He entered into an arrangement with an old woman at
Bath, in virtue of which he was to receive a fourth share of the
profits. This was probably not the only 'hell'-keeping transaction of
his life, and he had once before quashed an action against a cheat in
consideration of a handsome bonus; and, in fact, there is no saying what
amount of dirty work Nash would not have done for a hundred or so,
especially when the game of the table was shut up to him. The man was
immensely fond of money; he liked to show his gold-laced coat and superb
new waistcoat in the Grove, the Abbey Ground, and Bond Street, and to be
known as Le Grand Nash. But, on the other hand, he did not love money
for itself, and never hoarded it. It is, indeed, something to Nash's
honour, that he died poor. He delighted, in the poverty of his mind, to
display his great thick-set person to the most advantage; he was as vain
as any fop, without the affectation of that character, for he was
always blunt and free-spoken, but, as long as he had enough to satisfy
his vanity, he cared nothing for mere wealth. He had generosity, though
he neglected the precept about the right hand and the left, and showed
some ostentation in his charities.
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