AUG. 1, Sun.-We were fifteen clergymen at the old church. 

 

Tues. 3.-Our Conference concluded in much love, to the great disappointment of all. This evening I went as far as Halifax,[1] and the next day to Manchester.

 

Thur.5.-We set out early, but, being obliged to go round about, could not reach Shrewsbury till half-past seven. I began preaching immediately, in memory of good John Appleton,[2] lately called away, on ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.’

 

Fri. 6.-I preached at Birmingham, and on Saturday the 7th at Worcester.

 

Sun. 8.-I preached in the afternoon in St Andrew’s church, and was agreeably surprised to observe the congregation deeply attentive, while I applied the story of Dives and Lazarus.

 

AUG 1, Sunday

 

4 Prayed, letters, tea; 10 prayers, communion; 1 at Dr. Kersh[aw]’s [vicar of Leeds], dinner; 2 letters; 4 tea, prayed; 6 Matt. vii. 16, society; 7 in talk, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 2

 

4 Prayed, writ narrative, Conf[erence]; 8 tea, conversed; 9 Conf[erence] ; 12.15 within 1 Conf[erence]; 4 within; 5 tea, conversed, prayer, prayed; 6 Jo.iv.24! within, with Dr.Coke, etc; supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30. 

 

Tuesday 3

 

4 Prayed, Jer. xxxv, Conf[erence], tea, conversed; 9 writ. narrative; 12 in talk! 1 dinner, 

 

          conf[erence], tea, on business; 5 2 Tim. iii. 5! 6 chaise; 10 at sister Haigh’s, supper, conversed, prayer; 11.45.

 

Wednesday 4

 

4.30 Prayed, tea, conversed; 6 chaise, with brother and sister Bail[ey]; 9.30 Rochdale, tea, conversed;

 

            10.15 chaise, Manch[este]r, on business, dinner, within, writ narrative;  prayed, tea; 6 Psa. xc.

 

            12; society, visited; 8 supper, within, prayer; 10.

 

Thursday 5

 

3 Prayed, tea; 4 chaise; 8 Congleton, tea, conversed, prayer; 9 chaise 11.30 Newcas[tle]; 12 dinner; 1 chaise ; 4 Turnhill [Tern Hill], tea 4.30 chaise; 7.30 Salop, Eccl. ix. 10!  supper, conversed, prayer; 10.

 

Friday 6

 

       4 Prayed, Lu. xii. 7! tea, within; 7 chaise; 9 the Cock; 9.30 chaise 12.30 W[olver]ha[mpton]; 1   

 

                dinner; 2.30 chaise; 4.45 Birm[ingharn], tea, conversed, prayed; 6.30 Matt. vii. 16,society, 

 

      4 Prayed, Psa. supper, together, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 7

 

4 Prayed Psa. lxxiv. 13! in talk, tea, prayer; 7.15 chaise, Crab Mill Inn; 9.30 tea; 10.30 chaise; 1 Worc[ester], on business; 1.30 dinner, conversed, prayer; 2.30 Sketch[ly] [spetchley, a village 3 miles east of Worcester];4 prayed; 5 tea, conversed, prayer, on business;6.30 Eccl. vii. 29! writ narrative, supper, on business; 9.45.

 

Sunday 8

 

4 Prayed, Mag; 7 tea, prayer; 8 I pet. ii. 9! Hymns; 11 prayers, Hymns; 1 dinner; 2 Hymns; 3 

 

         prayers, Lu. Xvi. 31 tea, within, prayed; 6 I Kings xix. 13! 7 society, writ narrative, 

 

         supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Mon. 9.-I rode over Malvern Hills, which affords one of the finest prospects in the kingdom,[3] to Ledbury; then, through miserable roads, to Ross. I preached in the evening at Monmouth to a very quiet and civil congregation. Tumults were now at an end, as I lodged at the house of a gentleman[4] whom none cared to oppose; and even in the morning we had a large congregation, both of rich and poor.

 

Tues.10.-I took a walk[5] to what is called the Bowling-green House, not a mile from the town. I have hardly seen such a place before. A gravel walk leads through the most beautiful meadows, surrounded on all sides by fruitful hills, to a gently rising ground on the top of which is a smooth green, on which the gentry of the town frequently spend the evening in dancing. From hence spread various walks, bordered with flowers; one of which leads down to the river, on the back of which runs another walk whose artless shades are not penetrated by the sun. These are full as beautiful in their kind as even the hanging woods at Brecknock.[6]

 

Wed. 11.-It was with some difficulty that I broke from this affectionate people and went on, through a most lovely country, to Brecon.

