Ex Idbris
C. K. OGDEN
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
HIS FAMILY AND HIS TIMES,
WITH ORIGINAL LETTERS AND A DISCOURSE ON
ARCHITECTURE HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED.
15851723.
BY
LUCY PHILLIMORE,
AUTHOR OF 'BISHOP WILBKRFORCE, A SKETCH FOR CHILDREN' ETC.
The modest man built the city, and the modest man's skill was
unknown." The Tatler, No. 52.
WITH TWO ENGRAVINGS.
LONDON:
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., i PATERNOSTER SQUARE.
1881.
(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved)
LIBRARY
ERSITY OF CA
SANTA BARBARA
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
TO
CATHERINE PIGOTT,
THE LAST DIRECT DESCENDANT OF SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN,
THESE MEMOIRS OF HER ANCESTORS
ARE GRATEFULLY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
THE materials necessary for writing a life of Sir Chris-
topher Wren are so difficult of access as possibly to
explain the unsatisfactory character of such biographies
as do exist. Mr. James Elmes, who venerated Wren's
genius, published in 1823, a Life which contained a care-
ful if a dry account of Wren's architectural works and
of some of his scientific discoveries. He also published
a smaller work, ' Sir C. Wren and his Times,' intended
perhaps to give a flavour of personal interest to the
other volume. Neither book succeeds in doing this,
and both have suffered from the circumstance that Mr.
Elmes' failing eyesight did not permit him to correct
the proofs of either work, and accordingly many serious
errors as to names and dates stand unaltered in them.
There is a sketch of Wren in the British Family
Library, one published by the Society for the Dif-
fusion of Useful Knowledge, and one in the ' Bio-
graphica Britannica/ but in them all it is with some
of the works of the great architect that we become
acquainted, not with himself.
The chief authority to which any biographer of
viii PREFACE.
Wren must perforce turn is, the ' Parentalia, or Memoirs
of the Family of the Wrens : viz., of Matthew, Bishop
of Ely ; Christopher, Dean of Windsor and Registrar
of the Garter ; but chiefly of Sir Christopher Wren.'
This work, a folio, with portraits 1 of the three whose
lives it records, was published in London in 1750,
dedicated to Mr. Speaker Onslow. It was chiefly
written by Christopher, the eldest surviving son of Sir
Christopher Wren, finished and finally published by
Stephen Wren, M.D., the second and favourite, son of
the Mr. C. Wren above mentioned, ' with care of Joseph
Ames,' a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Several
copies were presented to the University of Oxford.
The ' Parentalia/ of which but a small edition was
published, is now scarce and little known. It is put
together, not quite at hap-hazard, but with no real
method or order : digression ensues upon digression
until all clue to the original date or subject is lost.
N or is the very imperfect ' index of names ' of any real
assistance in the labyrinth thus created. Yet, with all its
faults, the book is of great interest, and bears amidst all
errors and omissions an unmistakably genuine stamp.
' Bishop Wren's Diary/ reference to which will be
frequently found in the following pages, was kept by
him in the blank leaves of ' Pond's Almanack/ after
this fashion :
' August 30. Per vim hostilem eripior domo med.
1642.'
1 From which the three vignettes in this volume are taken.
PREFACE. ix
These entries cease with the death of his wife
in 1646 ; even his own release from prison is not
mentioned.
The old heirloom copy of the ' Parentalia ' intrusted
to the writer of these pages contains a large additional
number of prints and wood engravings by Virtue,
Vandergucht, Loggan, and others, some printed ac-
counts of the City Churches, and several letters, rough
drafts of treatises, Garter records, and other MSS. in
the handwritings of the Bishop, the Dean, Sir Chris-
topher himself, and of some of their correspondents.
Among the curious omissions of the ' Parentalia ' are
the maiden name of Bishop Wren's wife, the date of
the death of Sir Christopher's mother, Mrs. Mary Wren,
and the places and the dates at which either of Sir
Christopher's two weddings took place. Some of these
and other gaps I have, by the aid of ' Notes and
Queries,' been able to supply. Wren's son and grand-
son are both alike silent on all political matters sub-
sequent to the Restoration. The Popish Plot, the
Trial of the Seven Bishops, King James's Abdication,
the Landing of William of Orange are all passed by in
perfect silence. The traditional politics of the Wrens
were certainly those of the loyal Cavalier party, and
they were in favour at the Court of the Stuarts.
It is curious how all political colouring disappears
from the record after the period of the Restoration.
Yet Sir Christopher, his cousins, and the very Mr.
Wren who writes the book were all in Parliament, and
x PREFACE.
that in more or less critical times. Such accidental
hints as there are point, I think, to Sir Christopher as
adhering, though very quietly, to the politics of his
ancestors ; and assuredly neither he nor his descendants
had any cause to love the house of Hanover !
Wren was a steady Churchman, bred up in that
school of Andrewes, of Laud, and of Matthew Wren,
which, if it was anti- Puritan, was equally and emphati-
cally anti- Roman. For this reason, if for no other, after
the trial of the Seven Bishops had shaken the confi-
dence of every Churchman in the country, Wren may
have acquiesced in a settlement which appeared to
promise protection to the Church without finally ex-
cluding the Stuart line. The ' Parentalia/ published
five years after the last Jacobite rising in 1745, pre-
serves, as has been said, a political silence which may
be that of discretion or of disappointment.
One word should be said as to Gresham College,
where Wren held his first professorship. It was foun-
ded in 1579 by the will of Queen Elizabeth's great
merchant Sir Thomas Gresham. The college was no
other than his own house in Bishopsgate, forming a
quadrangle round a large garden. The seven profes-
sors, each of whom gave a lecture a day in term time,
had a salary of 5O/. a year and were lodged in the
house. Gresham College escaped the Fire, and gave
lodgings at that time to the Lord Mayor and the alder-
men, who had been less fortunate. In 1768 it was
pulled down by Act of Parliament, to give a site to the
PREFACE. xi
new Excise Office, and the original collegiate scheme
was destroyed, though the lectures are still given in a
lecture hall.
Little is known of Wren in his Masonic capacity.
He is said to have been a member and a master of the
' Old Lodge of S. Paul,' now known as the ' Lodge
of Antiquity.' All the records of the Lodge belong-
ing to that time have unfortunately been lost, so
that they cannot be consulted with reference to this
matter.
The question has been raised whether Wren was a
Freemason or not. On this point the ' Parentalia '
makes no explicit statement, though it appears to imply
Wren's connection with the Order.
The Duke of Sussex caused a plate to be engraved
in 1827 and affixed to the mallet which Sir Christo-
pher was said to have presented to the Lodge, with
this inscription: 'A. L. 5831. A.D. 1827. To com-
memorate that this, being the same mallet with which
His Majesty King Charles II. levelled the foundation
stone of S. Paul's Cathedral, A. L. 5677, A.D. 1673.
Was presented to the Old Lodge of S. Paul, now the
Lodge of Antiquity, acting by immemorial constitution,
by Brother Sir Christopher Wren, R.W.D.G.M.,
Worshipful Master of this Lodge and Architect of
that Edifice.'
The statement respecting King Charles's presence
is probably an erroneous one. The Lodge possesses
also three gilt wooden candlesticks in the form of
xii PREFACE.
columns, inscribed ' Ex dono Chr. Wren Eq. A. L.
5680.'
Where quotations have been made directly from the
Wren MS., from the ' Parentalia,' or from Evelyn's
Diary, the spelling and stopping of the originals have
been faithfully reproduced. For the rest, the writer can
only hope that these pages may serve as a contribution
towards that full and worthy biography of the great
architect which may yet, she trusts, be written before
London is finally robbed of the Churches with which
Wren's genius endowed her.
August i, 1881.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
1585-1636.
PAGB
Ancestry of the Wrens Matthew Wren Travels to Spain with the
Prince of Wales Interview at Winchester House Bishop
Andrewes' Prophecy Wren made Master of Peterhouse Bishop
of Hereford Consecration of Abbey Dore Office of Reconcilia-
tion Foreign Congregations and the Norwich Weavers Result
of ' a Lecturer's ' Departure 3
CHAPTER II.
1636-1640.
Dr. C. Wren Birth of his Son Christopher East Knoyle Order of
the Garter How a Murderer was Detected Christopher at
Westminster A Latin Letter Diocese of Ely Impeachment of
Lord Strafford Of Archbishop Laud Articles against Bishop
Wren Resigns the Deanery of the Chapels Royal. . . .31
CHAPTER III.
1641-1647.
Bishop Wren accused Westminster Abbey attacked Imprison-
ment of the Bishops Bishop Wren's Defence ' Utterly
Denieth all Popish Affections ' The Garter Jewels Archbishop
Laud Murdered Christopher at Oxford Philosophical Meet-
ings.. . .... . . 55
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
1647-1658.
PAGE
Death of Mrs. M. Wren King Charles Murdered A monotonous
Walk Inventions A Dream All Souls' Fellowship Begin-
nings of the Royal Society Astronomy An Offer of Release
The Cycloid Cromwell's Funeral Letters from London. . 85
CHAPTER V.
1659-1663.
Apostolical Succession Difficulty of preserving it Letters from
Lord Clarendon Bishop Wren's Release The Restoration Con-
vocation Savih'an Professorship Royal Society ' Elephant in
the Moon' Pembroke Chapel begun 109
CHAPTER VI.
1664-1667.
Repair of S. Paul's Sheldonian Theatre The Plague A Letter
from Paris Consecration of Pembroke Chapel Fire of London
Bishop Wren's Death His Family 139
CHAPTER VII.
1668-1672.
Patching S. Paul's Sancroft's Letters Wren's Examination of S.
Paul's Salisbury Cathedral London as it might have been
Letter to Faith Coghill Wren marries her Temple Bar S.
Mary-le-Bow Artillery Company Gunpowder used to remove
Ruins 165
CHAPTER VIH.
1672-1677.
Birth of his eldest Son S. Stephen's, Walbrook S. Bennet Fink
Plans for S. Paul's The Excavations Son Christopher born
Death of Faith, Lady Wren Second Marriage City Churches
The Monument Tomb of Charles I. Remains of the little
Princes in the Tower . . jo,r
CONTENTS. xv
CHAPTER IX.
1677-1681.
PAGE
Emmanuel College Greenwich Observatory Birth of Jane and
William Wren S. Bartholomew's Portland Quarries Dr. and
Mrs. Holder Death of Lady Wren Popish Plot Papin's "
Digester Sir J. Hoskyns All Hallow's, Bread Street Palace
at Winchester. 215
CHAPTER X.
1681-1686.
Chelsea College S. James's, Westminster A hard Winter Chi-
chester Spire An Astronomical Problem A Seat in Parliament
More City Churches A curious Carving. ". ... . 239
CHAPTER XI.
1687-1696.
Parliament dissolved Church building Acquittal of the Seven
Bishops James the Second's Flight William and Mary College
of Physicians Hampton Court Greenwich Hospital Richard
Whittington S. Paul's Organ 259
CHAPTER XII.
1697-1699.
Opening of S. Paul's Choir A moveable Pulpit Letter to his Son
at Paris Order against Swearing Peter the Great S. Dunstan's
Spire Morning Prayer Chapel opened Westminster Abbey. . 279
CHAPTER XIII.
1700-1708.
Member for Weymouth Rising of the Sap in Trees Prince George's
Statue Jane Wren's Death Thanksgiving at S. Paul's Letter
to his Son Son marries Mary Musard Death of Mr. Evelyn
Queen Anne's Act for Building fifty Churches Letter on Church
Building 297
xvi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
1709-1723.
PACK
Private Houses built Queen Anne's Gifts Last Stone of S. Paul's
Wren deprived of his Salary His Petition 'Frauds and
Abuses ' Interior work of S. Paul's Wren Superseded Purchase
of Wroxhall Abbey Wren's Thoughts on the Longitude His
Death Burial in S. Paul's The End 317
APPENDIX.
I. Reverendo Patri Domino Christophoro Wren S.T.D. et D. W.
Christophorus Filius Hoc Suum Panorganum Astronomicum
D.D. xiii. Calend. Novem. Anno 1645 337
1 1. Churches, Halls, Colleges, Palaces, other Public Buildings, and
Private Houses built and repaired by Sir Christopher Wren. 338
III. A Discourse on Architecture, from Original MS. . . 340
INDEX 351
CHAPTER I.
1585-1636.
ANCESTRY OF THE WRENS MATTHEW WREN TRAVELS TO SPAIN
WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES INTERVIEW AT WINCHESTER HOUSE
BISHOP ANDREWES' PROPHECY WREN MADE MASTER OF PETER-
HOUSE BISHOP OF HEREFORD CONSECRATION OF ABBEY DORE
OFFICE OF RECONCILIATION FOREIGN CONGREGATIONS AND THE
NORWICH WEAVERS RESULT OF 'A LECTURER'S' DEPARTURE.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream
Bears all its sons away.
CHAPTER I.
THE name of Christopher Wren is no doubt familiar
to the great majority of English people, and to
Londoners especially ; but it is to many of them little
more than a name with which is connected S. Paul's
Cathedral and a now, alas ! diminished number of City
churches. Yet the great architect's ninety-one years of
life were passed among some of the most stirring
times of our history, in which his family played no in-
considerable part, and he himself was not only the
best architect of his day, but was also the foremost in
many other sciences. A singularly patient and far-
seeing intellect aiding a strong religious faith enabled
him ' to keep the even tenour of his way ' through a
life of incessant labour and considerable temptation.
It has been truly said,
' It seems almost like a defect in such a biography as
that of Wren, that it presents nothing of that pictur-
esque struggle, in the rise from a lower to a higher
condition, which has so commonly attended the con-
quest of genius over difficulty.' l
Far otherwise, the Wren family was an old one,
tracing its descent from the Danes ; one of the house
1 Warwickshire Worthies, p. 845. Article by C. Wren Hoskyns,
Esq., M.P.
B 2
CHRISTOPHER WREN.
fought in Palestine under Richard I., and his fame long
survived, as in Charles I.'s time it was quoted against
one of the knight's descendants.
In 1455, during the reign of Henry VI., in the
Black Book (or register) of the Order of the Garter,
mention is made of a Wren who probably belonged to
this family :
' The Lord of Winchester, Prelate of the order, per-
formed the Divine Service proper for S. George the
Martyr, but the Abbots Towyrhill and Medmenham
being absent, were not excused, in whose stead Sir
William Stephyns read the gospel and Sir W.
