A correspondent writes: - A propos of your recent paragraph concerning the Rotunda Gardens, it is interesting to recall that Dublin at one time possessed a number of such places. The more important were at Portobello, in Ranelagh, and on the south side of St. Stephen's Green. The Portobello Gardens, a lovely place with a beauty quite Continental, attracted some of the famous entertainers of the day - among them the original Christy Minstrels. At Ranelagh the cream and flower of Irish society were to be seen, foremost in which were the Gunnning Sisters who, according to Walpole, were deemed to be the handsomest women then alive. Ranelagh's popularity declined with the advent of the then new Rotunda Gardens. The Gardens on the south side of the Green were opened to the public early in the nineteenth century, and, after falling from popularity for a number of years, returned to favour in 1865, when the Exhibition was held there. The Marlborough street Gardens, which have been traced back to the twelfth century, developed gradually from a bowling green into a pleasure garden. In 1761 their existence definitely came to an end owing to a row over a woman which resulted in the duel in which the heir of the Earl of Westmeath was killed.
The Irish Times, May 5th, 1931.