 

Monday 9

 

4 Prayed, Psa. lxii. I, select society, in talk, tea; chaise; 10 Ledbury, tea, visited; 11 chaise; 1.30 Ross, dinner; 2.30 chaise; 4.30 Mon­mou[th], tea, conversed, prayed; 6 Jo. xvii. 3! Mag., supper, together, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 10

 

4 Prayed, I Pet. ii. 1, etc., Mag.; 8 tea, conversed, Journal; 12 walk; 1.15 dinner, within; 2.30 prayed; 3 Lu. vii. 36! at brother John’s, tea, conversed, prayer 6 I Cor. xiii. I! walk together; 8 supper, conversed, prayer; 9.45.

 

Wednesday 11

 

4 Prayed, writ narrative; 6 Heb vi. I, tea, conversed, prayer; 8 chaise; 11 Ab[er]gav[enny]; 11 tea; 12 chaise; 3.30 Brecon, at brother Church[ey], on business, dinner, letters; 5.30 prayed; 6.30 lsai. lix. I, 2! society, writ narrative, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Thur. 12.-I found the little flock were in great peace, and increasing in number as well as in strength. I preached in the town-hall. I never saw such a congregation in Brecknock before; no, not even when I preached abroad. And I scarce ever found the power of God so present; it seemed as if every one must know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

 

Fri. 13.-We went on to Carmarthen. After preaching, I advised all the audience to copy after the decent behaviour of the Hollanders in and after public worship.[7] They all took my advice; none opened their lips till they came into the open air.

 

Saturday the 14th was the hottest day we have had this summer. We reached Tenby soon after one.[8] After dinner, we took a walk through the town. I think there is not such a town in England. It is the Kilmallock of Great Britain. Two-thirds of the ancient town are either in ruins or vanished away. In the evening I preached in the street to a large congregation of rich and poor, all quiet and attentive. I cannot but think salvation is at length come to this town also. I preached again

 

Thursday 12

 

4 Prayed, Rom. xiii. 11, etc., letters; 8 tea, conversed, Accounts, letters; 12 walk; 1.30 dinner, 

 

       conversed; 2.30 letters; 4.30 prayed, tea, conversed; 6.30 Prov. iii. 17! visited! 8 supper,   

 

       within, prayer; 9.30.

 

Friday 13

 

3.30 on business; 4 chaise, Penpond, tea, prayer, chaise; 9.15 Llando[very], tea; 10 chaise ; 12 Llandilo; 1 dinner, conversed ; 2 chaise ; 4.30 Carma[rthen], at sister Lewis’s, tea, conversed, prayed ; 6 Isa. lxvi. 8 supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 14

 

4 Prayed, Phil. ii. 12! tea; 6.30 chaise; 10 Tavernspite, tea; 10.45 chaise; 1.15 Tenb[y], at Captain Fa[rr’s], Mag., dinner; 3 Mag. ; 4 prayed, walk! 5 tea, conversed; 6 2 Cor. viii. 9, conversed, supper, prayer, on business; 9.45.

 

in the morning, Sunday the 15th, and the word seemed to sink into the hearts of the hearers. Thence we went by Pembroke to St. Daniel’s. It was a comfortable season. We had such another at Pembroke in the evening. Many mourned after God, and many rejoiced with joy unspeakable.

 

Mon. 16.-I preached at Haverfordwest.

 

Tues. 17.-We rode over to Roch, eight miles from Haver­ford[west]. The new preaching-house was pretty well filled, and I was glad to find that a little ride did me no harm.

 

Wed.- 18.[9] I went to Admiral Vaughan’s at Trecwn,[10] one of the pleasantest seats in Great Britain. The house is em­bosomed in lofty woods, and does not appear till you drop down upon it. The Admiral governs his family as he did in his ship,

 

Sunday 15

 

4 Prayed, Mag.; 6 Rom. xii. I; 7.30 chaise; 9.30 Pembroke, tea, con­versed, read; 10.30 St. Dan[iel’s], read prayers, Acts xiii. 26! com­munion; 1 hymns; 2 dinner, conversed, hymns, prayed, tea; 6 Lu. xix. 42! supper, prayer; 9.45.

 

Monday 16

 

4 Prayed, letters; 7.15 tea, conversed, prayer; 8 Matt. xii. 41, letter; 9.30 read, chaise; 12.30 Hav[erford]west, at Mr. Davis, hymns; 2 dinner, conversed; 3.30 letters, prayed; 5.30 tea, conversed; 6.30 Matt. vii 24! society, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.15.

