WILLIS (Brown), grandson of the famous physician, and an eminent antiquary, was born in Dorsetshire in 1682. He was educated in Westminster school, where the solemnity of the adjoining abbey engaged his admiration, and impressed his mind with an early love of antiquities. From thence he removed to Christ-church, Oxford; and during the course of his life visited almost all the cathedrals in England and Wales; which journeys he used to call his pilgrimages. He published Surveys of them in 4 vols, 410. He wrote also A History of the mitred Parliamentary Abbeys, 2 vols, 8vo.; and Notitia Parlamentaria, 2 vols, 8vo, with some other things. He was chosen member for the town of Buckingham in 1705, was created doctor of laws at Oxford in 1749, and died in 1760.