Our rapid survey, omitting many years, now passes on to 1844, when Samuel Phelps became one of the proprietors of Sadler’s Wells. During Phelps’s memorable management (1844–1862) there were produced some thirty of Shakespeare’s plays, occupying about four thousand nights--_Hamlet_ being played four hundred times. In 1879 Sadler’s Wells was taken by Mrs. Bateman (from the Lyceum Theatre), and under her management the whole of the interior was reconstructed. At the present time it is a music-hall with two houses nightly. It is curious to note that Macklin, describing Sadler’s Wells as he remembered it some years before Rosoman’s time, says that several entertainments of unequal duration took place throughout the day, and were terminated by the door-keeper calling out “Is Hiram Fisteman here?” Fisteman being a mythical personage whose name signified to the performers that another audience was waiting outside. The price of admission at that time was threepence and sixpence; to-day the charge is twopence, a box being procurable for a shilling. [The authorities are numerous. The Percival collection relating to Sadler’s Wells (in Brit. Mus.) contains a great mass of material bound in fourteen volumes. Useful summaries are given in Pinks’s _Clerkenwell_, 409, ff; in the _Era Almanack_, 1872, p. 1, ff; in M. Williams’s _Some London Theatres_; and in H. Barton Baker’s _London Stage_, ii. p. 187, ff] VIEWS. The views, especially those of the 19th century, are abundant. The following are of the 18th century:-- 1. A view of Sadler’s Wells. C. Lempriere, sculp., 1731. Crace, _Cat._, p. 593, No. 77; cp. _ib._ p. 592, No. 76. 2. Hogarth’s Evening, showing old Sadler’s Wells and the Sir Hugh Middleton tavern. 3. South-west view of Sadler’s Wells, from a drawing by R. C. Andrews, 1792; with a smaller view of the same in its former state. Wise, sc., published in Wilkinson’s _Londina Illustrata_. Many others may be seen in the Percival and Crace collections. MERLIN’S CAVE The Merlin’s Cave, a tavern standing in the fields near the New River Head, close to the present Merlin’s Place, possessed extensive gardens and a skittle-ground, which were frequented by Londoners especially on Sundays. It was probably built in 1735 or not long afterwards[48] and derived its name from the Merlin’s Cave constructed in 1735 by Queen Charlotte in the Royal Gardens at Richmond. The Richmond Cave was adorned by astrological symbols, and contained waxwork figures, of which the wizard Merlin was the chief. By the end of 1735 humble imitations of the Cave were established in various parts of the Kingdom, and it is highly probable that the Merlin’s Cave tavern had an exhibition of this kind. The New Wells in Lower Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell, possessed a Merlin’s Cave in 1740.[49]