cited in the mind of Dr. Johnson. She was born in 1716, and was the daughter of a surgeon in Wales, who removed to London in pursuit of a delusive project that ruined him In the midst of poverty the daughter became blind, and in her distress was admitted into Dr. Johnson's house, where she remained till her death in 1783 She published a translation of La Bleterie's Life of the Emperor Julian, in 1746.—R. H.
WILLIAMS, Sir Charles Hanbury, an English diplomatist, a wit and a man of fashion at the court of George II., was the third son of John Hanbury, Esq., of Pontypool park, Monmouthshire. In 1744 he was created a knight of the bath, and was shortly afterwards sent as envoy to the courts of Saxony, Berlin, and St. Petersburg successively. He was a great favourite at St Petersburg, and was the means of introducing the handsome young Poniatoffski to the grand duchess, afterwards the Empress Catherine. He failed, however, in his mission, which was to negotiate a secret treaty with the Russian government for the protection of Hanover. On his way home in 1757 he was seized with a mental disorder at Hamburg, and committed acts of folly to the injury of his fame and fortune. In 1759 he had another attack, and died on the 2nd November. He wrote many political squibs and poems, and contributed at least one amusing paper to the World, No. 37.—R. H.
WILLIAMS, Daniel, D.D., who founded for the benefit of dissenting ministers the valuable library in Red Cross Street, London, was born at Wrexham about 1643. He warmly supported the union with Scotland, and the Hanoverian succession In 1709 he received diplomas for the degree of D.D. from both Edinburgh and Glasgow universities. He died in 1716. He left the bulk of his property to charitable uses. A collected edition of his works was published in 6 vols., 8vo, 1758-60.—R. H.
WILLIAMS, David, a noted Welshman, was born at a village near Cardigan in 1738, and was educated at Carmarthen for the dissenting ministry. He took a prominent part in the political agitation which occurred at the period of the French Revolution; and published "Lectures on Political Principles;" "Letters on Political Liberty," the latter of which were translated into French by Brissot, and brought Williams to be acquainted with the Girondist party. He soon returned to England, and published his Lessons to a Young Prince," and a history of Monmouthshire. In 1788 he succeeded in founding the "Literary Fund" for deserving authors in distress. His last work was entitled "Preparatory Studies for Political Reformers." He died June 29, 1816, and was buried in St. Ann's church, Soho, where a tablet was erected to commemorate his services in founding the Literary Fund.—F.
WILLIAMS, Helen Maria, authoress, was born about 1762, in the north of England, and seems to have been resident during her early years at Berwick. At eighteen she came to London, and became an authoress, chiefly of poetry, under the auspices of Dr. Kippis. On the breaking out of the French revolution she visited Paris, and published "Letters written from France in the summer of 1790, to a friend in England, containing various anecdotes relative to the French revolution." She died at Paris in 1827.—F. E.
WILLIAMS, John, one of the most celebrated of the English prelates of the seventeenth century, was born 25th March, 1582, at Aberconway, Carnarvonshire. James I. made him a royal chaplain, and gave him first the deanery of Salisbury, and next that of Westminster. On the removal of Lord Bacon in 1621, the great seal was given to Williams; and in a short time afterwards he was promoted to the bishopric of Lincoln, w hile he held other benefices in commendam. He was lord-keeper to the end of the reign, and he preached the king's funeral sermon. Buckingham and Laud, however, conspired against him, his political offices were taken from him, and he was commanded not to attend as dean at the coronation of Charles I. During the civil war he retired to Conway, and fortified his castle for the service of the king. He died on 25th March, 1650. He published some sermons, also the "Holy Table, name and thing"—a treatise directed against Laud, and commended by Clarendon.—(Life by Bishop Hacket.)—J. E.
