Old Nash was, perhaps, a better gentleman than his son; but with far
less pretension. He was a partner in a glass-manufactory. The Beau, in
after-years, often got rallied on the inferiority of his origin, and the
least obnoxious answer he ever made was to Sarah of Marlborough, as rude
a creature as himself, who told him he was ashamed of his parentage.
'No, madam,' replied the King of Bath, 'I seldom mention my father, in
company, not because I have any reason to be ashamed of him, but because
he has some reason to be ashamed of me.' Nash, though a fop and a fool,
was not a bad-hearted man, as we shall see. And if there were no other
redeeming point in his character, it is a great deal to say for him,
that in an age of toadyism, he treated rank in the same manner as he did
the want of it, and did his best to remove the odious distinctions which
pride would have kept up in his dominions. In fact, King Nash may be
thanked for having, by his energy in this respect, introduced into
society the first elements of that middle class which is found alone in
England.
Old Nash--whose wife, by the way, was niece to that Colonel Poyer who
defended Pembroke Castle in the days of the first Revolution--was one of
those silly men who want to make gentlemen of their sons, rather than
good men.
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