Thomas Williams

“ Tom's face begins to look very one-sided—there are little queer bumps on his forehead, and his mouth is bleeding; but East keeps the wet sponge going so scientifically that he comes up looking as fresh and bright as ever. Williams is only slightly marked in the face, but by the nervous movement of his elbows you can see that Tom's body blows are telling. In fact, half the vice of the Slogger's hitting is neutralized, for he daren't lunge out freely for fear of exposing his sides. ”

“ Thomas produced at Bow-street, in the late inquiry. They all left Nova Scotia Gardens together, namely, Bishop, Williams, Mrs. Williams and himself, and proceeded to St. Thomas's Hospital in the Borough. Bishop and Williams walked on one side of the way, and Mrs. Williams walked by the side of informant, carrying a band-box, tied up in a handkerchief, for the purpose, as informant verily believes, of giving the journey the appearance of a servant going to her situation. ”

“ Now, as luck would have it, there sat next above Tom on that day, in the middle bench of the form, a big boy, by name Williams, generally supposed to be the cock of the shell, therefore of all the school below the fifths. The small boys, who are great speculators on the prowess of their elders, used to hold forth to one another about Williams's great strength, and to discuss whether East or Brown would take a licking from him. He was called Slogger Williams, from the force with which it was supposed he could hit. ”

“ But, in spite of his return to his old whig principles, it was impossible for the new king to retain him as solicitor-general, and a successor was therefore appointed in May. Williams was, however, consoled by being made king's counsel and lord-lieutenant for Merionethshire (8 Oct. 1689) . The latter honour he held only till the following March, while at the elections which also took place in that month he was not returned for any constituency. For the next five years he devoted himself almost exclusively to his practice at the bar. ”

“ Tom works slowly round for an opening; he has all the legs and can choose his own time; the Slogger waits for the attack, and hopes to finish it by some heavy right-handed blow. As they quarter slowly over the ground, the evening sun comes out from behind a cloud, and falls full on Williams's face. Tom darts in, the heavy right-hand is delivered, but only grazes his head. A short rally at close quarters, and they close; in another moment the Slogger is thrown again heavily for the third time. ”

“ It doesn't look a fair match at first glance; Williams is nearly two inches taller, and probably a long year older than his opponent, and he is very strongly made about the arms and shoulders—"peels well," as the little knot of big fifth-form boys, the amateurs, [21] say; who stand outside the ring of little boys, looking complacently on, but taking no active part in the proceedings. ”

“ He now fights cautious, getting away from and parrying the Slogger's lunging hits, instead of trying to counter, and leading his enemy a dance all round the ring after him. "He's funking; go in, Williams," "Catch him up," "Finish him off," scream the small boys of the Slogger party.
"Just what we want," thinks East, chuckling to himself, as he sees Williams, excited by these shouts, and thinking the game in his own hands, blowing himself in his exertions to get to close quarters again, while Tom is keeping away with perfect ease. ”

“ Owing to her weak health, Miss Williams spent the first half of her life at Neuadd Felen, near Talgarth, Breconshire, where she acquired a knowledge of the language and a taste for the literature of Wales. Here she also made the acquaintance of Lady Llanover, who introduced her to many literary friends. From 1856 onward she lived in London, first at 9 Hans Place, and afterwards at 30 Oakley Crescent, Chelsea, where she died on 15 March 1885, and was buried in Brompton cemetery. ”

“ And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. ”

“ You may talk and talk to the grief-stricken one who bends over the corpse in the coffin about death being a transition from a world of woe to a world of weal, and the distressed one may try to cherish the thought and proclaim belief, but the tears cease not to flow, the pain and anguish written upon every feature of the mourner refuse to give place to joy and gladness. ”

“ There must be the shining sun, the cloud and descending rain. For the appearance of the rainbow of the everlasting covenant the Sun of Righteousness is ready, but as yet the dew of the coming dawn is enveloped in the womb of the darkness of death and the grave. ”

