Here is an impression by Jliet Greaves of the firework display JA saw and enjoyed at the Sydney Gardens:

Let's consider them in a little more detail.

This advert , again from the Bath Chronicle of 1799, gives details of the type of fireworks whichSignor Invetto, the Italian firework master supplied to the Sydney Gardnes:

Thsi picture of the firework display held by the Duke of Richmond at Richmond Hose near the Thames in Whitehall, London shows both the effect of all the fireworks and also , very interstingly ,gives details of the individual fireworks which made up the whole display.

So we can, by cross reference to the advert above, discover what fireworks JA would have seen and enjoyed.

1. Marrons.

These were named from the French word for chestnuts, because of their size and shape before they burst open. They burst into fire with a loud report. The firework was a small box of flash powder covered with a base of flame powder. As a result they flared brilliantly before they burst and exploded.

The illustration above shows a battery( i.e. more than one) of Marrons.

2. Fixed Sun

This was a circular firework, which was fix'd to a pole and blaz'd like the sun.

3. Pots de Bruin

These were rolls of paste board filled with basic gunpowder whic shot vertically into the air many showers of stars,snakes, rains and crakers.

4. Sky Rockets

Self explanatory!

5. Pigeon

These were small rockets propelled along an horizontal rope, and sometimes they were used to ignite other parts of the display.

6. Chinese Fire

This was gunpowder which was mixed with fine cast-iron filings .The effect produced was a very brilliant and intense flame.

7. Serpents

These were small rockets without rods, so that they rose obliquely and descended in a zig-zag manner. They could also be added to the charge inside a large rocket, so that they would explode at the summit of the rocket's climb, thus heihgtening the effect.

(All information re fireworks taken from an article entitled " Fireworks" from Rees' Encylopeadia of 1819, which in turn cites Jones' Fireworks (1776).)

Enjoy!