Welsh Journals

"OLD BRECKNOCK CHIPS." A Column of Antiquarian Chit-Chat relating to the County of Brecknock. NOTES, QUEEIES, AND EEPLIES, on Subjects inter¬ esting to Breconshire, must be addressed to EDITOK, Brecon County Times, Brecon. Beal names and addresses must be given in confidence, and MSS. must be written legibly, on one side of the paper only. DECEMBEE 17th, 1886. INTEEESTING LETTEES BY DE. COKE.—The following are copies of original letters now in the possession of Mrs W. J. Eoberts, High street, Brecon, and which contain many local allusions of deep interest as well as shadowing forth the great and cos¬ mopolitan work Dr. Coke was engaged in as one of the first Wesleyan missionary pioneers :— Bristol, Sept. 7th, 1784. My Dear Sir,—I have received your letter inform¬ ing me that the £150 is sent to London, and make no doubt but that I shall receive it in time, as we shall not sail till the 14th on 15th. I take the earliest opportunity of writing to inform you that the £150 will be as much as I shall want. I must leave the management of all my affairs with which you are entrusted entirely to you, and am very well content¬ ed that they are in such good hands, conscious that you will make the most of everything as far as you can with propriety.—Your obliged friend and humble servant, Thomas Coke. Mr Thomas "Williams, Attorney at Law, Brecknock. London, July 13th, 1791. My Dear Sir, — I'll entreat the favour of you to send me the year's interest on the C------estate. Be pleased to direct me at the New Chapel, City Road, London, and insert on the back of the letter to be opened by Mr or Mrs Rogers if absent. I have been but very lately returned from America. Some months ago I was shipwrecked on an island called Dist Island, on the coast of South Carolina, but was providentially saved Our societies in that quarter of the globe are increasing with astonishing rapidity. It is not improbable but I may do myself the pleasure of visiting Brecon in the course of the next twelve months, after which, I believe, I must make another visit to America, if it please Divine Provi¬ dence. I beg my kind respects to Cousin Williams, Mary, and aU the family. How do you all do ?—I am, my dear sir, your much obliged humble servant, and affectionate kinsman, Thomas Coke. Mr Thomas Williams, Attorney at Law, Brecknock. Downpatrick, Ireland, April 5th, 1797. My Dear Sir,—I have found it indispensably necessary to bring my long voyage across the At¬ lantic to a conclusion, and for that purpose to determine on which side of the ocean to spend the remainder of my days. I have, therefore, after much mature censideration, resolved in favour of the States of America. It will, therefore, be necessary for me to settle my little affairs in Europe as soon as possible, as I am not sure but I may return to America from Ireland, in which case I shall sail, God willing, about the middle of next July. On this account I must beg of you to take up the C------ mortgage as soon as possible. I have left the writings in the hands of Mr Colins, attorney at law, Spital Square, London, and shall write to him by this post to settle all matters in the business with you. I am going to take my leave of Europe. I wish to inform you of my temporal circumstances. By the considerable sums which I have myself given from time to time in my zeal for the spreading of the Gospel in the different parts of the world I shall not have now more of my fortune remaining after settling all my affairs than the C------mortgage, if you except my library, which may be worth two or three hundred pounds. You see, therefore, the necessity I am under of taking this small sum out with me, notwithstanding I am conscious of it that I shall have my travelling expenses borne in America. I might, according to the judgment of the world, have done better in more respects than one. But I have long consecrated all I am and have to God and the many thousands of poor heathens I have been the instrument of bringing to Christ, infinitely more than compensates for all my losses and sufferings. Nor has the Lord left my ministry without success among professors of Christanity in different parts of the world. _ I must therefore beg, my dear cousin, that you will finally settle this business with Mr Ci lins as soon as possible in the month of June next at farthest. Will you be so kind as to write to him on the subject, and favour me with an answer in White Friar's Street, Dublin. I'll also beg the favour of you to send me a statement of my account with Howell of the Shoulder of Mutton. I intend to resign th jse premises into the hands of Sir Charles Morgan before I sail, and at the same time to send a resignation of my place in the Common Council of Brecon, as my engagements to our American con¬ nexion are irrevocable.—Your much obliged and affectionate kinsman and servant, T. Coke. Mr Thomas Williams, Attorney at Law, Brecknock. Bangor Ferry, July 19th, 1799. Dear Sir,—I have lately entered on a great under¬ taking, which has been the literary employment of the last seven years of my life. The printing of a commentary on the bible : a work which, on the onset, will require a great deal of money in advance. I am therefore obliged to desire you to pay up the C-----mortgage. I must have two hundred pounds on that mortgage in a month's time I would by no means wish to employ a third person on the business if I could help it If therefore you could send up two hundred pounds (with the interest due to the present time) in the course of a month to Andrew fcstraham, Esq., M.P , Little New street, London, you may take till next spring to pay up the next. I shall be in London, God willing, about the middle of next month, when I must, some way or the other, have two hundred pounds out of the mort¬ gage towards making up a thousand pounds, which I shaU then owe for the single article of paper. It gives me no small pain, I assure you, Sir, to trouble you, but the circumstances I have described require it. I beg my respects to Cousin Williams, and the rest of your family, and am, Dear Sir, your obliged humble servant, T. Coke. AN ANTIENT DESCBIPTION OF BBECKNOCK COUNTY.—From a stand¬ ard topographical work of the early part of the last century, entitled " A Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain, by a Gentleman," I have made the extracts given below, which may be interesting to Brecon- ians. The book (contained in four volumes, octavo) was written in the form of a series of letters, and has been attributed to Daniel Defoe, and probably some of the letters were