“ Within the great circle of the heavens, the earth, revolving upon its axis and gliding along its orbit, is but as a very small wheel in the great machinery of the fathomless and limitless universe, while to our short range of view it appears great and wonderful above all others of the worlds which float in the immensity of space. ”

“ The dew of the morning comes from the womb of the night, and under the rays of the rising sun is drawn into the air to be formed into clouds to give rain upon the earth. So are the true saints to be the dew of the dawn of millennial glory, upon whom the Sun of righteousness shall shine and draw up into the new heavens as clouds to give the latter rain of blessing, and as showers to water the earth. ”

“ East can't help shouting challenges to two or three of the other side, though he never leaves Tom for a moment, and plies the sponges as fast as ever.
The fact is, that at the end of the last round, Tom, seeing a good opening, had closed with his opponent, and after a moment's struggle, had thrown him heavily, by the help of the fall he had learned from his village rival in the Vale of White Horse. Williams hadn't the ghost of a chance with Tom at wrestling, and the conviction broke at once on the Slogger faction that if this were allowed, their man must be licked. ”

“ The groaning millions of our time are looking into the political heavens and watching the clouds, hoping for a rain that will bring relief to a thirsty world; but alas! the clouds have no water to quench their burning thirst, no rain to give life to the withered and blighted fields that are ready for the sickle of the swiftly coming harvest of wrath. ”

“ A gathering storm is accummulating fearfully in every region, the lightning is already seen gleaming in the heavens and passing in quick succession from one distant cloud to another as if every tree in the forest would be enkindled, and the devastating tempest before purifying the atmosphere would spread ruin on every side. ”

“ For heathen heart that puts her trust In reeking tube and iron shard-- All valiant dust that builds on dust, And guarding, calls not Thee to guard-- For frantic boast and foolish word, Thy mercy on thy people, Lord! ”

“ History is almost an unbroken tale of woe and war in all the conflicting kingdoms and empires that have had their day and disappeared from the face of the earth amid the raging, dashing waves of the angry and restless sea of nations. ”

“ In 1833 he was awarded the Cymmrodorion medal for ‘An Historical Account of the Monasteries and Abbeys in Wales,’ which was published in the ‘Transactions’ of that society for 1843. He published in 1825 an excellent Welsh translation of two works of Baxter's, ‘The Saints' Everlasting Rest’ and ‘A Call to the Unconverted’ (London, 8vo) . He is to be distinguished from another P. B. Williames (1802–1871) , one of the originators and editors in 1829 of the ‘Cambrian Quarterly Magazine,’ to which Peter Bayly Williams also contributed (see i. 273; Williams, Montgomeryshire Worthies, p. 309) . ”

“ God of our fathers, known of old-- Lord of our far-flung battle-line-- Beneath Whose awful Hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine-- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget--lest we forget! The tumult and the shouting dies-- The captains and the kings depart-- Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart, Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget--lest we forget! ”

“ There's going to be a fight between Slogger Williams and Tom Brown!”
The news ran like wildfire about, and many boys who were on their way to tea at their several houses turned back, and sought the back of the chapel, where the fights come off.
“Just run and tell East to come and back me,” said Tom to a small School-house boy, who was off like a rocket to Harrowell's, just stopping for a moment to poke his head into the School-house hall, where the lower boys were already at tea, and sing out, “Fight! ”

“ But after all life is but a span, "an inch or two of time," hung upon a slender cord that is momentarily in danger of breaking and in the end-the inevitable end-sure to be cut asunder by the ever-busy hand of man's universal enemy, the dread of all mankind - Death, Death, pitiless, cruel and relentless Death. Sickness, sorrow, pain and death are realities alike in the experience of young and old, rich and poor, great and small, in every land and in every clime. ”

“ On hearing the annoying cries of the sailors, the king sent the queen, with her attendants, in a very light boat to wait near an island, a quarter of a league distant, while he remained a long time on board, talking with us by signs, and expressing his fanciful notions about everything in the ship and asking the use of all. ”

