Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/107

Nash as the Garrick's Head, and subsequently rented by Mrs. Delaney, but moved to a smaller house near to it in Gascoyne Place, before his death, at the age of eighty-seven, on 3 Feb. 1762. The corporation having voted 50l. towards his funeral, he was buried with great pomp on 8 Feb. in Bath Abbey, where a monumental tablet bears an epitaph written by Dr. Henry Harington [q. v.] A long epitaph was also composed by Nash's old friend, Dr. William Oliver, and an elaborate 'Epitaphium Ricardi Nash' by Dr. William King, principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford (all three are printed in Richard Warner's 'Modern History of Bath' 1801, pp. 370-2).

'Nature,' says Goldsmith, 'had by no means favoured Mr. Nash for a beau garçon; his person was clumsy, too large and awkward, and his features harsh, strong, and peculiarly irregular; yet, even with these disadvantages he made love, became a universal admirer, and was universally admired. He was possessed at least of some requisites as a lover. He had assiduity, flattery, fine cloaths, and as much wit as the ladies he addressed.' His successes with the fair sex extended to Miss Fanny Murray, whose charms were supposed to have inspired Wilkes's famous 'Essay on Woman' (see Notes and Queries, 4th ser. iv. 1).

Nash's foibles were compensated by many sterling qualities. According to Goldsmith, his virtues sprang from an honest, benevolent mind, and his vices from too much good nature. With Ralph Allen and Dr. Oliver, he was mainly instrumental in establishing the mineral-water hospital at Bath. He is praised for the great care he took of young ladies, whom he attended at the balls at the assembly-room, and warned against adventurers like himself. He was free alike from meanness and brutality, and the stories of his generosity at the gaming table are numerous. The humorous author of the anonymous life of Quin, published in 1768, describes Nash as in everything original: 'There was a whimsical refinement in his person, dress, and behaviour, which was habitual to and sat so easily upon him that no stranger who came to Bath ever expressed any surprise at his uncommon manner and appearance.'

Many of his sayings have found their way into familiar collections. His flow of conversation was irresistible, and examples of his monologue en gasconade have been preserved in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' and elsewhere. He was notorious as a scoffer at religion, but on one occasion he was effectually silenced by John Wesley (, Journal, 5 June 1739).

Nash's portrait, by Hoare, engraved by A. Walton, is prefixed to Goldsmith's 'Life.' Another portrait, painted by T. Hudson in 1740, has been engraved by Greatbatch and by J. Faber.

 NASH or NASHE, THOMAS (1567–1601), author, son of William Nash, ‘minister,’ and Margaret, his second wife, was baptised at Lowestoft in November 1567. According to Nash's own account the family was of Herefordshire origin, and boasted ‘longer pedigrees than patrimonies’ (Lenten Stuffe). His father, who is called in the Lowestoft parish register ‘preacher’ as well as ‘minister,’ seems to have been curate there, and never obtained preferment. Thomas describes him as putting ‘good meat in poor men's mouths’ (Have with you to Saffron Walden, ed. Grosart, iii. 189). Two older sons, Nathaniel (1563–1565) and Israel (b. 1565), were born at Lowestoft, as well as four daughters, Mary (b. 1562), Rebecca (b. 1573), and two named Martha, who both died in infancy. The nomenclature of the children suggests that the parents inclined to puritanism. The father survived his son Thomas, and was buried in Lowestoft Church on 25 Aug. 1603.

In October 1582 Nash matriculated as a sizar at St. John's College, Cambridge, having possibly resided there a year or two before. In his youth he described his college (in Roger Ascham's phrase) as at one time ‘an university within itself’ (Epistle to Menaphon); and in his latest work he declared