 

Tuesday 17

 

4 Prayed, I Cot. xii. 31! letters, texts; 8 tea, conversed, prayer; 9.15 rode; 11 Roach, Eph. iv. 1, etc., rode; 1.15 at sister Warren’s; 2 visited, dinner, conversed, prayer; 3.30 on business, prayed, tea, conversed; 6.30 Rom. viii. 4, society, supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Wednesday 18

 

4 Prayed, Jud. i. 27, walk, letter; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, visited; 10.15 chaise; 12.45 Tracoon, within; 2 dinner, together; 3.15 writ narra­tive; 5 tea, conversed, prayed, writ narrative; 7 Phil. iii. 8, supper, within, prayer; 9.45.

 

with the utmost punctuality. The bell rings, and all attend without delay; whether at meals, or at morning and evening prayer. I preached at seven on Phil. iii. 8, and spent the evening in serious conversation.

 

Thur. I9.[11]-I went on to Mr. Bowen’s[12] at Llwynygwair; another agreeable place; but more so because of the company-Mr. and Mrs. Bowen, his brother, and six of their eleven children, two of whom are lately come from the University.

 

Fri. 20.-About eight I preached in the church at Newport,[13] and spoke strong words, if haply some might awake out of sleep. Thence we went to Haverfordwest, it being the day when the Bishop held his visitation. As I was returning in the afternoon from visiting some of the poor people, a carriage in the street obliged me to walk very near a clergyman, who made me a low bow. I did the same to him; though I did not then know the Bishop,[14] who has indeed won the hearts of the people in general by his courteous and obliging behaviour.

 

Thursday 19

 

4 Prayed, letters; 8 prayer, tea, conversed; 9.15 chaise, visited; 12.30 Ll[wy]n[y]gwair; 1 together; 2.30 dinner, conversed; 4 prayed, tea, Matt. vii. 16! supper, together, prayer, hymns.

 

Friday 20

 

4 Prayed, letter; 7 Rom. viii. 3, 4, tea, conversed, chaise, Newport, prayers; 9 I Sam. xxi. 8! 9.30 chaise; 11.15 New[castle], Jo. ii. 12! chaise, Hav[erfordwest], within, dinner, visited many, tea, prayer; 6.3oJo. iv.24, supper, prayer; 10.

 

Saturday 21

 

4 Prayed, Rev. xiv. I, etc., tea, prayer; 6.30 chaise Narbe[rth], Heb. ix. 27; 9.30 chaise ; 1.45 Carma[rthe]n; 2.15 dinner, letters, prayed; 5 tea, conversed, letters; 7 Matt. xi. 30! supper, together, prayer, on business; 9 30.

 

Sun. 22. - I heard a good sermon in the church[15] at Car­marthen (being the Assize sermon) on ‘There is no power but of God.’ In the evening I preached in the market-place, to, I think, the largest congregation I ever saw in Wales.

 

Thur. 26.-On the road I read over Voltaire’s Memoirs of himself. Certainly never was a more consummate coxcomb! But even his character is less horrid than that of his royal hero![16] Surely so unnatural a brute never disgraced a throne before! ‘Cedite, Romani Catamiti! Cedite, Graii’![17] A monster that made it a fixed rule to let no woman and no priest enter his palace; that not only gloried in the constant practice of sodomy

 

Sunday 22

 

4       Prayed, letters, tea; 8 Col. iii. 11, letters; 11 prayers! 1 dinner, con­versed; 2 writ narrative; 3 prayed, tea, conversed; 5 Lu. xviii. 10, society, visited, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Monday 23

 

4       Prayed, Heb. ii. 3! letter, tea; 7.30 chaise; 11 Llanell[y], Heb. xii. 14; 12.30 dinner; 1.45 chaise [cipher]*; 4.30 Swansey, tea, conversed, on business, 6 Psa. xxiv. 3, 4! writ narrative, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.45.

 

Tuesday 24

 

4 Prayed, tea; 4.45 chaise, Nea[th], tea, conversed; 8 Psa. cxliv. 15! chaise; 4 Cow[bridge], at Mr. Thomas’s, on business, tea, conversed, writ narrative; 6.30 Mic. ii. 10, society, within, supper, prayer; 9.45.

