WILLIAM, an English lawyer, distinguished in the civil commotions under Charles I., was born at Swainswick, in Somersetshire, in 1600. His Histrio-mastix, written against stage-plays in 1632, contained some reflections which offended the court, and he was in consequence sentenced by the Star-chamber to pay a fine of L5000, to stand in the pillory, to lose his ears, and to suffer perpetual imprisonment. During his confinement he wrote several more books, particularly one entitled News from Ipswich, in 1637, which, reflecting severely on the bishops, subjected him to another sentence by the Star-chamber, which adjudged him to pay another fine of L5000, to lose the remainder of his ears in the pillory, to be branded on both cheeks with S. L. for seditious libeller, and to be perpetually imprisoned in Caernarvon Castle. But nothing except cutting off his hands could have prevented Pryne from writing. He continued his favourite employment still; and being set at liberty by the House of Commons in 1640, he entered London in a kind of triumph, was elected member of parliament for Newport in Cornwall, opposed the bishops with great vigour, and was the chief manager of Archbishop Laud's trial. In the long parliament he was zealous in the Presbyterian cause; but when the Independents gained the ascendency he opposed them warmly, and promoted an agreement with the king. When the army expurgated the house and refused him entrance, he became a bitter enemy to them and their leader Cromwell, whom he attacked with so much severity that he was again imprisoned; but he pleaded the liberty of the subject so successfully that he was enlarged, and began to write more controversial books. Being restored to his seat with the other secluded members after Cromwell's death, he assisted in promoting the Restoration, and was appointed keeper of the Records of the Tower; a place excellently well calculated for him, and where he rendered himself very useful by the collections he published from them. He presented forty volumes of his works, in folio and quarto, to Lincoln's-Inn library, of which society he was a member. His principal works are, Records of the Tower, in three volumes folio; and his Parliamentary Writs, in four volumes quarto. The former is one of the rarest works in the whole department of English history. He died in the year 1669, and was buried under the chapel of Lincoln's-Inn.