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WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. 



WILLIAMS, DANIEL, D.D. 



723 



Nothing more is known of bis personal history, except that be is said 

 to bave been a disappointed candidate for the bishopric of St. Asaph 

 on tbe death of Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1165, and that he appears to 

 have been alive in 1220. He is known as the author of a Chronicle of 

 England, which comes down to the year 1197, and is written in better 

 Latin than was then common. It was first printed at Antwerp, in 

 12ino, in 1597, under the title of 'Qulielmi Neubrigensis Rerum 

 Anglicarum Librt V.' The subsequent editions are, 'Qulielmus Neu- 

 brigenais de Rebus Anglicis, cum notis J. Picardi/ Paris, 8vo, 1610 ; 

 and ' Qulielmi Neubrigonsis Historia sive Chronica Rerum Anglicarum, 

 Libris quinque, e codice MS. pervetusto in Bibliotheca Thomre Se- 

 bright, Bar. ; Studio atque Industria Th. Hearnii, qui ei prseter Joan. 

 Picardi annotationes, &c. .... suas adjecit,' Oxon., 3 vols. 8vo., 1719. 

 William of Newbury is a keen castigator of the British legends detailed 

 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. 



WILLIAM of WYKEHAM. [WYKEHAM, WILLIAM OP.] 



WILLIAMS, SIR CHARLES HANBURY, was born in 1709, and 

 was the third son of John Hanbury, Esq., a South Sea Director. The 

 name of Williams was assumed in pursuance of the directions of the 

 will of his godfather, Charles Williams, Esq., of Caerleon. He was 

 educated at Eton ; after leaving school, he went abroad for some time, 

 and after his return from foreign travel married, in 1732, Lady 

 Frances Coningsby, daughter of Thomas, earl of Coniugsby. The 

 year after his marriage he became member of parliament for the 

 county of Monmouth. In parliament he steadily supported Sir Robert 

 Walpole, but took no prominent part as a speaker. He gave the 

 minister however a more effective assistance than that of speeches, by 

 frequent political ballads, which he composed with much skill, and 

 to which he owes a great part of his reputation. In 1739 he was 

 appointed paymaster of the marines ; in 1746 he was made a knight of 

 the Bath, and was sent as envoy to Dresden. In 1749 he succeeded 

 Mr. Legge as minister plenipotentiary at Berlin, but in 1751 he 

 returned again to Dresden. He acquitted himself in these diplomatic 

 employments greatly to the satisfaction of his employers, and showed a 

 diligence and regularity in business which surprised those who had 

 known him only as a man of fashion and a wit of private circles. He 

 was sent from Dresden on a very important mission to St. Petersburg, 

 which had for its object to engage the empress of Russia in a triple 

 alliance with Austria and England against France. His first efforts at 

 St. Petersburg were attended with remarkable success, but the nego- 

 ciation ultimately failed, and its failure operated severely on Sir 

 C. H. Williams' mind and health. He left St. Petersburg in 1757, in 

 a bad state of health, and with his mind in some degree affected. 

 When he arrived in England he was quite insane. He died on the 

 2nd of November, 1759. He left two daughters, the elder of whom 

 married William Anne, fourth earl of Essex, and the younger the Hon. 

 Robert Boyle Walsingham, a younger son of the first Earl of Shannon. 



Sir Charles Hanbury Williams is known creditably as a poet by his 

 Odes (12mo, 1775). His principal fame during his life was derived 

 from his political squibs, which are of a superior order of excellence, 

 and his talents for conversation. He was the intimate friend of Horace 

 Walpole, Henry Fox, the first Lord Holland, and his brother Stephen 

 Fox, the first Lord Ilchester. He is the author of a paper in the 

 ' World,' No. 37, which describes with much humour the miseries of a 

 great lady's dependent companion. 



WILLIAMS, DANIEL, D.D., a Protestant Dissenting minister of 

 the Presbyterian denomination, was born at Wrexham, in Denbigh- 

 shire, in the year 1644. The disadvantages of his early education were 

 compensated by the natural energy of his mind, and by his diligence. 

 He was one of the first of the new generation who entered the 

 Christian ministry after the ejection of the Nonconformists in 1662; 

 and at the age of nineteen he was regularly admitted as a preacher. 

 His first years in the ministry were passed in preaching in several 

 parts of England, though the times were so unsettled that there was 

 little prospect of his continuing his labours without hazard. As, in 

 those days, more religious liberty was granted by the government in 

 Ireland than in England, Mr. Williams repaired to the sister-country, 

 and unexpectedly received an invitation to become chaplain to the 

 Countess of Meath, which he accepted. Some time afterwards he was 

 settled over a respectable congregation in Wood-street, Dublin. Here 

 he remained nearly twenty years, and filled his station with great 

 credit, being at the same time much respected by the Irish Protestants 

 in general. During his 'residence in Dublin, he married a lady of an 

 honourable family, with a considerable fortune. 



Towards the close of the reign of James II., his warm opposition to 

 Romanism exposed him to some danger ; and he consequently came 

 to England in 1687, and settled in London. On occasion of the pro- 

 posal of an address upon the king's dispensing with the penal laws, 

 Mr. Williams firmly took his stand with the opposition ; and his views 

 of the question prevailed in the conference of dissenting ministers. 

 He now became the patron of those Irish Protestants who fled to 

 England from the violence of Tyrconnel ; assisting them himself, and 

 procuring for them the sympathy and aid of the public. He rejoiced 

 greatly in the Revolution of 1688; and was often consulted on Irish 

 affairs by King William. In 1700 he went to Ireland on his own 

 private business, and to visit his friends, by whom he was warmly 

 received. About the period of this visit he had settled as a pastor in 

 Hand Alley, Bishopsgate-street. Here he continued twenty-seven years. 



