The Belvidere tavern and tea gardens in the Pentonville Road, at the south-west corner of Penton Street, occupied the site of Busby’s Folly, itself a house of entertainment with a bowling green attached to it. Busby’s Folly, which was in existence at least as early as 1664,[154] afterwards (between 1731 and 1745) acquired the name of Penny’s Folly. In August 1769, Penny’s Folly was taken by a German named Zucker, who exhibited there his Learned Little Horse, while Mrs. Zucker played favourite airs on the musical glasses, and “the so-much admired and unparalleled Mr. Jonas” displayed his “matchless and curious deceptions.” The entertainment began at 6.30, and took place in a large room commanding a “delightful prospect” from its fourteen windows. The admission was one shilling, and it was announced that “The Little Horse will be looking out of the windows up two pair of stairs every evening before the performances begin.” The performances of Zucker had already been for some years in repute with holiday folk, and in 1762 he had received honourable mention in a prologue spoken at the Haymarket Theatre:-- How dull, methinks, look Robin, Sue and Nancy At Greenwich Park did nothing strike your fancy; Had you no cheese-cakes, cyder, shrimps or bun, Saw no wild beastis, or no jack-ass run? Blest Conduit House! what raptures does it yield; And hail, thou wonder of a Chelsea field! Yet Zucker still amazingly surpasses Your Conduit-house, your pigmy, and your asses.[155] Penny’s Folly was afterwards pulled down and the Belvidere tavern came into existence about 1780. In the early part of the present century, and probably twenty years earlier, the Belvidere possessed a bowling green, and a large garden, with many trees and plenty of accommodation for tea-drinking parties. The chief attraction was a large racket-court. The garden and racket-court continued to be frequented till 1860 or later. In 1876, the Belvidere was rebuilt and is now used as a public-house, the garden, or part of it, being occupied by the pianoforte works of Messrs. Yates. [Pinks’s _Clerkenwell_, 531–533; Tomlins’s _Perambulation of Islington_, 40, 41, 163, 164; _Picture of London_, 1802, p. 370.] VIEWS. 1. South front of Busby’s Folly, one of C. Lempriere’s Set of Views, 1731 (woodcut in Pinks, p. 530); cp. woodcut in Tomlins’s _Perambulation of Islington_, p. 164, and a water-colour drawing by C. H. Matthews in Crace, _Cat._ p. 606, No. 212. 2. The Belvidere Gardens, early in the present century, woodcut in Cromwell’s _Clerkenwell_ (1828), p. 414, J. and H. S. Storer del. et sculp. (copied in Pinks, p. 531). 3. The “Belvidere Gardens at the present time” (_circ._ 1860?), Pinks, p. 532. THE CASTLE INN AND TEA-GARDENS, COLEBROOKE ROW, ISLINGTON