Sir William, an attorney-general, whose conduct was one of the great causes of the civil war in England, was born in 1577. During the former part of his career his sentiments were patriotic, and he was distinguished in Parliament as one of the most formidable opponents of the despotism of Charles I. No sooner, however, had he been appointed attorney-general in 1631, than he was suddenly transformed into one of the most pliant tools of the king. The legal knowledge and ingenuity of the political apostate began to be employed in extorting from the constitution certain precedents which might countenance the tyranny of his royal master. He consummated his treachery to his country by devising the project of levying ship-money. But before he had seen the disasters which that act of his contributed to bring upon the land, he died, in 1634. Among his valuable legal works are, A Treatise of the Principal Grounds and Maxims of the Laws of England, of which the seventh edition was published in 12mo, 1806; and The Compleat Lawyer, of which the latest edition was published in 8vo, 1674.