146 NOTES AND QUERIES.. [i- 2 a x. FEB. 25, 1022,
towards mee, that you may be sure that it shall
be only want of power if I do not gratify you to
your heart's desire. And I will not only give
you your Garter but somewhat else likewise that
will make you wear it with more delight. I do
rely upon your dexterity and credit to improve
my interest in all places, and what shall be
undertaken by you or your friends in my behalf,
with those who can eminently merit from mee I
will performe. Let mee understand how any
treaty advances between those in present power
and Spayn or France or any other neighbours.
And I know you will do what you can to obstruct
all things of that kind and do me and my friends
all the good offices you can. And in all things
you may depend upon mee as
Your very affectionate friend
CHARLES R.
Copie of another from Bruxels. Dated 10 Aug.
1659.
I have yours by H. and cannot but bee abun-
dantly satisf yed with the great services you have
done me, how melancholy soever the knowledge
of one truth hath made mee, and if your dexterity
do not prevent it, there is mo mischief may not
befall me and my friends. I would finish my
intentions towards yourself but there is some-
what of form that cannot consist with ye secrecy
that is necessary for you, and which I have
observed inviolably and you may be most con-
fidant I will perform and punctually more then
I have promised so soon as you can own ye
receiving of it. I must again conjure you to be
careful of my friends and believe me to bee very
heartily
Your affectionate friend
CHARLES R.
J. G. M.
JOHN CHARLES WILLIAMS:
A BUCKINGHAMSHIRE PARSON AND
SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS.
(See ante, p. 121.)
WE may now see how some of the de-
scendants of our parson fared.
His eldest very pretty daughter, Char-
lotte Spencer Williams (1813-1889), married
(through the influence of her aunt and my
grandmother, Charlotte Susannah Bull,
nee Swales, of 25, Ely Place, Holborn)
Charles Meeking of Richings Park, Coin-
brook, near Slough, whose great-grand-
daughter, Finola Meeking, has recently
married Lord Somers. Like the Swales,
Meeking came of Suffolk stock. When I
used to stay at Richings as a boy, I was fond
of browsing over the library, and among
the records there is a detailed family paper
showing that the origin of the name was
De Meschines, a well-known Norman
family. R. H. Barham (1788-1845 ; ' D.N.B.')
mentions its founder in the ' Lay of St-
Cuthbert ' in the ' Ingoldsby Legends ' :
In short the whole country declared through his
bounty
The Abbey of Bolton exhibited fresh scenes
From any displayed since Sir William De-
Meschines
And Cecily Roumeli came to this nation
With William the Norman, and laid its founda-
tion.
There is a detailed legend in the family
that Disraeli, as a youth, at Bradenham,.
proposed to Charlotte and. was refused..
It is clear that he remained a faithful friend
to the end of his life.
Williams' s eldest son was articled to my
grandfather and became a solicitor ; his-
eldest grandson, John Charles Williams,.
No. 3 of the I.C.S., was a Deputy Com-
missioner of Barabanki in Oudh in 1873,.
and Assistant Magistrate and Collector of
Sharanpur in the North -West Provinces in
1875.
The second son, William White Williams;
(1815-1863), became a doctor, and accom-
panied Rajah Brook (1803-1868 : 'D.N.B.')
of Sarawak to Borneo as surgeon to the
expedition. He was a great authority on
Shakespeare and wrote many articles for
The Athenceum. The eldest son of W. W_
Williams was named Robert (1842-1886).
He was B.A., Fellow of Merton 1864, and
lecturer- student of Christ Church, and
translated the 'Nicomachean Ethics' of
Aristotle. Barrister, novelist, journalist r
and playwright, he became a brilliant
leader-writer on The Times, Daily Tele-
graph, Standard and Observer. He suc-
ceeded Mr. Justice Wright (1839-1904 ;
' D.N.B.') as coach for " Greats," and amongst
his pupils were the present Lords Rosebery
and Lansdowne. He was probably the-
most successful " Greats " tutor ever known
at Oxford. My friend Sir Courtenay
Ilbert, the late Clerk of the House of
Commons, who was a contemporary of his,
was telling me only the other day several
stories illustrating the brilliant scholarship
of " Student Williams." He was also in-
terested in the lighter side of life, and on the
staff of The Sporting Times wrote under the
name of " Bobos."
One of Robert Williams's grandchildren is
Pamela Bianco, the wonderful child artist
whose pictures have recently attracted so
much attention.
His sister Frances married the Baron de
Parravicini, another classical scholar, who-
died on June 29, 1920, in his 77th year.
