pleasure-garden.
1. Any garden or pleasure-ground for relaxation, etc., distinct from a vegetable-garden, kitchen-garden, or orchard.

2. Garden run as a commercial enterprise from the Restoration (1660) until the mid-C19 in London. Spring (later Vauxhall) Gardens was one of the first, with straight walks, regular rows of trees, and secluded areas for dalliance; supper-boxes in the Chinese-Gothick Taste; various garden-buildings to heighten perspective; statuary; and a grandstand for an orchestra. Intended for a wide spectrum of society, pleasure-gardens provided musical entertainment, food, drink, and opportunity for much ogling and quizzing, so acquired a raffish reputation. Other pleasure-gardens included Ranelagh, Chelsea, with its huge Rotunda (designed by William Jones (d. 1757), opened 1742, demolished 1805) containing an elegant galleried interior where persons of quality could take tea and other refreshments while listening to music. Another fashionable pleasure-garden was Marylebone (or Marybone). Other London gardens (e.g. Bagnigge Wells, Islington Spa, and the somewhat louche London Spaw) were associated with springs, supposedly medicinal, which added to their attractions. The London grounds were imitated elsewhere in England and on the Continent (e.g. Carstensen's Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, which, however, was much grander and more sophisticated than the C18 London exemplars).

Bibliography

Foord (1910);
Sunderland (1915)