_John Williams_, Archbishop of York, and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, was born at Aberconwy, in 1582. He was educated at Ruthin School, and St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he soon distinguished himself by his application and splendid abilities, which were rewarded with a fellowship. He was ordained in 1609, and soon after he obtained the rectory of Grafton, in Northamptonshire. Being appointed chaplain to Lord Ellesmere, then Lord Chancellor, he ingratiated himself so much with his patron by his talents, that he obtained through him rapid preferments, and was appointed one of the royal chaplains. In 1619 he was made dean of Salisbury, and soon after exchanged it for the deanery of Westminster; in a short time he was appointed lord keeper, and immediately afterwards he was raised to the bishopric of Lincoln. He retained great influence at court during the reign of James the First, and was the chief cause of the promotion of Laud to the episcopal bench, who, however, ungratefully joined in various persecutions to which the Archbishop was subjected for several years; but his worth and excellent character prevailed: he was restored to favour, and in 1641 he was raised to the archiepiscopal see of York. During the civil war, he fortified Conwy Castle for the King’s use; but after a seige, being surprised, he was compelled to give it up on honourable terms to the parliamentary troops. He died at Gloddaeth, near Conwy, on his birth-day, in 1650. He was the author of several theological works, and an interesting “History of his Life” was published by Bishop Hacket, who had been his chaplain; and a more condensed biography subsequently by Stephens, and also by Phillips. _John Williams_, L.L.D., was born at Llanbedr-pont Stephen in 1727. He was educated at the Grammar School of the same town, where he acquired a competent knowledge of the classics; being strongly inclined to the ministry, he was entered at the age of nineteen at a Dissenting Academy, in Caermarthen, where he went through the usual studies to be qualified for the office of a minister. In 1752 he went to Stamford, Lincolnshire, at the unanimous request of a congregation of Protestant Dissenters, and in 1755 he removed to a similar situation in Berkshire. Here he completed his “Concordance to the Greek New Testament,” and afterwards he removed to Sydenham, where he officiated for the long period of twenty-eight years. In 1777 he was chosen the curator of Redcross-street Library; and the lease of his chapel expiring, he retired to Islington, where he remained until his death, which took place in 1798. In his character, both public and private, he was esteemed for the conscientious discharge of his duty as a Christian minister, and for his literary acquirements. He published several works on theology and other subjects, which are of great merit, and enriched with valuable information.