A wet season, combined, as would appear, with insufficient enterprise, involved the manager in difficulties, and by a Deed of 15 January, 1768, he assigned to his creditors all the receipts and profits arising from the Gardens. He retired in 1769, and was glad to accept an engagement at Finch’s Grotto, though at one period he had been making, it is said, £1,000 a year. He died 2 March, 1783. Dibdin says that Lowe’s voice was more mellow and even than that of Beard, but that “Lowe lost himself beyond the namby-pamby of Vauxhall”; while “Beard was at home everywhere.” §4. _Later History of the Gardens._ 1768–1778. During 1768,[106] the Gardens were carried on by Lowe’s creditors. The receipts for the season from season-tickets (£1 11_s._ 6_d._ each) and money at the doors and bars, were £2,085 1_s._ 7½_d._, but the result was a deficit of £263 10_s._ 3_d._, though the salaries do not appear to have been excessive. Miss Davis for six nights got three guineas; Mr. Phillips three guineas; Master Brown four guineas; Werner, harpist for six nights, two guineas. The Band cost £27 13_s._ a week. Dr. Samuel Arnold, the musician, became proprietor of the Gardens in 1769; and though he eventually retired (in 1773?) a loser, the Gardens probably offered more attractions under his management than at any other period. The weather being wet and cold, the opening of the season of 1769 was postponed till after the middle of May. The proprietor sedulously advertised the “very effectual drains” that had been made in the Gardens, “so that they become very dry and pleasant in a short time after heavy rains.” A few light showers, moreover, would not hinder the performances, and when dancing took place there was a covered platform in the Garden. The seasons of 1769[107] and 1770 were sufficiently gay. The ordinary admission at this time, and until the final closing of the gardens was one shilling, raised to half-a-crown, three shillings or three shillings and sixpence on the best nights, when the performers had their benefits. On such nights there were fireworks by Rossi and Clanfield; the transparent Temple of Apollo was illuminated, and a ball concluded the entertainment. In 1769 nearly the whole staff took a benefit, in their turn. Mrs. Forbes, Mr. Hook, Mr. Pinto, Piquenit the treasurer, the doorkeepers, and finally the waiters. Thomas Pinto was engaged as leader, James Hook, father of Theodore Hook, as organist (1769–1772), Mrs. Forbes and Miss Brent (afterwards Mrs. Pinto) as singers. Hook’s “Love and Innocence,” a pastoral serenata, was performed for the first time on 10 August (1769), and there were Odes by Christopher Smart, set to music by Arnold, and an “Ode to the Haymakers,” by Dr. Arne. [Illustration: _Lawrenson pinx^t._ _Evans sculp._ _Published July 1807, by Matthews & Leigh._]