Of all the gay places the world can afford,

By gentle and simple for pastime ador'd,

Fine balls and fine concerts, fine buildings, and springs,
Fine walks, and fine views, and a thousand fine things,
Not to mention the sweet situation and air,

What place, my dear mother, with Bath can compare?
Let Bristol for commerce and dirt be renown'd,
At Sal'sbury pen-knives and scissors be ground;
The towns of Devizes, of Bradford, and Frome,
May boast that they better can manage the loom ;
I believe that they may; but the world to refine,
In manners, in dress, in politeness to shine,
O Bath! let the art, let the glory be thine.

ANSTEY: The New Bath Guide

PREFACE

THE principal authority for the life of Nash is Goldsmith's biography, which, the author states, was founded on the papers of the subject of the memoir. "We have the permission of George Scott, Esq. (who kindly undertook to settle the affairs of Mr. Nash for the benefit of his family and creditors), to assure the public, that all the papers found in the custody of Mr. Nash, which any ways respected his life, and were thought interesting to the public, were communicated to the editor of this volume "-thus runs the advertisement in the second edition-" so that the reader will, at least, have the satisfaction of perusing an account that is genuine, and not the work of imagination, as biographical writings too frequently are." This work was issued by Newbery in October 1762, and a second edition, containing many alterations, was brought out in the following December. There was no author's name on the title-page, but Goldsmith's connection with the work was known from the first, although Percy and Mitford did not include it in their collections of his works, probably thinking that he had merely revised and corrected it for the publisher.

Considerable doubt exists, however, whether Gold