WILLIAMS, DAVID: English deist; b. at Watford, Glamorganshire, Wales, 1738; d. in London June 29, 1816. He was educated at Carmarthen Academy (1753-57), and in 1758 was ordained to a dissenting congregation at Frome, Somerset, though three years later his lax theological views compelled him to leave Frome for the Mint meeting-house in Exeter,,where he was reordained, while from about 1769 to 1773 he was in charge of a dwindling congregation in Highgate, Middlesex. In 1773 he removed to Chelsea, and there opened a school which was conducted successfully for two or three years, when his wife's death so unnerved him that he abruptly abandoned his teaching. In Apr., 1776, he opened a chapel, where he conducted services on the basis of his Liturgy on the Universal Principles of Religion and Morality (London, 1776), in the compilation of which he had been assisted by Benjamin Franklin. He continued these services, with at least one change of location, until about 1780, the year in which he first formed the idea of founding a "Literary Fund" for the aid of unrecognized men of genius, this project not being incorporated until after William' death (1818), though it ultimately became the Royal Literary Fund (1842). After the failure of his services, Williams supported himelf chiefly by private teaching, until, in 1792, he was invited to write a history of Monmouthshire, the result, his History of Monmouthshire (London, 1796), being still the standard on its subject. In 1792 and in 1802 he paid brief visits to France, being made a French citizen on his first trip. In his closing years his finances ran very low, and after 1811 he resided in the house of the Literary Fund, which had been able to commence its benefactions in 1790.

The principal writings of Williams were The Philosopher, in Three Conversations (London, 1771); Essays on Public Worship, Patriotism, and Projects of Reformation (1773); Sermons, Chiefly upon Religious Hypocrisy (1774); Treatise on Education (1774); Letter to the Body of Protestant Dissenters (1777); Lectures on the Universal Principles and Duties of Religion and Morality (2 vols., 1779); Nature and Extent of Intellectual Liberty (1779); Letters on Political Liberty (1782); Letters Concerning Education (1785); Lectures on Political Principles (1789); Lectures on Education (3 vols., 1789); Claims of Literature (1802); and Egeria; or, Elementary Studies on

the Progress of Nations in Political Economy, Legislation, and Government (1803).

Bibliography: DNB, ixi. 390-393.