“Sir,--Happening to dine last Sunday with a friend in the city, after coming from church, the weather being very inviting, we took a walk as far as Islington. In our return home towards Cold Bath Fields, we stepped in to view the Pantheon there; but such a scene of disorder, riot, and confusion, presented itself to me on my entrance, that I was just turning on my heel in order to quit it, when my friend observing that we might as well have something for our money (for the doorkeeper obliged each of us to deposit a tester before he granted us admittance), I acquiesced in his proposal, and became one of the giddy multitude. I soon, however, repented of my choice; for, besides having our sides almost squeezed together, we were in danger every minute of being scalded by the boiling water which the officious Mercuries were circulating with the utmost expedition through their respective districts. We therefore began to look out for some place to sit down in, which with the greatest difficulty we at length procured, and producing our tickets, were served with twelve-penny worth of punch. Being seated towards the front of one of the galleries, I had now a better opportunity of viewing this dissipated scene. The male part of the company seemed to consist chiefly of city apprentices and the lower class of tradesmen. The ladies, who constituted by far the greater part of the assembly, seemed most of them to be pupils of the Cyprian goddess, and I was sometimes accosted with, 'Pray, sir, will you treat me with a dish of tea?' Of all the tea-houses in the environs of London, the most exceptionable that I have had occasion to be in is the Pantheon.
near Islington,” * was opened in 1770 for the sale of tea, coffee, wine, punch, &c., a “tester” being the price of admission to the promenade and galleries. It was eventually turned to a very different use, and converted into a lay chapel by the late Countess of Huntingdon.
* Spa-Fields (like “Jack Plackett's Common” the site of Dalby Terrace, Islington) was famous for duck-hunting, bull- baiting, and other low sports. “On Wednesday last, two women fought for a new shift valued at half-a-guinea, in the Spaw- Fields near Islington. The battle was won by a woman called Bruising Peg, who beat her antagonist in a terrible manner.”--22nd June 1768.