BATH UNDER BEAU NASHAND AFTER. By Lewis Melville. (Nash and
Grayson. Revised Edition. 7s. 6d. net.)—After Nash's death the city. of Bath went into a decline. There were other Masters of Ceremonies who tried to rule it ; but none wore the purple with such dignity and grace. It must have taken a considerable impressiveness of character to induce 'order into the mixed society of the Assembly Rooms. At first Nash met with opposition. Gentlemen would insist on corning to the dances in riding boots. It needed all his wit and will to reduce the malice and scandal-mongering of the ladies. What he was most set upon destroying was the general snobbishness that so often makes watering-places un- comfortable. By his audacity and strength of purpose he Succeeded; and Bath under his government became a much Pleasanter resort than it had ever been before. The Corpora- tion were justly grateful to him. One of his biographers com- pared him to Solon and Lycurgus. At least he possessed in hunself some true monarchical quality, and, for all his vanities and extravagances, he was a man worth remembrance.
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