, 1792, “by particular desire, the Battle of the Fiery Dragons, and the line comet to come from the Rock of Gibraltar and cause the Dragons to engage.” [259] This entertainment was probably first introduced in 1786, in which year (2 September) the _Public Advertiser_ announces “the representation of the storming of a fort which with the fortifications cover (_sic_) 3 acres of ground, the rock being fifty feet high and 200 feet long.” From about 1789 to 1792 it was advertised as a representation of the Siege of Gibraltar. The writer of _A Modern Sabbath_ (1797) gives further details. “On the north-east side of the gardens is a very fine lawn consisting of about three acres, and in a field parted from this lawn by a sunk fence is a building with turrets, resembling a fortress or castle.” At each side of this fortress at unequal distances were two buildings, from which on public nights bombshells, &c., were thrown. The fire was returned and the whole exhibited the “picturesque prospect of a siege.”