He was highly esteemed by Mr. Richard Baxter, on whose death, in 

 1691, Mr. Williams was chosen to succeed him at the Merchants' 

 Lecture at Pinners' Hall. The Antinomian controversy created parties 

 among the Dissenters connected with this lecture, and Mr. Williams 

 rendered himself obnoxious to those who advocated the tenets of Dr. 

 Crisp, the avowed champion of the Antinomian doctrines. A secession 

 took place, and another Tuesday lecture was established at Salters' 

 Hall. On this occasion, Dr. Bates, Mr. Howe, and Mr. Alsop, who 

 had been among the lecturers at Pinners' Hall, retired with Mr. 

 Williams. When Dr. Crisp's works were reprinted, Mr. Williams, by 

 request, wrote his ' Gospel Truth Stated and Vindicated.' Mr. 

 Stephen Lob having charged this work with Socinianism, an appeal 

 was made on both sides to Dr. Stillingfleet, then Bishop of Worcester, 

 and to Dr. Edwards of Oxford, both these learned persons being 

 regarded as masters in that controversy; and they both acquitted 

 Mr. Williams of the charge. In his ' End of Discord ; wherein ia 

 demonstrated that no doctrinal controversy remains between the 

 Presbyterian and Congregational Ministers fit to justify longer divi- 

 sions,' he distinctly states the opinion of the ' Orthodox, the Socinian, 

 and the Antinomian' on the doctrine of the 'satisfaction of Christ,' 

 and he adheres to the views of the first. So great was the heat occa- 

 sioned by the Antinomian controversy, that we are informed that Mr. 

 Williams's enemies, being foiled in impugning his opinions, endeavoured 

 to misrepresent his character by arraigning his morals. So com- 

 pletely however did he triumph over the charges brought against him, 

 that, after spending eight weeks over the affair, the committee of 

 dissenting ministers in and about the city, reported to sixty of their 

 body, who met April 8th, 1695, " That it is the unanimous opinion of 

 the united ministers that Mr. Williams is entirely clear and innocent 

 of all that was laid to his charge." His whole conduct throughout 

 this painful trial appears much to have increased the attachment of 

 his congregation, as well as his general estimation by the public. 

 Having been now for some time a widower, Mr. Williams married Mrs. 

 Backstead, a widow lady of great excellence, and with a considerable 

 estate. 



Diligent as was Mr. Williams in his attention to the pastoral office, 

 he was a man of great public spirit. So long as opposition availed, he 

 strenuously opposed the ' Occasional Conformity Bill,' and the Irish 

 Sacramental Test Act, in the reign of Anne. He was a great pro- 

 moter of the union between England and Scotland, which took place 

 in 1707. In 1709 he received a diploma of D.D. from the universities 

 of Edinburgh and Glasgow, at the same time with Dr. Oldfield and 

 Dr. Calamy. Anxious for the honour and usefulness of his order, he 

 was very desirous that all the candidates for the dissenting ministry 

 should have at least a part of their education at one or other of the 

 Scottish universities, as they were excluded by the subscription from 

 the English ; but his scheme for this purpose did not meet with en- 

 couragement. On the accession of George I. in 1714, Dr. Williams 

 had the honour of presenting the address to his majesty, at the head 

 of the London dissenting clergy of the three denominations; and 

 from that time it has been usual for this body to go to court on similar 

 occasions, it being one of the bodies who are received on the throne, 

 and by their committees in the royal closet. Dr. Williams's health 

 had by this time visibly declined for a year or two, though he still 

 continued the exercise of his ministry. At length, after a short attack 

 of asthma, he died on the 26th of January 1716, in the seventy-third 

 year of his age, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. In his funeral 

 sermon, Dr. Evans, who had been his co-pastor for eleven years, 

 ascribes to him " a copious invention, a penetrating judgment, a faith- 

 ful memory, and vigorous affections, which were cultivated by much 

 application to study." His moderation was shown by his desire for 

 a comprehension at the Revolution, on condition of a free toleration 

 to such Dissenters as would not be included. His great conscientious- 

 ness and his unusual readiness to forgive injuries are also mentioned 

 to his praise. He was accustomed to deliver a lecture to young people 

 on Christmas-day, which was attended by vast audiences from all 

 parts of the town. His discourses and treatises extend to six volumes 

 8vo, and have been collected and published at different periods : the 

 last volume consists of Latin versions of several of his treatises, trans- 

 lated for the benefit of foreigners, agreeably to the instructions of his 

 will. He also directed that his treatise entitled ' The Vanity of 

 Childhood and Youth ' should be rendered into Welsh for the use of 

 schools, and printed often for the benefit of the poor. 



Dr. Williams bequeathed the bulk of his estate to benevolent and 

 useful objects. Having provided for his widow, he left donations to 

 the Society for the Reformation of Manners; for the education of 

 youth in Dublin ; for an itinerant preacher to the native Irish ; to the 

 poor of the Wood-street congregation in Dublin, and of that in Hand 

 Alley in London ; to the French refugees ; to the poor of Shoreditch 

 parish ; to assist poor ministers and students ; to several ministers' 

 widows ; to St. Thomas's Hospital ; to the London workhouse ; to the 

 Society for promoting Christian Knowledge in Scotland ; for the sup- 

 port of two preachers to the Indians; and for the maintenance of 

 charity schools in Wales. He also left estates to the University of 

 Glasgow, which at present furnish six handsome exhibitions to students 

 for the ministry among Protestant dissenters in England, who are to 

 be nominated by his trustees. The last grand bequest in his will was 

 for the establishment of a public library in London. For this purpose 



