WILLIAM, Archdeacon of Wilts, a distinguished historical and biographical writer, was born at London in 1747. He was elected fellow of King's College, Cambridge, in 1768, and afterwards went abroad on a visit to the different Continental states, where he prosecuted the researches which were afterwards incorporated into his historical works. On his final return to England he was appointed to the rectory of Bemerton, and in 1808 was preferred to the archdeaconry of Wilts. Towards the close of his life his vision became seriously impaired, and for nearly seven years before his death he laboured under total blindness. He died at Bemerton in 1828. Of his numerous works the most important are, Travels in Switzerland, 3 vols. 8vo, 1789; Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, 5 vols. 8vo, 1784; History of the House of Austria, &c., 3 vols. 4to, 1807; History of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, 3 vols. 4to, 1813; Memoirs of John, Duke of Marlborough, 3 vols. 4to, 1817-19; Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, 3 vols. 4to, 1798; and the Literary Life and Relict Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet, 3 vols. 8vo. The Memoirs of the Administration of the Right Hon. Henry Pelham, 2 vols. 4to, were published posthumously in 1829.