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The Ex-Classics Web Site Book of the Month -- September 2026 The  Life of Richard Nash, by Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith hardly needs introduction beyond Johnson's epitaph for him. "A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, and touched nothing that he did not adorn." The Life of Beau Nash was his adornment of the art of biography. Nash, the subject of the book, was Master of the Ceremonies at Bath Spa in Somerset for many years in the eighteenth century, and is credited with reviving its fashionable status.  Nash instituted balls, assemblies, and other attractions, organised the municipal band, cleared and repaired the roads, put manners on the previously offensive and unruly sedan-chair men, smoothed over disagreements of all kinds, and enforced courtesy and decorum on all visitors. Year by year the town became more fashionable and popular, frequented by royalty and aristocracy as well as squires, retired officers and parsons, and their wives and daughters.   This is the subject of many novels of the period; for example Smollett's Roderick Random and Humphrey Clinker are partly set there. Jane Austen lived there for several years, and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are largely set there and partly based on what she saw and heard. Previous BOMs AboutUs The Ex-Classics project was founded in 2000 to fill an unmet need.  When reading the blurb etc. to a book by Charles Dickens or Charlotte Bronte, say, we would often come across sentences like "Favourite reading included . . ."  If  it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us. So off we go to the library or bookshop, to be met first with blank stares and then with the information that the book has been out of print for decades. Our first two books were Gil Blas and Hudibras, which are prime examples of this. This web site is dedicated to rescuing these works from obscurity and making them available online, both for reading directly, and for downloading. What do you think? Any comments about this site or its contents? E-mail us (Click here) We have an occasional newsletter - please say if you want to be added to the mailing list. We never give out your details to spammers, or anyone else, for that matter. No-Copyright notice This site and its contents are public domain and free to the world. Anything in it may be copied and distributed free of charge or obligation. [There are one or two exceptions to this,which are clearly marked where they occur.] We expect this policy to be passed on - anyone who copies our texts or web pages and tries to claim copyright for themselves is stealing - not from us, but from you, and from everyone. An example of what we mean.

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