Marshal the epistle, both of them singing men of
the king's choir. The dean of the same choir pre-
sented the gospel to the sovereigne to be kissed,
and the next day celebrated Mass for the deceased,
Sir J. Andevere and John Wrenne assisting in the
reading of the epistle and gospel. The reader of
the gospel, after censing the reader of the epistle,
reverently tendered the heart of S. George to the
sovereigne and knights in order to be kissed.'
The heart of S. George was presented by Sigis-
mund, Emperor of Germany, on his admission to the
Order of the Garter.
The spelling of ' Wrenne ' was a very common
form of the family name, and it seems very likely that
John Wrenne belonged to this family, who were much
connected with S. George's, Windsor.
William Wren was in Henry VI I I.'s time the head
of the family ; his younger brother Geoffrey, who was
OLD FAMILY MOTTO. 5
a priest, was of Henry VI I. 's privy council, and was
confessor both to him and to Henry VIII. He
held the living of S. Margaret's, Fish Street, in the
City of London, from 1512 till his death. 1 Geoffrey
Wren was also a canon of S. George's at Windsor,
where he founded the seventh stall. There he died
in 1527, and was buried in the north aisle of the chapel
under a brass bearing his effigy in the Garter mantle,
with this inscription at his feet :
' Sub saxo ponor, et vermtbus ultimis donor,
Et sicut ponor, ponitur omnis honor.' 2
This tomb and brass have disappeared, as has the
' South Lodge ' with its window displaying his coat of
arms and emblem ; the latter, a wren holding a trefoil
in its claw, and his motto ' Turbinibus superest coelo
duce praescius.' Dean Wren explains this emblem as
chosen because, ' the trefoil or clover shrinking before a
storm foretold a change of weather,' and the wren was
supposed to have the same prescience. Both motto
and emblem were changed by the descendants of the
family.
William Wren's grandson, Francis, was born 1552,
two years before the close of Queen Mary's reign, at
Monk's Kirby in Warwickshire, where the family had
property. He was a mercer and citizen of London,
1 S. Margaret's, standing close to Pudding Lane, where the Fire of
London began in 1666, was the first church consumed. Its site is now
occupied by the Monument, and the parish incorporated with that of
S. Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge.
2 Laid under the stone,
For the worms alone,
All mortal pride
Is laid aside. (G. A. D.)
6 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
and was steward to Mary Queen of Scots during her
captivity in England. He married Susan, daughter
of William Wiffinson ; they lived in the parish of
S. Peter's Cheap, and had three children : a daughter
Anna, and two sons ; Matthew, born 1585, and
Christopher, born 1589. Both were educated at the
Merchant Taylors' School, and there Matthew especi-
ally attracted the notice of Lancelot Andrewes, then
Dean of Westminster, who frequently came to the
school where he had been bred, and examined the
boys in various subjects, particularly in the Hebrew
Psalter. He was struck by the proficiency of the
eldest of the Wrens, and obtained for the boy a
scholarship at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, of which
he was himself master. From that time Dr.
Andrewes appears never to have lost sight of Wren,
but to have guided his studies and fostered ' the most
passionate affection for the ministry of the Church '
which the young man showed. Nor was Wren's
university life undistinguished, for he became Greek
scholar of his college, and when King James visited
Cambridge, Matthew Wren, then in priest's orders,
' kept the Philosophy Act ' before him with great
applause. The subject given was, 'Whether dogs
were capable of syllogisms.' Old Fuller says of this
extraordinary ' Act,' ' he kept it with no less praise to
himself than pleasure to the king ; where if men
should forget even dogs should remember his season-
able distinction what the king's hounds could perform
above others by virtue of their prerogative.' l Pro-
1 Bishop Andrewes was so well pleased that he ' sent the moderator
MATTHEW WREN. 7
bably this speech and its ready wit remained on the
mind of the King, who dearly loved a compliment to
the royal prerogative, and determined him to favour
Matthew Wren.
Lancelot Andrewes, who had been Bishop of
Chichester, was in 1609 translated to Ely, and so
enabled to watch over the University and ' to search
out,' as he entreated his friends to do also, ' hopeful
and towardly young wits,' and train them up for Holy
Orders. 1 He made Matthew Wren his chaplain, gave
him the living of Feversham in Cambridgeshire, and
some years later made him a canon of Winchester.
But very different duties from the ordinary ones of
a parish priest devolved upon Wren. King James
planned for the Prince of Wales the famous ' Spanish
match,' and gave a most reluctant consent to the Duke
of Buckingham's scheme, that the Prince should him-
self go to Spain to fetch home his bride. Two of his
chaplains were to attend the Prince, and by the advice
of Bishop Andrewes and of Laud, then Bishop of
S. David's, Dr. Leonard Maw, afterwards Bishop of
Bath and Wells, and Dr. Matthew Wren were chosen.
The Prince and Buckingham departed hastily, leaving
the chaplains and suite to follow as they could. King
James had no sooner allowed the expedition than he
repented of it, and being unable to recall his permis-
sion, was tormented by a thousand fears for the
Prince's safety. The nation was in a state of ferment,
(Dr. Meade), the answerer (Mr. M. Wren), the varier, and one of the
repliers that were all of his house (i.e. Pembroke), twenty angels apiece.'
Life of Bishop Andrewes, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. xxi.
1 Life of Bishop Andrewes, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. xvii.
8 SfK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
persuaded that the Prince's faith would be tampered
with as well as his person endangered. Thus the two
chaplains had by no means an enviable post. They
went down to Newmarket, took their leave of the
King and received his last instructions :
' So as all their behaviour and service should prove
decent and agreeable to the purity of the Primitive
Church, and yet so near the Roman form as can law-
fully be done ; " for," said he, " it hath ever been my
way to go with the Church of Rome usque adaras" ' 1
' The two bishops gave them also written and
detailed instructions that there might appear a face of
the Church of England in all forms of worship ; that
in the sermons there may be no polemical preach-
ings to inveigh against the Romanists or to confute,
but only to confirm the doctrine and tenets of the
Church of England by all positive arguments either
in fundamental or moral points.'
A full list followed of vestments for the clergy, orna-
ments and hangings for the altar, and altar lights, Latin
service books, directions for a room to be adorned chapel-
wise, and for frequent services, all to be read in Latin
so that the Spaniards might comprehend them. All this
careful provision seems to have been defeated by the
fact of the Prince and his suite being lodged in the
palace at Madrid, so that there was no public service,
only bed-chamber prayers. Contemporary letters show
that the chaplains' position was not an easy one, though
the Prince remained steadfast, and in the congenial
o
1 CyP r - Ang., p. 100. Heylin.
RETURNS FROM SPAIN. g
atmosphere of the dignified Spanish court became every
day more gracious. ' Dr. Wren forbears,' says one of
these letters, ' to write any particulars, but intimates all
is not as it should be.' It was no doubt a necessary pre-
caution on the chaplain's part to preserve this discreet
silence, but it is tantalising to have only a hint con-
cerning the transactions in Spain. How the negotia-
tions -were delayed, how the King recalled the Prince
and the marriage was broken off, are historical facts too
well known to need repetition here. One result seems
to have been a strong bond of affection between the
Prince and those who went with him on this singular
expedition.
That his departure was attended with some sea-
peril appears from one of Edmund Waller's 1 early
poerns on ' the Danger which His Majesty, being Prince,
escaped in the Road at S. Andero ' :
' Now had his Highness bid farewell to Spain,
And reached the sphere of his own pow'r, the main ;
With British bounty in his ship he feasts
The Hesperian princes his amazed guests,
To find that wat'ry wilderness exceed
The entertainment of their great Madrid.'
A description follows of the Prince being rowed in a
barge to his own ship, a sudden storm arises in which
there is a great difficulty in making the ship ; at length
the Fates allow the rope to be successfully thrown,
knowing it to be for England :
1 Edmund Waller, born March 3, 1605. He was connected by his
marriage with Cromwell, and wrote one of his best poems as a panegyric
on the Protector, but was supposed to be a Cavalier at heart and rejoiced
at the Restoration ; died 1687.
10 SfA CHRISTOPHER WREN.
' Whose prince must be (as their own books devise)
Lord of the scene where now his danger lies.'
On October 8, 1623, Dr. Wren's diary records ' we
landed at Portsmouth/ and his first and only journey
out of Great Britain was over.
The sea-voyage, probably a stormy one, made an
impression on his mind and he preached before the
Universities on the text ' One deep calleth to another.'
This is said to have been a remarkable sermon, and
old Fuller declares that he became an excellent
preacher. The one sermon of his now extant, preached
at a later date, on the text ' Fear God, honour the
King,' shows that he modelled his style greatly on that
of Bishop Andrewes, though without attaining to the
same excellence. The sermon is a bold and outspoken
one, and has its striking passages. King James, in
testimony of his approval of Dr. Wren's conduct as his
son's chaplain, bestowed on him the valuable living of
Bingham, in Nottinghamshire, to which he was inducted
during the next year, resigning his fellowship of Pem-
broke and the living of Feversham.
Previous to this event, and soon after the Prince's
return, a singular incident occurred. Wren, who had
been down to Cambridge, came up, as he says, ' sud-
denly ' to London, and as it was late, lodged with his
sister in Friday Street, instead of going to Winchester
House, where the Bishop kept ' three rooms near the
garden ' fitted and reserved for him, and where he had
lodged twice or thrice. He had, however, seen the
Bishop twice, also the Bishops of Durham and S.
David's, had taken leave of them on a Saturday, and
AT WINCHESTER HOUSE. it
was prepared to return to Cambridge on the Monday
morning following. His journey was, however, delayed
by an event which shall be given in his own words: l
1 On Monday morne by break of the day there was a
great knocking at the door where I lay. And at last
the apprentice (who lay in the shop) came up to my
bedside, and told me there was a messenger from
Winchester House to speak with me. The business
was to let me know, that my Lord, when he came
from Court last night, had given his steward charge
to order it so that I might be spoken with, and be
required as from him without fail to dine with him
on Monday ; but to be at Winchester House by ten
of the clock, which I wondered the more at, his
lordship not using to come from his study till near
twelve. My businesse would hardly permit this, yet
because of his lordship's importunity, I got up
presently, and into Holborn I went, and there used
such despatch, that soon after ten of the clock, I
took a boat and went to Winchester House, where
I found the steward at the water gate waiting to let
me in the nearest way ; who told me that my lord
had called twice to know if I were come. I asked
where his lordship was ? He answered, in his great
gallery (a place where I knew his lordship scarce
1 ' A transcript of a certain narrative written by the late Bishop of Ely
(Dr. Matthew Wren) with his own hand, of that remarkable conference,
which after his return from Spain with Prince Charles, 1636, he had with
Dr. Neile, then Bishop of Durham, Dr. Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester,
and Dr. Laud, Bishop of S. David's, touching the said Prince, whereat
something prophetical was then said by that Reverend Bishop of
Winchester.' Printed from a MS. in the Ashmolean Museum. Life of
Bishop Andrewes, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. Ivii.
12 SfX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
came once in a year), and thither I going, the door
was locked, but upon my lifting a latch, my lord
of St. David's opened the door, and, letting me in,
locked it again.
' There I found but those three Lords, who
causing me to sit down by them, my Lord of Durham
began to me : " Doctor, your Lord here will have it
so, I that am the unfi ttest person must be the speaker.
But thus it is. After you left us yesterday at White-
hall, we entering into further discourses of those
things which we foresee and conceive will ere long
come to pass, resolve to again to speak to you before
you went hence.
' " We must know of you, what your thoughts are
concerning your master the Prince. You have now
been his servant above two years, and you were
with him in Spain. We know he respects you well ;
and we know you are no fool, but can observe how
things are like to go." " What things, my Lord ? "
(quoth I). " In brief," said he, " how the Prince's heart
stands to the Church of England, that when God
brings him to the Crown we may know what to hope
for."
' My reply was to this effect, that however I
was most unfit of any opinion herein, attending but
two months in the year and then at a great distance,
only in the closet and at meals ; yet, seeing they so
pressed me, I would speak my mind freely ; so I said,
" I know my master's learning is not equal to his
father's, yet I know his judgement to be very right ;
and as for his affection in these particulars which
BISHOP* ANDRE WES^ PROPHECY. 13
your Lordships have pointed at, for upholding the
doctrine and discipline and right estate of the
Church, I have more confidence of him than of his
father, in whom they say (better than I can) is so
much inconstancy in some particular cases."
' Hereupon my Lords of Durham and St.
David's began to argue it with me, and required me
to let them know upon what ground I came to think
thus of the Prince. I gave them my reasons at
large ; and after many replyings, (above an hour
together,) then my Lord of Winchester (who had
said nothing all the while) bespake me these
words :
' " Well, Doctor, God send you may be a good
prophet concerning your master's inclinations in
these particulars, which we are glad to hear from
you. I am sure I shall be a true prophet : I shall
be in my grave, and so shall you, my Lord of Dur-
ham ; but my Lord of St. David's and you, Doctor,
will live to see that day that your master will be put
to it, upon his head and his crown, without he will
forsake the support of the Church."
' Of these predictions made by that holy father,'
adds the writer, ' T have now no witness but mine
own conscience and the Eternal God who knows I
lie not ; nobody else being present when this was
spoken but these three Lords.'
After this the four friends separated and Wren
returned to Cambridge.
In two years from the time of that conference
King James died, in the following year the saintly
I 4 SJK CHRISTOPHER
Bishop Andrewes, the kind and unfailing friend of both
the Wrens, died also. It is to the great discredit of
James I., and probably was the inconstancy to which
Dr. Wren alluded, that, as has happened in our own
day, the greatest Prelate, the ' incomparable preacher/
the truest and wisest champion of the Church, was
passed over when the archbishopric was vacant, an
inferior man put above him, and at last the see of
Winchester offered to him in tardy amends. At Arch-
bishop Bancroft's death in 1610, everyone's eyes had
turned to Bishop Andrewes as his natural successor :
but, in the words of a contemporary letter from Lord
Baltimore (then Mr. Calvert) to Sir T. Edmonds,
' The Bishop of London (Abbot) by a strong north
wind blowing out of Scotland is blown over the
Thames to Lambeth ; the king having professed to
the Bishop himself as also to all the Lords of this
council that it is neither the respect of his learning,
his wisdom nor his sincerity (although he is well per-
suaded there is not any one of them wanting in him),
that hath made him to prefer him above the rest of
his fellows, but merely the recommendation of his
faithful servant Dunbar that is dead, whose suit on
behalf of this Bishop he cannot forget, nor will suffer
to lose his intention.' l
The consequences of such an ecclesiastical appoint-
ment made for so insufficient a reason were disastrous
indeed. Had Andrewes succeeded Bancroft, and
had Laud succeeded Andrewes, ' the Church had been
1 Life of Bishop Andrewes, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. x.
MASTERSHIP OF PETERHOUSE. 15
settled on so sure a foundation that it had not easily
been shaken.' l
There was general lamentation when Andrewes
died, and few can have mourned him more sincerely
than Matthew Wren, whom he had loved as a son.
