Life, Character, and Manners

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causing the bitterness of unavailing repentance-In all quarrels he was chosen the Umpire-and so just were his decisions, that peace generally triumphed, crowned with the mutual thanks of both parties. He kept the ladies in good-humour; most effectually by a nice observance of the rules of place and precedence; by ordaining scandal to be the infallible mark of a foolish head and a malicious heart, always rendering more suspicious the reputation of her who propagated it, than that of the person abused. Of the young, the gay, the heedless fair, just launching into the dangerous sea of pleasure, he was ever, unsolicited (sometimes unregarded) the kind protector : humanely correcting even their mistakes in dress, as well as improprieties of conduct: nay, often warning them, though at the hazard of his life, against the artful snares of designing men, or an improper acquaintance with women of doubtful characters. Thus did he establish his government on pillars of honour and politeness, which could never be shaken: And maintained it, for full half a century, with reputation, honour, and undisputed authority, beloved, respected and revered. Of his private character be it the first praise, that, while by his conduct, the highest ranks became his subjects, he himself became the servant of the poor, and the distressed; whose cause he ever pleaded amongst the rich, and enforced with all the eloquence of a good example: They were ashamed not to relieve those wants to which they saw him administer with so noble a heart, and so liberal a hand. Nor was his munificence confined to particulars, he being, to all the public charities of this city, a liberal benefactor; not only by his own most generous subscriptions, but, by always assuming, in their behalf, the character of a sturdy beggar; which he performed with such an authoritative address to all ranks, without distinction, that few of the

worst hearts had courage to refuse, what their own inclinations would not have prompted them to bestow.

"Of a noble public spirit and a warm grateful heart, the obelisk in the Grove and the beautiful needle in the Square, are magnificent testimonies. The One erected to preserve the memory of a most interesting event to his country, the restitution of health, by the healing waters of this place to the illustrious prince of Orange, who came hither in a most languishing condition: The Other, a noble offering of thanks to the late Prince of Wales, and his royal Consort, for favours bestowed, and honours by them conferred, on this city.

"His long and peaceful reign of absolute power was so tempered by his excessive good-nature, that no instance can be given either of his own cruelty, or of his suffering that of others to escape its proper reward. Example unprecedented amongst absolute monarchs.

"READER

"This monarch was a man, and had his foibles, and his faults; which we would wish covered with the veil of good-nature, made of the same piece with his own: but, truth forceth us unwillingly to confess, his passions were strong; which, as they fired him to act strenuously in good, hurried him to some excesses in evil. His fire, not used to be kept under by an early restraint, burst out too often into flaming acts, without waiting for the cool approbation of his judgment. His generosity was so great, that prudence often whispered him, in vain, that she feared it would enter the neighbouring confine of profusion His charity so unbounded, that the severe might suspect it sometimes to be the offspring of folly

or ostentation.

"The Grandson of Atlas"

131

"With all these, be they foibles, follies, faults, or frailties, it will be difficult to point out amongst his contemporary Kings of the whole earth, more than ONE who hath fewer, or less pernicious to mankind. His existence (For life it scarcely might be called) was spun out to so great an age, that the man was sunk, like many former heroes in the weakness and infirmities of exhausted nature; the unwilling tax all animals must pay for multiplicity of days. Over his closing scene, charity long spread her all-covering mantle, and dropped the curtain, before the poor actor, though he had played his part, was permitted to quit the stage. Now may she protect his memory! Every friend of Bath; Every lover of decency, decorum, and good breeding, must sincerely deplore the loss of so excellent a governor; and join in the most fervent wishes (would I could say hopes) that there may soon be found a man able and worthy to succeed him.”

Quite as laudatory, and more amusing, are some lines from Anstey's "New Bath Guide," in which Simpkin Blunderhead tells us that

The gods, their peculiar favour to show,

Sent Hermes to Bath in the shape of a Beau:
The Grandson of Atlas came down from above
To bless all the regions of pleasure and love;
To lead the fair mymph thro' the various maze,
Bright beauty to marshal, his glory and praise;
To govern, improve, and adorn the gay scene,
By the graces instructed, and Cyprian queen :
As when in a garden delightful and gay,
Where Flora is wont all her charms to display,
The sweet hyacinthus with pleasure we view
Contend with narcissus in delicate hue,
The gard'ner industrious trims out his border,
Puts each odoriferous plant in its order;
The myrtle he ranges, the rose and the lilly,
With iris and crocus, and daffa-down-dilly;

Sweet peas and sweet oranges all he disposes
At once to regale your eyes and your noses:
Long reign'd the great Nash, this omnipotent lord,
Respected by youth, and by parents ador'd;
For him not enough at a ball to preside,

Th' unwary and beautiful nymph would he guide;
Oft tell her a tale, how the credulous maid
By man, by perfidious man, is betray'd;
Taught charity's hand to relieve the distress,
While tears have his tender compassion exprest;
But alas! he is gone, and the city can tell
How in years and in glory lamented he fell ;
Him mourned all the giants on Claverton's Mount;
Him Avon deplor'd, him the Nymph of the Fount,
The crystalline streams.

Then perish his picture, his statue decay,

A tribute more lasting the Muses shall pay.
If true what philosophers all will assure us,
Who dissent from the doctrine of great Epicurus,
That the spirit's immortal: as poets allow,

If life's occupations are follow'd below:

In reward of his labours, his virtue and pains,
He is footing it now in th' Elysian plains,

Indulg'd as a token of Proserpine's favour,

To preside at her balls in a cream-colour'd beaver:

Then peace to his ashes-our grief be supprest,

Since we find such phoenix has sprung from his nest;

Kind heaven has sent us another professor,

Who follows the steps of his great predecessor.

"The King is dead, long live the King," is the substance of the last lines, but Bath was never again the place that it had been under Nash.

CHAPTER IX

They looked wonderfully dainty in their well-combed periwigs, their coats powdered half way down their back, their waistcoats of coloured silk or satin richly embroidered with gold or silver lace; their velvet breeches and coloured stockings, and their great silver-buckled shoes.

J. F. MOLLOY.

URING the life of Richard Nash there were many

remarkable figures in society who lived to dress, men who thought the shape of the shoe-buckle, the quality of the lace hung at the neck, or the exact cut of the coat, to be among the most important things of life. Such men were Lord Chesterfield, Lord Hervey, George Selwyn, Lord Bolingbroke, Bubb Dodington, and others. Of these Chesterfield was the amalgam of the ambitious politician, the literary man, and the beau, and it is difficult to say which of these varied characteristics was the strongest. Lord Hervey was ambitious of office, and extraordinarily devoted to dress in a finicking, dainty way. Bubb Dodington was very much a Beau, but of a somewhat garish and self-assertive type, and M. Barbey d'Aurevilly says that Bolingbroke most deserved the name of all the men of his time; but then, Bolingbroke was better known in France than any of the others.

Bolingbroke once offended Queen Anne in a matter sartorial. Being summoned to her presence in great haste, he hurried to obey without changing any article of his attire; thus he appeared in a Ramilie or tie-wig, instead of a full-bottomed one, provoking the remark