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WILLIAMS WILLIAMS, Rowland, an English clergyman, born at Halkyn, Flintshire, Aug. 16, 1817, died at Broad Chalk, near Salisbury, Jan. 18, 1870. He graduated at Cambridge in 1840, and became fellow and in 1842 tutor of his college, took orders, and was active in connec- tion with reform at Cambridge. In 1850 he became vice principal and professor of Hebrew in the Welsh theological college of St. David's at Lampeter, and chaplain to the bishop of Llandaff. He was appointed select preacher at Cambridge in 1854. The views on revelation, inspiration, &c., expressed in his sermons, met with much opposition. In 1859 he was ap- pointed vicar of Broad Chalk, and he resided there from 1862. Dr. Williams was one of the authors of the volume of "Essays and Re- views " (1860), and for this was prosecuted in the court of arches and condemned in Decem- ber, 1862 ; but the judgment was reversed by the privy council in February, 1864. His other works are : " Rational Godliness, after the Mind of Christ and the Written Voice of the Church " (sermons at Cambridge, 1856) ; . " Christianity and Hinduism Compared " (1856) ; " Broad Chalk Sermon-Essays, on Nature, Mediation, Atonement, and Absolution " (1867) ; the " He- brew Prophets, translated afresh" (2 vols., 1868-'71); "Owen Glendower, a Dramatic Biography, and other Poems" (1870); and "Psalms and Litanies" (4to, 1872), edited by his widow, who has also published his " Life and Letters" (2 vols., 1874). WILLIAMS, Samuel Wells, an American sino- logue, born in Utica, N. Y., Sept. 22, 1812. He graduated in 1832 at the Rensselaer poly- technic institute in Troy, and in 1833 went to Canton as a printer in the mission of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions. He there assisted in editing the " Chinese Repository," a monthly publication begun the year before by Dr. Bridgman. In 1835 he removed to Macao to complete the printing of Medhurst's Hokkeen dictionary. In 1837, while on a voyage to Japan to return home some shipwrecked mariners, he learned their language, and translated the books of Genesis and Matthew into it. He contributed about one third to Dr. Bridgman's " Chinese Chrestomathy," and published " Easy Lessons in Chinese " (8vo, Macao, 1842), " Chinese Commercial Guide" (1844), and "English and Chinese Vocabulary in the Court Dialect " (1844). He visited the United States in 1845, and, to obtain funds for casting a font of Chinese type in Berlin, delivered lectures on China, which were enlarged and published under the title of " The Middle Kingdom " (2 vols., New York, 1848). Soon afterward he received the degree of LL. D. from Union col- lege. In 1848 he returned to Canton, and took charge of the " Chinese Repository," which was discontinued in 1851 with its 20th volume. He accompanied Com. Perry's expe- dition to Japan in 1853-'4 as interpreter, and in 1855 was appointed secretary and inter- WILLIAMSBURG 641 preter to the United States legation in Japan, and took charge of it until the arrival of the minister. In 1856 he published a " Tonic Dic- tionary of the Chinese Language, in the Can- ton Dialect," and an enlarged edition of the " Commercial Guide," both printed at the mis- sion press in Macao, which was burned with most of the books in December, 1856. In 1858 he assisted Mr. Reed at Tientsin in the negotiations connected with the treaty, and the next year accompanied Mr. Ward to Pe- king to exchange the ratifications. He re- visited the United States in 1860-'61, and on his return to China in 1862 the legation was removed to Peking. The next year he pub- lished the fifth edition of the " Commercial Guide," nearly rewritten. In 1874 he pub- lished the " Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language " (4to, Shanghai), containing 12,527 characters with their pronunciation as heard at Peking, Canton, Amoy, and Shanghai. This has superseded all other Chinese-English dictionaries. A new edition of the " Tonic Dictionary," revised by Dr. Eitel, has been published by aid of the English authorities (Hong Kong, 1876). Dr. Williams returned to the United States in 1875. WILLIAMS, William, a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, born in Lebanon, Wind- ham co., Conn., April 18, 1731, died there, Aug. 2, 1811. He graduated at Harvard col- lege in 1751. In 1755 he accompanied his rela- tive, Col. Ephraim Williams, in his expedition to Lake George. He was an active member of the council of safety, and in October, 1775, was sent to the continental congress. His property was nearly all expended in the war, and, going from house to house, he obtained many pri- vate donations to supply the army. He served nearly 50 years in the state legislature, and took part in the state convention which adopt- ed the federal constitution. WILLIAMS, William B., an American clergy- man, born in New York, Oct. 14, 1804. He graduated at Columbia college in 1822, studied law, practised for a year, and after a visit to Europe entered upon the ministry in the Bap- tist denomination. He was installed pastor of the Amity street Baptist church, at the time of its formation in 1831, and still retains that office (1876), notwithstanding numerous solici- tations to accept more conspicuous positions. He has published two volumes of discourses, " Religious Progress" (Boston, 1850) and "Lec- tures on the Lord's Prayer" (Boston, 1851); a volume of "Miscellanies" (New York, 1850); and "God's Rescues, or Discourses on Luke xv." (1871). W1LLIAMSBOLG, a city of Virginia, and merly its capital, county seat of James City co., about 50 m. E. S. E. of Richmond, and about the same distance from the Atlantic ocean^at the mouth of Chesapeake bay; pop. in 18(0, 1 892, of whom 499 were colored. It is on ai elevated plateau in the peninsula between tb York and James rivers, about 4 m. from the