About this period every season brought some new accession of honour to Nash; and the corporation now universally found that he was absolutely necessary for promoting the welfare of the city; so that this year seems to have been the meridian of his glory. About this time he arrived at such a pitch of authority, that I really believe Alexander was not greater at Persepolis. The countenance he received from the Prince of Orange, the favour he was in with the Prince of Wales, and the caresses of the nobility, all conspired to lift him to the utmost pitch of vanity. The exultation of a little mind, upon being admitted to the familiarity of the great, is inexpressible. The Prince of Orange had made him a present of a very fine snuffbox. Upon this some of the nobility thought it would be proper to give snuffboxes too; they were quickly imitated by the middling gentry, and it soon became the fashion to give Nash snuff-boxes, who had in a little time a number sufficient to have furnished a good toy-shop. To add to his honours, there was placed a full-length picture of him in Wiltshire's Ball-room, between the busts of Newton and Pope. It was upon this occasion that the Earl of Chesterfield wrote the following severe but witty epigram : "Immortal Newton never spoke More truth, than here you'll find, "The picture placed the busts between There is also a full-length picture of Mr. Nash in Simpson's Ball-room, and his statue at full-length in the Pumproom, with a plan of the Bath Hospital in his hand. He was now treated in every respect like a great man; he had his levee, his flatterers, his buffoons, his goodnatured creatures, and even his dedicators. A trifling, ill-supported vanity was his foible; and while he received the homage of the vulgar and enjoyed the familiarity of the great, he felt no pain for the unpromising view of poverty that lay before him he enjoyed the world as it went, and drew upon content for the deficiencies of 66 fortune. If a cringing wretch called him “his Honour," he was pleased; internally conscious that he had the justest pretensions to the title. If a beggar called him my Lord," he was happy, and generally sent the flatterer off happy too. I have known him, in London, wait a whole day at a window in the Smyrna Coffee-house, in order to receive a bow from the Prince, or the Duchess of Marlborough, as they passed by where he was standing, and he would then look round upon the company for admiration and respect. But perhaps the reader desires to know who could be law enough to flatter a man who himself lived in some measure by dependence. Hundreds are ready upon those occasions. The very needy are almost ever flatterers. A man in wretched circumstances forgets his own value, and feels no pain in giving up superiority to every claimant. The very vain are ever flatterers; as they find it necessary to make use of all their arts to keep company with such as are superior to themselves. But particularly the prodigal are prone to adulation, in order to open new supplies for their extravagance. The poor, the vain, and the extravagant are chiefly addicted to this vice: and such hung upon his good-nature. When these three characters are found united in one person, the composition generally becomes a great man's favourite. It was not difficult to collect such a group in a city that was the centre of pleasure. Nash had them of all sizes, from the half-pay captain in laced clothes, to the humble boot-catcher at the Bear. I have before me a bundle of letters, all addressed from a pack of flattering reptiles, to "his Honour," and even some printed dedications in the same servile strain. In these, "his Honour" is complimented as the great encourager of the polite arts, as a gentleman of the most accomplished taste, of the most extensive learning, and, in short, of everything in the world. But, perhaps, it will be thought wrong in me to unveil the blushing muse, to brand learning with the meanness of its professors or to expose scholars in a state of contempt. For the honour of letters the dedications to Nash are not written by scholars or poets, but by people of a different stamp. Among this number was the highwayman, who was taken after attempting to rob and murder Dr. Hancock. He was called Poulter, alias Baxter, and published a book, exposing the tricks of gamblers, thieves, and pickpockets. This he intended to have dedicated to Mr. Nash; but the generous patron, though no man loved praise more, was too modest to have it printed. However, he took care to preserve the manuscript among the rest of his papers. The book was entitled "The Discoveries of John Poulter, alias Baxter, who was apprehended for robbing Dr. Hancock of Salisbury, on Claverton Down, near Bath; and who has been admitted king's evidence, and discovered a most numerous gang of villains. Being a full account of all the robberies he committed, and the surprising tricks and frauds he has practised for the space of five years last past, in different parts of England, particularly in the west. Written wholly by