And Finding, Upon
Enquiry, That I Was A Subject Of The King Of Prussia, He Desired Me,
With Much Eagerness, To Relate To Him Some Anecdotes Concerning That
Mighty Monarch.
At length I arrived at Ranelagh; and having paid my
half-crown on entrance, I soon enquired for the
Garden door, and it
was readily shown to me; when, to my infinite astonishment, I found
myself in a poor, mean-looking, and ill-lighted garden, where I met
but few people. I had not been here long before I was accosted by a
young lady, who also was walking there, and who, without ceremony,
offered me her arm, asking me why I walked thus solitarily? I now
concluded, this could not possibly be the splendid, much-boasted
Ranelagh; and so, seeing not far from me a number of people entering
a door, I followed them, in hopes either to get out again, or to
vary the scene.
But it is impossible to describe, or indeed to conceive, the effect
it had on me, when, coming out of the gloom of the garden, I
suddenly entered a round building, illuminated by many hundred
lamps; the splendour and beauty of which surpassed everything of the
kind I had ever seen before. Everything seemed here to be round;
above, there was a gallery divided into boxes; and in one part of it
an organ with a beautiful choir, from which issued both instrumental
and vocal music. All around, under this gallery, are handsome
painted boxes for those who wish to take refreshments:
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