Cranfield complained against him to the King, for lessening his Majesty's fees. He was equally generous, likewise, in remitting fines due to himself; of which the following is given as an instance: Sir Francis Englefield had affirmed before witnesses," that he could prove this holy Bishop Judge had been bribed by some, who had fared well in their causes." The Lord Keeper, in order to clear himself from the imputation, called upon Sir Francis to make good his words; which he not being able to do, a fine of some thousand pounds was laid upon him, to be paid to the King and the injured party. Soon afterward however the Bishop sent for him, and told him, he would give him a demonstration that he was above a bribe;' adding, "and for my part I forgive you every penny of my fine, and I will beg of his Majesty to do the same.” This piece of generosity so vanquished Sir Francis, that he immediately acknowledged his fault, and was subsequently received by the Lord Keeper into some degree of friendly intercourse.

He made use of his influence, also, with the King in behalf of several noblemen, at that time under the royal displeasure; and procured the liberation of the Earls of Northumberland, Oxford, and Arundel, who had all been a considerable time in confinement.

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Nor were his intercessions confined to cases of noble delinquency. A clergyman had been imprisoned for intermeddling in the pulpit with state-affairs. Williams, desirous of procuring his release, informed the King, that he had heard some idle gossips complained grievously of his Majesty, and did not stick to curse him.' “ Why, what evil have I done to them?" said the King. "Sir,” replied the Lord Keeper, “ such a man's wife, upon tidings of her husband's imprisonment, fell presently into labour; and the midwives

can do her no good to deliver her, but say it will not be effected, till she be comforted to see her husband again' for which the women that assist her revile you, that her pains should stick at such a difficulty." "Now weal away," cried the King, "send a warrant presently to release him, lest the woman perish.' Mr. Knight likewise, a young Oxford divine, had preached a sermon derogatory (as it was affirmed) to the royal prerogative, for which he was long imprisoned in the Gatehouse; and a charge was about to be preferred against him, impeaching him of treason. One Dr. White also, a clergyman far advanced in years, was threatened with a prosecution of a similar kind. The Bishop, by the following stratagem, successfully mediated for both. Some instructions had been appointed to be drawn up, under his direction, for the performance of useful and orderly preaching; in the execution of which he besought his Majesty to admit, as a proviso, that none of the clergy might be permitted to preach before the age of thirty, nor after that of threescore.' "On my soul (said the King) the devil, or some fit of madness, is in the motion; for I have many great wits, and of clear distillation, that have preached before me at Royston and Newmarket to my great liking, that are under thirty. And my Prelates and Chaplains, that are far stricken in years, are the best masters in that faculty that Europe affords." agree to all this (answered the Lord Keeper); and since your Majesty will allow both young and old to go up into the pulpit, it is but justice that you show indulgence to the young ones, if they run into errors before their wits be settled (for every apprentice is allowed to mar some work, before he be cunning in the mystery of his trade), and pity to the old ones,

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if some of them fall into dotage when their brains grow dry. Will your Majesty conceive displeasure, and not lay it down, if the former set your teeth an edge sometimes before they are mellow-wise; and if the doctrine of the latter be touched with a blemish, when they begin to be rotten and to drop from the tree?" "This is not unfit for consideration (said the King); but what do you drive at ?" "Sir," replied Williams, "first, to beg your pardon for mine own 'boldness: then to remember, that Knight is a beardless boy, from whom exactness of judgement could not be expected; and that White is a decrepid spent man, who had not a fee-simple but a lease of reason, and it is expired. Both these, that have been foolish in their several extremes of years, I prostrate at the feet of your princely clemency." In consequence of this judicious intercession, King James readily granted them both a pardon.

The Bishop expended considerable sums to procure good intelligence in the affairs of state; and Hacket records an artful contrivance, by which he discovered the intrigues of the Spanish Embassador against Buckingham. A paper of complaints and informations against the favourite had been privately transmitted to the King. This gave James such disturbance, that on setting off to Windsor, when Buckingham offered to step into the carriage, his Majesty upon some slight excuse left him behind, though he implored with tears to know the cause of his displeasure. Upon which, Williams immediately informed him, that it was occasioned by the influence of the Spanish Embassador's agents; and advised him instantly to repair to Windsor, and never to quit his Majesty's presence. This prudent counsel Buckingham followed,

and having mentioned the story to Prince Charles, the Lord Keeper received his Royal Highness' thanks in the lobby of the House of Lords, with a request that he would discover what he knew farther concerning this plot. "You," said the Prince, "who have gone thus far, may receive greater thanks of us both, if you will spread open this black contrivance, which has lost Buckingham the good opinion of my father, and myself am in little better condition." "Sir," replied Williams, "let my soul suffer for falsehood, if I know any more than that some in the Spanish Embassador's house have been preparing mischief, and infused it about four days since into his Majesty. But the curtain of privacy is drawn before the picture, that I cannot guess at the colours." "Well, my lord," said Charles, "I expected better service from you; for if that be the picture-drawer's shop, no Councillor in this kingdom is better acquainted than yourself with the works and the workmen." “I might have been," answered the Lord Keeper: " but your Highness and my Lord Duke have made it a crime to send unto that house; and they are afraid to do it, who are commanded from his Majesty. It is a month since I have forbidden the servants of that family to come at me." But," rejoined the Prince, "I will make that passage open to you again without offence, and enterprise any way to bring us out of this wood wherein we are lost. Only before we part, keep not from me how you came to know or imagine, that the Spanish agents have charged Buckingham to my father with high misdemeanors, or perhaps disloyalty. I would hear you to that point, that I may compare it with other parcels of my intelligence." "Sir," said the Prelate, "I will go

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directly with you: Another perhaps would blush, when I tell you with what heifer I plough; but knowing my own innocence, the worst that can happen is to expose myself to be laughed at. Your Highness has often seen the Secretary Don Francisco Carondelet. He loves me, because he is a scholar; for he is Archdeacon of Cambray and sometimes we are pleasant together; for he is a Walloon by birth, and not a Castilian. I have discovered him to be a wanton, and a servant to some of our English beauties, but above all to one of that gentle craft in Mark Lane. A wit she is, and one that must be courted with news and occurrences at home and abroad, as well as with gifts. I have a friend that hath bribed her, in my name, to send me a faithful conveyance of such tidings as her paramour Carondelet brings to her. All that I instructed the Duke in, camé out of her chamber. And she hath well earned a piece of plate or two from me, and shall not be unrecompensed for this service, about which your Highness doth use me, if the drab can help me in it. Truly, Sir, this is my dark lanthorn, and I am not ashamed to inquire of a Dalilah to resolve a riddle; for in my studies of divinity I have gleaned up this maxim, Licet uti alieno peccato: though the devil makes her a sinner, I may make good use of her sin." Yea," said the Prince merrily, "do you deal in such ware ?" "In good faith, Sir," replied the Lord Keeper, "I never saw her face." With this the conference ended; but Williams, subsequently, found means to elicit from Carondelet himself the particulars of the Spanish charge against Bucking ham. He, also, drew up an answer to it for the Duke's use, and sent them both to him by the Prince.

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