here to appear. He had the strongest version to a white apron, and absolutely xcluded all who ventured to appear at be assembly dressed in that manner. I ave known him on a ball night strip even he Duchess of Q—, and throw her pron at one of the hinder benches among he ladies' women: observing, that none ut Abigails appeared in white aprons. This from another would be an insult; in im it was considered as a just reprimand, and the good-natured duchess acquiesced ■ his censure.

But he found more difficulty in attacking he gentlemen's irregularities; and for ome time strove, but in vain, to prohibit he use of swords. Disputes arising from ove of play were sometimes attended with atal effects. To use his own expression, he was resolved to hinder people from loing "what they had no mind to;" but or some time without effect. However, here happened about that time a duel between two gamesters, whose names were Faylor and Clarke, which helped to pronote his peaceable intentions. They ought by torch-light in the grove; Taylor was run through the body, but lived seven years after, at which time his wound breaking out afresh, it caused his death. Clarke from that time pretended to be a Quaker, but the orthodox brethren never cordially received him among their number; and he died at London, about eighteen years after, in poverty and contrition. From that time it was thought necessary to forbid the wearing of swords at Bath, as they often tore the ladies clothes, and frighted them, by sometimes appearing upon trifling occasions. Whenever, therefore, Nash heard of a challenge given or accepted, he instantly had both parties arrested. The gentlemen's boots also made a very desperate stand against him; the country squires were by no means submissive to his usurpations, and probably his authority alone would never have carried him through, had he not reinforced it with ridicule. He wrote a song upon the occasion, which, for the honour of his poetical talents, the world shall see.

ASSEMBLY.

Come, one and all, to Hoyden Hall,
For there's the assembly this night;
None but prude fools

Mind manners and rules;
We Hoydens do decency slight.
Come, trollops and slatterns,
Cocked hats and white aprons,
This best our modesty suits;
For why should not we

In dress be as free

As Hogs-Norton squires in boots?

The keenness, severity, and particularly the good rhymes of this little morceau, which was at that time highly relished by many of the nobility at Bath, gained him a temporary triumph. But to push his victories, he got up a puppet-show, in which Punch came in booted and spurred, in the character of a country squire. He was introduced as courting his mistress, and having obtained her consent to comply with his wishes, upon going to bed, he is desired to pull off his boots." My boots!" replies Punch; "why, madam, you may as well bid me pull off my legs. I never go without boots; I never ride, I never dance, without them, and this piece of politeness is quite the thing at Bath. We always dance at our town in boots, and the ladies often move minuets in ridinghoods." Thus he goes on, till his mistress, grown impatient, kicks him off the stage.

From that time few ventured to be seen at the assemblies in Bath in a riding-dress; and whenever any gentleman, through ignorance or haste, appeared in the rooms in boots, Nash would make up to him, and bowing in an arch manner, would tell him that he had "forgot his horse." Thus he was at last completely victorious. "Dolisque coacti

Quos neque Tydides nec Larissæus Achilles
Non anni domûere decem."

He began therefore to reign without a rival, and like other kings had his mistresses, flatterers, enemies, and calumniators. The amusements of the place, however, wore a very different aspect from what they did formerly. Regularity repressed pride; and that, lessened, people of fortune became fit for society. Let the morose and grave censure an attention to forms and ceremonies, and rail at those | whose only business it is to regulate

and ease.

them; but, though ceremony is very different from politeness, no country was ever yet polite that was not first ceremonious. The natural gradation of breeding begins in savage disgust, proceeds to indifference, improves into attention, by degrees refines into ceremonious observance; and the trouble of being ceremonious at length produces politeness, elegance, There is, therefore, some merit in mending society, even in one of the inferior steps of this gradation; and no man was more happy in this respect than Nash. In every nation there are enough who have no other business or care but that of buying pleasure; and he taught them who bid at such an auction, the art of procuring what they sought, without diminishing the pleasure of others.

The city of Bath, by such assiduity, soon became the theatre of summer amusements for all people of fashion; and the manner of spending the day there must amuse any but such as disease or spleen had made uneasy to themselves. The following is a faint picture of the pleasures that scene affords. Upon a stranger's arrival at Bath he is welcomed by a peal of the Abbey bells, and, in the next place, by the voice and music of the city waits. For these civilities, the ringers have generally a present made them of half-a-guinea, and the waits of half-a-crown, or more, in proportion to the person's fortune, generosity, or ostentation. These customs, though disagreeable, are however liked, or they would not continue. The greatest incommodity attending them is the disturbance the bells must give the sick. But the pleasure of knowing the name of every family that comes to town recompenses the inconvenience. Invalids are fond of news, and upon the first sound of the bells everybody sends out to inquire for whom they ring.