 

Wednesday 25

 

4 Prayed, Mag.; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, letters, Mag.; 11 prayers, Rev. xx. 12; 1 chaise; 2.30 Fonmon, Mag.; 3 dinner, together; 4 Mag., prayed, tea; 6 Job xxii. 21! Mag., supper, conversed, prayer; 10 ill.

 

Thursday 26

 

5.15    Prayed; 6 Mag.; 8 Lu. xii. 7! tea, conversed, Mag., prayer; ii chaise; 7.30 L[l]andaff, read Volta[ire]; 2.30 dinner, within; 4 Volta[ire], chaise; 5 Cardiff, tea, read, prayed; 6 Acts xi. 26, society, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

himself, but made it free for all his subjects! What a pity his father had not beheaded him in his youth, and saved him from all this sin and shame!

 

In the evening I preached in the town-hall at Cardiff, and showed the scriptural meaning of that much-mistaken word, ‘A Christian.’

 

Fri. 27.[18]—I preached at Newport [Mon]. I hardly know such another place; the people hear, and hear, and are as much moved as the benches they sit upon. I spoke as strong as I possibly could on ‘Awake, thou that sleepest’; and I judged, from the number who attended at five in the morning, that it was not all lost labour.

 

Sat. 28.—Being informed the boat would pass at eight, we hastened to the New Passage; but we were time enough, for it did not set out till past six in the evening. However, we got into the boat about seven, and before nine reached Bristol.

 

Friday 27

 

4 Prayed, Mag.; 8 tea, letter; 9 Matt. xxii. 4; 10.15 chaise; 12.15 Parsley Works, walk; 2 dinner, conversed, prayer, chaise; 4 Newport, prayed, Mag., tea; 6 Luke xiii. 23! Mag., supper, prayer; 9.30.

 

Saturday 28

 

4 Prayed, Eph. V. 14! tea; 6.30 chaise; 9.15 Passage, tea, Mag.; 1 dinner, Mag., prayed; 6 boat; 6.30 Inn; 7 chaise; 8.30 at sister Jo[hn]son[’s]; 9 supper, prayer, on business;10 ill.

 

Tues 31[19]-Dr. Coke, Mr. Whatcoat, and Mr. Vasey came down from London in order to embark for America.

 

Sunday 29 

 

4 Prayed, letters, tea, on business; 9.30 prayers, Mark vii.27! Communion; 1 at brother   

 

         Ewer’s, dinner, conversed; 2 sleep, on business, prayed, tea, conversed; 5 Acts   

 

         xxviii.32! society 7 the singers; supper, within, prayer; 9.30

 

Monday 30

 

4    Prayed, Heb. vi. 1, writ plan; 8 tea, conversed, prayer, Accounts, Journal; 12 select society; 1 at brother Pine’s, dinner, conversed, prayer; 2.30 letters, within to some, prayer; 5 at P. Gad’s, tea, conversed; 6 prayed, Lu. xii. 15, within, supper, conversed, prayer; 9.30.

 

Tuesday 31

 

4 Prayed, letters; 1 tea, conversed, prayer, letters; 12 on business, Dr. Coke, within; 1 at Jo[hn] Ellison’s with Charles, dinner, con­versed; 2.30 writ narrative, prayed, prayer; 5 tea, conversed; 6 prayed; 6.30 read the letters, the leaders, at sister Jo[hnson’s], supper, conversed, prayer; 9.45.

 

Mark vii. 38; Lu. xii. 55; I Cor. xi. 14.

  

---

 

[1] Two ladies from Halifax, Mrs. Swaine and her sister, Miss Haigh, attended most of the services during the Conference. Wesley, seeing them in the congregation on this evening, invited himself as guest. He left Dr. Coke to dismiss the congregation, and drove in his chaise to their house in Halifax. See Walker's Meth. in Halifax p. 163.

 

[2] See W. Phillips, Early Meth. in Shropshire, p.9. He was present on one of the occasions of the delivery of the sermon against Methodists which was accompanied at last by such a dreadful effects of the preacher (see above, vol. iii. p.84). John Appleton was much struck with this solemn event. On returning to Shrewsbury he took a house, fitted it up for preaching, and himself began a new career of extraordinary usefulness. See W.H.S vol. iv. p. 217; and James Everett’s Methodism in Manchester, P.82.

 

[3] Wesley had been impressed by the same prospect on July 9, 1777.

 

[4] Probably the Mr. C. with whom he stayed on a former visit. See above Vol. vi. P.316. The tumults are doubtless those described by Alexander Mather. See E.M.P. vol. ii. p. 184; or Wesley’s Veterans, vol. ii. p.107. 

