He would meet new arrivals to Bath and judge whether they were suitable to join the select "Company' of 500 to 600 people who had pre-booked tables, match ladies with appropriate dancing partners at each ball, pay the musicians at such events, broker marriages, escort unaccompanied wives and regulate gambling (by restraining compulsive gamblers or warning players against risky games or cardsharps). He was notable for encouraging a new informality in manners, breaking down the rigid barriers which had previously divided the nobility from the middle-class patrons of Bath, and even from the gentry. The Corporation of the city funded an elaborate funeral for Nash, and he was buried in the nave of Bath Abbey, not far from where a memorial was raised to him in 1790. Nash was a notorious gambler who was forced to move in with his mistress, Juliana Popjoy, because of his debts. Upon their separation, Popjoy was so distraught that she spent the majority of her remaining days living in a large hollowed-out tree. Shortly before her death, she moved out of the tree and back to her birth home, where she died. His death caused quite a stir at the time, with the celebrated author Oliver Goldsmith being moved to write The Life of Richard Nash as early as 1762. Nash and Wesley In his journal and letters, John Wesley, preacher and founder of Methodism, tells of a confrontation with Nash in Bath in 1739. Wesley's journey to Bath had been expected for some time, and Nash had made public his determination to confront him. Wesley proceeded to Bath, even though some people, afraid of the outcome, tried to talk him out of it. When Wesley began his preaching, there was "a much larger audience, among whom were many of the rich and great." Facing Wesley, Nash questioned his authority, comparing the gathering to a conventicle, which was banned by Act of Parliament. Wesley answered that he had the authority of Jesus Christ and the Archbishop of Canterbury and that the gathering was not seditious and therefore did not contravene the Act. Nash complained that Wesley was scaring people out of their wits, but then admitted that he had never actually heard Wesley preach and was just relying on "common report". Wesley rejected this argument, stating that he did not judge Nash "by common report... it is not enough to judge by." When Nash