[260] _Gent. Mag._ 1800, pt. i. p. 284. Keyse’s house was a large wooden-fronted building, consisting of square divisions in imitation of scantlings of stone (J. T. Smith). The entrance to the Gardens was next to the house, beneath a semi-circular awning. [261] Hughson’s _London_, vol. v. (1808), p. 60. _The Picture of London_ for 1802 mentions in the “Almanack of Pleasures” under July 17, “A silver cup run for at Spa Gardens, Bermondsey, by gentlemen’s ponies.” [262] Blanchard in _Era Almanack_, 1870, p. 18 (followed by Walford). Brayley and Mantell (_Surrey_, iii. 200, 201) say the Gardens were closed about 1805. Lambert in his _London_ (iv. 140) published in 1806, speaks of the Spa as still open, but the passage may have been written a year or more before the date of publication. [263] _Picture of London_, eds. 1802, 1829; Tallis’s _Illustrated London_, ed. Gaspey. [264] In the _Era Almanack_, 1871, p. 6, it is stated that the gardens “disappeared in 1869.” Walford, vi. 138, says they ceased to exist in 1881. [265] “The principal site of Finch’s Grotto Gardens appears to have been a triangular piece of ground forming the western side of St. George’s Street, Southwark, and bounded on the south by the road called Dirty Lane and on the north by a vinegar yard in Lombard Street, and the extremity of St. Saviour’s Parish.” Wilkinson, _Londina_. A way from Falcon Stairs through Bandy Leg Walk (now Guildford Street) led directly to the place, and Williams, Finch’s successor, made an entrance from St. George’s Fields. Those who came by water landed at Mason’s Stairs. [266] Goldsmith’s _She Stoops to Conquer_, act. ii. [267] The Dukes of York and Gloucester, brothers of George III., are, however, said to have visited the gardens many times. [268] List of performers under Finch and Williams:--Messrs. Oldfield (or Offield?, 1765), Lauder, Dearle, Baker, Barnshaw of Covent Garden Theatre, Moore, Tom Lowe, Kear (sang at Marylebone 1754, and at Sadler’s Wells in 1771 and later), Nepecker, Clarke, Thomas and A. Smith from the Richmond Theatre, Weston from Drury Lane (1772), Aitken and Murphin, Master Adams, Master Suett (in 1771, from Ranelagh, supposed to be Dick Suett the actor), Master Green, and Master Lyon. The female singers were Mrs. Forbes, Reed, Smith, Taylor, Clark, and Dorman, and Misses Garvey, Thomas (in August 1765), Carli, Moyse, Snow, Dowson (sang at Sadler’s Wells 1775), Cantrell, Marshall, and Oakes. The instrumentalists included Cocklin and Smart, _violins_; Hudson, _organ_; Palmer, _flute_. [269] “Linco’s Travels” was also performed at the Patagonian Theatre, Exeter Change. Humphreys’s _Memoirs of Decastro_, 237. [270] A programme of a benefit night for 12 September, 1771 (under Williams), may be inserted as a specimen:--