Himself." The dedication intended to be prefixed is as follows, and will give a specimen of the style of a highwayman and a gambler : 66 To the HON. RICHARD NASH, ESQ. "May it please your Honour, -With humblest submission I make bold to present the following sheets to your Honour's consideration and well known humanity. As I am industriously careful, in respect to his Majesty and good subjects, to put an end to the unfortunate misconducts of all I know, by bringing them to the gallows. To be sure some may censure, as if from self-preservation, I made this ample discovery; but I communicate this to your Honour and gentry, whether the life of one person being taken away, would answer the end, as to let escape such a number of villains, who has been the ruining of many a poor family, for whom my soul is now much concerned. If my inclinations were ever so roguish inclined, what is it to so great a number of villains, when they consult together. As your Honour's wisdom, humanity, and interest are the friend of the virtuous, I make bold to lay at your Honour's feet the following lines, which will put every honest man upon his defence against the snares of the mischievous; and am, with greatest gratitude, honoured Sir, your Honour's most truly devoted and obedient servant, "JOHN POULTER, alias BAXTER, "Taunton Gaol, June 2nd." Flattery from such a wretch as this one would think but little pleasing; however, certain it is that Nash was pleased with it. He loved to be called "your Honour," and "Honourable," and the highwayman more than once experienced his generosity. But since I have mentioned this fellow's book I cannot repress an impulse to give an extract from it; however foreign from my subject. I take the following picture to be a perfectly humorous description of artful knavery affecting ignorance on one hand, and rustic simplicity pretending to great wisdom and sagacity on the other. It is an account of the manner in which countrymen are deceived by gamblers, at a game called Pricking in the Belt, or the old Nob. This is a leathern strap folded up double, and then laid upon a table: if the person who plays with a bodkin pricks into the loop of the belt, he wins, if otherwise, he loses. However, by slipping one end of the strap, the sharper can win with pleasure. There are generally four persons concerned in this fraud, one to personate a sailor called a leggbull, another called the capper, who always keeps with the sailor; and two pickers-up, or money-droppers, to bring in flats or bubbles. The first thing they do at a fair is to look for a room clear of company, which the sailor and capper immediately take, while the money-droppers go out to look for a flat. If they see a countryman whose looks they like, one drops a shilling or half-acrown just before him, and picking it up again, looks the man in the face, and says, I have found a piece of money, friend ; did you see me pick it up? The man says, Yes; then says the sharper, If you had found it I would have had half, so I will do as I would be done unto; come, honest friend, we will not part with dry lips. Then taking him into the room NN where the other two are, he cries, By your leave, gentlemen, I hope we don't disturb the company. No, cries the sailor, no, brothers; will you drink a glass of brandy, I don't like your weak liquors? and then begins a discourse, by asking the capper how far it is to London; who replies, I don't know; perhaps the gentleman there can tell you, directing his discourse to the flat. Perhaps the flat will answer, A hundred miles. The sailor cries, I can ride that in a day, ay, in four or five hours; for, says he, my horse will run twenty knots an hour for twenty-four hours together. Capper or the sailor's supposed companion, says, I believe, farmer, you have not got such a horse as the sailor has. The farmer cries, No, and laughs; and then the sailor says, I must go and get half a pint of brandy, for I am griped, and so leaves them. The capper, affecting a look of wisdom in his absence, observes, that it is an old saying, and a true one, that sailors get their money like horses, and spend it like asses; as for that there sailor, I never saw him till now, buying a horse of my man; he tells me he has been at sea, and has got about four hundred pounds prize money, but I believe he will squander it all away, for he was gaming just now with a sharping fellow and lost forty shillings at a strange game of pricking in a string. Did either of you ever see it, gentlemen? continued the capper; if you two are willing I will ask him to show it, for we may as well win some of his money as anybody else. The flat and the dropper cry, Do. Then in comes the sailor, staggering as if drunk, and cries, What cheer, brothers? I have just seen a pretty girl in the fair, and went in to drink with her; we made a bargain, and I gave her a six-and-thirty shilling piece, but an old b-h, her mother, came and called her away, but I hope she will come back to me presently. Then the capper laughs and says, Have you got your money