Archibald Hinton gave up possession in 1860; and in 1861 Edward Giovanelli opened Highbury Barn, after having improved the grounds and erected a spacious hall for a ball and supper room. In 1862 Miss Rebecca Isaacs and Vernon Rigby were the principal singers, and Leotard the gymnast was engaged for the summer season. On 20 May 1865 the Alexandra Theatre was opened in the grounds, but the entertainments in the gardens were also continued. “The splendid Illuminations” were boldly advertised, and Blondin (1868), Natator the man-frog, and the Siamese Twins were engaged (1869). The riotous behaviour, late at night, of many frequenters of the gardens caused annoyance to the neighbours, who regularly opposed the renewal of the license. In October 1870 the dancing license was refused, and next season Mr. E. T. Smith took the place of Giovanelli as manager, but the license being again refused in October 1871, Highbury Barn was finally closed. The flowerbeds became choked with grass and weeds, and nightshade luxuriated around the dismantled orchestra. By the spring of 1883 the place had been covered with buildings, and a large public-house, the Highbury Tavern (No. 26, Highbury Park N.), on part of the old site, alone commemorates this once popular resort. [Nelson’s _Islington_; Cromwell’s _Islington_; Lewis’s _Islington_; Tomlins’s _Perambulation of Islington_; Kearsley’s _Strangers’ Guide_; Walford, ii. 273. ff.; Forster’s _Life of Goldsmith_, bk. iv. chap. 2; _Picture of London_, 1802, 1823 and 1829; Ritchie’s _Night-side of London_ (1858); _Era Almanack_, 1871, pp. 3, 4; M. Williams’s _Some London Theatres_, 1883, p. 33, ff.; newspaper cuttings and bills, W. Coll.] VIEWS. 1. Highbury Barn (gabled buildings), an etching from a drawing by B. Green, 1775 (W. Coll.). 2. Highbury Assembly House, near Islington, kept by Mr. Willoughby, 1792, print published in 1792 by Sayer (W. Coll.; also Crace. _Cat._ p. 603, No. 182). 3. “Highbury Barn, Islington,” engraving published May 1, 1819, for R. Ackermann. 4. Highbury Barn (exterior) (_circ._ 1835), engraving in Cromwell’s _Islington_, p. 247, J. and H. S. Storer, del. et. sc. 5. “The Leviathan Platform, Highbury Barn,” woodcut in _Illustrated London News_, July 1858. 6. Two views of “The Gardens, Highbury Barn Tavern” (_circ._ 1851), in Tallis’s _Illustrated London_, ed. Gaspey. THE DEVIL’S HOUSE, HOLLOWAY. This place, in spite of its unpromising name, deserves a brief notice as a quiet summer resort of Londoners. The Devil’s House was a moated timber building which originally formed the manor-house of Tolentone (afterwards Highbury) Manor. It stood on the east of Devil’s Lane, previously (before 1735) called Tallington or Tollington Lane, and now known as the Hornsey Road. It was within two fields of Holloway Turnpike.[177]