Henry Williams

“ Afterwards being reinforced by other English companies, he drove the whole body of the enemy with great loss to their entrenchments. ‘The king doth commend him very highly,’ wrote Sir Henry Unton [q. v.] , the English ambassador in France, ‘and doth more than wonder at the valour of our nation. I never heard him give more honour to any service nor to any man.’
Williams remained in France for most of his remaining years, though he occasionally brought news to London. At home he completely identified himself with the interests of Essex (cf. Cal. Hatfield MSS. vols. v. and vi.) . ”

“ I think myself that it is pretty fair for a man that never had any advantages.
But, Henry, why will you insist on fighting the young man from Ohio? It is not only rude and wrong, but you invariably get licked. There's where the enormity of the thing comes in.
It was this young man from Ohio, named Williams, that you hazed last year, or at least that's what I gether from a letter sent me by your warden. He maintains that you started in to mix Mr. Williams up with the campus in some way, and that in some way Mr. Williams resented it and got his fangs tangled up in the bridge of your nose. ”

“ The colonel brought him a cocktail and began to talk about the emeralds at once,
“It appears they are a famous set,” he said. “And they look devilish well on that little lady's neck, don't you think? Nice people, what?”
“Oh, quite,” answered Henry, stifling an inclination to yawn. Instead he sipped his cocktail.
“Who are they?”
“Anita”—this was Mrs. Ankerville—“and I met them at Monte Carlo. They are Australians, and very wealthy. He has large metal or mining interests in Australia—I forget just which it is. This is the first time he has been over since the war. Hang it!” ”

“ Williams in 1711, as a trust for the benefit of the aborigines.
Here is the fitting place for appropriate and most grateful mention of the results of a labor of devoted zeal and love given by the Rev. Henry Martyn Dexter, D.D., to the historic memorial of a cause of which he inherits the full spirit, and in the service of which he has spent his mature life. It may safely be said that not a single person, at least of those born on the soil of New England, of the lineage of the Fathers has so “magnified” their cause and work as he has done. ”

“ The reservation of controul in the crown over the officers of the forest, is the origin of the office of chief justice in eyre of the present day. Both the Williams were fond of the chase, which led them to oppress their subjects most inordinately. Henry commenced his reign by promising relief, which he never granted; on the contrary, it is evident, from the charter of his successor, that his extending the abuses of the forest laws occasioned great discontent. During the reign of Henry II. a milder system prevailed ”

“ He married Anne, daughter of John Goddard of Rotterdam and Woodford Hall, Essex, and a niece of Henry Hope, one of the chief partners in the bank, a nephew of Adrian Hope, and a near kinsman of Thomas Hope (1770?–1831) [q. v.] . Williams assumed the name of Hope at first in addition to his own, but subsequently dropped the name of Williams altogether. On the return of Henry Hope with other members of his family to England in 1794, Williams-Hope managed the business in Amsterdam, and was elected one of the eight statesmen of Holland. ”

“ Among those whose natural desires did not lead them into the public arena, was William Williams, the son of the Rev. Solomon Williams, D. D. He was a native of the town of Lebanon, Windham county, Connecticut, and was born on the 8th of April, 1731. His paternal ancestors were Welsh, one of whom immigrated from Wales in 1630. They were remarkable for piety and a love of liberty. His father was the highly esteemed and able pastor of the first congregational church in Lebanon, during the long period of fifty-six years. ”

“ Although at odds with the theology of Massachusetts Bay, Williams remained in correspondence with Winthrop and others in Boston, by whom he was highly esteemed. He visited England in 1643 and 1652, and made the acquaintance of John Milton.
Besides the threat of an Indian war and their anxious concern for the purity of the Gospel in their churches, the colonists were haunted by superstitious forebodings of the darkest kind. ”

“ Warm, generous thoughts surged through his mind; he would give Merton a pound in the morning; perhaps he had been a bit severe—and certainly nobody cleaned brown shoes as Merton did!
Henry suddenly felt hungry. The prospect of dinner invigorated him. Pleasurably he recalled memories of Ankerville's Pichon Longueville. Even his fellow guests assumed a more agreeable aspect in his sight.
Then Jennie Branksome appeared at the head of the oaken staircase, and Henry Tibbutts ceased, for the moment, to be a greedy and spoiled bachelor and became a very lovesick man. ”

