| Share page |
|
Beau Nash at Tunbridge Wells
he has some reason to be ashamed of me." Opposition soon died away, and Nash then justified the lines in the epitaph which Dr. King wrote upon him—
" To his empire also was added, By the consent of all orders, A celebrated province Which he ever swayed with great prudence, Not by delegated power, but in person. He designed to visit it every year, And while the necessities of State demanded his presence, He usually continued there."
Nash introduced into the Kentish watering-place the regulations that he had imposed upon the inhabitants of the city on the banks of the Avon. He forbade the wearing of swords. He made arrangements whereby all visitors were welcomed on their arrival with the pealing of bells, and then by the band, which played under their windows. Whereby hangs a good tale, which may be told here, though the incident did not occur until some years after the Beau's death. The lilliputian Lady Newhaven, on the occasion of her first visit, begged Mrs. Vesey to tell her all about the customs of the spa. While they were conversing, a man in the street began ringing
151 |
||