Aquatint (coloured and uncoloured impressions). An evening scene in Vauxhall Gardens. On the extreme left is the orchestra with the organ behind and performers on the kettledrums, string and wind instruments. The vocalist, Mrs Weichsel, sings, in profile to the right, from the adjacent (and slightly lower) balcony, just above the heads of the crowd. A violinist and another musician are seated behind her. In the supper box beneath the orchestra is Dr Johnson seated full-face, between Boswell and Goldsmith (d. 1774), who face each other in profile, both caricatured; of two stout women one is reputed to be Mrs Thrale. Many groups fill the foreground and middle distance. The two centre figures are the Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Duncannon arm in arm. A naval officer with a wooden leg and a patch over one eye is reputed to be Admiral Paisley (1734-1808). Major Topham and the supper-box are two men, one of whom is identified as Lord Camelford. An elderly person, reputed to be Bate Dudley but not resembling him, gazes at the Dutchess from behind a tree. Next to him a man dressed as an officer in a Highland regiment with kilt and broadsword is supposed to be James Perry, editor of the Morning Chronicle. On the right the Prince of Wales, conspicuous by his star, whispers to Mrs Robinson (Perdita), though their liaison was ended. Her right arm is linked with an elderly little man, probably Robinson. On the extreme left an elderly couple advances arm in arm. Behind the Prince is a group standing on a small platform (or tables) showing H. L. above the crowd. In the foreground (right) is a supper table under trees where two cits entertain two courtesans. Lamp-lit trees and the covered way form a background on the right. One of Rowlandson’s most famous etchings. A water-colour of the lower left corner of the design, showing Johnson’s supper-box, the two figures on the extreme left, and the group on the right of the box including Camelford and Topham, was exhibited 1936 by Frank T. Sabin, New Bond Street. It is almost exactly as in the etching except that a corner of the background on the right is omitted; the scale is approximately the same. (Reproduced, Catalogue, pl. CXI) Grego, 'Rowlandson', i. 157-61. Often reproduced, e.g. Angelo, Reminiscences, 1904, ii. 1 (coloured pl.) Partial description from the Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Vol. VI. 6853.