Wren attended the funeral, received the gold ring which
was the Bishop's bequest to him, and composed the
Latin epitaph for his tomb in S. Saviour's, Southwark,
which is no unworthy tribute to the holy Bishop.
During this year Dr. Wren was elected, by the
unanimous wish of the fellows, Master of Peterhouse,
Cambridge, where he ' exercised such prudence and
moderation in his government that he reduced all the
fellows to one sacred bond of unity and concord.'
Besides this he rebuilt the college in great part from
the ground, and perceiving that the absence of a chapel
was a great obstacle in the way of reverent and frequent
services, he did not rest until he had raised subscrip-
tions enough to build a handsome chapel, and to orna-
ment it richly. 2 The wood-panelled hexagonal roof, the
marble steps on which the altar stands, flanked by two
tall candlesticks, give a character to the interior en-
hanced by the east window, which is in part a copy of
that famous picture of the Crucifixion, then just finished,
by Rubens, at Antwerp. This window was carefully
taken down in the Rebellion before the college was
1 Cypr. Ang., p. 59. Heylin.
2 Evelyn, who visited Cambridge in 1655, says of Peterhouse, 'a
pretty neate college having a delicate chappell.'
The chapel, especially the west front, of S. Peter's College, is one
of the best specimens of the Renaissance Art at Cambridge. Hist, of
Modern Architecture, p. 275. Fergusson.
16 SSX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
visited, and hidden away in boxes. A wise precaution,
for the commissioners destroyed all the other orna-
ments, pulling down ' two mighty angels with wings,
divers other angels, the four evangelists, and Peter
with his keys on the chapel door, together with about
a hundred cherubim and many superstitious letters in
gold. Moreover,' they say, ' we found six angels on
the windows which we defaced.' After the Restoration
the hidden glass was brought forth again and put back
in its place over the altar. 1 While Dr. Wren was
thus adorning his college chapel King Charles did not
show himself forgetful of Bishop Andrewes' well-loved
pupil and chaplain, but in 1628 appointed him Dean of
Windsor and registrar of the Order of the Garter.
The year after this appointment the peace between
England and France was solemnly ratified in the
chapel at Windsor and Dean Wren administered the
oath to the French ambassador, the Marquis de
Chateauneuf.
About this time, as his diary says, he was 'joined
together in happy matrimony.' His wife was Eliza
Brownrigg, the widowed daughter of Thomas Cull,
Esquire, of Ipswich ; she had one daughter by her first
marriage, and seems to have been possessed of some pro-
perty in Suffolk. The marriage was in truth as happy
as the cruel times in which their lot was cast would
allow, though chequered with many sorrows ; for of the
twelve children whose birth Wren records in his diary,
six died while very young. When King Charles
journeyed to Scotland for his coronation he summoned
1 Beauties of England and Wales (Cambridgeshire).
BISHOPRIC OF HEREFORD. 17
Wren to attend him. No shadow of the coming
trouble showed itself then. The young King was
everywhere received with enthusiasm. Whether Dr.
Wren, mindful of Andrewes' words, suspected what lay
under this fair show, there is no record left to tell us.
In after years Sir Thomas Widdrington's venomous
attack on himself must have strangely recalled his
tones when on this occasion he addressed the King
in terms of fulsome adulation at Berwick. On his
return from Scotland the King passed the holy week at
York, where on Maunday Thursday Dr. Wren washed
the feet of thirty-nine poor old men in warm water,
drying them with a linen cloth, and Dr. Curie, Bishop
of Winchester, washed them over again in white wine
and then kissed them.
Shortly after this, Dr. Lindsell, the Bishop of
Hereford, died, and Matthew Wren was appointed
(1634) to the vacant see. He thereupon resigned
the Mastership of Peterhouse, probably with much
regret, for all his life he retained a strong affection for
his University. His successor was one whose name
is well known in church history, Dr. John Cosin,
afterwards Dean of Durham and Bishop of Peter-
borough, a great authority on the ritual and
ornaments of the Church. The King would not
then suffer Wren to resign the Deanery of Windsor.
When Dr. Juxon, who was Clerk of the Closet, was
made Bishop of London, the King showed how highly
he valued and esteemed Bishop Wren by giving
him the post which Juxon resigned, and Dr. Wren
then gave up his Deanery. His new post was one
18 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
of great nearness to the King ; to fill it well required
great tact and a discreet deafness to the whispers
of court intriguers. King Charles was well aware of
this, and as soon as Wren had settled himself in his
new post said to him : l
' Now you are at my elbow there will be many
devices to set you and the Archbishop (Laud) at
odds. But I warn you of it that you suffer no such
trick to be put on you, and therefore I require you
both, by that faith which I am sure you will both
perform to me, to bind yourselves mutually neither
of you to believe any report against the other ; and
if you meet with any such thing, believe it not, yet
presently impart it to each other.'
The wisdom of the King's counsel was quickly
shown, for when Dr. Hackett came in his turn of office
as the next month's chaplain, he told Wren how they
had expected him to be made Bishop of London, and
but for the Archbishop preferring Juxon, as a man of
whom he had experience and on whom he could rely,
it would have been done. Wren paid no regard to
these suggestions, suspecting them to be the device of
some discontented courtier in order to make him the
Archbishop's enemy. To keep his faith with the King
and the Archbishop, he presently told them what had
passed. The King praised his conduct and told him,
' there was no truth in the report, but only a plot to
kindle coals between them two.'
Bishop Wren began vigorous work in Hereford,
1 Life of Archbishop Juxon, p. 27. Rev. W. H. Marab.
CONSECRATION OF ABBEY DO RE. 19
holding a visitation, collecting and setting in order
the statutes of the cathedral, which were in a state of
great confusion. Another congenial piece of work
came also into his hands. John, Viscount Scudamore,
a friend of Laud's, had inherited, with other property,
the old Cistercian abbey of Dore, near Monmouth ;
the building had been greatly damaged in the reign
of Henry VIII., but the transepts, chancel, and lady
chapel still stood, as they do now, and Lord Scuda-
more was minded to restore the building to its true
use. He accordingly repaired it, setting up again the
old stone altar on its four pillars, and providing the
church with everything needful for service. Bishop
Wren was unable to consecrate the building himself,
being in constant attendance on the King, but he
busied himself in drawing up an office for the occasion,
like, but not identical with, that used by Bishop
Andrewes, and commissioned Bishop Field of S.
David's to act for him. Bishop Wren was, as Lord
Clarendon testifies, ' much versed in the old liturgies,
particularly those of the Eastern Church.' He em-
ployed himself, at Laud's request, in preparing a service
for the reconciliation of those who had apostatised
when in slavery with the Moors, and when released
wished to return to the faith. The merchants and
seamen who were taken by ' Barbary pirates/ and
when released came sadly back to England with their
story of cruel sufferings undergone and faith reluctantly
forsworn, were numerous enough to require a special
provision to be made for them.
Knolles' quaint ' Historic of the Turks' shows that
C3
20 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
they even made descents on the western coasts of
England and carried off men, women, and children
into slavery. In 1636, with some of the much-grudged
' ship-money/ a very successful expedition was made
under Lord Rainsborough against Sallee, which re-
sulted in the release of large numbers of captives and
a promise from the Moorish king to suppress Christian
slavery. It is significant that the real leader of the
expedition was John Dunton, a reformed renegade
taken off the Isle of Wight in command of a Sallee
ship. He was tried and condemned, but saved his
life by offering to show the assailable points of the
Barbary ports, and sailed as master on Lord Rains-
borough's ship. 1
The ' Form of Penance and Reconciliation of a
Renegade or Apostate from the Christian Religion to
Turcism/ 2 which Wren and Laud prepared together, is
a very striking one. First came the solemn excom-
munication, then for two Sundays the penitent came to
the door of his parish church in a white sheet carrying
a white wand, craving the prayers of all ' good Chris-
tians for a poor wretched renegade ; ' on the second
Sunday he was allowed to enter and kneel by the font
and pray to be ' restored to the rights and benefits
of the blessed sacrament which I have so wickedly
abjured/ and then return to the church porch as
before. On the third Sunday, when the Apostles'
creed had been said, after being publicly put in mind
1 Annals of England, p. 407.
2 Eccles. Hist., vol. ix. p. 388, ed. 1841, Collier, where the office may
be found entire.
' RECONCILIATION OF A RENEGADO* . 21
of his sin, and advised ' that a slight and ordinary
sorrow is not enough for so grievous an offence,' the
penitent, kneeling eastward, and bowing to the very
pavement, was to confess his sin and declare his sorrow
and repentance, and to ask the prayers of the congre-
gation. Also to ' thank God for His mercies, especially
for the divine ordinance of His Holy Sacraments, and
of His heavenly power committed to His Holy Priests,
in His Church for the reconciliation of sinners unto
Himself and the absolving them from all their iniquity.'
' Then,' says the rubric, ' let the Priest come forth to
him, and stand over him, and laying his hand on his
head, say, as is prescribed in the Book of Common
Prayer, thus :
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has left power to
his Church to absolve all sinners which truly repent
and believe in Him, of His great mercy forgive thee
thine offences ; and, by His authority committed
unto me, I absolve thee from this thy heinous crime
of renunciation, and from all thy other sins, in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen.'
After this follows, with slight alteration, a collect,
also from the Visitation of the Sick, and then the priest
was to take the penitent by the hand, take away from
him the white sheet and the wand, and address to him,
once again as dear brother, an affectionate exhortation
to walk worthy ' of so great a mercy,' and promise him
re-admission to the Holy Communion on the next
opportunity. How often this service was employed
22 SfJ? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
does not appear. The whole form is so beautiful that it
is matter for regret it should be so much forgotten.
Wren had been Bishop of Hereford but one year,
when the Bishop of Norwich, Dr. R. Corbet, was
translated to Oxford, and Bishop Wren translated in
turn to the vacant see. It is easy to see Laud's hand
in this. Norwich was a large wide diocese, much
shaken by schism and faction and abounding with
lecturers who were the torment of the Church at that
time and were not unaptly compared ' to bats or rere-
mice, being neither birds nor beasts, and yet both
together,' x i.e. neither clerk nor layman.
They were not unfrequently men who had been
ordained without cure of souls and served as chaplains
in gentlemen's houses, or men whose orders were
doubtful, or mere laymen who had failed in other call-
ings. They were all strong Calvinists, seldom read
the services, but called a fast, quite irrespective of those
of the Church, and gave a lecture. This speedily
became a ' running lecture,' i.e. was not confined to
one place but ran from parish to parish. Every pos-
sible check was put by the Archbishop upon these
lectures, which were fatal to the proper order of the
parishes and all church discipline. Private gentlemen
were forbidden to have chaplains, all who preached
were compelled to wear a surplice and first to read
the Church Service, and in the afternoon to teach
the Church Catechism. Wren, Mainwaring, Corbet,
Montague, and other like-minded bishops set them-
selves vigorously to enforce the Archbishop's plans,
-> introduction, p. 9. Heylin.
FOREIGN CONGREGATIONS. 23
esteeming the discipline and doctrine of the Church
more valuable than the popularity which their firmness
forfeited. Norwich presented an especial difficulty to
the Bishop in the great number of weavers and other
workmen who had taken refuge there from the Low
Countries in times of persecution, and who still kept up
their schismatic services.
As his treatment of the Norwich weavers has
always been the principal ground of attack against
Wren, from Lord Clarendon down to writers of the
present time, it is needful to enter somewhat into the
question, and to see where the truth lies.
These foreign workmen had settled in England at
various times, escaping from persecutions in the Low
Countries and in France, and, though they had never
had any distinct permission to use their own services,
their doing so had been winked at by Queen Elizabeth
and King James. Now they had reached a third
generation and continued to profit by an exemption
which was enjoyed by no other body of the kingdom.
It will be borne in mind that as the laws then ran and
were understood, every English subject was required
to be also a member of the Church of England. The
first generation of refugees were an exception, but
when they reached a second and third generation, had
their own ministers and pretended to the power of
Ordination, they became an anomaly, and as Laud, when
Bishop of London, said, ' The example is of ill-conse-
quence in Church affairs to the subjects of England,
many being confirmed by it in their stubborn ways and
inconformities.' The matter was not likely to be mended
CHRISTOPHER WREN.
by Archbishop Abbot ; but when Laud succeeded him he
addressed himself, in 1634, vigorously to the business,
and set out this dilemma : 'If they were not of the
same religion' (as the Church of England), 'why
should they, being strangers, born in other countries,
or descending from them, expect more liberty of
conscience than the Papists had, being all natives,
and descending from English parents ? If of the
same, why should they not submit to the govern-
ment and forms of worship, being the outward acts
and exercises of the religion here by law established ? '
Every art that could be used was employed by
the congregations to avoid returning an answer to
the Archbishop's inquiries, whether the English-born
members would conform and use the Liturgy in their
own language. The two congregations in Norwich
resisted vehemently and remonstrated with Bishop
Corbet, who was then bishop of the diocese ; but
Archbishop Laud himself visited the diocese and
caused the injunction to be published in the congrega-
tions. It had been modified until it only ordered that,
while strangers, as long as they were strangers, might
use their own discipline, yet that the English Liturgy
should be translated into French and Dutch for the
better fitting of their children to the English Govern-
ment. In Canterbury, he kept them 'on a harder
diet/ and allowed only the translated Liturgy. All
this took place before Bishop Wren came to Norwich,
so it is manifestly unjust to accuse him of having set
the measure, moderate as it was, on foot. The con-
gregations remained a focus of Calvinism and discon-
NORWICH CLOTH WEAVERS, 25
tent, secretly encouraged by all the leading Puritans,
and envied by the lecturers who wished themselves in
the like case.
