Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/117

 vicarage of Eynsham, Oxfordshire, and became tutor at Worcester College, but resigned both positions on the death of his brother in 1767. In 1768 he cumulated the degrees of B.D. and D.D., and soon afterwards quitted Oxford. In October 1768 he married Margaret, youngest daughter of John Martin, esq., of Overbury, near Tewkesbury. Immediately afterwards he purchased an estate at Bevere, in the parish of Claines, Worcestershire.

On 18 Feb. 1773 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (Gough, Chronological List, p. 26), and on 23 Aug. 1792 he was instituted to the vicarage of Leigh, Worcestershire. Some of his parishioners told 'Cuthbert Bede' (the Rev. Edward Bradley) that he used to preach at Leigh once a year, just before the tithe audit, his text invariably being 'Owe no man anything.’ On these occasions he drove from his residence at Bevere in a carriage-and-four, 'with servants afore him and servants ahind him' (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vii. 326).

On 23 Nov. 1797 he was collated to the rectory of Strensham, Worcestershire, and in 1802 he was appointed proctor to represent the clergy of the diocese. He died at Bevere on 26 Jan. 1811, and on 4 Feb. his remains were interred in the family vault at St. Peter's, Droitwich, of which rectory he and his ancestors had long been patrons. Margaret, his sole daughter and heiress, was married in 1785 to John Somers Cocks, who, on the death of his father in 1806, succeeded to the title of Lord Somers.

The doctor's penurious disposition gave rise to the following epigram:

The Muse thy genius well divines,

And will not ask for cash;

But gratis round thy brow she twines

The laurel, Dr. Nash.

Of his great topographical work, ‘Collections for the History of Worcestershire,’ the first volume appeared at London in 1781, fol., and the second in 1782, the publication being superintended by Richard Gough [q.v.] A ‘Supplement to the Collections for the History of Worcestershire’ was issued in 1799. To some copies a new title-page was affixed, bearing the date of 1799. To these an oval portrait of Nash is prefixed. A complete index to the work is about to be issued to members of the Worcestershire Historical Society as supplementary volumes of the society's publications during 1894 and 1895 (Athenæum, 2 Feb. 1894, p. 248).

In 1793 Nash published a splendid edition of Butler's 'Hudibras,' with entertaining notes, in three vols. 4to. His own portrait, engraved by J. Caldwell from a painting by Gardner, is prefixed. This edition is embellished with many engravings after Hogarth and John Skipp. It was republished in two vols., London, 1835-40; and again in two vols., London, 1847, 8vo. Nash communicated to the Society of Antiquaries papers 'On the Time of Death and Place of burial of Queen Catharine Parr ('Archæologia, ix. 1) and 'On the Death Warrant of Humphrey Littleton (ib. 130). [Addit. MSS. 29174 f. 283, 32329 ff. 92, 99, 101; Bromley's Cat. of Engr. Portraits, p. 366; Chambers's Biog. Illustr. of Worcestershire, p. 469: Gent. Mag. 1811, i. 190, 393; Gough's Brit. Topography, ii. 385; Granger Letters, p. 171; Lowwndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn). pp. 336, 1653 ; Nash's Worcestershire, vol. ii.. Corrections and Additions, pp. 51, 72; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. vii. 282, viii. 103; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vii. 173, 326, 3rd ser. viii. 174. 4th ser. ix. 34, 96, xii. 87. 154, 6th ser. vii. 67. viii. 128; Pennant's Literary Life, pp. 23, 28; Upcott's Engl. Topography, iii. 1330.]  NASMITH, DAVID (1799–1839), originator of town and city missions, born at Glasgow on 21 March 1799, was sent to the city grammar school with a view to the university, but, as he made no progress, he was apprenticed about 1811 to a manufacturer there. In June 1813 he became secretary to the newly established Glasgow Youths' Bible Association, and devoted all his leisure to religious work in Glasgow. From 1821 until 1828 he acted as assistant secretary to twenty-three religious and charitable societies connected with the Institution Rooms in Glassford Street. Chiefly through his exertions the Glasgow City Mission was founded on 1 Jan. 1826. He afterwards proceeded to Dublin in order to establish a similar institution there. He also formed the Local Missionary Society for Ireland, in connection with which he visited various places in the country. In July 1830 he sailed from Greenock to New York and visited between forty and fifty towns in the United States and Canada, forming in all thirty-one missions and various benevolent associations. In June 1832 he went to France, and founded missions at Paris and Havre. In 1835 he accepted the secretaryship of the Continental Society in London. There he organised the London City Mission, with the assistance of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton [q. v.], as treasurer, the Philanthropic Institution House, the Young Men's Society, the Adult School Society, the Metropolitan Monthly Tract Society, and finally the London Female Mission. In March 1837 he resigned his office as gratuitous secretary of the London City Mission, and with a few friends he formed,