But the end of Marybone Gardens, as an open-air resort, was rapidly approaching. In 1775 no concerts appear to have been advertised, though there were several displays of fireworks by Caillot in June, July, and August. Already in 1774, one of those profaners of the “cheerful uses” of the playhouse and the public garden--a lecturer and reciter--had appeared in the person of Dr. Kenrick (on Shakespeare). The management had now (June 1775) to rely for the evening’s entertainment on “The Modern Magic Lantern,” consisting of whimsical sketches of character, by R. Baddeley the comedian, and on a “Lecture upon mimicry,” by George Saville Carey. In July, a conjurer was introduced. In 1776 there was a flicker of the old gaiety. The Forge of Vulcan was revived in May, and there were fireworks by Caillot. A representation of the Boulevards of Paris was prettily contrived, the boxes fronting the ball-room being converted into the shops of Newfangle, the milliner; Trinket, the toyman; and Crotchet, the music-seller.[116] The Gardens closed on 23 September, 1776, and were never afterwards regularly opened. Henry Angelo (_Reminiscences_), referring to the Marybone Gardens in their later days, says they were “adapted to the gentry rather than the _haut ton_.” Whatever this distinction may be worth, it is clear from the comparative paucity of the contemporary notices that the Marybone Gardens, though a well-known resort, at no period attained the vogue of Ranelagh, or the universal popularity of Vauxhall. About 1778 the site of the Gardens was let to the builders, and the formation of streets (_see_ § 1) begun. J. T. Smith[117] states that the orchestra, before which he had often stood when a boy, was erected on the space occupied by the house in Devonshire Place, numbered (in 1828) “17.” According to Malcolm, a few of the old trees of the Gardens were still standing in 1810 at the north end of Harley Street. The old Rose of Normandy (with a skittle alley at the back) existed, little altered, till 1848–1850, when a new tavern was built on its site. The tavern (still bearing the old name) was subsequently taken by Sam Collins (Samuel Vagg), the popular Irish vocalist, who converted its concert-room into a regular music hall, The Marylebone, which he carried on till 1861, when he parted with his interest to Mr. W. Botting. The present Marylebone Music Hall (with the public bar attached to it) fronts the High Street, and standing on the site of the old Rose of Normandy, from which the Marybone Gardens were entered, may claim, in a measure, to be evolved from that once famous pleasure resort.[118]