250 THE BATH ROAD 



called to it, ca ready answer might have been found 

 in the retort that " consistency is the bugbear of 

 little minds." 



XLII 



But to return to the Beau, who seems to represent 

 Bath more fully than any other person connected with 

 its history. In his old age Nash fell upon evil times. 

 Ruined by his own folly and extravagance, he had no 

 opportunities of retrieving the position, for he had 

 lived to see the friends of his more fortunate era 

 pass away, and to witness the arrival of a younger 

 generation which regarded his laws with indifference, 

 if not with open contemjjt. His last years were eked 

 out with the aid of a pittance of £10 a month given 

 him by the Corporation of the city for which he had 

 done so much, and a new Master of the Ceremonies 

 presently reigned in his stead. 



In his declining days, Bath had altogether changed 

 from the place it had been when in the zenith of his 

 power. It had, for one thing, grown out of all know- 

 ledge, architecturally. The Grand Circus, parades, 

 terraces, squares, all manner of finely designed 

 houses, had sprung up. Smollett, in " Humphrey 

 Clinker," makes Squire Bramble peevishly recount 

 those changes, and say, " The same artist who 

 planned the Circus has likewise projected a crescent : 

 when that is finished, we shall probably have a star ; 

 and those who are living thirty years hence may 



