Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/408

 Regum' with the words 'The Grand Rebellion' written largely on the cover. The sheets were actually in the hands of Sir John North, one of the commissioners, but Williams contrived to get it from him before he had looked at the title, and afterwards, by representing himself as a victim of the Irish rebels, he procured a safe-conduct and the restitution of his belongings. He immediately rejoined the king, and attended him, as chaplain, at the battle of Edgehill on 23 Oct. 1642.

Early in 1643 he published his 'Vindiciæ Regum', or the Grand Rebellion; that is a Looking-glass for Rebels, whereby they may see, how by Ten Several Degrees they shall ascend to the Heighth of their Design' (Oxford, 4to). This vigorous invective against the parliamentarians attained considerable fame, and was publicly burnt by order of parliament. It immediately drew a reply from [q. v.], entitled 'Os Ossorianum, or a Bone for a Bishop to pick,' which also appeared in an abridged form, as 'Os, Ossis, and Oris,' within the same year.

In the meantime, after spending most of the winter of 1642-3 at Oxford, Williams retired to Wales to compose a second onslaught on the parliamentarians, 'The Discovery of Mysteries, or the Plots and Practices of a prevalent Faction in this present Parliament to overthrow the established Religion ... and to subvert the fundamentall Lawes of this famous Kingdome' (Oxford, 1643, 4to; 1645, 4to). Falkland, misliking some of its sentiments, desired to suppress it, but he was overruled by the king. Its publication earned Williams fresh notoriety and substantial punishment. On 8 March 1643-4, while he was preaching at the university church before the royalist parliament, his house at Apethorpe was plundered by the parliamentary troops, his wife and children driven forth, and his possessions sequestered. His sufferings increased his zeal, and in the following winter appeared 'Jura Majestatis; the Rights of Kings both in Church and State, granted first by God, secondly, violated by Rebels, and, thirdly, vindicated by the Truth; and the Wickedness of the Faction of this pretended Parliament at Westminster' (Oxford, 1644, 4to).

In 1643, shortly before his last work was published, he was employed by the king to try to bring over his patron, the Earl of Pembroke. Repairing to London he found the earl in bed, and so incensed him by his exhortations that he was forced to retire hastily in great dread that the earl would deliver him into the hands of parliament. On trying to quit the city he was stopped and brought before the lord mayor, to whom he said that 'he was a poor pillaged preacher from Ireland, who came to London to see his friends,' and now desired to go to some friends in Northampton. By this means he obtained a pass to Northampton and reached Oxford, whence, shortly after, he passed into Wales, and thence to Ireland. During these years he contributed to the royal cause as freely from his purse as with his pen, giving the king the greater part of his private revenue.

In 1645 he visited England and had an interview with the king, and on his return found himself in Anglesey when it submitted to General [q. v.] After in vain exhorting the royalists to resist, he managed by a succession of adroit stratagems to reach Ireland, and on 1 April 1647 was presented to the rectory of Rathfarnham, near Dublin. He resided in that city until its surrender in the same year, when he was included by name in the benefits of the capitulation. Ormonde sent him a sum of money to relieve his necessities, but on his way to Wales, to live on a small patrimony he possessed there, he was taken prisoner by Captain Beeche, who robbed him of all he had and left him to make his way back to Dublin in a destitute condition. Dr. Loftus furnished him with money to carry him to London, and he appealed to the committee of sequestrations for the benefits of the Dublin capitulation. On learning that he was the author of 'Vindiciæ Regum,' the committee told him he deserved to have his head cut off, and passed on to the next business without giving him any redress. Armed with a letter from Fairfax, he had better fortune with the committees at Northampton and Anglesey, to which he was driven by poverty to resort on foot. After regaining his small possessions, he lived at his house in Llanllechid in great poverty, preparing his 'Great Antichrist' for press. His old patron, Pembroke, offered him a valuable living in Lancashire if he would submit to parliament; but this he refused, as well as an offer of Henry Cromwell's of 100l. a year on the same terms. In 1651, when Charles was marching on Worcester, he preached before the judges at Conway, and manifested such strong royalist tendencies that he saved himself only by flight. He made various attempts to get his 'Great Antichrist' printed, but could find no one bold enough to venture on it. In 1660, while crossing to Ireland, he heard at Holyhead the news of the Restoration, and the next morning, preaching in Dublin at St. Bride's, was the first in Ireland to pray publicly for the king.