uring the day, and
witnessing their results in the suppers which were served up beneath the
light of lamps and to the sound of music at night. The temples and
saloons and cosmoramas and fountains glittered and sparkled before our
eyes; the beauty of the lady singers and the elegant deportment of the
gentlemen, captivated our hearts; a few hundred thousand of additional
lamps dazzled our senses; a bowl or two of punch bewildered our brains;
and we were happy.

In an evil hour, the proprietors of Vauxhall-gardens took to opening them
by day. We regretted this, as rudely and harshly disturbing that veil of
mystery which had hung about the property for many years, and which none
but the noonday sun, and the late Mr. Simpson, had ever penetrated. We
shrunk from going; at this moment we scarcely know why. Perhaps a morbid
consciousness of approaching disappointment--perhaps a fatal
presentiment--perhaps the weather; whatever it was, we did _not_ go until
the second or third announcement of a race between two balloons tempted
us, and we went.

We paid our shilling at the gate, and then we saw for the first time,
that the entrance, if there had been any magic about it at all, was now
decidedly disenchanted, being, in fact, nothing more nor less than a
combination of very roughly-painted boards and sawdust. We glanced at
the orchestra and supper-room as we hurried past--we just recognised
them, and that was all. We bent our steps to the firework-ground; there,
at least, we should not be disappointed. We reached it, and stood rooted
to the spot with mortification and astonishment. _That_ the Moorish
tower--that wooden shed with a door in the centre, and daubs of crimson
and yellow all round, like a gigantic watch-case! _That_ the place where
night after night we had beheld the undaunted Mr. Blackmore make his
terrific ascent, surrounded by flames of fire, and peals of artillery,
and where the white garments of Madame Somebody (we forget even her name
now), who nobly devoted her life to the manufacture of fireworks, had so
often been seen fluttering in the wind, as she called up a red, blue, or
party-coloured light to illumine her temple! _That_ the--but at this
moment the bell rung; the people scampered away, pell-mell, to the spot
from whence the sound proceeded; and we, from the mere force of habit,
found ourself running among the first, as if for very life.

It was for the concert in the orchestra. A small party o