BEAU NASH

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 42, 13 November 1926, Page 24

BEAU NASH

Enter Richard Nash, Beau Extraordinary to the mighty Kingdom of Bathl When Nash’s gorgeous equipage drew up outside one of the fashionable clubs which flourished during the first half of the eighteenth century a cynical man of affairs was heard to remark, “Let us be wise, boys; here’s a fool coming.” But was this weird dandy such a fool as historians would have us believe ? Dandy, fop if you like, but fool —never. He shared with two other monarchs, Solomon and Alexander, a passion for beautiful attire, but even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as magnificently as Nash in Bath. Then how and whv his success t

So little is actually known concerning the parentage of Richard Nash that some people content themselves with the highly romantic, but by no means scientific, presumption that Nash simply dropped from the heavens all ready dressed out in gold braid, yellow stockings, satin pantaloons, white hat, and quizzing glass. However, one cannot model another Paradise Lost with Nash as the pivot of dramatic action. No; the plain fact is that he was the son of • respectable parents, whose main desire was to see their hopeful a fine gentleman. To this end he was sent to Jesus .College, in Oxford, there to study for ’the bar and distinguish himself. He did the Tatter, though not the former, with tin: greatest ease. He had not darkened the portals of learning of that great college very long before lie magnanimously offered to sacrifice himself on the hymeneal altar for the sake of a young lady with languishing eyes. Being not yet seventeen, his poor father considered that his precocious son should change his location to less romantic parts, and consequently Nash the conqueror was removed from Jesus College. Nash then entered the army, and did everything except bis duty. He dressed superblv, gambled recklessly, arrived late ‘for all parades and disobeyed orders. Whether the army was more disgusted with him than lie with the army is matter for conjecture, but the fact remains that lie sold the commission which his doting father had bought for him, and returned to the paternal dovecot—after spending the proceeds. The glass manufacturing business could not stand so much stone throwing, so father Nash turned his reprobate son out of doors with the heartiest of curses. Young Nash’ had now to do something to keep body and clothes together. He could not work. Never! Was he not a splendid gentleman ? But in those spacious times there were many things a man of handsome appearance and clever manners could do for a living besides work, so Nash did those other things, and did I hem well. He decided to make* fortune his mistress, and it was the most respectable one he ever had. She smiled upon him, and he soon turned his one guinea into one hundred, and one hundred into, one thousand, and thus was able to pay the tailors and others of that ilk who helped to make him the “glass of fashion and the mould of form. He gave the most expensive dinners and parties, a sure way of climbing the slippery social ladder, and his fame .as a dandv about town became so noisy that it even awakened dull Queen Anne She called for the handsome young man; she enjoyed his pleasant chat; she favoured him, and eventually offered him a knighthood. To the dismay of gav London he flatlv refused. But Nash was not always successful at the tables where the dice rattled, and when down on his luck tins bon vivant would do almost an.vtlunc’ for a £5O note. After a disastrous time at the tables Nash accepted a wager to ride through a respectable English village on the back of a cow in that costume which brought the crimson flush to the cheeks of our first parent. For some vears Nash played the fool and won huge sums, till at the age of 30 one sees him planning his campaign for the complete subjugation of the realm of Bath. During the Middle Ages Bath had no vogue, but with the dawn of a more advanced civilisation there was more sickness The sturdy Saxon race grew sicker and sicker, till in Charles IT s time it seemed that once again Bath would look up. Doctors of doubtful degrees declared decisively that dangerous diseases cov.ld be dispelled bv a dip in the baths, and plenty of gullible people believed them. Some who went thither were cured of one mal.adv and caught another—dice fever. Bath did now begin to look up, and in 1703 it caught the eve of rotund Anne, who splashed about a ?ood deal in the warm waters That did it. Society simnlv couldn’t resist the charm of the baths. Evervon? who was anyone contracted rheumatism or gout with a celeritv which completely baffled science, and all roads led to Bath. But the place was neither pleasant, elegant, nor refined Drunkards and immoral wretches simplv swarmed nil over the nlace Then one of the nation’s benefactors stepped ill. the Duke of Beaufort, and he dispatched a Cantain Webster with nlftiinotentiarv powers to arrange matters at Bath so that ladies ami gentlemen could misbehave themselves in decent

THE MIGHTY MONARCH OF BATH

and magnificent surroundings. Webster soon bumped up the shares of the Beaufort syndicate which was running Bath by declaring that from henceforth gambling should be a public amusement. To be able to do with ease in public what had been previously exceedingly difficult in private was such a tremendous boon that Ministers of State had grave doubts that the entire nation might stampede to this whizzing Monte Carlo.

