Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/407

 Labouchere at the Strawberry Hill sale for 157l. 10s., and is now in the possession of Lord Taunton. It was engraved in line by Greatbach for Wright's edition of 'Walpole's Letters,' and is reproduced in Cunningham's edition and in Jesse's 'Selwyn.' A mezzotint was executed by J. Scott for the 'Engravings of Works by Sir Joshua Reynolds' of 1865, and this is reproduced in the 'History of White's.'

&#91;Gent. Mag. 1805, ii. 1176; Burke's Extinct Baronetage, p. 570; Walpole's Corresp. and Memoirs of the Reign of George III; Warburton's Horace Walpole and his Contemporaries, 1851; Jesse's Selwyn and his Contemporaries, 1844, vols. i. and ii. passim; Dobson's Horace Walpole, 1890, pp. 166, 205, 241; History of White's Club; Wheatley and Cunningham's London, iii. 305.] 

WILLIAMS, GRIFFITH (1589?–1672), bishop of Ossory, born at Treveilian in the parish of Llanrug, near Carnarvon, in 1589 or 1590, was the son of a freeholder in the parish. His mother was a descendant of the ancient house of Penmynydd in Anglesey. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 15 June 1604. He was sent thither by his uncle, but his aunt taking a dislike to him, his means of support were cut off. Through the kindness of (1582-1650) [q. v.], afterwards archbishop of York, he obtained employment at Cambridge as a private tutor, and was admitted to Jesus College, whence he graduated B.A. in 1605-6 and M.A. in 1609. He was incorporated M.A. at Oxford on 10 July 1610, graduated B.D. at Cambridge in 1616, and proceeded D.D. in 1621. He was ordained deacon by the bishop of Rochester and priest by the bishop of Ely, serving as curate at Hanwell in Middlesex. In 1608 he was presented to the rectory of Foxcott in Buckinghamshire by, third earl of Southampton [q. v.], and afterwards became lecturer at St. Peter's in Cheapside and at St. Paul's Cathedral for five years. On 11 Jan. 1611-12 he was instituted rector of St. Bennet Sherehog in London through the influence of his patron, John Williams, and resigned the rectory of Foxcott. He had strong high-church sympathies, which roused the dislike of the puritans, and after the appearance of his first publication, 'The Resolution of Pilate,' they prevailed on (1559?-1621) [q. v.], bishop of London, to suspend him in 1616. He was also bound over to appear at Newgate to answer the charges brought against him, but was discharged by (afterwards Lord Coventry) [q. v.], who estreated the recognisances of his accusers.

After his suspension, from which he was eventually released on appeal to the prerogative court, he resigned his living, retired for a short time to Cambridge, and, on his return to London, found friends in the archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot, and in the chancellor, Sir Thomas Egerton, who presented him to the rectory of Llanllechid in Carnarvonshire. Here he became involved almost immediately in a dispute with his diocesan, [q. v.], bishop of Bangor, a strong puritan, to whom his ecclesiastical views cannot have been acceptable. Bayly wished him to exchange his living for another, and, on his refusal, presented articles against him ex officio. Williams appealed to the court of arches, and Abbot came to his rescue, reprimanding Bayly, and giving Williams license to preach through several dioceses in his province.

Four years later, however, finding his position intolerable, after a visit to Cambridge he returned to London, and in 1625 became domestic chaplain to, first earl of Montgomery (afterwards fourth Earl of Pembroke) [q. v.], and tutor to his children. In 1626 he was presented to the rectory of Trefdraeth in Anglesey. On 17 July 1628 he was installed prebendary of the eighth stall at Westminster (cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1628-9, p. 193), and on 28 March 1634 he was instituted dean of Bangor. About 1636 he was appointed a royal chaplain. He was on the point of being nominated tutor to Prince Charles and the Duke of Gloucester, but at the last moment Laud, who disliked him in spite of their theological sympathies, obtained the appointment of [q. v.] instead. Williams also states that 'before he was forty years old, he narrowly escaped being elected bishop of St. Asaph,' probably on the death of (1574-1629) [q. v.], but on that occasion also saw another preferred to him at the instance of Laud.

In 1641 he was raised to the Irish see of Ossory by a patent dated 11 Sept. He had resigned his prebend a few months before, but retained his deanery in commendam till his death. On 26 Sept. he was consecrated, but in less than a month he was forced to fly to England by the outbreak of the Irish rebellion. He came to Apethorpe in Northamptonshire, where he possessed a house, and where he had settled his wife and children. On the night of his arrival he was arrested by a troop of horse, under Captain Flaxon, and carried before the parliamentary commissioners at Northampton. His position was perilous, for he had with him the manuscript of his '