664 
W I L 
W I L 
1324, at Wykeham, in Hampshire, and by the liberality of a 
patron, educated at Winchester school, and afterwards recom¬ 
mended to Edyngdon, bishop of Winchester, who introduc¬ 
ed him into the service of King Edward III. about his 23d 
year. Acquiring extraordinary skill in architecture, he was 
appointed in 1356 clerk of the king’s works in two manors, 
and surveyor of the royal works at the castle and in the park 
of Windsor. The king was so highly satisfied with his con¬ 
duct in these similar departments, that he recompensed him 
by several preferments, civil and ecclesiastical. In 1359 he 
was nominated chief warden and surveyor of the royal castles 
of Windsor, Leeds, Dover, and Hadlam, and the several other 
castles, manors, and parks. Whilst he had only the clerical 
tonsure, he enjoyed many ecclesiastical dignities; and, in 
order to his further advancement in the church, he was or¬ 
dained priest in 1362. In the following year he was made 
warden and justiciary of the royal forests south of Trent, 
and in 1364 keeper of the privy-seal. He was also chief of 
the privy-council, and governor of the great council; and 
besides other civil preferments which he enjoyed, he suc¬ 
ceeded Edyngdon, in 1366, as bishop of Winchester, which 
paved the way for his elevation to the post of high-chan¬ 
cellor in 1367, of which latter dignity, however, he was 
divested in 1370. Thus possessing ample means of munifi¬ 
cence in a state of celibacy, and a liberal spirit, his profession 
as an architect led him to repair and erect numerous buildings 
in his see at an expense of no less than 20,000 marks. He 
also directed his attention to the improvement and proper 
discipline of the religious houses comprehended within his 
diocese. For the better education of his clergy, he laid the 
foundation of a college in Oxford, which was to be supplied 
with students from a seminary at Winchester. He was inter¬ 
rupted, however, in his liberal designs of general utility by 
an impeachment for misconduct in the administration of 
public affairs, occasioned by the influence of the Duke of 
Lancaster, who had conceived a prejudice against him; and, 
in consequence of this impeachment, his temporalities were 
seized to the king’s use, and he was banished from court. 
The clergy, however, interfered, and the people regarded 
him as a sufferer from the duke’s exorbitant power; so that 
a tumult ensued, that procured the restoration of his tempo¬ 
ralities, and his recovery of the royal favour, a little while 
before the king’s death. During the turbulent reign of 
Richard II., Wykeham conducted himself with caution, and 
succeeded in the establishment of his two colleges. For that 
at Oxford he obtained a patent in 1379, and it was com¬ 
pleted in 1386. It is now known by the name of the New 
college. His college or school at Winchester was finished 
in 1393. He also undertook the repair of the cathedral, 
which was a Saxon edifice of the eleventh century, and in the 
course of ten years rebuilt it in the Gothic style. In 1384 
he was induced, against his inclination, to accept the office 
of high-chancellor, which he resigned again in 1391, after 
having restored the public tranquillity. When the king re¬ 
covered his authority, he procured a parliament in 1397, 
which impeached several of the commissioners, who had al¬ 
most divested him of his authority, of high treason; but 
Wykeham, who was one of them, escaped with a forced 
loan of 1000/. He attended the first parliament of Henry IV. 
in 1399, which deposed Richard, but was not present at the 
council which adjudged him to perpetual imprisonment. As 
his health declined, he was disabled from performing the 
duties of his office; and therefore nominated coadjutors in 
his bishopric, settled all his temporal and spiritual concerns, 
and with tranquillity waited his dismission from the world. 
This happened in September, 1404, when he had completed 
his 80th year. His remains were interred in his own chapel 
or oratory in Winchester cathedral, where a tomb of white 
marble was erected to his memory.— Biog. Brit. 
WILLIAM, Point, a cape on the west coast of North 
America, and south point of entrance into Bellingham’s bay. 
Lat. 48. 3y. N. long. 237. 43. E. 
