Joseph Ash, Birmingham, to his brother, [most likely in Pershore], 21 October 1792.

In an earlier letter to his brother he had mentioned the burning of the Theatre (probably by arson). In this letter he mentions politics:

Politics is a thing I know but little of therefore can say nothing about it.  I rejoice that the enemy of Liberty is defeated & oblig’d to retreat.  Am glad success again seems to smile upon those who have maintain’d the rights of Man and that that land which has of late been so much the seat of war bloodshed and consternation is more peaceable & [likely?] to be the residence of tranquillity, Liberty & Happiness.  Those who fight in a good cause that his [?] both to God & Man will be victorious, however strong & numerous the armies of the adversary, they are guided & defended by a more powerful Arm that will allways overcome its combatants & will finish the contest with triumph.

Joseph Ash, Birmingham, to his friend, T.H.H. [probably a member of John Harwood’s family in Birmingham], undated [early 1794]. 

In this letter he talks about the end of the age:

The present times are very critical & pregnant with tremendous & awful events, such as cannot fail to impress all intelligent minds with wonder & astonishment what this Year may bring fourth we cannot tell neither can the most ingenious & sensible inform us great revolutions must be brought about before Scripture Prophecy & Revelation can be fulfill’d the convulsed state of the world cannot but awaken our apprehension that the accomplishment of those wonderful predictions are begun.  That after much persecution great trials and innumerable difficulty there will be a termination of War & [?] universal peace & harmony will reighn [sic] through all nations of the earth is recorded in the same sacred writings for our comfort & consolation. 

Two more letters by Joseph Ash, Bristol, to T.H.H. Birmingham, 13 February 1796 and 19 March 1796, are included in this collection. For selections from the Diary of Joseph Ash, click here. 

Text: Letters and Diary of Joseph Ash of Bristol, acc. no. 4.1.3 (6-13), Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford. Letters by Ash were copied into a thin volume which now resides alongside the seven volumes of his diary in this collection.