“ Henry observes the operations of Williams and thinks he sees in him a powerful rival—the unhappy youth becomes melancholy—he sickens with jealousy—the pleasures of our country are forgotten by him—his thoughts are constantly employed on his Fidelia.—To complete the measure of his promised happiness he wishes to call her his own—he declares the desire of his soul-Fidelia 121pledges her faith. ”

“ For once, Providence Plantations had the grace to be ashamed of itself. For a while, at least, it was on its good behavior. The citizens of Providence appointed Roger Williams to send a reply to Sir Henry Vane, their friendly critic across the water. In this letter, they freely acknowledged their shortcomings, but with this excuse:
“Possibly a sweet cup hath rendered many of us wanton and too active, for we [Pg 145] have long drunk of the cup of as great liberties as any people that we can hear of under the whole heaven.” ”

“ Williams with grave emphasis, "it's exactly one year and a month, come next Wednesday. I know, because the first time Henry ever come home from prayer-meetin' with Anna Belle was the day after I fell down the cellar stairs and broke my wrist, and I'm not likely to forget when that was. One year and one month! Now, of course, I know a certain amount of courtin' is all right and proper. It's just as necessary to court before you marry as it is to say grace before you eat ”

“ Disturbed though the kingdom was, it was the very best occasion for Roger Williams to present his request. Parliament needed all the friends it could get on both sides of the water. It therefore listened with attention to what he had to say.
Without question Roger Williams numbered among his friends the most powerful men of England at this time—Oliver Cromwell, Sir Henry Vane, the former governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and perhaps Milton. They greeted the pioneer from over-seas with hearty welcome. Their warm friendship must have meant much to the outcast from Massachusetts. ”

“ Women, leave your kine and dairies;
Children, ’tis no time to play.
Let the bread burn in the oven,
Let the seed rot on the land;
Life’s worth more than cakes or barley,
Not more safe with yonder band. ”

“ Henry's bedroom was situated on a short end of corridor which ran off a broader and altogether larger corridor known as the long gallery, from one extremity of which the main staircase descended to the lounge hall. Only four of the guests, as Henry knew, had rooms off Henry's corridor: to wit, Jennie Branksome, the Studd-Bennetts, and himself. Mr. Studd-Bennett's dressing room was opposite Henry's, for, only half an hour earlier, Henry had bidden him good night at the door. Mrs. Studd-Bennett's room, alongside her husband's, was opposite Jennie Branksome's. ”

“ He was a man of great talent and learning, but his productions are chiefly political tracts which related to that period.
Matthew Henry was the son of Philip Henry, an eminent Nonconformist, and he was born at Broad Oak, in Flintshire, in the year 1663. He was early instructed by his father in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, in which he made great proficiency, and being originally intended for the bar, he was entered at Gray’s Inn; but his great predilection for divinity induced him to leave that profession, and for twenty-five years he was the zealous pastor of a Dissenting p. ”

“ The consul squinted an eye and looked through his rifle barrel.
“There’s nobody on the island who calls himself ‘Williams,’” he remarked.
“Didn’t suppose there was,” said Plunkett mildly. “He’ll do by any other name.”
“Besides myself,” said Bridger, “there are only two Americans on Ratona—Bob Reeves and Henry Morgan.”
“The man I want sells cocoanuts,” suggested Plunkett.
“You see that cocoanut walk extending up to the point?” said the consul, waving his hand toward the open door. “That belongs to Bob Reeves. Henry Morgan owns half the trees to loo’ard on the island.” ”

“ It was on the tip of his tongue to deny it; for the narrow bachelor heart of the man beat faster to the appeal of the eager eyes which looked into his. The girl's lips were slightly parted as she leaned forward expecting his reply, and the morning freshness had left a touch of color to her cheeks. But inexorably there forced itself into the forefront of Henry Tibbutts' memory that slim figure creeping through the night. ”

