The chief circumstance that brought Williams into notice was his figuring at Cambridge in a disputation, before Prince Charles, in 1612-13,[368] when he was made a Bachelor of Divinity by special grace, in order that he might become a disputant in the Theological Controversy.[369] Footnote 368: Nichols, vol. iii., p. 589. Footnote 369: Ibid, vol. ii., Appendix. Still, great subserviency was expected even from the Lord Keeper in those days of despotic rule. The industrious letter writer, John Chamberlain, who supplies us with all the gossip and news which, in those days, had no outlet in the public press, writes of this new appointment in these terms:— “The King has made the Dean of Westminster Lord Keeper for a year and a half; if he behave well, he is to retain office for a year and a half longer, and then to surrender it: he is to consult one of the Chief Justices in all cases of importance.”[370] Footnote 370: Chamberlain to Carleton.—State Papers, vol. cxxiii., No. 23. He quietly adds, immediately afterwards, that the Bishop of Bangor had been sent to the Fleet for disputing “malapertly” with the King on the Sabbath; and that Dr. Price had shared the same punishment for his sermon at Oatlands. The “Prevaricator” of Cambridge was expelled the University for saying, at a banquet that he gave, that he would have all sorts of instruments except Gondomar’s pipe.[371] The Lord Keeper’s “good behaviour,” therefore, meant an absolute subjection of reason and understanding; and, more especially, an entire adherence to that line of politics which might happen to be agreeable at the time to the King. Footnote 371: Chamberlain to Carleton, State Papers, vol. cxxii.,No. 23. The Great Seal, when it had been fetched from the miserable Bacon, was delivered by the King, in presence of the Prince and the Privy Council, to Williams, and was received with a short speech, “marvelling at His Majesty’s benignity,” and promising to be pastor of the sheep. In his first speech in the Court of Chancery, the Lord Keeper vindicated the principle on which the King had determined to fill up the post with one who was not a lawyer.[372] Footnote 372: State Papers, vol. cxiii., No. 18.