Another trouble in Norwich, was the failure of
business amongst the cloth weavers, whose trade was
the chief industry of the town ; the failure appears to
have been, in a great measure, caused by the plague,
which raged in London in I636, 1 and put a stop for
a considerable time to the weekly traffic between it
and Norwich. Many of the workmen in consequence
betook themselves to Holland, to obtain the means of
livelihood. The same thing had happened in Bishop
Corbet's time, but as in this instance it coincided with
Wren's first visitation, there were not wanting those
who said that his severity in enforcing conformity was
the main reason of their departure. This accusation
seems never to have been made at the time, but only
later on, when every conceivable charge was being
raked up against the Bishop. He truly says, that,
often as at the council board the failure of the weaving
trade and the emigration of the skilled workmen to
Holland was lamented, it was never suggested that
his severity was in any way the cause of it. In his
defence, prepared for the House of Commons, the
1 ' On August 29, 1636 (the plague then raging in London), King
Charles, the Queen, and the Court arrived at Oxford. The Chancellor
(Archbishop Laud), the Vice-Chancellor, and numerous doctors and
masters went out to meet the royal retinue. The Chancellor, accompanied
by the Lord Treasurer (Bishop Juxon), the Bishop of Winchester (Dr.
Curie), the Bishop of Norwich (Dr. M. Wren), and the Bishop of Oxford
(Dr. Bancroft), rode in a coach.' The Court was entertained with very
brilliant festivities, and a series of masks and interludes arranged by
Inigo Jones. Oxfordshire Annals, p. 25, by J. M. Davenport.
26 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Bishop, besides accounting for much of the emigration
by the failure of trade, consequent on the plague,
reduces the number, by comparing it with the records
kept at the various ports, from the alleged 3,000 to
about 300, and drily says : ' The defendant humbly
conceiveth that the chiefest cause of their departure
was the small wages given to the workmen, whereby
the workmasters grew rich, and the workmen were
kept very poor.'
The charge has been often revived, the more so as
though the accusation is well known enough, the de-
fence, only to be found in the ' Parentalia,' is hardly
known except to the few who have threaded the
labyrinth of that scarce volume. That Wren was a
great upholder of discipline and authority, a man of a
fiery energetic temper, decided opinions, and an un-
yielding, perhaps a severe, disposition, is certainly true ;
but it is also true that he practised, as Laud and
Strafford did, an even-handed justice, laying his hand on
rich and poor alike, and would not turn aside for any
suggestion of policy or expediency. It should, how-
ever, in fairness be added, that though he made his
authority felt and obeyed, he did not press matters to
extremity against any clergyman without grave cause,
and was very ready to receive those who showed any
readiness to submit. Of the 1,300 clergy in the
diocese, not including those attached to the Cathedral
or the schoolmasters, in spite of ' many disorders,' there
were in 1636 but thirty excommunicated or suspended,
some for contumacy, some for obstinately refusing to
publish the King's declaration, some 'for contemning
'NO LECTURE, BUT VERY MUCH PEACE? 27
all the Orders and Rites of the Church and intruding
themselves, without licence from the Ordinary, for
many years together/ His returns to the Archbishop
show how very thoroughly and diligently he, to use
a modern phrase, ' worked his diocese,' visiting parish
after parish, causing the fabrics to be repaired, 1 the
clergy to reside, to hold the appointed services and
to catechise the children. Here and there a lecturer
who promised conformity was allowed to remain, but
generally they were checked and discouraged. Great
Yarmouth must have gladdened the Bishop's heart, as,
two years before Bishop Wren came to the Diocese,
the lecturer had gone to New England, ' since which
time,' the Bishop says, ' there hath been no lecture and
very much peace in the town and all ecclesiastical
orders well observed.' It was in truth a great under-
taking to bring the Diocese of Norwich into order ;
but Wren did not shrink from the task, and had all
the support which the King and the Archbishop could
give, a support afterwards imputed as a crime both to
those who gave and to him who received it.
1 The state of the diocese is vividly shown in Bishop Corbet's charge
of 1634 (for the repairs of old S. Paul's Cathedral). 'Some petitions,'
he says, ' I have had since my coming to this diocese, for the pulling
downe of such an isle [aisle] or for changing lead to thatch, soe far from
reparations that our sute is to demolish. . . . Since Christmas I was
sued to and I have it yett under their hands, the hand of the minister
and the hand of the whole parish, that I would give way to their adorn-
ing their church within and out, to build a stone wall round the church-
yard which now had but a hedg. / took it for a flout at first, but it
proved a very sute ; they durst not without leave mend a fault forty
yeares ould.' The spire of Norwich Cathedral where Bishop Corbet
was preaching had fallen in, and during three years but two yards had
been rebuilt. See Documents relating to S. Paul's by Dr. Sparrow
Simpson, p. 137. Camden Society.
CHAPTER II.
1630-1640.
DR. C. WREN BIRTH OF HIS SON CHRISTOPHER EAST KNOYLE
ORDER OF THE GARTER HOW A MURDERER WAS DETECTED
CHRISTOPHER AT WESTMINSTER A LATIN LETTER DIOCESE OF
ELY IMPEACHMENT OF LORD STRAFFORD OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD
ARTICLES AGAINST BISHOP WREN RESIGNS THE DEANERY OF THE
CHAPELS ROYAL.
Instead of kitchen-stuff, some cry
A gospel-preaching ministry,
And some for old suits, coats, or cloak,
No surplices nor service-book.
A strange harmonious inclination
Of all degrees to Reformation.
Hudibras, pt. i. canto 2.
CHAPTER II.
LESS is known of the early years of Christopher Wren
than of his brother's more eventful life. Christopher
went to Oxford, to S. John's College, was admitted
to Holy Orders, and, like his brother, became chaplain
to Bishop Andrewes, from whom in 1620 he received
the living of Fonthill Bishops in Wiltshire.
It may be said in passing, that to receive prefer-
ment from Lancelot Andrewes was in itself a proof of
merit, for it was his especial care, in the three dioceses
which he successively governed, only to promote able
and good men to ' such livings and preferments as fell
within his gift, and to give Church preferment to none
that asked for it' To this rule he rigidly adhered,
and his disciple, Matthew Wren, followed the same
plan when he became a Prelate of the Church.
Christopher did not hold this living more than
three years, and then received, also from Bishop
Andrewes, the neighbouring living of East (or Bishop's)
Knoyle, very near Fonthill Abbey, afterwards a place
famous for its beauty and its curiosities, then the
property of a Mr. Robert Cox. This gentleman had
an only child, Mary, who inherited his property ; she
became the wife of Christopher Wren, probably a few
32 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
years after his appointment to East Knoyle, where
their seven children were born five girls, of only
one of whom there is any subsequent record, and two
sons. A Christopher, baptized in the November of
1630, who probably died very young, as in the register
the record stands, ' Christopher, first sonne of Doctor
Wren,' 'first' is added above in another hand. The
next baptism is, ' Christopher, 2nd (sic) sonne of
Christopher Wren, Dr. in Divinitie and Rector now.'
This is in the entries for 1631 (O.S.), followed by
those for March, and is dated only 'loth.'
This ' second Christopher ' is the one who was to
make the name afterwards so famous ; but the date is
very perplexing. Dr. Wren and his son both reckoned
the latter's age from his birthday, October 20, 1632, as
appears again and again in the ' Parentalia,' notably
in Dr. Wren's own MS. note to a letter from his son. 1
The East Knoyle Register would, if the baptism is
rightly put among the entries for March 1631. (O.S.),
make the birthday October 20, 1631 ; but it seems
more likely that this is an error, and 1632 the correct
date.
At East Knoyle Dr. Wren appears to have passed
most of his time, leaving it occasionally, as he had
done his previous living, to attend on Bishop An-
drewes. He was a good scholar, if less deeply learned
than his brother ; a mathematician, a good musician, and
had besides some knowledge of drawing and archi-
tecture. He employed himself in decorating East
Knoyle chancel, and to him, in all probability, are
1 Vide infra, p, 43.
CHANCEL AT EAST KNOYLE. 33
owing the 1 ' flower borders, figures, and texts of Scrip-
ture in raised plasterwork ' which, though much de-
faced, still cover the chancel. The subjects are
'Jacob's Dream/ ' The Ladder with the Angels,' 'Jacob
anointing the Pillar.' Over the chancel arch ' The
Ascension of our Lord.' Round the capitals of the
columns are quaint inscriptions :
' Unum necessarium.' The texts of holy Scripture,
which are very well chosen, are all quoted from that
earlier translation known as the ' Bishops' Bible,' to
which the Psalms, Offertory sentences, and ' Com-
fortable Words ' of the Prayer Book belong.
Besides this, Wren contrived a new roof for the
church, as the old one was falling into decay. In the
hall of the rectory he put up the following inscription :
' In quamcunque domum introeritis primum dicite :
paX sit hVIC DoMVI
Tarn solenni praecepto, tempestivo voto
Subscripsi introiens
C. W. RECTOR,
Julii 28. Anno dicto.' 3
1 I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. R. N. Milford, rector of
East Knoyle, for this account. See Sir R. C. Hoare's History of Wilt-
shire. The inscriptions on the columns have been destroyed.
2 So guide and govern as to profit souls. Love, Pray. One thing
needful. Ask fit things from God.
3 Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say
Peace be to this house.
To so solemn a precept, by a seasonable vow,
I, entering, have set my name.
C. W. Rector.
July 28. In the said year, i.e. MDCXVVIII.
D
34 MR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
The inscription is not a little characteristic of
the gentle, peace-loving nature of Christopher Wren,
and the quaint conceits in which the wits of the time
delighted. This form of chronogram was one which
he frequently used. His second daughter, Susan, was
born in 1627, and as she and the ' second Christopher '
clung closely together in after life, and the others are
never mentioned, it seems likely that they two were
the only survivors of the seven children. Christopher
was a very delicate, weakly boy, who early gave
promise of brilliant abilities. No records say when
Mrs. Wren died, but various things seem to show that
she died when her children were still very young.
Dr. Wren had been one of the King's chaplains
in ordinary since 1628, and so well did he acquit him-
self that when his brother the Bishop resigned the
deanery of Windsor and the registrarship of the Garter,
the King appointed Christopher to the vacant post.
Tt was an appointment which suited him well ; he took
up with equal energy his brother's work, of arranging
the documents and records, and continuing the history
of the Order. Two autograph letters relating to this
are preserved in the ' Parentalia,' one from the chan-
cellor of the Garter, Sir Thomas Rowe :
' Reverend Sir, I had wayted on you before this
tyme, but that I have been punished with Lamenes,
both for my owne advantage to learne of y u and to
acquaint y u with some orders I have received from
his ma tie and to give y u ye summe of ye last chapiter
as I conceived it.'
Sundry particulars follow, and he promises a record
GARTER RECORDS. 35
of the members of the Garter from its foundation.
The King, he says, is anxious that every ' chapiter of
the Order ' should be fully recorded. Sir Thomas
asks for 'the papers of Sir John Fynnet' in order to
send them to King Charles, 'who is very curious of
them.' ' On all occasions,' the letter concludes, ' I shall
be glad to give y u ye testimonye of my desire to be
esteemed and to be y r affectionate friend to serve y u ,
' THO. ROWE.
1 Cranford, 9 Jan. 1636 (O.S.) '
The Dean's answer comes promptly :
'Jan. 10, 1636 (O.S.)
' Honorable Sir, How much you obliged me I shall
endeavour to demonstrate to you upon better oppor-
tunities. For ye present I returne y r books and
promise you ye sight of another some wt of them (?)
w ch phaps you will not dislike, though I begin to
think your exact diligence hath lefte none of those
monuments lye undiscryed, where they might be
gained. I send back likewise Sir John Finet's Paps ;
whereof I reserve ye copyes. And now that I
begin to finde a little respiration, I will draw y m
up into acte. Till I had y m I could not well begin,
and now that you are pleased to send me ye last,
drawne up into forme, I shall ye better accomplish
ye whole business of my little time. Whereof I
will send you ye whole contextures, Deo dante, ere
longe. I should however give you a formall thanks
that you imploy yourselfe soe largely, soe nobly
for me in present, and in promise more. Knowing
your reality in all worth, I abstain from other com-
D 2
36 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
pliments then those wherein Affection must pforce
speake yf she speake at all. Once for all, that
branch of our comon oath is never out of my minde :
Sustentabis Honores hujus Ordinis atq. omni ra qui
in eo stint. Of w ch omni m you are Pars Magna
and shall ever be to your affectionate ob : servant
friend,
' CHR. WREN.
< To the Honble Sr. Tho. Row Chancelor of ye most Honble
Order of ye Garter.'
The Garter history appears to have been carefully
continued, and Dean Wren describes, in a long pictur-
esque account, the admission on May 19, 1638, of the
Prince of Wales, then but eight years old, as a ' com-
panion of the Garter.' The little Prince, Dean Wren
says, acquitted himself admirably during the three
days of intricate ceremonial, doing his part with accu-
racy and spirit, a sweet dignity, and an unwearied
patience until all was completed.
He must have been a very hopeful, engaging, boy,
and it is sad to think how little his after life fulfilled
its early promise : had he remained in his father's care
a very different record might have been left of him
in English history. The Service of Admission is a
curious one, and the prayers on the putting on the
Garter, the ribbon, the collar, and the mantle have
considerable beauty. On this occasion the festival
was celebrated with great splendour. King Charles
presented two large silver flagons, cunningly carved
and very richly gilt, offering them on his knees with
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 37
these words : ' Tibi, et perpetuo Tuo servitio, partem
bonitatis Tuae offero Domine Deus Omnipotens.' 1
These were added to the treasury of the Garter,
which contained many articles of great value. There
was a set of triple gilt silver plate wrought by Van
Vianen 2 of Nuremberg, estimated at over 3,ooo/.,
several other pieces of plate, Edward IV.'s steel armour,
gilt, and covered with crimson velvet embroidered
with pearls, rubies and gold, fifteen rich copes em-
broidered in gold, altar-cloths and hangings worked
with the same costly material.
There was also the blue velvet mantle, the George
and Garter of Gustavus Adolphus, each letter of the
motto made in diamonds. These had been sent to
the King of Sweden by Charles I. at the close of the
campaign in 1627 as a mark of friendship and respect
for his valour, and were the richest ever sent even to a
sovereign.
After the heroic king's death on the field at Lutzen,
in 1634, a solemn embassy brought the mantle and the
jewels back to England, when they were consigned to
the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, with a charge from
King Charles to lay them up in the treasury 'for a
perpetual memorial of that renowned King, who died
in the field of battle wearing some of those jewels, to
the great honour of the Order, as a true martial prince
and companion thereof.'