of her again? The sailor says, No; but she will come to me, I'm sure; then they all laugh. This is done to deceive the flat; then says the capper, What have you done with the stick and the string, sailor? He answers, What, that which I bought of the boys? I have got it here, but will not sell it; and then he pulls out the old nob, saying, What do you think I gave for it? I gave but sixpence and as much brandy as the two boys could drink ; it is made out of a monkey's hide, as the boys told me, and they told me there is a game to be played at it, which nobody can do twice together; I will go down aboard ship and play with my captain, and I do not fear but I shall win his ship and cargo. Then they all laugh, and the sailor makes up the old nob, and the capper lays a shilling, and pricks himself and wins. The sailor cries, You are a dab, I will not lay with you, but if you will call a stranger I will lay again. Why, if you think me a dab, I will get this strange gentleman, or this, pointing to the flat. Done, cries the sailor, but you shall not tell him. Then he makes up the nob, and capper lays a shilling; flat pricks, being permitted to go sixpence; to which he agreeing, wins; and capper says to the flat, Can you change me half-a-crown? This is done to find the depth of his pocket; if they see a good deal of gold, flat must win three or four times; if no gold, but twice. Sometimes, if the flat has no money, the sailor cries, I have more money than any man in the fair, and pulls out his purse of gold, and saith, Not one of you can beg, borrow, or steal half this sum in an hour for a guinea. Capper cries, I have laid out all mine; farmer, can you? I'll go your halves, if you think you can do it. The sailor saith, You must not bring anybody with you: then the dropper goes with the flat, and saith, You must not tell your friend it is for a wager; if you do, he will not lend it you. Flat goes and borrows it, and brings it to the sailor, shows it him, and wins the wager; then the sailor pinches the nob again, and the capper whispers to the flat, to prick out purposely this time, saying it will make the sailor more eager to lay on; we may as well win his money as not, for he will spend it upon whores. Flat, with all the wisdom in the world, loses on purpose, upon which the sailor swears, pulls out all his money, throws it about the room, and cries, I know no man can win for ever, and then lays a guinea, but will not let him prick, but throws down five guineas, and the capper urging the flat, and going his halves, the sailor saith, My cabin boy will lay as much as that; I'll lay no less than twenty guineas. The capper cries, Lay, farmer, and take up forty; which being certain of winning, he instantly complies with and loses the whole. When he has lost, in order to advise him, the dropper takes him by the arm, and hauls him out of doors, and the reckoning being in the meantime paid within, the capper and sailor follow after and run another way. When they are out of sight, the dropper saith to the flat, Go you back and play with the sailor for a shilling, whilst I go and borrow money; but when the flat goes to the house, he finds them gone, and then he knows that he is bit, but not till he has dearly paid for it. By this fellow's discoveries, Mr. Nash was enabled to serve many of the nobility and gentry of his acquaintance: he received a list of all those houses of ill-fame which harboured or assisted rogues, and took care to furnish travellers with proper precautions to avoid them. It was odd enough to see a gamester thus employed in detecting the frauds of gamblers. Among the Dedications there is one from a Professor of Cookery, which is even more adulatory than the preceding. It is prefixed to a work intituled "The Complete Preserver; or a new method of preserving fruits, flowers, and other vegetables, either with or without sugar, vinegar, or spirits, &c." 66 To the very HON. RICHARD NASH, ESQ. "HONOURED SIR,-As much as the oak exceeds the bramble, so much do you exceed the rest of mankind in benevolence, charity, and every other virtue that adorns, ennobles, and refines the human species. I have therefore made bold to prefix your name, though without permission, to the following work, which stands in need of such a patron, to excuse its errors, with a candour only known to such a heart as your own. The obligations I have received at your hands it is impossible for me ever to repay, except by my endeavours, as in the present case, to make known the many excellent virtues which you possess. But what can my wit do to recommend such a genius as yours: a single word, a smile from yourself, outweighs all that I, or perhaps the best of our poets, could express in writing, in the compass of a year. It would ill become my sex to declare what power you have over us; but your generosity is, even in this instance, greater than your desire to oblige. The following sheets were drawn up at my hours of leisure, and may be serviceable to such of my sex as are more willing to employ their time in