was produced, which, though not printed until 1606, was written before the end of the reign of Elizabeth:  his ashes are there spoken of as at rest, but the mention of him as dead, nearest to the probable date of that event, is to be found in [Fitzgeoffrey’s “Affaniae,” 1601, where an epitaph upon him is printed.  His name also occurs in] an anonymous poem, under the title of “The Ant and the Nightingale, or Father Hubbard’s Tales,” 1604, where the following stanza is met with—­

“Or if in bitterness thou rail like Nash:  Forgive me, honest soul, that term thy phrase Railing; for in thy works thou wert not rash, Nor didst affect in youth thy private praise.  Thou hadst a strife with that Tergemini;[11] Thou hurt’dst them not till they had injured thee."[12]

The author of a Ms. epitaph, in “Bibl.  Sloan,” Pl.  XXI.  A. was not so squeamish in the language he employed—­

    “Here lies Tom Nash, that notable railer,
    That in his life ne’er paid shoemaker nor tailor.”

The following from Thomas Freeman’s Epigrams, 1614, is not out of its place—­

    Of Thomas Nash.

    “Nash, had Lycambes on earth living been
    The time thou wast, his death had been all one;
    Had he but mov’d thy tartest Muse to spleen
    Unto the fork he had as surely gone: 
    For why? there lived not that man, I think,
    Us’d better or more bitter gall in ink.”

It is impossible in the present day to attempt anything like a correct list of the productions of Nash, many of which were unquestionably printed without his name:[13] the titles of and quotations from a great number may be found in the various bibliographical miscellanies, easily accessible.  When he began to write cannot be ascertained, but it was most likely soon after his return from the Continent, and the dispute between John Penry and the Bishops seems then to have engaged his pen.[14] There is one considerable pamphlet by him, called “Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem,” printed in 1593, which, like some of the tracts by Greene, is of a repentant and religious character; and it has been said that, though published with his name, it was not in fact his production.  There is no sufficient ground for this supposition, and Nash never subsequently disowned the performance:  the address “To the Reader” contains an apology to Gabriel Harvey for the attack upon him, in terms that seem to vouch for their own sincerity.  “Nothing (says Nash) is there now so much in my vows as to be at peace with all men, and make submissive amends where I most displeased; not basely fear-blasted, or constraintively overruled, but purely pacificatory:  suppliant for reconciliation and pardon do I sue to the principallest of them ’gainst whom I professed utter enmity; even of Master Doctor Harvey I heartily desire the like, whose fame and reputation (through some precedent injurious provocations and fervent excitements of young heads) I rashly assailed:  yet now better advised, and of his perfections more confirmedly persuaded, unfeignedly I entreat of the whole world from my pen his worth may receive no impeachment.  All acknowledgments of abundant scholarship, courteous, well-governed behaviour, and ripe, experienced judgment do I attribute to him.”