The baths were now only used for suicidal purposes by those who had lost honour and wealth at the public gaming tables. Something had to be done to check this mad rush of folly, and the crisis having arisen the proverbially great strong man rose to the occasion in the person of Richard Nash, who had experienced but indifferent luck at the private tables in London. So, like a celebrated Roman, he came, saw, and took charge of the bank. In 1705 he arrived on the scene, and from that moment he cleaned up. Bath. The pump room, where Chesterfield lounged, with Congreve and the Duke of Wharton, was by no means nice, so Nash introduced a splendid band, presumably to tame them. He caused assembly rooms to be constructed so that the ladies could take tea in clean surroundings. But all the time he countenanced gambling, for the splendid beau required enormous funds to keep up that measure of style consistent with his tcgal position. He was a thoroughgoing reformer, and, desiring everyone to copy his elegance of dress, he strongly objected to ladies slouching into ballrooms in riding habits and into the assembly rooms in a degage article known as an apron. He forbade that sort of thing, and when the Duchess of Qucensberry appeared in an apron over her morning dress he coolly ripped it off her. Her grace offered no objection, and soon he had all the women under his heel, though the men were not so easily crushed. But the king of Bath used his wit to defeat them When one famous nobleman appeared in a fashionable rendezvous booted and spurred, Nash asked him in an aggressively loud voice if he had not forgotten to bring his horse -with him. He drew up a table of rules, which were obeyed most obsequiously, and these rules display Nash’s assurance, as, for example: “That no gentleman give his ticket for the balls to any but gentlewomen. N.B.—Unless he lias none of his acquaintance. That gentlemen crowding before the ladies at the ball shows ill manners.”

Nash also stopped the practice of carrying swords, for it seemed to him absurd that at a healing place people should spend so much time undoing Nature’s good works. He insisted that everyone should take at least, one bath a day. Ladies were conveyed to the public baths in chairs by .picturesquely dressed chairmen, and on entering’the bath an attendant placed beside each lady a floating tray, on which were set her handkerchief, bouquet, and snuff box. He established clubs for men and women, and never permitted any public amusements to continue after 11 p.ra. But there was unofficial amusement till all hours, and it was at the late gaming tables that Nash made the monev which helped to keep up his vulgarly regal state. His dress was superb, and he wore so much gold lace that he looked for all the world like an animated golden image. His dress was always new and of different hues—but one thing was always the samein’s hat. Nash was distinguished all over England bv his white hat. just as tlie Emperor Alexander was distinguished all over Europe by his purple tunic. He dashed through the streets in a p-oraecns carriage, blazing with heraldic devices, drawn by six prancing grevs with outriders, and attended be running footmen. Nash was honest st cards and dice, and he never drank io excess. Moreover, he never tried to fleece a voung gambler of his wool, but if lie saw the youngster was bent upon being fleeced he nhilosophienllv argued that he (Nash) mi"ht as well b? the shearer as nnoH’»r. H’’« lo’’e affair' were many anil shallow, but he never seemed to care much about women

The first blow which Nash sustained was when gambling was prohibited b' special Act of Parliament. Gaming wa» his means of subsistence Put for al’ that the folks of I”’s kingdom erected a statue to him. .with busts of Pone and Mowton beside it Nash gradually sank lower alidlo’'’"r ns the mailer Iw” to five cwt H p fried tn run a nriv-*r “hell.” hut failed denlorablv. He haunted the rooms where he once ha" so much power, and where so nmck respect had been shown him. B”* thev knew hi° money was none. tba< his sun hod sot. that his cost tv ward robe valued at thousands of rounds had t>oon disnatched ‘o the si"n of the timer rrolden snberes. ’l'hov realised that little mom could be obtained from the Kinrof Rath. «o thev. denosed him. move him a small pension nnon which te ot.-e out a miserable evistr-noe. Tn 17H Karl, died in abject povertv of mind Siwlv fl rftnnrknble was Nash —a fox rather than a fool.

In most countries the expert hands forgeries over to the police, who try to trace their origin and catch the forgers. In this country, however, the expert acknowledges receipt of the fee and teturns the forgery to its owner, who generally tries to “palm it off’ on to somebody else.

Everv valuable stamp has its forgeries either circulating or tucked away in the collection of some unsuspecting owner The forger’s chief source of income, however, is derived from the medium and more common varieties, as the collector will not go to the-expense of having them examined. and;the dealer has handled so many that he does not give, them a second thought. Italy has rather a bad record for forgeries. It was here that the Odessa "Hunger” forgeries and the “Beavers of Azerbaijan began their circulation It was an illegal Italian concern, too that printed the endless Italian colonial forgeries, which are sometimes so clever that even experts have faded to detect the difference. Perhaps the boldest effort of forgery was that of a South American named Collins, who. before the police arrested him, had invented and printed an entirely new series of Paraguay stamps in values from I to 50 pesos These were sent out in large quantities to deniers all over the world, and thousan’s were duped before the Paraguay Goverrment disowned the stamps.

I am bound to say that I have not found the face an exact guide to follow in other walks. of life. I have encountered the most pleasing and attractive countenance associated with the worst sort of character. 1 have met the stupidest kind of face in men and women who have shown the acutest mental intelligence. I have been frequently worried bv discovering the aspect of a grave qhd learned man in a gentleman of painfully limited brain power. I do not find the facial test of anv particular reliability in the House of Commons, still less in the House of Lords. The Law Courts cotitinualh present such traps (or the unwary, and the clerical profession in all its branches is rich in cases of an extensive and peculiar variety. But I imagine that most of us are disinclined to bring our experience to bear on the test of character and disposition bv the faulty guide of facial expression. It is a natural thing to suppose that a clear and steady eye is the sign of a reliable and upright character. We think that a smooth and pleasing countenance is the mark of a well-spent life, and suppose that an unattractive and repellent face indicates a person of shiftv and reprehensive habits But does actual experience of life bear this out? I do not think so, and many readers must have reached the same conclusion.