Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/409

Williams He further celebrated the event by the publication of his ' 'O'Αντιχριστός, the Great Antichrist revealed' (London, 1060, fol.), in which he triumphantly showed antichrist to be 'neither pope nor Turk,' but the Westminster assembly of divines, whom he characterised in the title as a 'collected pack or multitude of hypocritical, heretical, blasphemous, and most scandalous wicked men, that have fulfilled all the prophesies of the Scripture, which have forespoken of the coming of the great Antichrist.'

On repairing to his diocese he found his palace and cathedral in ruins, and was immediately involved in numerous lawsuits in his endeavours to recover the alienated lands of the see, in which he was generally unsuccessful. In 1664 he published 'The Persecution and Oppression of John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, and of Griffith Williams, that was called to the same Bishopric' (London, 4to), an animated autobiography, to which he appended a description of the distressed condition of the clergy of his diocese. Some statements in the appendix drew down the censure of the upper house of convocation at Dublin, and he was reduced to plead that they had inadvertently slipped in. He spent considerable sums in restoring his cathedral and repairing the damage wrought by the rebels. For some years he held the prebendary of Mayne in his diocese in commendam, exchanging it on 21 Feb. 1671-2 for the precentorship, which, however, he resigned on 14 March. Rumours of his death were rife in 1671 (Cal State Papers, Dom. 1671, pp. 384, 441), but he died on 29 March 1672, and was buried in his cathedral at Kilkenny. He left property to endow almshouses for eight poor widows to be erected in the churchyard of the cathedral (Addit. MS. 28948, f. 118), and also bequeathed his lands in Llanllechid for the benefit of the poor (Rep. of Charity Comm. xxviii. 475-6, 491). By his wife Anne he left issue. He was not always on good terms with her, and in October 1635 she brought a suit for alimony against him in the court of high commission, but the case terminated in a reconciliation (ib. 1635-6, pp. 83, 86).

Besides the works already mentioned, Williams was the author of: 1. 'The Delights of the Saints,' London, 1622, 8vo. 2. 'Seven Golden Candlestickes, holding the Seven Greatest Lights of Christian Religion,' London, 1627, 4to. 3. 'The True Church, shewed to all Men that desire to be Members of the Same,' London, 1629, fol. 4. The Right Way to the Best Religion,' London, 1636, fol. 5. 'Seven Treatises very necessary to be observed in these very bad Days, to prevent the Seven Last Vials of God's Wrath, that the Seven Angels are to pour down upon the Earth,' London, 1661, fol. 6. 'The Description and the Practice of the four most admirable Beasts explained in Four Sermons,' London, 1663, 4to. 7. 'A True Relation of a Law Proceeding, betwixt ... Griffith, lord bishop of Ossory, and Sir G. Ayskue,' London, 1663, 4to. 8. 'Several Sermons on Solemn Occasions and Treatises,' London, 1665, 4to. 9. 'Four Treatises,' London, 1667, 4to. To him also has been ascribed 'An Examination of such Particulars in the Solemne League and Covenant as concern the Law; proving it to be destructive of the Lawes of England, both Ancient and Moderne,' Oxford, 1644, 4to.

[Williams's Works; Ware's Irish Bishops, ed. Harris, pp. 420-7; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 952-6; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. x. 252, 425, 6th ser. vi. 305; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500-1714; Graves and Prim's Hist. and Antiq. of Kilkenny Cathedral, 1857, pp. 39, 43-45; Wynn's Hist, of Gwydir Family, 1878, p. 97; Dwnn's Heraldic Visitations, p. 222; Mant's Church of Ireland, 1840, i. 565, 596-8, 663-4; Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, 1714, ii. 2; Newcourt's Repert. Eccles. Londin. 1710, i. 304, 926; Laud's Works (Libr. of Anglo-Catholic Theol.), iv. 495.]  WILLIAMS, GRIFFITH (1769–1838), Welsh bard, only son of William Williams and his wife Catherine, daughter of Morgan Griffith, was born at Hafod Oleu in the parish of Llan Beblig, Carnarvonshire, on 2 Feb. 1769. Not long after his birth the family moved to Llwyn Celyn, Llan Beris; his father died soon afterwards, and when he had been a twelve month at school he was forced to seek employment as a farm hand. After serving in various farms at Anglesey he found work in 1790 at Lord Penrhyn's quarry, and henceforward followed for thirty years the occupation of a quarryman, holding subordinate offices as he grew older. He married, on 21 June 1794, Elizabeth, daughter of Ellis Jones, and in a few years moved to her home at Braich Talog, Llan Degai, where he spent the rest of his days. He died on 18 Sept. 1838, and was buried at Llan Degai.

'Gutyn Peris' (such was his bardic title) won his first triumph as a bard in 1803, when the Gwyneddigion Society awarded him their medal for his ode to the memory of Goronwy Owen [q. v.] In 1808 he composed for Lady Penrhyn a Welsh elegy upon her husband; two years later he was the winner at St. Asaph eisteddfod of prizes for an ode on the royal jubilee and another to the memory of Queen Elizabeth. Some of his