After the family is thus welcomed to Bath, it is the custom for the master of it to go to the public places, and subscribe two guineas at the assembly-houses towards the balls and music in the pump-house, for which he is entitled to three tickets every ball night. His next subscription is a crown, half-a-guinea, or a guinea, recording to his rank and quality, for the

liberty of walking in the private walk belonging to Simpson's assembly-house a crown or half-a-guinea is also given a the booksellers, for which the gentler is to have what books he pleases to re at his lodgings, and at the coffee-ho. another subscription is taken for pen, and paper, for such letters as the subscrib shall write at it during his stay. The ladies, too, may subscribe to the boa sellers, and to a house by the pump-ro for the advantage of reading the news, al for enjoying each other's conversation.

Things being thus adjusted, the ames ments of the day are generally begaly bathing, which is no unpleasing meth of passing away an hour or so.

The baths are five in number. On south-west side of the Abbey Church se King's Bath, which is an oblong squ the walls are full of niches, and at corner are steps to descend into it: bath is said to contain 427 tons an gallons of water; and on its rising the ground over the springs, it is some too hot to be endured by those who te therein. Adjoining to the King's Ea there is another, called the Queen's B this is of a more temperate warn borrowing its water from the other.

In the south-west part of the c three other baths, viz.: the Hot E which is not much inferior in heat t King's Bath, and contains 53 tons, 27 heads, and 11 gallons of water; the (*** Bath, which contains 52 tons, 3 hogsh and 11 gallons; and the Leper's which is not so much frequented as rest.

The King's Bath (according to the observations) will fill in about nine and a half; the Hot Bath in about ek hours and a half; and the Cross Bath about the same time.

The hours for bathing are comm¿Y between six and nine in the morning, the baths are every morning supplied*** fresh water; for when the people a done bathing, the sluices in each bath pulled up, and the water is carried off; drains into the river Avon.

In the morning the lady is brought ina close chair, dressed in her bathing clothes to the bath; and, being in the water, the

oman who attends presents her with a ttle floating dish like a basin; into which e lady puts a handkerchief, a snuff-box, id a nosegay. She then traverses the th; if a novice, with a guide; if otherise, by herself; and having amused herIf thus while she thinks proper, calls for er chair, and returns to her lodgings. The amusement of bathing is immediely succeeded by a general assembly of sople at the pump-room; some for pleare, and some to drink the hot waters. hree glasses at three different times is e usual portion for every drinker; and e intervals between every glass are enrened by the harmony of a small band 'music, as well as by the conversation of e gay, the witty, or the forward. From the pump-room the ladies, from ne to time, withdraw to a female coffeeuse, and from thence return to their dgings to breakfast. The gentlemen ithdraw to their coffee-houses, to read e papers, or converse on the news of e day, with a freedom and ease not to found in the metropolis.

People of fashion make public breaksts at the assembly-houses, to which ey invite their acquaintances, and they metimes order private concerts; or, hen so disposed, attend lectures on the ts and sciences, which are frequently ught there in a pretty superficial manner, as not to tease the understanding, while ey afford the imagination some amuseeat. The private concerts are performed the ball-rooms; the tickets a crown ich.

Concert breakfasts at the assemblyouse sometimes make also a part of the orning's amusement here, the expenses f which are defrayed by a subscription mong the men. Persons of rank and rtune who can perform are admitted into e orchestra, and find a pleasure in joinng with the performers.

Thus we have the tedious morning irly over. When noon approaches, and hurch (if any please to go there) is done, ome of the company appear upon the arade, and other public walks, where hey continue to chat and amuse each ther, till they have formed parties for the day, cards, or dancing for the evening.

Another part of the company divert themselves with reading in the booksellers' shops, or are generally seen taking the air and exercise, some on horseback, some in coaches. Some walk in the meadows round the town, winding along the side of the river Avon and the neighbouring canal; while others are seen scaling some of those romantic precipices that overhang the city.

When the hour of dinner draws nigh, and the company are returned from their different recreations, the provisions are generally served with the utmost elegance and plenty. Their mutton, butter, fish, and fowl, are all allowed to be excellent, and their cookery still exceeds their meat.