WILLIAM, Fort, a fortress of Scotland, situated at the 
eastern extremity of Loch Linnhe, where it receives the river 
Lochy. In the year 1745 it stood a siege of five weeks. It 
is, however, by no means a place of strength. It is garrisoned 
by a governor, fort-major, and a company of soldiers; 74 
miles north of Inverary, 29J south-west of Fort Augustus, 
and 17 east of Strontian village. 
WILLIAM’S RIVER, a river of the United States, in Ver¬ 
mont, which rises in Chester, and runs into the Connecticut, 
3 miles north of Bellows Falls. 
WILLIAMS (Daniel), D. D. an eminent non-conformist 
divine, was born at Wrexham, in Denbighshire, about the 
year 1643 or 1644. The disadvantages of his early educa¬ 
tion were counterbalanced by the natural vigour of his mind, 
and by future application. Devoting himself to the ministry 
among Protestant dissenters, he was one of the first who had 
resolution to engage in it, after the privations and sufferings 
which followed the Act of Uniformity in 1662. At the age of 
nineteen years he was admitted a preacher among the Presby¬ 
terians, and for several years officiated occasionally in several 
parts of England. Being here in danger of persecution, he 
accepted an invitation to become chaplain to the countess of 
Meath in Ireland, where dissenters enjoyed a greater degree 
of liberty ; and some time afterwards he became pastor to a 
respectable congregation in Wood-street, Dublin. Here he 
continued for nearly twenty years, exercising his ministry 
with acceptance and usefulness, and conducting himself so as 
to maintain harmony with his brethren in the ministry, and 
to secure respect and esteem from the Irish Protestants” in ge¬ 
neral. During his residence in Dublin, he married a lady of 
an honourable family, with a considerable estate. Towards 
the close of the reign of James II., his opposition to popery 
rendered his situation in Ireland unpleasant to him, and he 
therefore came over to England in 1687, and settled in Lon¬ 
don. With the famous Richard Baxter he cultivated an in¬ 
timate acquaintance; and at his death, in 1691, he was 
chosen to succeed him at the Merchants’ Tuesday lecture in 
Pinners’-hall. Some of his fellow-lecturers advanced what 
he conceived to be Antinomian tenets; and these dangerous 
notions he thought it to be his duty to oppose. Hence arose 
a suspicion of his orthodoxy, and an attempt to exclude him 
from the lecture. Their design was frustrated by a majority 
of the subscribers; but as their opposition was inveterate, it 
was thought most advisable to separate, and to establish an¬ 
other Tuesday lecture at Salters’-hall. Three of the most re¬ 
spectable of the old lecturers, viz. Dr. Bates, Mr. Howe, and 
Mr. Alsop, seceded with Mr. Williams. 
Upon the publication of the works of Mr. Crisp, who 
avowed himself the champion of Antinomianism, Mr. Wil¬ 
liams undertook to refute them ; and in 1692 published his 
“ Gospel Truth stated and vindicated, &c.” 8vo.; a work 
which, though now almost forgotten, was deservedly ap¬ 
proved by the principal London ministers of that period; 
and as it is distinguished by great clearness and strength of 
argument, as well as a truly Christian temper, it served to 
check the pernicious errors which were then industriously 
circulated. 
In the year 1701 Mr. Williams, after having been for 
some time a widower, married a second wife of considerable 
fortune and distinguished worth, who survived him. 
During the reign of queen Anne he exerted himself, though 
ineffectually, in opposing the bills against occasional confor¬ 
mity, and for imposing the sacramental test upon the dissen¬ 
ters in Ireland. Soon after the accession of George I., the 
health of Dr. Williams began to decline; and at length an 
asthmatic disorder terminated his life on January 26, 1715- 
16, in the 73d year of his age. 
“ He had been blessed by nature,” says his biographer, 
“ with a strong and vigorous constitution, and possessed a 
sound, penetrating judgment, and great strength of memory. 
The subjects of his pulpit performances were always prac¬ 
tical and useful; his sentiments solid, pertinent, and distin¬ 
guished by an uncommon variety; and his manner of en¬ 
forcing them powerful and impressive. He was remarkable 
for his boldness and courage in avowing and defending what 
he conceived to be truth of importance, and * pursued what 
he thought right with a blunt integrity and unshaken reso¬ 
lution.’ At the same time his candour towards those who 
differed 