laudable occupations and domestic economy, than in dress and dissipation. What reception they may receive from your Honour, I am incapable of telling; however, from your known candour and humanity, I expect the most favourable. I am, honoured Sir, your most obedient and obliged humble servant, "H. W." A musician in his dedication still exceeds the other two in adulation. However, though the matter may be some impeachment on his sincerity, the manner in which it is written reflects no disgrace upon his understanding. To RICHARD NASH, ESQ. "SIR,- The kind partiality of my friend prevailed with me to present to the world these my first attempts in musical composition; and the generous protection you have been pleased to afford me, makes it my indispensable duty to lay them at your feet. Indeed, to whom could I presume to offer them, but to the great encourager of all polite arts; for your generosity knows no bounds; nor are you more famed for that dignity of mind, which ennobles and gives a grace to every part of your conduct, than for that humanity and beneficence which makes you the friend and bencfactor of all mankind. To you, the poor and the rich, the diseased and the healthy, the aged and the young, owe every comfort, every conveniency, and every innocent amusement, that the best heart, the most skilful management, and the most accomplished taste can furnish. Even this age, so deeply practised in all the subtleties of refined pleasure, gives you this testimony: even this age, so ardently engaged in all the ways of the most unbounded charity, gives you this praise. Pardon me then, if, amidst the crowd of votaries, I make my humble offering, if I seize this opportunity of publicly expressing the grateful sentiments of my own heart and profound respect, with which I am, Sir, your most obliged, most devoted, and most obedient servant, "J. G." I fancy I have almost fatigued the reader, and I am almost fatigued myself, with the efforts of these elegant panegyrists; however, I cannot finish this run of quotation, without giving a specimen of poetry, addressed to him upon a certain occasion; and all I shall say in its defence is, that those who are pleased with the prose dedications will not dislike the present attempt in poetry. TO RICHARD NASH, ESQ., ON HIS SICKNESS AT TUNBRIDGE. Say, must the friend of human kind, own friends, we can recollect but few that have heads quite strong enough to bear a loud acclamation of public praise in their favour; among the whole list we shall scarce find one that has not thus been made, on some side of his character, a coxcomb. When the best head turns and grows giddy with praise, is it to be wondered that poor Nash should be driven by it almost into a phrenzy of affectation? Towards the close of life he became affected. He chiefly laboured to be thought a sayer of good things; and by frequent attempts was now and then successful, for he ever lay upon the lurch. There never perhaps was a more silly passion than this desire of having a man's jests recorded. For this purpose, it is necessary to keep ignorant or ill-bred company, who are only fond of repeating such stories; in the next place a person must tell his own jokes, in order to make Must Nash himself beneath these ailments grieve? them more universal; but what is worst He felt for all-he felt-but to relieve, Such addresses as these were daily offered to our titular King. When in the meridian of power, scarce a morning passed that did not increase the number of his humble admirers, and enlarge the sphere of his vanity. The man who is constantly served up with adulation, must be a first-rate philosopher if he can listen without contracting new affectations. The opinion we form of ourselves is generally measured by what we hear from others; and when they conspire to deceive, we too readily concur in the delusion. Among the number of much applauded men in the circle of our of all, scarcely a joke of this kind succeeds, but at the expense of a man's good-nature; and he who exchanges the character of being thought agreeable for that of being thought witty, makes but a very bad bargain. The success Nash sometimes met with led him on, when late in life, to mistake his true character. He was really agreeable, but he chose rather to be a wit; he therefore indulged his inclination, and never mattered how rude he was, provided he was thought comical. He thus got the applause he sought for; but too often found enemies, where he least expected to find them. recorded of him, I scarcely find one that is not marked with petulance: he said whatever came uppermost, and in the number of his remarks it might naturally be expected that some were worth repeating; he threw often, and sometimes had a lucky cast. Of all the jests In a life of almost ninety years, spent in the very point of public view, it is not strange that five or six sprightly things of his have been collected, particularly as he took every opportunity of repeating them himself. His usual way when he thought he had said any thing clever, was to |