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The Supper at Vauxhall
George Cruikshank
July 1842
Steel-engraving
12.1 cm high by 10.2 cm wide, framed
Thirteeth illustration for the volume edition of William Harrison Ainsworth's The Miser's Daughter: A Tale, Book Two, Chapter 8, facing page 187 (initial plate for the July 1842 number in Ainsworth's Magazine).
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Randulph, meanwhile, felt irresistibly drawn towards the table where Hilda was seated, and as he kept behind the trees, he was not noticed by the party, though he was noticed by Kitty Conway, from the orchestra, who, guessing his intention, was so much agitated that for the first time in her professional career, she made some false notes in her singing. Hilda's seat was placed against a tree. On her right was Sir Norfolk Salusbury; and on the right of the baronet, Lady Brabazon; next to her ladyship was a vacant chair — no doubt just quitted by Beau Villiers; then came Lady Fazakerly; then Sir Bulkeley Price; and, lastly, Clementina Brabazon, who occupied the seat on the left of the miser's daughter. Partly screened by the tree against which Hilda was seated, Randulph bent forward, and breathed her name in the gentlest accents. Hilda heard the whisper, and looking round, beheld the speaker. How much may he conveyed in a glance! She read the intensity of his passion, and the depth of his devotion in his eyes; and for the first time, returned his gaze with a look of kindness, almost of tenderness. Randulph was transported; he could not resist the impulse that prompted him to advance, and take her hand, which she unresistingly yielded to him. [Book II, Chapter X, "The Supper at Vauxhall — Beau Villiers' Attempt to Carry off Hilda Defeated by Randulph," page 187]
This, taken together with the two previous illustrations of events at Ranelagh, shows Randulph Crew's progress in his pursuit of Hilda Scarve, the miser's daughter, despite Lady Brabazon's designs on him and Beau Villiers' attempts to pre-empt the handsome youth in Hilda's affections. Leaving Lambeth, the party make their way by water to Somerset Stairs, and attend a play at Drury Lane, before embarking by boat once again for Vauxhall Gardens on the south side of the Thames and in those days not connected to London proper by the Vauxhall Bridge. Before describing the activities of the fashionable party after their 10:00 P. M. arrival for dinner, Ainsworth provides an extensive historical note on the gardens themselves as "Celebrated throughout Europe, and once esteemed the most delightful place of recreation of the kind, Vauxhall Gardens have been in existence for more than a century; and it rejoices us to find that they are not altogether closed" (p. 185).
Vauxhall and Ranelagh Gardens were in direct competition with one another, the latter established in 1741 and the former in April 1742. The Vauxhall site proved to have greater longevity, closing only temporarily when the owner went bankrupt in 1840, whereas Ranelagh closed for good in 1803. Technically, since the year of the action is supposedly 1744, Ainsworth should be calling the site "New Spring Gardens" as the entertainment gardens did not acquire the new name "Vauxhall Gardens" until 1785. However, the novelist is quite correct about the nature of the Vauxhall experience, which included lavish buffets, drink, music, and (after 1798) fireworks after dark in a park-like setting. The supper-box in which the action occurs is near the Grand Walk, a stately avenue of elms nine hundred feet long and thirty feet wide.
Thus, when Ainsworth included Vauxhall Gardens in The Miser's Daughter, the entertainment venue was very much still in operation, and indeed Cruikshank had already illustrated a concert for Sketches by Boz in 1839, Vauxhall Gardens by Day. The building in the background is "The Orchestra" (new octagonal bandstand erected in 1735), behind which would have been "The Organ Building." The former was possibly the first building in London designed specifically and solely for the performance of orchestral music — vocal music followed in 1745. "After the construction of the Orchestra, and the appointment of a permanent band, Tyers instituted an admission charge of one shilling, the equivalent of about £12 to £15 today. This charge remained unchanged for almost sixty years" (Vauxhall Gardens 1661–1859: A Brief History). The Orchestra Pavillion rendered the musicians on the raised stage highly visible and audible throughout The Grove. The evening at Vauxhall would begin at 7:00 P. M. as visitors would enter the grounds on foot through the main gate fronting the south bank of the Thames and proceed along The Grove with the supper boxes lining the walkway on either side.
By the time he came to compose the Vauxhall scene for The Miser's Daughter in the summer of 1842, Cruikshank had already done two fairly well-known illustrations of the pleasure gardens: Vauxhall in 1835, with the Master of Ceremonies, C. H. Simpson, raising his hat, and Vauxhall Gardens by Day (1839) for Dickens's essay in Sketches by Boz. In addition to the present state of the buildings and gardens, Cruikshank was able to consult a number of period prints and paintings to re-construct Vauxhall as it was in 1744, in particular, AntonioCanaletto's View of the Grand Walk, Vauxhall Gardens, with the Orchestra Pavillion, the Organ House, the Turkish Dining Tent and the statue of Aurora (1751).
Ainsworth's text clarifies what is happening in the supper box: Clementina Brabazon occupies the seat to the left of Hilda. To the right Lady Brabazon is alerting Sir Norfolk Salusbury to Crew's attempting to conduct Hilda away. The middle-aged nobleman prepares to rise and challenge the protagonist. Shortly after Crew's departure, Beau Villers, assisted by his duplicitous valet, abducts Hilda.
Ainsworth, William Harrison. The Miser's Daughter: A Tale. With 20 illustrations by George Cruikshank. First published in 3 volumes by Cunningham and Mortimer, London, 1842. London, Glasgow, and New York: George Routledge, 1892.
Coke, David, and Alan Borg. Vauxhall Gardens 1661–1859: A Brief History. Based on Vauxhall Gardens: A History (Yale U. P., 2015). http://www.vauxhallgardens.com/vauxhall_gardens_briefhistory_page.html
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Vann, J. Don. "The Miser's Daughter in Ainsworth's Magazine January-October 1842." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1988. Pp. 22-23.
"Vauxhall, the Oval and Kennington." The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens — Detailed History. https://www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/sgdetail.shtml
Last modified 24 June 2018