In this space the assembly room (called Mount-Ephraim-House) was brought home from Rusthall to Mount Ephraim, on which a bowling green was inclosed, a tavern (now [in 1766] a lodging house but still retains its original name of the castle) was opened and many lodging houses were erected for the use of the company; but the triumph of the hill was short, Mount Sion became a formidable rival, and quickly eclipsed its growing splendor; for when the ball-room, the bowling green, and the lodging houses arose so near the spring, a less convenient distance was generally avoided

Thus in the course of a few years we find Tunbridge forsaken; Southborough and Rusthall raised and ruined; Mount Ephraim drooping; and Mount Sion in the full bloom of prosperity; this last indeed not only rivalled, but despoiled her predecessors, and triumphantly transferred their ornaments to herself; for many houses were brought from Southborough, Rusthall, and Mount Ephraim, to be rebuilt on Mount Sion; and some, whole and entire as they were, were wheeled on sledges to be fixed in this new seat of favour.

In this period, the place called Fish-ponds was opened for the amusement of the public; and as it was laid out in a pretty rural taste, and every way calculated for the entertainment of genteel company, while its managers continued carefully to maintain decency and strict decorun in its precincts, it was justly esteemed one of the principal scenes of diversion at Tunbridge; but when the vigilance of the managers dropped, low company admitted, and indecencies encouraged, it soon became disreputable for any of the fair sex to be seen there; which, as a natural consequence, very quickly reduced it to the ruinous condition in which it now [1766] remains.

Mount Ephraim too, the favourite lounge and drive of the fashionable frequenters of the Wells, appears determined to recover its ancient renown. It has long been celebrated for lodging-houses and private residences of the first class, possessing very extensive views of the Kent and Surrey hills. A new hotel has been erected here, the prospect from which can be surpassed by few in the kingdom.