Welsh Journals

troubled days of the Interregnum and the Restoration. There is valuable material in the Wynn Papers for the life of John Williams, the Lord Keeper and afterwards the Archbishop of York. He was the nephew of Sir John Wynn, and as it turns out incidentally in a letter, also his god- son. Williams acknowledges that he was grate- ful to Sir John for persuading his father to send him to Cambridge.49 In 1606 Sir John makes him an allowance of £ 6 out of the yield of Tyddyn Mawr.50 When Robert Wynn was sent up to Cambridge he entered St. John's College, where Williams was now a fellow. In this office-and then as proctor-he wrote to Sir John promising to use his influence for the young man's advance- ment. Then follow accounts of John Williams as Lord Keeper and the hopes that the Wynns entertained of profiting by his good fortune. In particular he may be able to counter the wiles of John Griffith of Lleyn. But the Lord Keeper seems half inclined to sell the pass and allow the Star Chamber case between Sir John Wynn and the Griffith family to be heard before the Council of the Marches of Wales, where the Lord President favoured the Griffiths, for Williams was getting tired of the many clamorous bills that have come out of Wales since his coming into the place. "51 Perhaps it was this danger that led Sir John to remind the Lord Keeper that he had not forgotten him during the time of his meaner fortune." So he begs him not to listen to the suggestions of his adversarieS.52 The phrase meaner fortune was more than Williams would endure-for according to Hacket, his friend and biographer, choler and a high stomach were his faults, the only defects in him "-and we are not surprised that Sir John's son, Owen, had to expound the meaning of his father's words to the Lord Keeper.53 Seven months after the death of James I., Williams fell from power and retired to Bugden, a house which he held as Bishop of Lincoln. There he wrote a reassuring letter to Sir John, telling him he had anticipated all that had happened, and that if he had not the opportunity of serving the king he could more conveniently serve God.54 Brave words to cover acute disappointment, for Williams was prepared to jump the life to come" for the sake of ambition. The assassin- ation of Buckingham, however, did not open up a way for him because Laud then gained the king's ear. When at last Charles summoned the Parliament, which was itself overwhelmed by the (49) 376: (50) 395; (51) 1025: (52) 1038; (53) 1198; (54) 1379. [Contributions in prose or poetry are invited from readers. These should be addressed to the Editor, WELSH OUTLOOK, Newtown, and in every instance accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.] victorious army, Williams tried to act the mediator. But it was no time for his casuistical arguments and subtle compromises. In January, 1643, he is at Penrhyn,55 and the rest of his career was confined to North Wales. How he adjusted himself to the varying fortunes of battle has never been completely explored. It is inter- esting to discover in the Wynn Papers a letter" in which it is announced that Hacket had in I and the biography which he afterwards publisneo under the title of Scrinia Reserata,' a for- bidding volume disfigured alike by fulsome praise and classical pedantry. Hacket wrote to North Wales for a good account of the Conway business so as to incorporate it in his work. It is only necessary to consult his book to find that he did not secure it. A candid account of how Williams managed affairs at Conway would do more credit to his native shrewdness than to his loyalty to the Throne. That Rupert sus- pected him is perfectly clear. Sir John Owen of Clenenny, whose courage always outran his dis- cretion, ultimately displaced the Archbishop in Conway. Lord Byron blamed him for the col- lapse of the rising of 1648 in North Wales. Williams can hardly be included in the array of those who suffered with and for the Royal Martyr." How was it that he did not pay the penalty of deliquency and that he was not required to take the same physic as the rest of the county"?57 How is one to regard the letter of 14th October, 1647, with the assurance that the Parliamentary general, Mytton, was well-beloved "?58 Why are Cromwell and Mytton corresponding a month later with a view to lightening the burdens of Carnarvonshire?58 The answer seems to be that Williams read the signs of the times and hastened to make such arrangements that his friends in Carnarvonshire should not be involved in the fall of the monarchy. What a trimmer he would have been had destiny placed him in the court of Charles II! It is safe to say, however, that old Sir John Wynn would have approved of his conduct common-sense prescribes agreement with de facto governments. The Archbishop had even the ambition to found a family. If my niece, Grace Wynn, had been a man not any one of all my kindred should inherit a foot of my lands but she."80 As widow of Sir Owen Wynn, the third baronet, Grace played a prominent part in fostering the interests of the Gwydir family after the Restoration. She seems to have been of a capacity and temper worthy of her uncle's affection. Had Grace been a man (55) 1719; (56) 2269; (57) 1815; (58) 1834; (59) 1837; (60) 1914.