Nash, RICHARD

Nash, RICHARD, better known as 'Beau Nash,' was born the son of an impoverished Welsh gentleman at Swansea, October 18, 1674. He was educated at Carmarthen and Jesus College, Oxford, held for some time a commission in the army, and next entered at the Middle Temple, but found greater attractions in the dissipations of society than the pursuits of law. He conducted the pageant at the entertainment of William III. by the Inns of Court, and is said to have declined the honour of knighthood without a pension. He made a shifty living by gambling, but in 1704 he found his true function as master of the ceremonies at Bath, where he conducted the public balls with a splendour and decency never before witnessed. In this way he came to acquire an imperial influence in the fashionable society of the place. It appears that he was also distinguished by his sentimental benevolence. He played hard and successfully; yet if he heard an individual sighing behind his chair: 'Good Heavens! how happy would that money make me,' Nash would thrust his own winnings into his hands, with theatrical generosity, and exclaim: 'Go, and be happy.' His own equipage at this period of his career was sumptuous. He used, we are told, to travel to Tunbridge in a post-chariot and six greys, with outriders, footmen, French-horns, and every other appendage of expensive parade. He is praised for the great care which he took of the morals of the young ladies who attended the Bath balls, always putting them on their guard against needy adventurers like himself. In his old age Beau Nash sank into poverty, and often felt the want of that charity which he himself had never withheld. He died at Bath, February 3, 1762, and received a public funeral. A Life by Goldsmith was published anonymously in 1762.