The London pleasure gardens of the eighteenth centuryWroth, Warwick William
History
The London pleasure gardens of the eighteenth century
Wroth, Warwick William
London (England) -- History -- 18th century; Parks -- England -- London -- History
Later masquerades, though attended by fashionable people, were
less select, as appears, for example, from an advertisement which
a gentleman inserted in the _Public Advertiser_ of 8 March,
1753[233]:--“This is to inform the Lady that was in a wite mask, red
Beard and Ey’s at the last Masquereade but one, in a brown and silver
flora Pethecoat and head-dress, remarkable gentle, very finely maid,
who lost her company and walked with several masks, perticuler with
one, who in raptorous heared her declare a dislike to gameing and
the intention of Maskquerdes ... on which he asked, wathere single
or ingaged, and under whos care that Night? the lady pointing to a
tall gentleman in black and a bag wigg, said his, my Brother.” His
intentions were honourable, and he begged to see her face. In reply,
“she repetted Part out of the Orphin ‘Trust not a man’; said he had
taken notice enough of her to know her again; bid him look sharp at the
next Makquered, at wich and all other Places he as been dispionted of
seeing her; he therefore hops (if not ingaged) will get her Brother or
some Friend to call on him” as he feels assured he could be happy for
life with her.
On the occasion of the Jubilee Ridotto on 12 May, 1769, the gardens
and the Chinese House were illuminated. “A large sea-horse stuck full
of small lamps floated on the Canal, and had a very agreeable aspect.”
A favourite Ranelagh ‘serenata,’ Dibdin’s ‘Ephesian Matron,’ was
performed at ten, and the Rotunda and gardens were gradually filled by
a brilliant company. The Dukes of York and Cumberland were there, and
one of the prettiest characters was “a rural nymph in rose-coloured
sattin, trimmed with silver.” The tickets, which cost a guinea,
included the supper. Unfortunately, the wine and sweetmeats were not
immediately forthcoming, and some gentlemen broke open the wine cellar
and helped themselves. Sir Thomas Robinson, to make things pleasant,
thereupon sent a general invitation to the company to sup with him. The
dancing began at twelve, and was continued till four, a comparatively
early hour at Ranelagh masquerades.
§ 5. _Later history of Ranelagh, 1770–1805._
A “Gentleman in Town,” writing in _The Town and Country Magazine_
for April 1770 (p. 195) to his friend in the country, enlarges on the
fashionable assemblages to be then seen at Ranelagh three times a
week. And we may note that about this time the tradesmen advertised
their silver Ranelagh silks and Ranelagh waistcoats in gold, silver
and colours. The sweet voice of “the lovely Mrs. Baddeley” was then
to be heard in the Rotunda, and she sang (in the autumn, 1770) in
“The Recruiting Sergeant,” together with Mrs. Thompson, Dibdin, and
Bannister.[234]
The garden concerts, and the fireworks, and transparent pictures in a
building in the grounds had by this time become prominent features of
the place.[235]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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