WILLIAMS, John, an eminent missionary, was born in 1796 at Tottenham, near London. In 1810 he became apprentice to an ironmonger in the City Road, and soon was noted as an ingenious and a skilful workman. At this period a sermon preached by Mr. East, of Birmingham, deeply impressed him, and he became a Sunday-school teacher, and a member of the Tabernacle. His mind was at once turned to missionary operations; his heart was glowing with zeal; and his offer of service to the London Missionary Society being accepted, he and his wife, with other missionaries, sailed for the South Seas on the 16th of November, 1816. Williams' first missionary sphere was Eimeo of the Society Islands, and there he acquired the Tahitian language. His next sojourn was at Huahine, another island of the same group; and in Raiatea he employed his mechanical skill in building a house as a model to the natives. He also gave them laws, and taught them industry—himself, with his own hands, constructing a sugar-mill. Having in 1822 bought at Sydney a schooner called the Endeavour, he sailed for the Harvey islands, and discovered Rarotonga, where in 1827 he himself settled, and began to translate the scriptures for the islanders. But his adventurous spirit could not rest; and as no ship was likely to call at the island, he built one for himself in the short space of fifteen weeks. His new craft, constructed by one so ill-furnished with tools, and assisted only by the natives, was sixty feet long and eighteen wide, and was styled the Messenger of Peace. In this ship, with a native crew, he made several voyages—one as far as Tahiti, eight hundred miles distant; and another among the group of the Navigator Islands. Having completed the Rarotongan version, he came to England in 1834 to superintend the printing of it. He published also his most remarkable "Narrative of Missionary Enterprises," which produced an immediate and deep sensation. It had all the popularity and circulation of a first-class romance—about forty thousand copies being sold in five years. A new ship, the Camden, was purchased for him at the expense of £4000—the common council of London voting £500. He finally left the country in the Camden, with sixteen other missionaries and their wives, on the 11th of April, 1838. After touching at various places, he arrived at Erromanga, 20th November, 1839. Williams and Harris landed in Dillon's bay; but the natives incensed by outrages committed by some former visitors, attacked and murdered them—Williams being pursued into the water, and beaten to death with clubs. The martyr was in the forty-fourth year of his age. His body was cooked and eaten. The spot where the oven was erected is yet pointed out. According to Dr. Turner, in his recently published Nineteen Years in Polynesia, the bones brought home in 1840 by Captain Croker of the Favourable, were not those of Williams. There was no interpreter, and the natives thinking that the captain wanted only human bones, took what came first to hand. All that was really recovered was a piece of red sealing wax about an inch and half long, found in one of his pockets, and believed by the natives to be a portable god. The good work which Williams did abroad was almost equalled by the excitement on behalf of foreign missions which his marvellous book produced at home.—J. E.
WILLIAMS, Sir Roger, an English officer who distinguished himself during the reign of Elizabeth, was born in Monmouthshire, and educated at Oxford. On leaving the university he served as a volunteer under the duke of Alva, and was noted for his bravery and chivalrous honour under the earl of Leicester's command in the Low Countries. He wrote several works, which display natural talent and shrewd judgment. His "Actions of the Low Countries," was reprinted by Sir Walter Scott in his edition of Somers' Tracts. Among his other works are—"A Brief Discourse of War," and "Advice from France." He died at London in 1595, and was buried in St. Paul's cathedral, his body being followed to the grave by the earl of Essex and other officers of distinction.—W. J. P.
WILLIAMS, Roger, founder of the state of Rhode Island, was born in Wales in 1606. Educated at Oxford, he was early intimate with Sir Edward Coke. Entering the church, he became a puritan, and finding himself in conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities, emigrated to New England, arriving in Massachusetts in 1631. Even there he did not find the freedom which he sought. In 1635 he was driven from Salem, where he was pastor of the church, for maintaining absolute liberty of conscience. In 1636 he founded the city of Providence and the colony of Rhode Island, with a constitution purely democratic, and allowing the fullest freedom in religious matters. In 1639 he became a Baptist. The new colony throve, and in 1643 its founder proceeded to England (writing during the voyage his "Key into the languages of America"); and in 1644 he succeeded in effecting the object of his visit, and procured from the parliament a charter of incorporation for the colony. Before his return to America he published