“ Merton, neat and freshly shaved, crossed and recrossed a broad beam of sunshine which poured into the room. Henry drowsily watched his man, a vague sense of resentment in his mind.
He sat up in bed abruptly. Of course he was to speak to Merton, to speak to him very seriously about forgetting the cigarettes.
But on this a flood of recollection engulfed him. A man with towsled hair and lavender silk pajamas is no figure of tragedy, I grant you, yet one may grant a shred of pity to the fool who awakes to his sorrow. ”

“ Williams was born in Tennessee, his father being one of the Virginian pioneers who crossed the Blue Ridge and settled in the state when it was swarming with Indians,—all eager to have the land for themselves alone—and not willing to allow the whites to get possession of it without a severe struggle. [214] His son grew up in surroundings of savagery and warfare. He took part in many of the Ohio campaigns against the red men in that state, and was invariably used as a scout, for his knowledge of woodcraft was excellent. ”

“ Planters, who needed the natives for slaves, especially wanted to wipe him off the map. He had captured and kept more than one blackbird schooner and used it for pearling, and had piled up a fortune in pearls and fine shell. Gunmeyer stole it.
Williams, who stopped at nothing, came right into Sydney itself with a handful of natives, Brundage and McGuire; and part of them signed on with the Mariana's crew and helped to stow him and the others away down in the forepeak. Williams had had no use for his pearls; he had less for a big iron bark, but he felt that she was his and he took her. ”

“ During the next twenty years, in which he continued to serve as a missionary to the Wisconsin Oneidas, Williams was a well-known and picturesque character. His home was on the west bank of the river, about a mile below Little Kaukauna. Although a man of much vigor and strength of mind, he soon came to be recognized as an unscrupulous fellow by the majority of both whites and reds in the lower Fox, and his clerical brethren, East as well as West, appear to have regarded him with more or less contempt. ”

“ Let the biggest man alive put a chip on his shoulder, and it will be impudently knocked off. Williams, not wholly unconsciously, wore a chip. Most people, either cautious or sensible, not necessarily timid, gave him headway.
I ignored his manner; though not his words. Commands were things he meant. He was not a bully. And when he gave his loyalty, his friendship, his word, not the combined admiralties of the world could frighten or fight him out of it.
“Too much imagination,” Williams snapped angrily.
I had talked of a woman.
“I'm a mummy inside, Skipper.” ”

“ Williams came up to him as though to strike a blow; and he did, with words:
“I know what it is to be hanged! You don't. Better the cannibals. Every man of this crew shall swing. I'm taking them to the Francis Vore to give them up.”
“But you—you—Skipper! You give up yourself?”
“I give up the Heraldr.”
“But there are a thousand ways—” McGuire was painfully amazed.
“There is no way but mine. That woman—McGuire, I didn't know there were any left in the world like her. She is a woman and——”
“You know her!” ”

“ Williams replied that he "had no law to punish any man for his belief." He was opposed to the doctrines of the Quakers. In his seventy-third year he rowed thirty miles in an open boat to wage a public debate against them. In this manner, and this only, would he resist the progress of opinions which he deemed pernicious. Thus to the end of his life stood forth this good man's loyalty to the absolute liberty of the human conscience. From the foregoing, we may get some idea of the moral and social condition of England and her colonies during the latter part of the seventeenth century. ”

“ Williams swore a great oath, that he would not be restrained in his pleasures to please a canting parish 'prentice, nor to humor a parcel of squalling brats—that let people say what they would of him, they should never say he was a hypocrite, and as long as they could not call him that, he did not care what else they called him. ”

“ Whether on that blest island far away,
O’er the blue hills beyond the setting sun,
They with their kindred joy, or nearer home,
Still lingering, wait until the father come.”
LXXXII.
Williams replied, that he would speak at morn
Of that far journey which the spirit takes;
And name the Guide, who never soul forlorn,
Whilst passing through death’s gloomy night, forsakes.
His brother, then, on fitting day in turn,
Would name the bounds, by rivers, bays, and lakes,
Of neighboring chiefs, and say what Sachems might
His mission threaten, or its hopes invite.
LXXXIII.
Our Founder slept ”