1 ' To Thee, and to Thy service for ever, I offer a portion of Thy
bounty, O Lord God Almighty.'
2 Christian Van Vianen was an embosser and chaser of plate, much
esteemed by Charles I. The gilt plate above mentioned was wrought at
the rate of 12s. per oz. Anecdotes of Painting, Walpole, vol. ii. p. 323.
38 SIH CHRISTOPHER WREN.
A few years later King Charles presented Dean
Wren to the rectory of Great Haseley * near Oxford,
with a fine old church containing two crusaders' tombs.
In the parish of Haseley is the manor of Ryecote
(or Ricot), which by marriage had become the property
of Sir Henry Norris, Queen Elizabeth's ambassador
to France, whom she created Baron Norris (or Norreys)
of Ryecot, and whose descendants, now the Earls of
Abingdon, possess the manor to this day. During
Dr. Wren's incumbency, a strange event took place.
Among the retainers of Lord Norris was an old man
who had charge of the fish ponds ; he had one nephew,
who was the heir of all his uncle's possessions and
savings. The nephew enticed the old man out one
night, waited till he fell asleep under an oak tree,
murdered him by a blow on the head, dragged the
body to one of the ponds, tied a great stone to the
neck and threw the corpse in. There it \&y five weeks,
during which time Lord Norris and all the neighbours
wondered what had become of the old man. At length
the body was found by the men who were about to
clean the pond, and were attracted to the spot by the
swarms of flies ; they raised the corpse with great
difficulty and recognised it.
The stone tied to the neck was evidence of foul
play, though no one could guess at the murderer.
1 William Lenthall (born at Henley-on-Thames 1591), Speaker of
the House of Commons 1640-1653 and 1660, lived chiefly at Lachford
Manor in Great Haseley parish, which had been in his family since the
reign of Edward IV. The property was sold by his eldest son. It may
have been owing to the influence of the Speaker that Dean Wren escaped
imprisonment during the Rebellion.
AN AWFUL WITNESS. 39
Lord Norris, in order to detect the criminal, after the
usual manner, commanded that the corpse, preserved
by the water from the last extremity of decay, should
on the next Sunday be exposed in the churchyard,
close to the church door, so that everyone entering the
church should see and touch it. The wicked nephew
shrank from the ordeal, feigning to be so overwhelmed
with grief as to be unable to bear the sight of his
dearest uncle. Lord Norris, suspecting that the old
man had been murdered by the one person whom
his death would profit, compelled him to come, and to
touch with his finger, as so many had willingly done,
the hand of the dead. At his touch, however, ' as if
opened by the finger of God, the eyes of the corpse
were seen by all to move, and blood to flow from his
nostrils.' At this awful witness the murderer fell on
the ground and avowed the crime, which he had
secretly committed and the most just judgment of God
had brought to light. He was delivered to the judge,
sentenced, and hanged.
The event must have made a deep impression on
Dean Wren, who recorded it at length in Latin and
signed the record to attest its truth.
He also mentions that in the east window of the
church was the
' Coat of France azure frette" and seme of Flower de
Lyces or, put there together with his own coat by
Lord Barentine, knight of Rhodes and a great bene-
factor to that church. A man of great valour and
possessions in France as well as in England, his tomb
at the north-east side of the chancel shows he was of a
40 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
gigantic stature; and his statue of one entire stone,
which I digged out of a heap of rubbish there, makes
it appear he was (not two inches lower than) seven
foot high.'
Dr. Wren seems to have divided his residence
between Haseley and Windsor, probably spending
most of his time at the Deanery, where many of the
learned men and philosophers of the day sought
his society. Among these was the Prince Palatine
Charles, who was a frequent guest at the Deanery,
enjoying its learned quiet, and interested in his host's
young son, whose great gifts were early remarkable.
Many a little note did Dean Wren make of curious
things that came under his observation, particularly of
an oak that grew in the New Forest and sent out young
fresh leaves on Christmas Eve. So much discussion was
raised about it at court and King James would so little
believe it, that good Bishop Andrewes sent a chaplain
on Christmas Eve to the forest, who gathered about a
hundred fresh shoots, stuck them into wet clay, and sent
them straight to the court, where Dr. Wren witnessed
the opening of the boxes. The tree was then cut
down by some spiteful fellow, ' who,' says the Dean,
1 made his last stroke on his own leg, whereof he died,
together with the old wondrous tree.'
King Charles engaged Dr. Wren to make an
estimate for a building at Windsor for the use of the
Queen ; it was to be of considerable size, containing a
chapel, a banqueting room, galleries and rooms for the
Lord Chamberlain and court officials. The estimate
exists in business-like detail, the total amounting to
I 3'35^ J but it was probably not even begun.
CHRISTOPHER AT WESTMINSTER. 41
To his other employments the Dean added the
tender care of his young son. Christopher's case was
one of those rare ones in which a precocious child not
only lives to grow up, but also amply fulfils his early pro-
mise. His delicate health was the cause of much anxiety
to his father and to his sister Susan, and it may be that
the skill in nursing and medicine for which she was
afterwards famous, had their beginning in her watchful
care of her little brother.
His frail health seems to have been rather a spur
than a hindrance to his studies, and when very young
he had a tutor, the Rev. W. Shepheard, who prepared
him for Westminster, where he was sent in his ninth
or tenth year. Westminster was then under the rule
of its famous headmaster Dr. Busby, to whose especial
care young Christopher was committed.
The school with its stir of life, the grand abbey,
the Houses of Parliament then empty and silent,
Lambeth, from which his uncle's friend, Archbishop
Laud, might be seen frequently coming across the river
in his barge ; the whole surroundings must have been
wonderful to the country -bred boy who was one day to
connect his name indissolubly with that of London.
Did he, one cannot but wonder, ever on a holiday take
boat down the river, shooting the dangerous arches of
London Bridge, and look at S. Paul's with its long line
of roof, its tall tower and shattered spire ; little S.
Gregory's nestling by its side, and all the workmen
busied on the repairs which had been begun after King
James's solemn thanksgiving in 1620? Laud, while
Bishop of London, had carried on the works with a
42 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
vigour that had given them a fresh impetus, and was
one great cause of his unpopularity. Inigo Jones had
superintended them and finished the interior, and at
the west end, the stately portico of Portland stone,
which, though incongruous, was in itself beautiful, was
being erected by King Charles's orders. How little
could the boy have guessed at the ruin which was
approaching those pious builders, or the desecration
and destruction that awaited the fine old building
itself !
At school no pains were spared with so promising
a pupil as young Wren soon showed himself to be.
His sister Susan married, in 1643, Mr. William
Holder, subdean of the Chapel Royal, of a Notting-
hamshire family, a good mathematician, and one ' who
had good skill in the practic and theoretic parts of
music.' l Susan Wren was sixteen when she married,
and though childless the marriage was a very happy one.
Mr. Holder early discerned his young brother-in-
law's talent for mathematics and gave him private
lessons. Mr. Holder was subsequently appointed to
the living of Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire, which he
held until 1663.
Among the few autograph letters of Christopher
Wren's which remain in the family, is one written to
his father from Westminster in a boy's unformed
hand, the faintly ruled lines still showing.
2 ' Venerande Pater, Sententia apud antiques vulgata
1 Wood, Fasti Oxon., p. 139.
2 ' Revered Father, There is a common saying among the ancients
which I remember to have had from your mouth ; there is no equivalent
that can be given back to parents. For their cares and perpetual labours
THE FIRST FRUITS OF HIS PAINS. 43
est, quam ex ore tuo me habuisse memini, Parenti-
bus nihil posse reddi sequivalens. Frequentes enim
curae et perpetui labores circa pueros sunt immensi
quidem amoris indicium. At praecepta ilia mihi
toties repetita, quae animum ad bonas Artes, &
Virtutem impellunt, omnes alios amores superant.
Quod meum est, efficiam, quantum potero ne ingrato
fiant hac munera. Deus Optimus Maximus conati-
bus meis adsit et Tibi, pro visceribus illis Paternae
Pietatis, quae maxime velis praestet.
' Id orat Filius tuus, Tibi omni obsequio devo-
tissimus,
' CHRISTOPHORUS WREN.
' Has tibi primitias Anni, Pater, atq. laborum
Praesto (per exiguas qualibet esse sciam)
Quas spero in messem posse olim crescere, vultu
Si placido acceptes tu, foveasque sinu.'
' To you, Deare Sir, your Son presenteth heere
The first-fruits of his pains and of the yeare ;
Wich may (though small) in time an harvest grow,
If you to cherish these, your favour shew.
' E. Musaeo Meo.
'Calendis Januarii 1641 (1642 N.S.)'
concerning their children are indeed the evidence of immeasurable love.
Now these precepts so often repeated, which have impelled my soul
towards all that is highest in man, and to virtue, have superseded in me
all other affections. What in me lies I will perform, as much as I am
able, lest these gifts should have been bestowed on an ungrateful soul.
May the good God Almighty be with me in my undertakings and make
good to thee all thou most desirest in the tenderness of thy fatherly love.
Thus prays thy son, most devoted to thee in all obedience,
'CHRISTOPHER WREN.'
' Script, hoc, A ^Etatis suae, Decimo. Ab Octobris 20 elapso ' is
the note in different hand of Dean Wren, who may very probably have
felt that in the fast-rising storm all this fair promise might be swept
away.
44 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREtt.
While young Christopher was thus delighting his
father with his ' first-fruits,' his uncle the Bishop was
encountering many adversities. While he was busied
in Norwich, and in the midst of his work, Dr. White,
Bishop of Ely, died ; he had resided mostly in London,
as was then too commonly the habit of the bishops,
and it is to be supposed that there was plenty of work
to be done in the diocese. Laud reckoned it as a
very important one on account of its university, and
could think of no one so well suited to the post as
Bishop Wren, who was a distinguished Cambridge
scholar. To Ely accordingly the Bishop was trans-
lated, May 5, 1638, and rejoiced in renewing his
connection with the university where his early years
had been spent. The expenses attending so many re-
movals must have fallen heavily upon him ; all the
more, as in Norwich the palace was out of repair and
he lived for some time in a house of his own at
Ipswich, which was probably a part of Mrs. Wren's
property, finding that much attention was required
by that part of his diocese. Prynne was born at
Ipswich, and though shut up in the Tower of London, 1
retained friends in his native town ; thus the Bishop
knew he was entering a hornet's nest. Prynne speedily
produced his ' Quench-Coal,' which professed to answer
a tract called ' A Coal from the Altar,' wherein were
explained the reasons for placing the Holy Table
altarwise, and railing it in. Next came ' The News
from Ipswich,' which reviled all bishops under the
names of ' Luciferian Lord Bishops, execrable Tray-
1 Heylin, Cypr. Ang. t p. 309.
DIOCESE OF ELY. 45
tors, Devouring Wolves,' and the like ; especially attack-
ing Wren, and declaring, that, ' in all Queen Mane's
time, no such havoc was made in so short a time of
the faithful ministers in any part, nay in the whole
Land, than had been made in his Diocese.' There
was one great riot at Ipswich, which the Bishop was
able to quell. Prynne was fined, branded, and
imprisoned in Carnarvon Castle, and the town was
for the time tranquil, but Prynne was destined to be
a deadly and utterly unscrupulous enemy.
For nearly two years after his translation to Ely,
Dr. Wren was able to govern his new diocese in com-
parative peace. Little opposition seems to have been
made, for the factious spirit which was rampant in Nor-
folk and Suffolk was less violent here. In his beloved
university there were many points which needed
amendment. When he was master of Peterhouse and
built the chapel, he gave it that which many colleges
then lacked, and were lacking still when he returned,
to visit Cambridge.
The churchyards of the parish churches had been
in many instances encroached upon and profaned, and
in most of the chancels were ' common seats over high
and unfitting that place.' ' In all these businesses,' says
Archbishop Laud in his yearly report to the King, 'the
Bishop hath been very tender, both out of his respect
to his mother the University of Cambridge, and be-
cause divers of the benefices are impropriations belong-
ing to some of the Colleges there.' Nor was Wren's
care alone for the fabrics of the Church ; he was careful
to secure resident and diligent clergy in all the parishes
46 Sfff CHRISTOPHER WREN.
as far as he could and to see that they did their duty.
His advice and help were readily given. A clergy-
man, Mr. John Bois, applied to him for advice in the
case of a woman of twenty-nine, of whom no one
knew whether or no she was baptized. Mr. Bois had
applied by letter and word of mouth to the previous
Bishops of Ely (Bishops Buckeridge and White), and
could get no answer. Bishop Wren replied to him
promptly, directing him to baptize her forthwith, which
was accordingly done. 1 Upon these peaceful labours
the long-pending storm broke and called Wren to
harder duties.
In 1640 the discontent of the times declared itself
openly in Scotland, where the Puritan party took up
arms against the King, and began to league themselves
with the party in England whose opinions or prejudices
coincided with their own. King Charles had sum-
moned a parliament, and again dismissed it, having
obtained no assistance against the Scotch. ' The
minds of men had taken such a turn,' says Hume, ' as
to ascribe every honour to the refractory opposers of
the King and the ministers. These were the only
patriots, the only lovers of their country, the only
heroes, and perhaps, too, the only true Christians.'
The mob of sectaries in London, encouraged by the
successes obtained by the Scotch, burst into S. Paul's,
1 Desiderata Curiosa, p. 336. Peck. It will be borne in mind that
the Office for the Baptism of such as are of Riper Years was only added
to the Prayer Book at the last revision in 1662. Mr. John Bois was
made a Prebendary of Ely by Bishop Andrewes, and was one of the
translators of the Bible (1604-161 1) ; he was on the Cambridge Committee,
and assisted in the translation of the Apocrypha. Key to the Holy
Bible, p. 28. Rev. J. H. Blunt.
A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE. 47
where the High Commission then sat, and tore down
the benches, with cries of ' No Bishops no com-
mission ! ' Before this they had attacked Lambeth
Palace, threatening to tear the Archbishop in pieces,
and would probably have done so had he not been pre-
pared for them. From that time he knew his life to
be in constant peril. An unknown friend had written
to warn him that the Scotch Puritans justified assassi-
nation, and openly hoped the Primate might meet the
same fate as his early friend and patron, the Duke of
Buckingham. His integrity and singleness of mind,
to which Clarendon gives high testimony, had made
him bitter enemies. A hasty temper and sharp mode
of speech alienated many who could not but respect
him. The difficulties of his task had been doubled by
the lax, un-Catholic rule of his predecessor at Lambeth.
