Yet he lived on: he had
not the good sense to die; and he reached the patriarchal age of
eighty-seven. In his old age he was not only garrulous, but bragging: he
told stories of his exploits, in which he, Mr. Richard Nash, came out as
the first swordsman, swimmer, leaper, and what not. But by this time
people began to doubt Mr. Richard Nash's long-bow, and the yarns he spun
were listened to with impatience. He grew rude and testy in his old age;
suspected Quin, the actor, who was living at Bath, of an intention to
supplant him; made coarse, impertinent repartees to the visitors at that
city, and in general raised up a dislike to himself. Yet, as other
monarchs have had their eulogists in sober mind, Nash had his in one of
the most depraved; and Anstey, the low-minded author of 'The New Bath
Guide,' panegyrized him a short time after his death in the following
verses:--
'Yet here no confusion--no tumult is known;
Fair order and beauty establish their throne;
For order, and beauty, and just regulation,
Support all the works of this ample creation.
For this, in compassion to mortals below,
The gods, their peculiar favour to show,
Sent Hermes to Bath in the shape of a beau:
That grandson of Atlas came down from above
To bless all the regions of pleasure and love;
To lead the fair nymph thro' the various maze,
Bright beauty to marshal, his glory and praise;
To govern, improve, and adorn the gay scene,
By the Graces instructed, and Cyprian queen:
As when in a garden delightful and gay,
Where Flora is wont all her charms to display,
The sweet hyacinthus with pleasure we view,
Contend with narcissus in delicate hue;
The gard'ner, industrious, trims out his border,
Puts each odoriferous plant in its order;
The myrtle he ranges, the rose and the lily,
With iris, and crocus, and daffa-down-dilly;
Sweet peas and sweet oranges all he disposes,
At once to regale both your eyes and your noses.
Pages:
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290