“ We behold man as he approaches the verge of death, after a long and struggling life. As his body declines his mental powers gradually weaken and wane, until he is in his "dotage." Then he lies helpless upon his dying bed; and soon, while there is little life remaining, consciousness ceases, and at last the lamp of life goes out, and he who once lived is now dead; he who once talked is now silent; he who once could see now sees no more; he who once could hear is now oblivious of all sound; he who once thought has ceased to think--he is dead. ”

“ It will be understood that the territorial troubles grew out of the indistinctness of metes and bounds in the Indian deeds, and it is greatly to the credit of the good sense and honorable dealing of the proprietors of the two settlements that matters were adjusted so peaceably and satisfactorily. Stephen Payne of Rehoboth and Thomas Willett of Sowams were the peacemakers of these ancient towns, and their example has been helpful to a spirit of concession and comity between their successors in town affairs to the present day. ”

“ Once, when our men remained two or three days on a small island near the ship for their various necessities, as sailors are wont to do, he came with seven or eight of his attendants to inquire about our movements, often asking us if we intended to remain there long, and offering us everything at his command. Sometimes he would shoot with his bow, and run up and down with his people, making great sport for us. ”

“ Fortunately for the theory that the Northmen wintered at Mount Hope, Mr. William J. Miller of Bristol has located the rock on the shore of Mount Hope Bay in the town of Bristol. The rock is of graywacke, ten and a half by six and a half feet in length, and twenty-one inches thick. The surface is much worn by the water which only leaves it bare at low tide. The inscription is a boat with a series of lines and angles, which, it is claimed by Mr. Miller, were carved by some Norse sailor, left in charge of a boat and awaiting his companions. ”

“ We judged them to be very affectionate and charitable toward their relatives, for. they make loud lamentations in their adversity, and in their misery call to remembrance all their good deeds. When they die their relations mutually join in weeping mingled with singing for a long while. ”

“ Thus the humane acts of Winslow and Hampden, in saving, by providential aid, the life of Massassoit, were repaid by friendly counsels, which preserved the infant colony from complete extermination. While an Indian's revenge is proverbial, his gratitude should also be kindly remembered, and the dwellers in Plymouth and Bristol counties ought ever to cherish in grateful memories the name of Massassoit of Sowams, who saved their ancestors and their colony from a premature and inevitable destruction. ”

“ Smith is a man of practical business ability, liberal in views, generous, public spirited, conservative in action. His army record is one of which he is justly proud and in it he rendered the longest service, and attained the highest rank of the Barrington soldiers, the captaincy. ”

“ With Arnold of Rugby, he said, "It is not enough for a boy to go through college, but the college must go through him, if he would be a scholar," and he made the discipline of study the purpose of his life. Mr. Allen was installed pastor of the Congregational Church, Barrington, Sept., 1838, and was dismissed at his own request in 1842, on account of inadequate salary. He writes: "I became very much attached to the beautiful town and the noble people, whose generous kindness I so richly enjoyed." ”

“ The title of “unmitered pope of New England” will be given him by future generations. Like his opponent, he follows what he believes to be the path of right, but whereas with Roger Williams it leads to liberty, with John Cotton it leads to persecution. We pass to the next portrait with a sigh of relief.
Thomas Hooker, also the friend of early days, comes next. Milder, less learned, perhaps, than John Cotton, he still has a reputation for able argument. He is to [Pg 33] labor long and earnestly to make the mischief-maker see the error of his ways. ”

“ The character of these settlers was profligate and unprincipled, and after they had become reduced to extreme penury by their idleness and dissolute habits, excited the ill-will of the Indians by fraudulent dealings and by theft. Massassoit advised Winslow, that the English should make an immediate attack upon the Massachusetts, lest after the tribes had destroyed the Weymouth settlement, they should fall upon the people of Plymouth and easily destroy them. ”