Both Puritans and Romanists alike reckoned him as
their greatest opponent. He was nearly seventy years
old, and sadly felt that ' there wanted not many pre-
sages of his ruin and death.' The King's return, on
October 30, brought a gleam of sunshine.
Evelyn l says :
' I saw His Majesty (coming from his Northern expe-
dition) ride in pomp and a kind of ovation with all the
markes of a happy peace, restored to the affections
of his people, being conducted through London with
a most splendid cavalcade ; and on 3 November
following (a day never to be mentioned without a
curse), to that long, ungrateful, foolish, and fatal
Parliament, the beginning of all our sorrow for
1 Diary, October 30, 1640.
48 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
twenty years after, and the period of the most happy
monarchy in the world.' In truth its opening
augured ill for the country and for the Church.
Lord Strafford was impeached and sent to the
Tower, and the Archbishop next attacked. Sir Har-
bottle Grimston, in a virulent speech, vented his hatred
against Archbishop Laud ; ' and those prelates he hath
advanced to name but some of them : Bishop Man-
waring, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Bishop of
Oxford, and Bishop Wren the last of all those birds,
but one of the most unclean ones.' The debate which
followed ended as in the temper of the House it was
certain to do in a vote that the Archbishop was a
traitor. Allowed the afternoon at Lambeth to collect
papers for his defence, he attended the evening
prayers for the last time in the chapel that he had re-
paired and adorned with loving care. The service,
which he had restored to its full beauty, soothed that
bitter hour. ' The Psalms of the day (December 1 8)
and chapter 1. of Isaiah gave me great comfort. God
make me worthy to receive it,' he wrote in his diary.
The poor thronged round Lambeth Palace, and bitterly
lamented the departure of their best friend, showering
blessings on his head as he was carried away. He
remained in the custody of Maxwell, the Usher of the
Black Rod, ten weeks, compelled to pay 4367. for his
charges, besides a fine of 5<x>/. He was then trans-
ferred to the Tower.
The Archbishop being secured, the Bishops were
next attacked. Hampden came to the Lords with a
message to acquaint their lordships that the Commons
WREN UNDER CENSURE.
49
had received matters of a high kind against the Bishop
of Ely, for the ' setting up of idolatry and superstition
in divers places, and acting the same in his own
person ; ' adding that he was intending to escape from
England, and that they therefore desired he might be
put in security, to be forthcoming and abide the judg-
ment of Parliament. Bishop Wren was in his place
in the House when this summons came, and was
ordered to find bail for io,ooo/. ; helped by three of
the bishops, he managed to do so. When the Primate
was in custody, and Wren under censure, at the be-
ginning of the next year Lord Strafford was attacked.
Dr. Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, not long released
from the Tower, anxious to please the Commons, de-
clared that the canon law forbade the Bishops to sit as
judges in a case of blood. He spoke in the name of
the other Bishops ; and the decision was too welcome
to Strafford's enemies not to be agreed to instantly ;
but it was a concession afterwards very dangerous to
those who made it. The issue of that iniquitous trial,
perhaps as great a perversion of justice as England
had ever then known, needs no repetition here.
The King's best advisers were in prison or under
restraint, except good Bishop Juxon, who bravely told
him he ought not, upon any considerations in the world,
to do anything against his conscience ; and Bishop
Williams, who hated Strafford and Laud alike, sent by
the Commons to induce the King to sign the death-
warrant, had a fatal success.
Bishop Wren came to Windsor after this to marry
Princess Mary, the King's eldest daughter, to William,
E
50 SJX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
eldest son of Henry Frederick, Prince of Orange,
whom he succeeded in six years. The alliance was
one which gratified the Parliament, being so Protestant
a connection. Little, however, could they have
guessed how deadly an enemy Princess Mary's son
would prove to the house of Stuart. Ten days after
this wedding came May 1 2, when ' the wisest head
in England was severed from the shoulders of Lord
Strafford.' So writes John Evelyn. To the Arch-
bishop, his friend's death must have been a terrible
blow. He was just able to bestow a parting blessing
through his prison window, and to hear Lord Strafford
say, ' Farewell, my lord. God protect your innocency.'
The Princess's marriage was the last occasion on which
Bishop Wren was to officiate as Dean of the Chapels
Royal.
The Commons had been industriously at work
against him since the first attack in December, and as
Archbishop Laud said of Prynne, ' by this time their
malice had hammered out somewhat.' The committee
sent in a report, charging the Bishop with ' excom-
municating fifty painful ministers, practising super-
stition in his own person, placing " the table " altar-
wise, elevation of the elements, the "eastward posi-
tion," as it is now called, at the Eucharist, bowing to
the Altar, causing all seats to be placed so that the
people faced east, employing his authority to restrain
"powerful preaching," and ordering catechising in
the words of the Church Catechism only, permitting
no prayer before the sermon but the bidding prayer
BISHOP WREN'S RESIGNATION. 51
(canon 5), publishing a book of articles, to which the
churchwardens were sworn, containing 187 questions.'
Upon this report a debate ensued, ending in a vote
that it was the opinion of the House that Matthew
Wren was unworthy and unfit to hold or exercise any
office or dignity in the Church, and voting that a
message be sent to the House of Lords to desire them
to join the Commons in petitioning his Majesty to
remove Bishop Wren from his person and service,
Evelyn's expression, 'to such an exorbitancy had the
times grown,' aptly describes the state of matters when,
for details such as these of the government of a diocese,
and for practices which, if they had been proved, were
both legal and reasonable, an assembly of laymen pre-
sumed to pronounce a bishop unfit for his office in
the Church. Whether the petition ever came before
the King does not appear, but Wren thought it best to
take the initiative ; for he writes in his diary five days
after the debate : ' I hardly obtained leave from the
King to resign the deanery of the Chapels Royal.'
CHAPTER III.
1641-1647.
BISHOP WREN ACCUSED WESTMINSTER ABBEY ATTACKED IM-
PRISONMENT OF THE BISHOPS BISHOP WREN'S DEFENCE
'UTTERLY DENIETH ALL POPISH AFFECTIONS' THE GARTER
JEWELS ARCHBISHOP LAUD MURDERED CHRISTOPHER AT OXFORD
PHILOSOPHICAL MEETINGS.
For though outnumber'd, overthrown,
And by the fate of war run down,
Their duty never was defeated, -
Nor from their oaths and faith retreated ;
For loyalty is still the same,
Whether it win or lose the game ;
True as the dial to the sun,
Although it be not shined upon.
Hudibras, pt. in. canto 2.
CHAPTER III.
THE concession Bishop Wren had thus made did not
satisfy the Commons, and on July 20 they drew out
the report into twenty articles of accusation, containing
all the former charges and several additional ones,
among which were the setting up of altar-rails, order-
ing the Holy Communion to be received kneeling,
ordering the reading of the ' Book of Sports/ and
preaching in a surplice ; causing by prosecutions 3,000
of the King's poor subjects to go beyond the sea.
For these offences they prayed that Bishop Wren
might answer> and suffer such punishment as law and
justice required. The articles were transmitted to the
House of Lords at a conference, and were read by Sir
T. Widdrington, Recorder of York, 1 who prefaced them
by a venomous speech against the Bishop of Ely,
whom he compared to ' a wolf devouring the flock ;
an extinguisher of light ; a Noah, who sent out doves
from the ark, and refused to receive them back unless
they returned as ravens, to feed upon the carrion of
his new inventions, he himself standing with a flaming
sword to keep such out of his diocese.' He accused
the Bishop of raising fines for his own profit ; called
him a great robber, a malefactor, ' a compleat mirror of
1 Vide supra, p. 17.
56 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
innovation, superstition, and oppression : an oppugner
of the life and liberty of religion, and a devouring
serpent in the diocese of Norwich/
These are but a few phrases from Sir Thomas's
speech ; he used no argument, adduced no proof, but
contented himself simply with clamour and reviling,
and these were amply sufficient. In the Long Parlia-
ment it was enough to accuse anyone, especially a
bishop, of Popery, superstition and ' innovation ' which
was a term invented by Bishop Williams, then as now
commonly applied to the oldest dogmas and practices
of the Church to insure his imprisonment, or at the
least a heavy fine. In Wren's Diary opposite the day
of the month is merely, ' Let God arise, and let his
enemies be scattered.' Dr. Pierce, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, was attacked at the same time ; but at first no
active steps were taken against them, perhaps because
the Commons found matters not yet ripe for a whole-
sale imprisonment of the Bishops. Dr. Wren well-
knew that matters would not stop here, and while
awaiting the next attack began to prepare his Defence
against the Articles of Accusation.
The mob in the meanwhile were encouraged by
caricatures, libels, and invectives to rail against the
Bishops and impute every misfortune and every trade
failure to them, by which means the Puritan leaders
contrived to stir up a yelling mob of men and women.
All petitions against the Church were received and
the petitioners encouraged and praised. The populace
insulted the Bishops whenever they appeared, and
threatened their lives. Westminster Abbey was at-
ATTACK ON WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 57
tacked, when the Bishops were there, by a violent mob,
led by Wiseman, a knight of Kent. The officers and
choirmen of the Abbey with the boys of the School,
among whom must have been Christopher Wren,
defended it gallantly, and the fray ended when Wise-
man was killed by a tile thrown from the battlements
by one of the defenders. After this the Bishops who
were in London met in the Deanery at Westminster,
the lodging of Williams, Archbishop of York, who had
just been translated from Lincoln to York, in succes-
sion to the late Archbishop Neile, 1 to consult what
should be done. At the Archbishop's suggestion,
they drew up a paper, remonstrating against the abuse
offered them, and the manner in which they had been
hindered from coming to the House of Lords, their
coaches overset, their barges attacked and prevented
landing, and they themselves beset and threatened.
They claimed their right to sit in the House of Lords
and vote, and protested against all that had been done
since the 27th of that month (December, 1641), and
all that should hereafter pass in time of this their
forced and violent absence. This paper was signed
by the Archbishop and eleven Bishops, of whom
Bishop Wren was one, and presented to the King,
who delivered it to Littleton, the Lord Keeper, to be
communicated next day to the Peers. The Lord
Keeper, who had already deserted his benefactor,
Lord Strafford, contrary to the King's orders showed
1 R. N eile, successively Bishop of Rochester, Lichfield, Lincoln,
Durham and Winchester, and Archbishop of York, died 1640. Godwin
speaks strongly of his loyalty to Church and King, and the hatred borne
to him by the Puritans. Praesul. Ang.
5 8 SIR CHRISTOPHER
the paper first to ' some of the preaching party in both
Houses,' and then to the Peers. Upon the reading a
conference was desired between the Houses, and the
Lord Keeper declared that the Bishops' paper con-
tained ' matters of high and dangerous consequence,
extending to the deep intrenching upon the funda-
mental privileges and being of Parliament.' The
Commons, whose part, like that of the Lord Keeper, 1
was pre-arranged, impeached the Bishops of high
treason ; the usher of the Black Rod was despatched to
find and bring them before the House. They, lodging
in different parts of London, were not all collected
until eight o'clock on the winter's night, and then, their
offence being signified, were committed to the Tower. 2
The Bishops of Durham and Lichfield, both aged and
infirm, obtained leave to be in the custody of the
Black Rod. The other bishops were carried to the
1 ' The Commons not being able to come at their intended alterations
in the Church while the Bench of Bishops remained entire in the House
of Peers, formed several schemes to divide them.' Hist, of the Puritans,
vol. ii. p. 388. Neale.
2 ' We, poor souls,' says Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, in his
Hard Measure, ' who little thought we had done anything that might
deserve a chiding, are now called to our knees at the bar, and charged
severally with high treason, being not a little astonished at the suddenness
of this crimination compared with the perfect innocency of our own
intentions, which were only to bring us to our due places in Parliament
with safety and speed, without the least purpose of any man's offence ;
but now traitors we are in all the haste, and must be dealt with accord-
ingly. For on December 30, in all the extremity of frost at eight o'clock on
the dark evening, are we voted to the Tower ; only two of our number
had the favour of the Black Rod, by reason of their age, which though
desired by a noble lord on my behalf would not be granted ; wherein I
acknowledge and bless the gracious Providence of my God, for had I
been gratified I had been undone both in body and purse ; the rooms
being strait, and the expense beyond the reach of my estate.' Annals
of England* p. 420.
THE DECOY DUCK. 59
Tower on the following morning. A libellous pam-
phlet was published at this time, entitled 'Wren's
Anatomy, discovering his notorious Pranks &c., printed
in the year when Wren ceased to domineer/ has in
the title-page a print of Bishop Wren sitting at a table ;
out of his mouth proceed two labels : on one, ' Canonical
Prayers ; ' on the other, ' No Afternoon Sermon.' On
one side stand several clergy, over whose heads is
written ' Altar-cringing Priests.' On the other, two
men in lay habits, above whom is this inscription,
1 Churchwardens for Articles.' It serves to show what
were considered as really the Bishop's crimes, and
that he had a fair proportion of faithful clergy. 1 The
Archbishop of York had served the Commons' turn in
procuring the King's assent to Lord Strafford's death-
warrant, and had enjoyed for a short time a remark-
able though transient popularity both on that account
and as Laud's bitter opponent. The Commons were,
however, soon weary of him, and gladly availed them-
selves of the pretext afforded by the protest to throw
him aside. A pamphlet was published, which had a
great success, entitled the ' Decoy Duck,' in allusion
to the fens of his former diocese of Lincoln, in which
he was represented as only released from the Tower
in order to decoy the other bishops there. It was
thought prudent that the bishops should make no
attempt either to see each other, or Archbishop Laud,
who had preceded them to that dreary lodging, so that
only loving messages passed between the prisoners.
So many bishops being in custody, and five sees vacant,
1 Biographical History of England, vol. ii. p. 157. Grainger,
60 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREtf.
the Commons took their opportunity, and brought in
a Bill depriving the Bishops of their seats in Parlia-
ment, and of the power of sitting as judges or privy
councillors. It was feebly opposed by the Churchmen,
who had been alienated by the prelates' desertion of
Lord Strafford, and was finally carried. The remark
made a little later bv Lord Falkland on Sir E. Deer-
*
ing's ' Bill for the Extirpation of Episcopacy/ when
the Churchmen, weary of their attendance, left the
House at dinner-time, and did not return ' Those
who hated the bishops, hated them worse than the
devil, and those who loved them did not love them
so well as their dinner,' appears to have been ap-
plicable to this occasion also. Not very long after the
first-named Bill had passed, some of the bishops were
set at liberty, but Bishop Wren was not released until
May 6, 1642.
