WILLIAMS, HELEN MARIA: . English Unitarian; b. in London 1762; d. in Paris Dec. 15, 1827, where she lived from 1788, becoming naturalized in 1817. She gained reputation by her letters from France (published in several volumes from 1790 to 1819) and other political writings, which, written in ardent sympathy with the idea of the French Revolution, are prejudiced and inaccurate; and by her translations (including Paul and Vir ginia, 1795, and Humboldt's travels, 7 vols., 1814-1829). She wrote the hymn "While thee I seek, protecting power" (published in Poem, 2 vols., 1786; with addition, 1 vol., 1823). She was aunt of Athanase Laurent Charles Coquerel (q.v.).

Bibliography: S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp. 610-612, New York, 1880; DNB, Isi. 404-405; S. A. Allibone,

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sionary Society to the Society Islands, 1816. First at Papetoai, then at Huahine, in 1818 he settled in the Island of Raiatea, the largest of the Leeward group. From there as a center he carried on his work of educating and developing the natives not only in religion but in industry and econonuc living. In 1821 he bought a schooner and used her as a missionary ship; with her he discovered the Island of Rarotonga in 1823, where he later translated parts of the Bible and other books into the native Language.

Williams was in .England, 1838-44, where the fame of his adventures made him a center of interest. He left England with sixteen other missionaries, in a newly equipped ship and some funds for the continuance of his work, all the result of his labor and energy. On reaching the Pacific he made a tour of the Society Islands and then of the New Hebrides, a new field for him, where he was killed by natives. His work was eminently successful and extensive, and his adventures truly unique, and both displayed his practical sagacity and his initiative. He was the author of A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands, with Remarks upon the natural History of the Islands, Origin, Languages, Tradition,, and Usages of the Inhabitants (London, 1837), one of the most important works on the subject.

2. Protestant Episcopal, bishop of Connecticut; b. at Deerfield, Mass., Aug. 30, 1817; d. at Middletown, Conn., Feb. 7, 1899. He studied in Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., 1831-33, and was graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., 1835; was tutor in the college, 1837-0; ordained, 1838; assistant in Christ Church, Middletown, -Conn., 1841-42; rector of St. George's, Schenectady, N. Y., 1842-48; president of Trinity College and professor of history and literature, 1848-53; assistant bishop of Connecticut, 1851-65; and bishop from 1865. From 1854 he was dean, and principal instructor in doctrinal theology,' history of the Reformation, and in the prayer-book, at Middletown. He also continued to lecture in history at Trinity College, of which he became vice-chancellor, 1851, and chancellor, 1865. He was appointed first lecturer at the General Theological Seminary, New York, 1881; and the same year delivered the Bedell lectures at the seminary and college in Gambier, O. He was a student of ecclesiastical history, an eloquent speaker, and later became presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. His works embrace Ancient Hymns of Holy Church (Hartford, 1845); Thoughts on the Gospel Miracles (New York, 1848); Paddock lectures on The English Reformation (1881); Bedell lectures on The World's Witness to Jesus Christ (1882); and he edited an American edition of Bishop Harold Browne's Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles (1870).

Bibliography: On 1, besides Williams' Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea, new ed., Philadelphia, 1889, consult: the biographies by J. Campbell, The Martyr of Erromanga, London, 1843; E. Prout, ib., 4th ed., 1847; W. F. Besser, Berlin, 1847; also A. Buzacott, Mission Life in the Islands of the Pacific, London, 1866; R. Lovett, Story of the London Missionary Society, vol. i., ib. 1899; DNB, lxi. 423-425.

On 2 consult: W. S. Perry, The Episcopate in America, p. 117, New York, 1895.

Critical Dictionary of English Literature, iii. 2739, Philadelphia, 1891; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 1281-82.