Concerning the picture referred to in the epigram quoted by Thackeray, there has been some confusion. The Rev. Richard Warner says that the Corporation voted a sum of money for a statue in marble of the "King of Bath" to be placed in the Pump Room between the busts of Newton and Pope. This he probably got from Oliver Goldsmith's "Life," the latter adding that it caused the Earl of Chesterfield to write the severe but witty epigram: The statue placed the busts between. A controversy arose in Notes and Queries over the authorship of this and five other verses, which were first published in The Gentleman's Magazine for 1741 without initials or name. They were probably written by a Mrs. Brereton who contributed to that magazine, and appeared in a collection of her works published in 1744. The same six verses were also published in Chesterfield's Miscellaneous Verse, which came out in 1777. The full text is as follows: The old Egyptians hid their Wit To give Men pains to search for it, Moderns to tread the self-same Path, Place figures in a Room at Bath: Newton, if I can judge aright, All Wisdom doth express; His Knowledge gives Mankind new Light, The Famous Epigram Pope is the emblem of true Wit, The Sun-shine of the Mind; Nash represents Man in the Mass, The Picture, placed the Busts between, But Folly's at full Length. 113 Neither of the collections of poems include the first of the two verses which appeared in The Gentleman's Magazine. "Immortal Newton, never spoke More truth than here you'll find; Douglas Jerrold, in his comedy of Beau Nash, the King of Bath, gives a striking and impartial presentment of the Beau, with his vanity, his impulsiveness, his kindness, and his endeavour to bring justice and happiness to his subjects. He, probably following Goldsmith, speaks of a statue to begin with, and then, making one of the characters scream on going to lock the door of a cabinet, explains it by saying: "Oh, sir! nothing, sir. Your picture!-It's so like life, sir, I mean, sir-just then, it so resembled my dear grandfather; that is, sir, as the light fell, sir, I could have vowed it-it winked at me!" all of which was to hide the fact of a hidden lover in the cabinet, The real facts about the picture and statue seem to be that the picture was presented somewhere about 1740certainly before the verses were written by the Corporation to Nash, and placed in the Pump Room, though in The Gentleman's Magazine for 1741 it is declared that Nash presented it himself. In 1752 the white marble statue by William Hoare was placed in the Pump Room, the expense being defrayed by the leading inhabitants of the city in gratitude for the services Nash had rendered to Bath. CHAPTER VIII Forget thou wert ever Called King Antiochus. With this charity I enter thee a beggar. PHILIP MASSINGER, Believe as You List, EAU Nash had a great reputation for his fatherly care for young girls, and indeed for all who displayed a want of knowledge both of life and of evil practices. He watched people and events shrewdly, and on more than one occasion prevented an impulsive girl from doing that which she would have regretted all the rest of her life. whose One such instance is that of Miss L father intended to leave her a fortune, and wanted her to marry a certain lord. The girl however was in love with a penniless colonel, and they would have married. had not Nash revealed the matter to the father. The colonel challenged Nash-who naturally declined—and then, his creditors being too many for him, disappeared. Two years later, the father having died and left his daughter £1,500 a year, she, though still loving her colonel, accepted the nobleman. But Nash discovered that the poor soldier was reduced to what in those days was regarded as the last extremity, that of acting with strolling players at Peterborough. He therefore invited Miss L and her lover to go there with him and see the play. They sat in the front row of the spectators when the colonel as Tom in The Conscious Lovers appeared on the stage. He saw the girl at once, and she fainted at the sight of him. Distracted, he could not remember his part, and his emotion overcoming every other thought, "he flew and caught her in his arms.' Nash gave his blessing, and the wedding took place soon after. Another instance is the much-quoted case of Miss Sylvia S, who, well-born, beautiful, and gay, with a fortune of £10,000, arrived at Bath at the age of nineteen. She became a toast, and found so many lovers that she knew not how to choose. Her choice fell upon a worthless man, who allowed her to dissipate her fortune in paying his debts in spite of all that Nash could do to prevent. The lover disappeared, and Sylvia was left penniless and heart-broken. Nash induced her to return to Bath, interested ladies in her behalf, and so gave her a new start; but she took to gaming, and accepting the invitation of a disreputable woman, who was keeper of a table, she still further lost caste. Then Nash, knowing that she was foolish and not vicious, induced a gentleman to make her governess to his children, and at his house she lived quietly for some time, but eventually committed suicide by hanging herself with a girdle made of silver thread, the ribbon she had at first used having broken with her weight. The evidences of Nash's generosity are innumerable. There was the poor clergyman who did his best to support his wife and six children on £30 a year, and whose coat and stockings were so full of holes that Nash gave him the name of Dr. Cullender. Being made aware of the man's distress, however, the Beau, one Sunday evening when the people were drinking tea at Harrison's, went round raising a subscription, beginning it himself with five guineas. Thus he raised two hundred guineas, |