 

[5] The walks in the neighbourhood of Monmouth are extremely pleasant, particularly Chippenham Meadow.

 

[6] Here, at Brecon, Henry Vaughan often mused. The woods are mentioned in his poems.

 

[7] See above, vol. vi. p. 418.

 

[8] Tenby was one of the Flemish settlements planted in Pembrokeshire in twelfth century, and until the time of Elizabeth was a port of importance. It then declined until the nineteenth century, when it came into vogue as a sea-bathing resort. Wesley describes Kilmallock above, vol. iii, pp. 402 and 469.

 

[9]He wrote from Haverfordwest to Miss Bishop, who had been ‘rejected,’ and who was giving herself to educational Work. See above, vol. vi. p.336. He gives his opinion on dancing and novel- reading, and advises for the girls of her School a course of reading in history and Philosophy. (Works, vol. xiii. p. 38.) p.427.

 

[10] Five times Wesley visited and described Trecwn. The house is a few miles from Fishguard. Fenton gives an account of it in his standard work on Pembrokeshire. See above, vol. vi. pp. 164, 250, 355, and Young’s Meth. in Wales, p. 255; also below, p.427

 

[11] He wrote from ‘Tracoon’ to Miss Ritchie (Works, vol. xiii. p. 64), and on the 19^th, to his nephew, Samuel Wesley, who had joined the Church of Rome, an extraordinary appeal on personal religion (Wesley Banner, vol. iii p. 368). For his withdrawal from that Church, see Telford’s Charles Wesley, p. 273.

 

[12] The Bowens trace unbroken descent from the poet-prince, Gwynfardd Dyfod, AD. 1038. For a deeply interesting account of the family history see article by Rev. R. Butterworth in W.H.S. vol. v. p. 98. See also above, vol. v p. 483; and below, p. 427.

 

[13] Newport in Pembrokeshire.

 

[14] The Bishop of St. David’s, Edward Smallwell, appointed in 7783 (Abbey’s English Church and its Bishops in the Eighteenth Century).

   

[15] The fine old church of St. Peter’s has two naves, separated by a row of arches. Sir Richard Steele was buried here. Bishop Ferrar was burnt to death in the market-place in 1555. Twenty years before Wesley’s first visit to the town Whitefield preached at Carmarthen sessions.

 

[16] Frederick the Great.

 

[17] The line is altered from Propertius, II. 34, 65, 66: 

 

Cedite, Roman, scriptores; Cedite, Grail; Nescio quid majus nascitur Iliade. 

 

Your places yield, ye bards of Greece and Rome;

 

A greater than the Iliad is come.—King.

 

A compliment to Virgil by Propertius, in reference to his Aeneid. See W.H.S.

 

vol. v. p. 89.

   

[18] He wrote from Cardiff to Robert Jones, Esq., of Fonmon Castle. This was the son of the sainted squire of the Elegy (Charles Wesley’s Journal, vol. ii. pp. 289-303), who ran away from Kingswood School. Wesley now wrote to him on the education of his children, urging that, if he carried out his intention of living abroad for a while, he should choose Holland in preference to France— especially Utrecht.

 

In 1875 the Rev. John P. Lockwood, in conjunction with their then owner, prepared the letters of John and Charles Wesley, and others, addressed to Mrs. Jones, of Fonmon Castle, 1745-88. These were printed in the W.M. Mag. 1875, pp. 633-43. Mr. R. O. Jones him­self supplied the valuable family notes appended. From these we learn that Miss Thomas, of Llwynmadoc, known in Mid and South Wales as ‘a great philanthropist,’ was a family connexion of Wesley’s friend, through his eldest daughter Mary, the ‘Miss Molly’ who married William Thomas, of Llanbradach in Glamorganshire. She was the eldest sister of the Robert Jones (the ‘Robin’ of Charles Wesley’s charming letter, p. 637, to his mother) to whom John Wesley now wrote. Llanbradach, it is interesting to remember, was ‘the lone house’ which Wesley visited (see above, vol. v. p. 231). It may be added that the letter of Aug. 27, 1784, together with one to Mrs. Jones (Wesley’s old friend), was copied by Rev. R. Butterworth at Fonmon Castle, with the consent of the son of Mr. R.O. Jones. (new, ed Wesley Letters).

 

[19] He wrote from Bristol to Christopher Hopper, and to Miss Bolton, quoting the sad story of his sister Kezia and of her victory over temptation (Works, Vol. xii. pp. 318, 484).