“Daniel Wildman rides standing upright, one foot on the saddle, and the other on the horse’s neck, with a curious mask of bees on his face. He also rides standing upright on the saddle with the bridle in his mouth, and by firing a pistol makes one part of the bees march over a table, and the other part swarm in the air, and return to their places again.” This performance, together with other entertainments, began at a quarter before seven, and the admission was one shilling, or two shillings to the boxes and gallery. In 1774, the gardens were still open, but in a much neglected condition, as the walks were not kept in order nor the hedges properly cut. There were, however, at this time several good apartments in the house and two tea-rooms on the north side of the bowling green, built one above the other, and Dobney’s (as it was still popularly called) was a favourite Sunday resort of the London apprentice:-- On Sabbath day who has not seen In colours of the rainbow dizened, The ’prentice beaux and belles, I ween, Fatigued with heat, with dust half-poisoned, To Dobney’s strolling, or Pantheon, Their tea to sip or else regale, As on their way they shall agree on, With syllabubs or bottled ale.[152] In 1780, we hear of lectures and debates taking place in the house; but in 1781 “the lease and trade of the Shakespeare Tavern and Jubilee Gardens, formerly called Dobney’s Bowling Green,” were offered for sale by auction. At that time, according to the auctioneer’s advertisement, Dobney’s consisted of a dwelling house, a building containing a bake-house, kitchens, &c., with an adjoining erection comprising two spacious rooms, capable of dining near two hundred people each, a trap-ball ground, bowling green and “extensive gardens properly laid out.” The place, however, ceasing to be frequented, the ground was, about 1790, partly built over with the houses forming Winchester Place. The gardens, or a part of them, remained until 1810, when they disappeared.[153] Dobney’s Court, an alley on the east side of Penton Street, now occupies a small part of the original site. [Pinks’s _Clerkenwell_; Nelson’s _Islington_; Lewis’s _Islington_; _Sunday Ramble_; Tomlins’s _Perambulation of Islington_, pp. 160, 187; _Memoirs of De Castro_, p. 29.] VIEWS. 1. A drawing of Prospect House taken about 1780 was at one time in the possession of Mr. Upcott (_Notes and Queries_, 1st series, ix. 1854, p. 572). 2. “A representation of the surprising performances of Mr. Price,” engraved for the _Universal Museum and Comp. Mag._ (_circ._ 1767), W. Coll. BELVIDERE TEA GARDENS, PENTONVILLE ROAD