It was a brief respite. He went down to his
diocese, to a house at Downham, near Ely, where his
wife and children were living, and there, August 17,
he kept the last wedding-day that he and his wife
were ever to celebrate together. On August 25
King Charles set up his standard at Nottingham
and the Civil War began. On the 3oth of the month
Bishop Wren's house was entered by soldiers and
he was taken prisoner, without, it will be observed,
the shadow of a legal charge against him. On
September ist he was again thrown into the Tower,
leaving Mrs. Wren with a daughter only eight days
old and mourning for their son Francis, who had died
in the previous month. Matthew, the eldest son, was
IMPRISONMENT. 61
then only thirteen years old. Bishop Wren's was a
singularly steadfast, hopeful nature, and it may be that
he expected to be speedily released by the victorious
Royalist armies. Could he have foreseen the duration
of his imprisonment and the miseries which were to
befall the Church and the country, even his dauntless
spirit might have been crushed. He did not seek an
interview with Archbishop Laud, lest they should
be accused of plotting, and so each injure the other.
Otherwise it would not have been difficult, as the
Archbishop was at first carelessly watched, in the hope
that he would, by escaping, rid the Commons of a
difficulty. The Archbishop ' would not, at seventy
years, go about to prolong a miserable life by the
trouble and shame of flying,' though Grotius sent him
an intreaty to copy the example of his own marvellous
escape from Loevenstein Castle twenty-one years pre-
viously. 1 The services in the Tower Chapel, where
they probably met at first, could have given them little
comfort, marred and mangled as the services were by
the intruders, who came often with no better object
than to preach insulting sermons against the prelates.
Dr. Wren busied himself in the completion of the
' Defence,' to which allusion has been made in the
first chapter. 2 It is too long to allow of being set
out in full, but a few points may be touched upon. Of
the ' fifty painful ministers ' whom he was said to have
excommunicated, for some of the sentences there was,
as has been said, very sufficient reason. As the Bishop
says, ' Excommunication doth by law fall upon those
1 Vide Life of Barne-velde, vol. i. p. 408. Motley. 2 P. 26.
62 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
that are absent, either from visitation, or synods ; and
suspension is a censure which in the practice of those
courts is incurred in one hour and taken off in another,
and is of little or no grievance at all except it be wil-
fully persisted in.' He complains of so vague a charge,
not stating who the clergy were, and proceeds as
well as he can recollect to mention those who had
fallen under his censure. For those whose licence to
preach had been withdrawn, the greater number ought
never to have received it at all ; one had been a broken
tradesman in Ipswich, one a country apothecary, another
a weaver, another 'no graduate, not long translated
from common stage-playing to two cures and a publick
lecture.' Yet still when all were reckoned who had
ever been censured or admonished, the Bishop thinks
that the fifty will hardly be made up. l
It is a curious instance of the temper of the times
that one head of so serious an indictment should be that
'To manifest his Popish Affections, he in 1636, caused
a crucifix to be engraven upon his Episcopal seal.'
Bishop Wren carefully addresses himself to the defence
of this point, and to that of bowing at the name of our
Lord, and to the Altar.
1 He began so to do by the example of that learned
and holy Prelate Bishop Andrewes, now with God,
1 'Certainly,' says Nalson, 'notwithstanding this black accusation
(he is speaking of the ' fifty painful ministers '), there cannot be a greater
demonstration of the innocence of this worthy prelate than the very
articles ; and that this accusation wanted proof to carry it further than a
bare accusation, and a commitment to the Tower, where, with the courage
and patience of a primitive Christian, he continued prisoner till the year
1660.' History of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 223. Grey, Examination of
Neale's.
BO W 'ING TO THE ALTAR, 63
under whom this defendant was brought up from his
youth, and had depended upon him more than forty
years since, and constantly and religiously practised
the same upon all occasions .... as his own years
and studies increased he found first, the bowing at the
name of the Lord Jesus, had not only been practised
by the clergy but had also been enjoined to all the
people, ever since the first reformation, as appeareth
by the Injunctions, i Eliz. Cap. 52, thereby to
testify our due acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus
Christ, the true and Eternal Son of God, is the only
Saviour of the world, in whom alone the mercies,
graces and promises of God to mankind for this
life and the life to come are fully and wholly com-
prised, i Jac. Can. 18.' For bowing to the Altar,
while setting out how old a practice of the Church it
was, designedly continued at the Reformation, how a
like reverence was paid always to the King, or to his
chair of estate if he was not in the Presence Chamber,
* No Christian would ever deny that bowing or doing
adoration, was to be used as a part of God's worship,
the affirmative act being necessarily included in the
negative precept, " Non adorabis ea, ergo adorabis
Me." ' ' No more as he humbly conceiveth is it any
superstition, but a sign of devotion, and of an awful
apprehension of God's divine Presence, to do Him
reverence at the approach into the House of God, or
unto the Lord's Table. . . .
For the crucifix * He utterly denieth all popish
affections, and saith that the figure of Christ upon
64 <SW CHRISTOPHER WREN.
the Cross may be had without any popish affection,
and that the said figure upon his seal did itself
declare what affection it was to manifest. For there
was this posy engraven with it, " 'Ev a> /coor/tog e/u,ol
Kaya> TO> /co'cr/xa>," being taken out of S. Paul, Gal.
vi. 14 In an holy imitation whereof this
defendant beareth divers coats of arms (as the use
is) upon the said seal, to wit, the arms of the See of
Norwich, and the arms of the See of Hereford, and
of the Deanery of Windsor, and of the Mastership
of Peterhouse, together with his own paternal coat
of an ancient descent ; he, considering with himself,
that these were emblems all, and badges but of
worldly and temporal glories, and desiring that the
world should have a right apprehension of him, and
to testify that he did no way glory in any thing of this
transitory world, but humbly endeavoured to wean
himself from all temporal and vain rejoycing, he
therefore caused such a small figure of Christ on
the Cross to be set over all the said coats.'
He adds that he principally used it in signing ' pre-
sentments of Popish recusants.' . . . not to say that
although the said seal lay all the year long locked
up in a chest, but at the time of sealing, and that
when any sealing there was no worship done by
any ; yet nevertheless, as soon as he understood
that any, had taken scruple at it, he presently, to
avoid all pretence of scandal, caused the said seal to
be altered and the figure of Christ to be wholly
omitted.' 1
1 It is curious that nearly as violent an attack was made a hundred
EASTWARD POSITION. 65
The part of the Defence, which has been most chal-
lenged, is that for the use of the ' Eastward position.' It
is, however, important to remember that the Bishop had
to defend himself against the charge, that once, while
celebrating in the Tower Church at Ipswich, he had
' used idolatrous actions ' in administering the Holy
Communion, Consecrating the Elements with his face
eastward, elevating the Paten and Chalice 'above his
shoulders and bowing low either to or before them
when set down on the Table.'
The charge of ' idolatry ' divides itself into three
heads. The last two Wren met by a full denial, the
first he confesses, while explaining his reason for his
position in that special instance, when, as he says, the
Elements being on the middle of the Holy Table,
' were farther from the end thereof than he^ being but
low of stature, could reach over his book unto them
and yet still proceed in reading the words without
stop or interruption and without danger of spilling the
Bread and Wine . . . and he humbly conceiveth that
although the Kubrick 1 says that the Minister shall
stand at the north side of the Table, yet .it is not so to
be meant as that upon no occasion during all Corn-
years later upon Bishop Butler (the author of the Analogy), because,
when Bishop of Bristol, he put up a plain, inlaid, black marble cross in
the Chapel of the Palace there. He died 1752.
1 The Rubric before the Prayer of Consecration in the Prayer Book
of 1559-1604, was simply :
' Then the Priest, standing up, shall say as followeth.'
The first rubric of position at the beginning of the service had placed
him ' at the north side of the Table.' For a full and very interesting
defence of Bishop Wren, see Worship in the (Church of England, Right
Honourable A. B. B. Hope, and, Dean Howson 'Before the Table] by the
same author, in the Church Quarterly Review, January, 1876.
F
66 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
munion time he shall step from it.' For the rest, the
whgle tone of the Defence is brave and dignified ; and
despite the knowledge that his life was at stake, despite
of the ' humbly conceiveth ' which runs through it, it
is evident that the Bishop considered his position to be
in reality unassailable, and that he was more or less con-
descending in making these explanations. There is an
irony in the studied simplicity with which the scholar
and theologian explains elementary truths and ordinary
rules of church discipline to a House of Commons who
certainly stood in need of instruction in such matters.
The Bishop, when his part was done, and he had
received notice to prepare for trial on a day appointed,
put his manuscript, with an injunction of secresy, into
the hands of a lawyer who was supposed to be friendly,
that he might give his advice on the technical and legal
parts.
1 The person,' says the ' Parentalia,' ' thus intrusted dis-
covering (on the perusal) matters of such moment,
as he conceived might be very expedient for the
Prosecutors to be forewarned of, betrayed his trust,
and to ingratiate himself treacherously delivered up
the Bishop's papers to the chief persons in power of
the governing faction. The consequence thereupon
was that the resolution which had been taken to
bring him to trial for life was suddenly counter-
manded and an order by the House of Commons
made to continue him in prison during their pleasure.'
So began the long years of Bishop Wren's captivity.
Few trials could have been harder for a man of vigorous
GARTER JEWELS. 67
active nature to bear than this one which rendered him
powerless, when all he held dear was at stake, loaded
him with calumnies and prevented his uttering a word
in his defence. The diary gives no hint of what his
feelings were. In silence he resigned himself, resolved
to afford no triumph to his enemies. Dean Wren was
somewhat better off, though he had his share of mis-
fortunes. The valuable plate and treasures belonging
to the Order of the Garter were a serious responsibility,
and, though the treasure-house was strong, he could
not feel that it offered a sufficient security. The plate
and armour were not easily hidden, but the Diamond
George and Garter of Gustavus Adolphus he deter-
mined, if possible, to save. Accordingly, with the help
of one trustworthy person and every precaution for
secresy, he dug a hole in the treasury floor and there
deposited them, concealing the place with the utmost
care, and leaving a note in the hand of one worthy
person intimating where the jewels might be found in
the event of his death. He had good cause to rejoice
in this precaution, for a few months later, in October
1642, down came
' one Captain Fogg pretending a warrant from the
King and demanding the keys of the Treasury,
threatening if they were denied him by the Dean
and Prebendaries, to pull the Chapel about their
ears.'
As his threats had no effect, he forced the stone
jambs of the doorway with crowbars, and carried off
all the treasures except those which the Dean had
F 2
68 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
buried. These, however, did not long remain secure,
for in 1645 they were discovered and placed in the
keeping of Colonel Ven, then governor of Windsor
Castle, and finally, through several hands, reached the
trustees of the Long Parliament, who sold the jewels
to Thomas Beauchamp, their clerk. The Deanery was
not spared during the first pillage of the chapel,
though the Dean possessed a formal protection from
the Committee of Public Safety, but was ransacked by
the soldiers, and the Registry of the Garter, sealed by
order of the House of Lords, broken open, and the re-
cords stolen. Dean Wren lost many things of value
books and manuscripts dear to the careful scholar, and
also plate, including two large silver tankards, the gifts
of the Elector Palatine. Of his own effects the Dean
was only able, after an interval of six years, to recover
one harpsichord valued at ten pounds ; but he suc-
ceeded, after much expense and frequent attendances at
Somerset House, by the favour of the trustees' chair-
man, Major Wither, in regaining the registers of the
Order of the Garter, known from the colours of the
velvet in which they were bound as ' the Black, the
Blue, and the Red,' though not until a considerable space
of time had passed; they contained all the principal
records of the Order, and were therefore very valuable.
The diamonds however, he was never able to regain, or
the Altar Plate. After the first plunder of the Chapel
and the Deanery Dr. Wren appears to have left
Windsor and to have followed the Court for a time.
Christopher, meanwhile, was at Westminster ad-
vancing steadily in learning, while the loyal prin-
INCREASING TROUBLES. 69
ciples of his family must have been confirmed by the
whole tone of the school which was ardently royalist,
South, in a sermon for January 30, says, 1 speaking of
Westminster : ' Upon that very Day, that black and
eternally infamous Day of the King's murder, I myself
heard, and am now a witness, that the King was pub-
lickly prayed for in this School but an hour or two (at
most) before his sacred head was struck off.'
Whether at this period Christopher ever saw his
uncle in the Tower does not appear. The Bishop's
position was sad enough. During 1643 and 1644 his
diary records the death of five of his children ; in the
monotony of his prison life these sorrows must have
pressed on him with double force. Nor was there any
consolation to be derived from public matters. The royal
cause, prosperous at first, grew less and less so, as the
King's lack of money became an ever-increasing diffi-
culty. Another grief, keenly felt by all Churchmen,
was the order of the Parliament for the abolition of
the Prayer Book and the alteration of the Thirty-nine
Articles in a sense pleasing to the Puritans. Then
came the long-deferred trial of the Archbishop of
Canterbury. He was treated with a cruel disregard of
his high position and of his age, every kind of insult
and indignity being offered him. He however rose
superior to it all, and defended himself with an elo-
quence, vigour, and courage which dismayed and en-
raged his enemies, though it could not change their
purpose. The Bishop of Ely's name was frequently
mentioned, and his promotion objected to as one of the
1 South's Sermons, vol. v. p. 45, ed. 1727.
jo S/X CHRISTOPHER
Archbishop's crimes ; but no further steps were taken
against him then, as he was safe in custody, and the
Commons had enough on their hands.
In his defence, the Archbishop thought it prudent
to say nothing respecting the Bishops whose advance-
ment was objected against him, deeming it for their
interest to entangle them as little as possible in his
misfortunes. They were able to speak for themselves
he said, but the memory of the dead Archbishop
Neile he warmly defended. The trial was long pro-
tracted in order to give a specious colouring of justice
to the predetermined sentence.
For this Prynne ' kept a school of instruction ' for
the witnesses, and tampered with the Archbishop's
papers, of which he had forcibly possessed himself.
The spirit that guided the whole trial was shown in
his reply to one who said the Archbishop was a good
man. ' Yea, but we must make him ill.' The Peers
raised a feeble opposition. The King, whose consent
the Parliament had not attempted to procure, sent to
the Archbishop by a sure hand, from Oxford, a full
pardon under the Great Seal, but neither received the
least attention.
