The Beau left little behind him, and that little not worth much, even including his renown.  Most of the presents which fools or flatterers had made him, had long since been sent chez ma tante; a few trinkets and pictures, and a few books, which probably he had never read, constituted his little store.[21]

Bath and Tunbridge—­for he had annexed that lesser kingdom to his own—­had reason to mourn him, for he had almost made them what they were; but the country has not much cause to thank the upholder of gaming, the institutor of silly fashion, and the high-priest of folly.  Yet Nash was free from many vices we should expect to find in such a man.  He did not drink, for instance; one glass of wine, and a moderate quantity of small beer, being his allowance for dinner.  He was early in his hours, and made others sensible in theirs.  He was generous and charitable when he had the money; and when he had not he took care to make his subjects subscribe it.  In a word, there have been worse men and greater fools; and we may again ask whether those who obeyed and flattered him were not more contemptible than Beau Nash himself.

So much for the powers of impudence and a fine coat!

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 19:  Warner (’History of Bath,’ p. 366), says, ’Nash was removed from Oxford by his friends.’]

[Footnote 20:  A full-length statue of Nash was placed between busts of Newton and Pope.]

[Footnote 21:  In the ‘Annual Register,’ (vol. v. p. 37), it is stated that a pension of ten guineas a month was paid to Nash during the latter years of his life by the Corporation of Bath.]

    PHILIP, DUKE OF WHARTON.

  Wharton’s Ancestors.—­His Early Years.—­Marriage at
      Sixteen.—­Wharton takes leave of his Tutor.—­The Young Marquis
      and the Old Pretender.—­Frolics at Paris.—­Zeal for the Orange
      Cause.—­A Jacobite Hero.—­The Trial of Atterbury.—­Wharton’s
      Defence of the Bishop.—­Hypocritical Signs of Penitence.—­Sir
      Robert Walpole duped.—­Very Trying.—­The Duke of Wharton’s
      ’Whens.’—­Military Glory at Gibraltar.—­’Uncle
      Horace.’—­Wharton to ’Uncle Horace.’—­The Duke’s
      Impudence.—­High Treason.—­Wharton’s Ready Wit.—­Last
      Extremities.—­Sad Days in Paris.—­His Last Journey to
      Spain.—­His Death in a Bernardine Convent.

If an illustration were wanted of that character unstable as water which shall not excel, this duke would at once supply it:  if we had to warn genius against self-indulgence—­some clever boy against extravagance—­some poet against the bottle—­this is the ’shocking example’ we should select:  if we wished to show how the most splendid talents, the greatest wealth, the most careful education, the most unusual advantages, may all prove useless to a man who is too vain or too frivolous to use them properly, it is enough to cite that nobleman, whose