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that William Morgan himself told his sister (Mrs. Jones,) there was a large arrear due from him to his mother; he did not [47] indeed say how much that arrear was, because the account was unsettled.

The first argument by which Mr. Charles Morgan attempted to repel the claim of Mr. and Mrs. Jones for the sum of 16,824l. 11s. 3½d. reported by the master to be the amount of the arrears due for Lady Rachel's jointure, was, that Mrs. Jones, soon after Mr. Morgan's decease, possessed herself of all his books, papers, receipts, and vouchers, and that the stewards and agents employed by Mr. William Morgan or Lady Rachel (except Mrs. Brompton) were dead before her Ladyship made any claim for the arrears of her jointure, by which means he was deprived of every kind of evidence by which the payment of the jointure could be proved.

But it was in proof in the cause, first, that all the payments made on account of Lady Rachel's jointure during the minority of Mr. William Morgan, were made through the hands of Mr. Phillips, Mr. Bryan, and Mr. Thomas Morgan, the father; that Mr. Phillips's accounts were passed in Chancery, and were therefore always open to inspection, and that the duplicates of these accounts did not come into the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Jones until long after Mr. Morgan's death, as was set forth in their examination; and that a duplicate of the account settled by Mr. Bryan with Mr. William Morgan in 1748, was in Mr. Bryan's custody at the time of his decease. Secondly, that upon Mr. Bryan's decease, Mr. Thomas Morgan, the younger, possessed himself of this duplicate, and of all Mr. Bryan's other papers and writings, and detained them as long as he thought proper, and that they were not delivered to Mr. and Mrs. Jones until January 1775. Thirdly, that all other books, papers, or writings, relative to her Ladyship's demands, came into the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Jones only at the times mentioned in the case, and that part of them did not come to their possession till after Lady Rachel's decease; and that all the payments which appeared by any of these books, papers, or writings, to have been made to her Ladyship's use, were credited in the schedules to the master's report. Fourthly, that the payments so credited from the 28th of March 1746, till the 16th of July 1763, amounted to upwards of 1400l. yearly upon an average; that the average yearly arrear incurred during Mr. Morgan's minority from 1731 to the 28th of March 1746, on Lady Rachel's several demands, amounted to more than 1100l. a-year, whereas, the average yearly arrear from 1746 to Mr. Morgan's death, a period of seventeen years, did not amount to 600l. a-year. Fifthly, that Lady Rachel claimed the arrears of her jointure from Mr. Thomas Morgan, the father, in 1763, and Mr. Bryan, through whose hands every remittance on account of her Ladyship's jointure was made, from 1746 to July 1763, lived six years after that claim; and that Mr. Jackson, her Ladyship's attorney, lived till the year 1770, long after Lady Rachel had been examined. Sixthly, that upon the decease of Mr. William Morgan, Mrs. Jones sent an agent to Tredegar to lock up and seal the doors of the study, and all other rooms where his papers were kept, and [48] that by her desire Mr. Thomas Morgan, the father, and his own attorney, attended with her at the examination of Mr. William Morgan's papers; and so far was the said William Morgan from having in his possession at Tredegar, the books of account and papers relating to the matters in question in this cause (save a few tradesmen's bills, and the said account of 1748), that he had not in his possession even the books of account and papers relating to his own tenants and estates; for though Mrs. Jones was obliged soon after her brother's death to file a bill against Mr. Bryan, to compel him to give her an account of the arrears in the tenants hands, to come to an account with her, and to produce all deeds, books, and papers in his hands, yet Mr. Bryan died in 1769, without having given her any account at all of the arrears of rent in the tenants hands, and due at her brother's decease, and without settling any account, or producing any papers, so that Mrs. Jones lost great part of the arrears of rent.

Another argument was, that from the death of Mr. William Morgan in 1763, until the year 1770, the jointure was regularly paid by Mr. Thomas Morgan the father, and Mr. Thomas Morgan the son, during all which time no claim was made.

But it was in proof in this cause, first, that her Ladyship's jointure never was paid regularly till Mr. Charles Morgan himself came into possession of the estate, and that a very considerable arrear of the jointure was incurred during the life