by affirming that a tallow candle was as good as toasted cheese, and proved the assertion by eating one, while others, bearing in mind the crude follies of Sedley and Dorset, ran naked about town, "as it was then said, to divert the ladies. In short, that was the age of such kind of wit as is the most distant of all others from wisdom." That there was, in spite of these absurdities, a new spirit abroad is however evident from many articles and letters to be found emanating from the essayists, one which raised comment being, the finding of a Pretty Fellow who also possessed courage. For Steele, in 1709, gave as a great piece of news, that he had received letters from Hampstead telling of the arrival of a coxcomb there who is of an utterly new kind. "The fellow has courage, which he takes himself to be obliged to give proofs of every hour he lives. He is ever fighting with the men, and contradicting the women. A lady, who sent to me superscribed him with this description out of Suckling : 'I am a man of war and might, And know this much, that I can fight, Devoutly. No woman under heaven I fear; New oaths I can exactly swear; And forty healths my brain will bear From this crowd of nonentities one man only made a name for himself, and he would probably have been forgotten but that he did some valuable work, and was thought worthy of a biography by Oliver Goldsmith. That one was Beau Nash, who, born when the Merry Monarch's reign was but half completed, lived to see Oliver Goldsmith: "The Life of Richard Nash." The Time of Dalliance 73 George III. seated upon the throne. He came from no high family, yet was not so humbly reared as those who scoff at the Beaux generally would like to prove. His father gained his income as partner in a glass-making factory in Swansea, and his mother came of a good fighting stock, being niece to that Colonel Poyer who, though a Presbyterian, became a Royalist, and refused to surrender Pembroke to the Parliament, being in consequence executed as an example to others. Richard Nash was sent to the Carmarthen School, and thence to Jesus College, Oxford, with the intention that he should study law, but it seemed as though he, in common with many other lads, regarded youth as the time of dalliance. Being freed from the active supervision of the schoolmaster, believing himself to be a man, no matter what opinions on that point his elders might have, he began to look at the pretty girls about Oxford, and being unfortunately attracted by one who was his senior he paid court to her, arranged stolen meetings in the romantic way which appeals to boys and girls, and finally made the to us nameless-lady an offer of marriage, which was accepted. Fortunately for him-and, from what we know of Nash, probably doubly so for the girl—the whole affair came to the knowledge of his tutors, who found the matter so serious that they sent him home with more good advice than he had gathered learning, and reported the cause of his return to his father. Richard Nash must have been born a Beau, for the question of clothes directed his next attempt at opening the oyster of the world. He thought the Army would be the most picturesque background for his youthful figure, and that as a soldier he would have the chance of making the greatest impression upon susceptible girls. So his father purchased him a pair of colours, and Richard Nash paraded in all his pride and glory. It was rather sad that the parades were not in public always, and that there were many duties demanding his attention, and yet more so that he never had sufficient money for his needs. He soon wearied of his life in the Army in spite of the fact that he dressed the part of a soldier "to the very end of his finances." Dr. George Cheyne, who attained to the distinction of weighing thirty-two stone during a part of his residence at Bath, a "malady" which he cured with a vegetable and milk diet, used to affirm of Nash when his position at Bath was well secured, that he had never possessed a Christian name, and further, that he had never had a father. This saying the quizzing world seized upon with delight, and the Duchess of Marlborough once twitted Nash on the subject, adding, that if he had a father, like Gil-Blas, he was ashamed of him. "No, madam," replied Nash with imperturbable goodhumour, "I seldom mention my father in company, not because I have any reason to be ashamed of him, but because he has some reason to be ashamed of me." Richard's youth shows no proof of a lack of fatherly care and kindness, for when he withdrew from his attempt at being a pretty soldier, he was duly entered at the Temple. Whether he lived during this time upon an allowance from his father, or whether he had any little income of his own, there is no evidence to show, but as a student of law he certainly spent not only every penny he had, but a considerable amount in addition. There is little doubt that the young Nash was anything but a studious, plodding lad. He loved colour and excitement, he gave great attention to his clothes, and spent probably more upon his back than upon all the other needs of his life; so it has been the habit of those who have written upon A Town Fine Gentleman 75 the "King of Bath," to indulge in sneers at his expense, as though he were the only young man who was not faithful to his profession, who made a fool of himself at college, or who spent more than he earned. Goldsmith, more reasonable, tells us :-"Though very poor he was very fine; he spread the little gold he had, in the most ostentatious manner, and though the gilding was but thin, he laid it on as far as it would go. They who know the town, cannot be unacquainted with such a character as I describe; one, who though he may have dined in private upon a banquet served cold from a cook's shop, shall dress at six for the side-box; one of those, whose wants are only known to their laundress and tradesmen, and their fine clothes to half the nobility; who spend more in chair hire, than housekeeping; and prefer a bow from a Lord, to a dinner from a commoner." The Rev. Richard Warner of Bath, writing forty years after Nash's death, tells us the same story without the touch of genial tolerance which gives Goldsmith his charm. "He now became a town fine gentleman of the second rate; a sort of Will Honeycomb; dressing tawdrily; affecting public places; and dividing his time between play and the ladies. Sufficiently notorious in the confined sphere of private life." While at the Temple Nash may have been more or less at a loose end, to use a modern phrase. He did not like work. This may be a reprehensible failing, but if so it is one shared with mankind as a whole. None of us like work, unless it is of such a character that it is more pleasant to us than play; and how large a percentage of us are in such happy circumstances that the first thing we would choose to do if left a free hand is the thing we are obliged to do? Nash had no aptitude either for the duties of a soldier or the study of the law; yet he had distinct talents, and in this earlier part of his life was in a blind way endeavouring to train them and to find their real value in the world of men. He was an organiser of the first degree, and he was a student of humanity. He was also ambitious. It may be that it was but a common ambition, that of living among that class which seems admirable to the individual in question. It led him to pay extreme regard to his clothes, not only to their richness, but to their cleanliness, a matter much neglected in those days. He knew that the thoughtless accept readily as a personage a very well-dressed man, and he took care to be always very well dressed. He had a humorous tongue, and he was sufficiently pleased with himself to be perfectly self-possessed and at ease no matter in what company. Thus he made a great circle of friends, many of them rich young men, who, as they came to know him well, wondered how it was that, though he seemed to have no money, he spent so much. In fact, Nash gambled to fill his purse, and on more than one occasion found himself in a queer position in consequence. He was in the city of York at one of these moments, and lost all the money he had with him. Knowing his plight, and being well aware that the young gamester could not leave the city without raising cash, his companions agreed among themselves on a plan for relieving his embarrassment and at the same time giving themselves some amusement. They betted him fifty guineas that he would not stand, while the people were coming from service, outside the great doors of the Minster, clothed solely in a blanket. The irrepressible youth was not dismayed; he accepted the bet with alacrity, and the next Sabbath saw him in penitential garb courting the gaze of the crowd. He was unfortunately known to |