| S.M. of
the Revd. Mr. Theophilus Evans late Vicar of this Parish and Also of St. David's in Brecon He died Septr. 11th, 1767, Aged 73. |
Here lie
the Remains of Theophilus Jones Esqr. late deputy Registrar of the Archdeaconry of Brecon; and Author of the Valuable history of this County He died Janry 5th 18 12 Aged 52. |
It should be observed that Theophilus Evans had completed his 74th year when he died, and the age given above is based on the fiction of his having been born in 1694.
No just estimate can be formed of the author -the man and his writings-unless we give due weight and consideration to the conditions of the times he lived in.
The stipends of the clergy were miserably small. In 1733, we know that Daniel Rowlands received only £10 as curate of Llangeitho and Nantcwnlle, and Dr. Erasmus Saunders in his "View of the Diocese of St. David's," published in 1721, pertinently asks: "How can they [the clergy] appear in gowns and cassocks when their mean salaries will scarce afford them shoes and stockings?"[1] Plurality of livings and of curacies seemed at the time a legitimate solution of the difficulty, and though this was carried into great extremes, not least among the dignitaries of the Church, it is impossible to charge an incumbent with a wilful neglect of his high duties where
- ↑ Canon Bevan's St. David's.
