and the Wynns, p. 105, where a list of the Maurice manuscripts is given). A small portion of his papers (some of them in his own handwriting) have, however, been preserved, through coming, in the early years of this century, into the possession of Charles Watkin Williams Wynn [q. v.] A liberal use of them was granted to Howell when in 1810–1811 he was preparing his edition of the ‘State Trials,’ and the reports of several cases added to that edition are taken from Williams's notes and papers (see ix. 323, 1358, x. 1330, 1387). These manuscripts, which now belong to Wynn's grandson (C. W. Williams Wynn, esq., of Coedymaen, Montgomeryshire), but have not yet been calendared, contain inter alia Williams's brief against the seven bishops, and other papers relating both to that case and to Williams's own prosecution in respect of Dangerfield's ‘Narrative.’
Williams has been confused with Sir William Williams (sixth and last baronet) of Vaenol, Carnarvonshire, who was M.P. for that county from January 1689 till his death in December 1696 (Williams, Parl. Hist. of Wales, pp. 61–2). He took part in several duels (Luttrell, ii. 351, iv. 157), and in a drunken fit bequeathed his estates to Sir Bourchier Wrey and his sons for their lives, with remainder to William III. The heirs-at-law unsuccessfully contested the will (ib. iv. 163–7, 531), and the estates were afterwards granted by Queen Anne to John Smith, speaker of the House of Commons, in whose descendants they are still vested (Nicholas, County Families of Wales).
[No detailed biography of Williams has been written. Of short sketches the best is by Eyton in his Sheriffs of Shropshire, pp. 156–60, others being given in Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 720; Ormerod's Cheshire, i. 221–2; Manning's Lives of the Speakers, pp. 378–82; and Williams's Eminent Welshmen, p. 538. Most of the important cases in which Williams was concerned are reported in Howell's State Trials, vols. ix. x. xii. and xiii., and they are reviewed generally in Stephen's Hist. of the Criminal Law of England, ii. 307 et seq. Information as to his parliamentary work is found in Cobbett's Parliamentary Hist. vols. iv. and v. and Commons' Journals, vols. ix–xii. passim. See also Luttrell's Diary, vols. i–iv. passim; Burnet's Hist. of his own Times (1823 edit.), ii. 431, iii. 222, iv. 74; Echard's Hist. of England, 1055, 1106–7; Bramston's Autobiography (Camden Soc.), pp. 229, 303, 310; Verney Memoirs, iv. 412, 429; Mackintosh's Hist. of the Revolution (ed. 1834), pp. 267 et seq.; Ranke's History, iv. 356, 497; Macaulay's Hist. (in 2 vols.) i. 496, 512–21, 533, 612, 635, ii. 494; Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors, iii. 531; Irving's Life of Judge Jeffreys, passim; Roger North's Life of Dudley North, and Life of Francis North, Lord Guildford; Wynn's Argument on the Jurisdiction of the House of Commons, App. B. Genealogical details are given in Burke's Peerage (1898), s.v. ‘Wynn of Wynnstay’ (p. 1566) and ‘Williams of Bodelwyddan’ (p. 1534); Foster's Baronetage (pp. 658–9), Alumni Oxon. (1st ser. p. 1646), and Gray's Inn Admission Register (p. 255); Lloyd's Powys Fadog, iv. 263; Wynn's Hist. of Gwydir Family (ed. 1878), Genealogical Table No. 4; Pennant's Whiteford and Holywell, pp. 315–16. See also Yorke's Royal Tribes of Wales, ed. 1887, pp. 99, 104, 167 (with portrait), 181, 196; Breese's Calendars of Gwynedd; Williams's Parl. Hist. of Wales, pp. 11, 149; Parry's Royal Visits to Wales, pp. 407–11; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, ii. 493, iv. 67; Wynnstay and the Wynns, pp. i–iii, 7, 98–9, 105; Thomas's St. Asaph, pp. 246, 518; Montgomeryshire Collections, v. 150, xxi. 267; Hemingway's Hist. of Chester; Cheshire Sheaf, 1st ser. vol. iii. The writer is indebted to C. W. Williams Wynn, esq., of Coedymaen, for a perusal of his collection of manuscripts referred to in the text as the Williams Wynn manuscripts, and also to the Misses Williams of Bodelwyddan and to Lady Verney for private information.]
WILLIAMS, WILLIAM (1717–1791), Welsh hymn-writer, son of John Williams (d. 1742), by his wife Dorothy, was born at Cefn-y-Coed, near Llandovery, in 1717. His father was a ruling elder of the presbyterian church at Cefn Arthen, but seceded from it, with other Calvinists, in 1740, and formed the independent church of Glyn y Pentan. William, the only son who reached manhood, was intended for the medical profession, and was sent to a school kept at Llwyn Llwyd, near Hay, by David Price, the independent minister of Maes-yr-Onnen. Here he chanced, in 1738, to hear Howel Harris [q. v.] preach in Talgarth churchyard, and resolved, under religious conviction, to devote himself to the ministry. He was ordained deacon in 1740, and appointed curate of the mountain parishes of Llan Wrtyd and Llan Ddewi Aber Gwesin. His connection with the methodist movement now became close. He was present in January 1743 at the first methodist ‘association;’ and in the next, held in April 1743 at Watford, near Cardiff, it was resolved that he should resign his curacy and act as assistant to Daniel Rowlands [q. v.] In this way he ceased to hold any recognised office in the church, nor did he seek ordination, after this, as priest; there is, however, no evidence that any penal measures were taken against him, and he still called himself ‘a minister of the church of England.’ His mother had in-