After dinner is over, and evening prayers ended, the company meet a second time at the pump-house. From this they retire to the walks, and from thence go to drink tea at the assembly-houses, and the rest of the evenings are concluded either with balls, plays, or visits. A theatre was erected in the year 1705, by subscription, by people of the highest rank, who permitted their arms to be engraven on the inside of the house, as a public testimony of their liberality towards it. Every Tuesday and Friday evening is concluded with public ball, the contributions to which are so numerous, that the price of each ticket is trifling. Thus Bath yields a continued rotation of diversions, and people of all ways of thinking, even from the libertine to the methodist, have it in their power to complete the day with employments suited to their inclinations.

In this manner every amusement soon improved under Mr. Nash's administration. The magistrates of the city found that he was necessary and useful, and took every opportunity of paying the same respect to his fictitious royalty that is generally extorted by real power. The same satisfaction a young lady finds upon being singled out at her first appearance, or an applauded poet on the success of his first tragedy, influenced him. admired him as an extraordinary character; and some who knew no better, as a very fine gentleman. He was perfectly happy in their little applause, and affected

All

at length something particular in his dress, behaviour, and conversation.

His equipage was sumptuous, and he usually travelled to Tunbridge in a post chariot and six greys, with out-riders, footmen, French-horns, and every other appendage of expensive parade. He always wore a white hat; and, to apologize for this singularity, said, he did purely to secure it from being stolen; his dress was tawdry, though not perfectly genteel; he might be considered as a Beau of several generations, and in his appearance he, in some measure, mixed the fashions of the last age with those of the present. He perfectly understood elegant expense, and generally passed his time in the very best company, if persons of the first distinction deserve that title.

But I hear the reader now demand, what finances were to support all this finery, or where the treasures that gave him such frequent opportunities of displaying his benevolence, or his vanity? To answer this, we must now enter upon another part of his character,-his talents as a gamester; for by gaming alone, at that period of which I speak, he kept up so very genteel an appearance. When he first figured at Bath, there were few laws against this destructive amusement. The gaming-table was the constant resource of despair and indigence, and frequent ruin of opulent fortunes. Wherever people of fashion came, needy adventurers were generally found in waiting. With such Bath swarmed; and among this class Mr. Nash was certainly to be numbered in the beginning, only with this difference, that he wanted the corrupt heart too commonly attending a life of expedients; for he was generous, humane, and honourable, even though by profession a gamester.

A thousand instances might be given of his integrity, even in this infamous profession, where his generosity often impelled him to act in contradiction to his interest. Wherever he found a novice in the hands of a sharper, he generally forewarned him of the danger; whenever he found any inclined to play, yet ignorant of the game, he would offer his services, and play for them. I remember an instance to this effect, though too nearly concerned in the

66

affair to publish the gentleman's name of whom it is related. In the year 1725 there came to Bath a giddy youth, whe had just resigned his fellowship at Oxford He brought his whole fortune with h there; it was but a trifle; however he wa resolved to venture it all. Good fortu seemed kinder than could be expecte Without the smallest skill in play, he wa a sum sufficient to make any unambitio man happy. His desire of gain increas with his gains, in the October follow he was at all, and added four thousa pounds to his former capital. Mr. Na one night, after losing a considerable su to this undeserving son of fortune, inve him to supper. Sir," cried this hot though veteran gamester, perhaps to may imagine I have invited you, in or to have my revenge at home; but I su so inhospitable an action. I desired favour of your company to give you s advice, which, you will pardon me, you seem to stand in need of. now high in spirits, and drawn away b torrent of success; but there will con time, when you will repent having leta calm of a college life for the turt profession of a gamester. Ill runs come, as sure as day and night sa each other. Be therefore advised, rest content with your present gains; in persuaded, that had you the Bars England, with your present ignora gaming, it would vanish like a fairy da You are a stranger to me; but to cus you of the part I take in your welfar: La give you fifty guineas, to forfeit t every time you lose two hundred z sitting.' The young gentleman res his offer, and was at last undone !

You

The late Duke of B. being cha at losing a considerable sum, pressed Nash to tie him up for the future playing deep. Accordingly, the gave his Grace a hundred guineas, to feit ten thousand whenever he lost a to the same amount at play, in one sitt The duke loved play to distraction, soon after, at hazard, lost eight thos guineas, and was going to throw for t thousand more, when Nash, catching t of the dice-box, entreated his Grace reflect upon the penalty if he lost;