[An account of the life of John Williams] / [John Williams].

  • John Williams
Date:
[1768?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [An account of the life of John Williams] / [John Williams]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/10 (page 337)
    Supplement to the Universal Mao. Vol.XLII. 33; ^ - , -• 637<?v / / in'euZ*\x17\ ^ereancHantb engraved Head, with an Account of the Life of J UHN VVI L L f A M S, a Welfh Divine of a very difinguijhed Character, being Lord Keeper of the Great heal of England, and Archbijhop of York. His Hi/lory vnll throve great Light on that of the Times he lived in., in which hefeems to have bornp a great Part. „ f: ' p , c -? 7 JOHN WILLTAMS wasbornMarch 25, 1582, at Aberconway, in the county of Caernarvon in Wales, and was the fon of Edward Williams, Efq; whole father, Wilham Williams, Efqj of Coghwillane, derived his pedigree from the Princes of North-Wales, in the timeofKing Stephen, and continued his coat of arms without any alteration from Ednevet Vifehan, Lord Steward of Wales in the 25th year of Henry II. Mr. Williams, being youngeft ol five Tons, his education fell to the lhare of his grandmother, who was daughter of Sir William GiifFytb, Knt. late of Penryn; and this Gentlewoman very gladly embraced the opportunity that of¬ fered of fending her grandfon to Ruthyn in Denhighlhire, to a grammar-fehool founded that year by Dr. Gabriel Good¬ man, Dean of Weftminfter, who had likewife appointed her kinfman, Mr. Robert Griffyth, the firft mailer. Mr. Williams could not be lefs than thirteen years of age when he came to this fchool ; however, he retrieved that difadvantage by the quick progrefs he made through it. For tnough his fpirit could not be confined to a conltant regular attendance; and, indeed, no boy played truant I'o often as he; yet, when he returned to his book, he plied it fo much to the purpofe, and made fuch fwift advances, that no boy was able to keep pace with him. He was head fcholar when Dr. Richard Vaughan, then lately made Bifhop of Bangor, happened to make a v;fit to this new foundation, and, finding his young kinfman ripe for the univerfit^, prefently fent him to St. John s college in Cambridge, where he was admitted in 1598, under the tuition of Mr. Owen Gwyn, another of his relations; and he became a fcholar of the houfe the 5th of November, in the following year. It was obferved, that he brought with him hither more Latin and Greek than good Englifh ; and the lhame of his Welfh dialta proved a lucky check upon the fiaciablenefs of his temper ; for, avoiding (TTm^ny on that account, he kept dole to his lludies,and, being happy in a conltitu- tion that required no more than three hours fleep in the twenty-four to keep him in peift-a health, he read over the belt authors in leveral fciences, together with the moll conliderahle hiftorians and poets Numb, CCXX'V, Vol, XLU. 1 ” J v tv * 1 Greek and Latin, while he was yet under¬ graduate ; and his genius was likewife foon obfeived to be above the ordinary level ; but he was moll of all diftinguilhed by a ready and retentive memory. He pro¬ ceeded bachelor of arts the latter end of the year 1602, and in lefs than a month, viz. on the 14th of April, 1603, was eledled into a foundation fellowlhip for the diocefe of Bangor, and nominated fenior of his eledlion by the favour of King James I. In 1604, his patron, Dr. Richard Vaughan, being promoted to the fee of London, gave his kinfman an invitation to his palace there in vacation-times. This kindnefs proved of great fervice to our ftudent, who thereby began tolhake off the aukward addrels of the collegian, and to acquire a more courtly manner. Here he likewife became known to John,Lord Lumley, who received him as a relation, and never dif- milled him without a prefent of ten pieces, and afterwards gave him leveral valuable books, both printed and manuferipts, out of his curious library. By this means, when Mr. Williams commenced Mailer of Arts in 1605, he indulged his natural- humour, and treated his friends at the commencement in a fplepdid manner, above the common prablice. As i'oon as he had completed this degree, he entered ferioully upon the ftudy of divinity, and, hiving employed two years in reading the Bible with the bell commentators, he un¬ dertook the fcboolmen, the ecclefiaftical hiltorians, and the fathers. In the ftudy of which his manner was to allot one month to each, whereby he found variety almoft as much refrelhing as ceffation f'Otn labour: In Inch a method he was likewfte lure to return to none of thefe courfes of learning as a ftranger, making his fpaces of abfence from none of them any longer than thofe monthlyrevolutions : However, as he obferved, “ viam libi reperit ulus and he liked his own me¬ thod fo well, that he was conllant to it f^r 13 years, until he was called oft' by his lecular emp’oyments, and, when he was difeharged of them, he fell again to run round with his former cour/es. Riu, though he made divinity his chief ftu-.ly, yet he did not negleft other acquisitions ami accompliIhments. He had been early in ft mbled in mathematics by the ce?e- u brated