This delicately engraved ticket with images of the Commedia dell'arte characters Harlequin and Columbine permitted entry to the Neapolitan Carnival and Masquerade, an event at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on the 22nd May 1839, organised and managed by Thomas Bartlett Simpson (1806-1872), the publican and landlord of the Albion Tavern, 28, Great Russell Street, 'a celebrated theatrical hostelry' opposite the pit door of the theatre.

Balls and masquerades were extremely popular events in Regency and Victorian London, and for this evening one could pay different prices to attend in costume in the arena, taking part in the waltzes, quadrilles and gallopades being danced to a military band, or to sit in the boxes and enjoy the spectacle below. At one o'clock in the morning though, everyone could partake of refreshment, since according to a report in The London Dispatch, 26th May 1839, the band announced the opening of the supper room, playing: 'Officers, officers, come away, come' - the musical summons to the mess. No doubt liquid refreshment was lucratively provided by Mr. Simpson, and a good time was had by all.

Simpson continued his association with entertainment and the night side of London, going on to purchase the freehold of London's Cremorne Pleasure Gardens in 1851 after the bankruptcy of James Ellis. He was its proprietor and director until his retirement in 1860 when it was taken over by Edward Tyrrell Smith.