Naughty aristocrats in Kensington Gardens

Loretta reports:

~~~
A SCENE IN KENSINGTON GARDENS ;
OR,
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF B_____,
AND AN M. P.'s WIFE.

Kensington Gardens, where monarchs once delighted to range, and breathe " sweet odours," has now become a sink of vice, filth, and infamy, nearly as bad as Vauxhall—that nursery of prostitution.

Some steps should be taken to purify this summer scene of guilt, Where every bush is made a brothel, and vice as notorious as the sun at noon day. The keepers are of no use ; they encourage the scenes they are ordered to prevent; and, for a bribe, will wink at the most horrible depravities.

'Tis but the other day, that a person observed a lady, the wife of a Member of Parliament, whom at present we will not name, go into the Marine Temple; (an edifice that ought to be destroyed) from motives of curiosity he followed. She was apparently sitting on one of the seats, and addressed him with " What do you want here? Go about your business; you impudent fellow," &c. He then discovered that she had a companion; and said,—"Oh! madam, I did not at first perceive you had got a gentleman behind you. I beg your pardon." He then bowed, and retried. The gentleman proved to be the Earl of B_____, a young and gallant nobleman. What he did behind the lady, we do not pretend to know; but this we know, that he had not any business there with his friend's wife. We shall say no more at present, as we have an intention of giving the tale to the world in a different form, with a plate of the interior of the Marine Temple, and the scene of the Lovers. We again repeat that this temple of debauchery ought to be destroyed, and the gardens closed, if nothing can be done to purge them of vice; for as they are, no woman who values her character will enter them.

The Rambler's magazine: or, Fashionable emporium of polite literature ..., Volume 2, 1823
Illustration: Thomas Rowlandson, Bills of Exchange, pub. by Rudolph Ackermann, 1800, oil on Canvas.  Courtesy WikiGallery.