On January 10, on Tower Hill, the unjust sentence
was fulfilled. Few things are more touching than the
account given by his chaplain and biographer, Heylin,
of the way in which the Archbishop met that cruel fate.
It is some comfort to remember that, though the
Church Services were then forbidden, yet his enemies
did not interfere, but suffered the Burial Service to
be read in All Hallows, Barking, where he was first
ARCHBISHOP LAUD MURDERED. 71
interred. After the Restoration, the coffin was removed
to S. John's College, Oxford, and buried under the
altar in the chapel. He left Bishop Wren and Dr.
Duppa, Bishop of Salisbury, executors of his will. It
contained a great number of bequests for charitable
foundations, especially for his native town of Reading ;
but as his whole estate had been taken from him, these
were unfulfilled. His murder was an immense
triumph to all the Sectarians in England and Scotland,
who probably considered it as a death-blow to the
Church.
The Bishop of Ely in his cell must have listened
in grief and horror to the tolling of the Tower bell
which proclaimed the bloody death of the friend with
whom he had laboured for many years, latterly his
patient fellow-prisoner. The entry in the diary is
brief : ' Parce, O Deus Requisitor sanguinis.' The
same fate seemed very near to himself, and he was
ready to follow the Archbishop ; but he had eighteen
years of close imprisonment to endure, and a different
work to do.
Early in 1644, George Monk, then a colonel in the
King's service, was taken prisoner by Fairfax in his
attack upon the army besieging Nantwich, in Cheshire.
He was imprisoned first at Hull, and then, as he was
thought too important to be exchanged except for
some considerable prisoner, he was sent to the Tower,
and there remained two years. The Tower charges
were high, and a long confinement in its walls was a
strain upon the resources of a prisoner, which reduced
those, whose fortune, like that of Monk, was scanty,
72 S/K CHRISTOPHER WREN.
to extreme poverty. The King, who knew Monk's
condition, contrived to send him a hundred guineas,
and upon this he existed for some time, and resisted
the offers of Cromwell, then rapidly rising in power and
authority.
Somehow or other, Monk contrived to obtain
several interviews with Bishop Wren, who did his
best to confirm the soldier in his loyalty. He per-
ceived that Monk, whose popularity with the army
was very great, and whose military talents were
thought to be of a high order, might one day be a
valuable ally, and a useful counterpoise to Cromwell.
At length, when the King's cause appeared for the
time lost, and Monk himself was reduced to extreme
poverty, he yielded to Cromwell's request, and ac-
cepted a commission in the Irish army, under his
kinsman Lord Lisle. Before his release, Monk had
a final interview with the Bishop of Ely, and, as
he knelt to ask the Bishop's blessing, bound himself
with a solemn engagement never to be an enemy to
his king, and said he was going to do his majesty the
best service he could against 'the rebels in Ireland,
and hoped he should one day do him further service in
England.'
Bishop Wren held firmly to his trust in Monk's
loyalty, though many things might well have shaken
his confidence. In the curious life of Dr. John Bar-
wick, one of the King's most faithful agents, from
whom Sir Walter Scott may have taken many of the
features of his indefatigable plotter ' Dr. Rochecliffe,'
it is said that 1 'he' (Dr. Barwick) 'often heard the
1 Life of Dr. Barwick, p. 267, ed. 1724.
CHRISTOPHER AT OXFORD. 73
Right Reverend Bishop of Ely promise himself all he
could wish from the General's fidelity.' As Monk
gave no other hint of his intentions, refusing even to
receive Charles II.'s letters, this assurance was precious
to the Royalists.
In 1646, Christopher Wren left Westminster, and
at the age of fourteen went up to Oxford, and was
entered as a Gentleman Commoner at Wadham
College. He had, young as he was, distinguished
himself at Westminster, inventing an astronomical
instrument, of which no description remains, and
dedicating it to his father in a short Latin poem, 1
which has been often praised for the flow and smooth-
ness of its lines ; a set of Latin verses in which the signs
of the Zodiac are transformed into Christian emblems,
is, in spite of its ingenuity, much less successful ; a short
poem on the Nativity also in Latin, belongs probably
to the same date, and is of the same order of poetry.
Far more graceful are the playful lines cut on the
rind of an immense pomegranate sent to ' that best man,
my dearest friend E. F., by Christopher Regulus/ in
which on the ' Pomo Punico,' as he calls it, Christopher
rings the changes on ' Punic gifts ' and ' Punic faith,'
and declares his pomegranate is connected neither with
the one nor the other.
One English poem, an attempt to paraphrase the
first chapter of S. John's Gospel, fails of necessity from
the impossibility of such an attempt, and Wren handles
the English verse far more stiffly and uneasily than he
did the Latin. What however is striking is the pen-
1 See Appendix L
74 MX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
manship of the ' Parentalia ' autograph ; the writing, the
capital letters, and the little flourishes are executed
with a delicate finish really remarkable.
There is no date to this autograph, but the hand-
writing appears firmer and more regular than that
of the dedication to his father, and it was probably an
Oxford composition.
Christopher came up to Ozford a slight, delicate
boy, with an understanding at once singularly quick
and patient, readily seconded by very dexterous fin-
gers, and keen powers of observation. He brought
with him a reputation for, in the phrase of the day,
' uncommon parts,' and speedily showed that besides a
classical education, he had acquired a strong bent for
the experimental philosophy of the ' New learning.'
Oxford, when Wren came there, was not only the
seat of learning, it was a Court and a Camp as well, to
which all the Royalist hearts in England turned. In
the midst of these curiously differing influences, Chris-
topher pursued his studies under the care of the ' most
obliging and universally curious Dr. Wilkins, 1 1 as
Evelyn calls him, a man as devoted to experiments
as Christopher himself. Dean Wren had been in
Bristol with his daughter and son-in-law, accompany-
1 Dr. Wilkins published a book (A Discovery of a New World),
concerning the art of flying, in which he said he did not question
but in the next age it will be as usual to hear a man call for his wings
when he is going a journey, as it is now to call for his boots. The
Duchess of Newcastle objecting to Dr. Wilkins the want of baiting places
on the way to his New World, he expressed his surprise that the objection
should be made by a lady who had all her life been employed in building
castles in the air. (The Guardian, No. 112. Addison.) This scheme
does not seem to have reached the length of an experiment !
KING CHARLES LEAVES OXFORD. 75
ing Prince Rupert, and on the Prince's unexpected
surrender of the town to Fairfax (1645), seems to have
returned with Prince Rupert and Mr. and Mrs.
Holder, either to his own living of Great Haseley, or
to Mr. Holder's at Bletchingdon.
In those times no place could long be a tranquil
habitation. The King's affairs went from bad to
worse, and at length the near approach of Fairfax
with his victorious army made it evident that Oxford
could no longer be a safe refuge for the Court. King
Charles accordingly left Oxford in disguise, and, at-
tended only by Mr. Ashburnham and Dr. Michael
Hudson, 1 who was well acquainted with the lanes and
byeways of the country, proceeded by Henley-on-
Thames and St. Albans, to Southwell in Nottingham-
shire, throwing himself on the loyalty of the Scots, then
encamped at Newark. How unworthy of his con-
fidence they proved to be, and how they finally sold
him to the Parliament, are matters of history too
notorious for repetition here.
Oxford, thus saved from the ruin of a siege, capi-
tulated to Fairfax June 24, 1646, on the express con-
dition that the University should be free from ' seques-
trations, fines, taxes and all other molestations what-
soever.' But the Parliament was not famous for keep-
ing its engagements, and at once proceeded to break
through those made with Oxford and reduce it to the
same condition as Cambridge, which they had devas-
1 A most zealous Royalist ; King Charles called him ' my plain-
dealing chaplain,' because Dr. Hudson told him the truth when others
would not. He was murdered at Woodcroft House, Northamptonshire,
1648. Desiderata Curiosa, p. 378. Peck.
76 5//? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
tated in 1642. A passage from ' Querela Cantabri-
giensis,' which is supposed to be written by Dr. Barwick,
gives some idea of what this condition was :
' And therefore,' he says, 'if posterity shall ask "Who
thrust out one of the eyes of this kingdom, who
made Eloquence dumb, Philosophy sottish, widowed
the Arts, and drove the Muses from their ancient
habitation ? Who plucked th^ reverend and orthodox
professors out of their chairs, and silenced them in
prison or their graves ? Who turned Religion
into Rebellion, and changed the apostolical chair
into a desk for blasphemy, and tore the garland
from the head of Learning to place it on the dull
brows of disloyal ignorance?" If they shall ask
" Who made those ancient and beautiful chapels, the
sweet remembrances and monuments of our fore-
fathers' charity and the kind fomenters of their
children's devotion, to become ruinous heaps of dust
and stones ? " . . . 'Tis quickly answered " Those
they were, who endeavouring to share three Crowns
and put them in their own pockets, have transformed
this free kingdom into a large gaol, to keep the
liberty of tJie subject', they who maintain 100,000
robbers and murderers by sea and land, to protect
our lives and the propriety of our goods. . . . they
who have possessed themselves of his majesty's
towns, navy, and magazines, to make him a glorious
king; who have multiplied oaths, protestations, vows,
leagues and covenants, for ease of tender consciences ;
filling all pulpits with jugglers for the Cause, canting
sedition, atheism, and rebellion, to root out popery
PHILOSOPHICAL MEETINGS. 77
and Babylon and settle the kingdom of Christ : . . .
The very same have stopped the mouth of all learn-
ing (following herein the example of their elder
brother the Turk), lest any should be wiser than
themselves, or posterity know what a world of
wickedness they have committed. " ' x
Wadham College probably suffered less than many,
as its head, Dr. Wilkins, who had married Cromwell's
sister, was very submissive to the then Government.
As matters settled down somewhat at Oxford towards
1648, Dr. Wilkins, Dr. Jonathan Goddard, Dr. Wallis,
Mr. Theodore Hank, who came from the desolated
Palatinate, and Mr. S. Foster, the Gresham Professor
of Astronomy, met together weekly, ' to discourse and
consider,' writes Dr. Wallis, ' (precluding theology and
state affairs), of philosophical enquiries, and such as
related thereunto : as physick, anatomy, geometry,
astronomy, navigation, staticks, magneticks, chymicks,
mechanicks, and natural experiments with the state
of those studies as then calculated at home and
abroad.'
The meetings, at which Christopher Wren, young
as he was, appears to have been a constant attendant,
were frequently held at the house of Dr. Goddard for
the convenience of his having there a workman skilled
in the nice work of grinding glasses for microscopes
and telescopes. Dr. Goddard became body physician
to Cromwell, was by him made Warden of Merton
College, Oxford, and subsequently represented the
university in Parliament. Dr. Wallis, a famous Oxford
1 Annals of England, p. 432.
7 8 S/X CHRISTOPHER WREN.
mathematician, was employed by the Parliament to
decipher the King's cabinet of letters taken at Naseby,
and also was proved by Matthew Wren, the son of the
Bishop, to have deciphered several very important
letters sent by Charles II. to England, and intercepted
at Dunkirk.
As by degrees these meetings were more largely
attended, and men came who held very different
opinions from those of Dr. Goddard and Dr. Wallis,
the exclusion of theology and politics from the discus-
sions was a needful precaution. Many inventions
of Christopher's date from this time, a design for a re-
flecting dial for the ceiling of a room, ornamented with
quaint figures and devices, some Latin lines ending
in a chronogram of his age, and the date of the invention,
suggested probably by the one in the rectory at East
Knoyle, which he had known from a child ; an instru-
ment to write in the dark ; and an instrument of use in
gnomonics. 1 At the same time he had attracted the
notice of Sir Charles Scarborough, a friend of Dean
Wren's, then just rising to fame as a surgeon. Chris-
topher, whose health, as has been said, was delicate,
fell dangerously ill and considered that he owed his
life to the skilful care of his new friend. Dr. Scar-
borough, who could recite in order all the propositions
of Euclid and Archimedes, and could apply them, found
in his patient a kindred spirit, and induced Wren,
young as he was, to undertake the translation into
Latin of the ' Clavis Aurea,' by the Rev. W. Oughtred,
a mathematical treatise of great reputation.
1 i.e. the art of dial-making.
MR. OUGHTRED. 79
That Christopher was able to satisfy the old man
is evident from the preface, even while making allow-
ance for the complimentary style of the time. Mr.
Oughtred speaks of
' Mr. Christopher Wren, Gentleman Commoner of
Wadham College, a youth generally admired for his
talents, who, when not yet sixteen years old, enriched
astronomy, gnomonics, statics and mechanics, by
brilliant inventions, and from that time has continued
to enrich them, and in truth is one from whom I
can, not vainly, look for great things.' l
Mr. Oughtred was a Canon of Chichester, and
after the siege of the city and the wanton sack of the
cathedral by Sir E. Waller in 1642, deprived and
heart-broken, wandered to Oxford, refusing the offers
of home and emolument which came to him from
France, Italy, and Holland. He gladly availed him-
self of young Wren's services in the work of transla-
tion, which he had not energy to undertake himself,
and waited, hoping for better times. When at length
they drew near, and he heard of the vote passed at
Westminster (May i, 1660), for the Restoration of
the Royal Family, the relief was too great, and Mr.
Oughtred 'expired in a sudden ecstasy of joy.' 2
Dean Wren, in the meanwhile, though deprived of
his living, does not seem to have been in any personal
danger, having a protection from Parliament, possibly
obtained by his friend the Elector Palatine, or Speaker
Lenthall, by favour of which he boldly attended the
1 Lives of the Gresham Professors. Ward, p. 96.
2 Memorials of the See of Chichester, p. 290.
8o S/X CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Committee Meetings at Somerset House. He made
an attempt to gather together the Knights of the
Garter, and addressed the following petition, an auto-
graph copy of which is contained in the ' Parentalia ' :
' To ye Right Honble ye Knights of ye Most Noble
Order of ye Garter.
1 Dr. C. Wren Register and Secretarye of ye sd
Most Noble Order of ye Garter in discharge of his
sworne service.
' Prayeth, that according to ye commission
directed to all ye Honble Peers of ye said Most
Noble Order or to any Three of them [to muster
and consult in ye absence of ye Sovraine upon all
such emergent occasions as may concerne ye ad-
vancement or indemnity of ye said Most Noble
Order]
' It may therefore please your Honors to give yr.
consent for some sett Time and Place of meeting
with such convenient speed as may best stand with
ye great Affairs. That yr. humble Servant ye
Register may Represent to yr. Honors some few
Things, w ch hee humbly conceaves may much
concerne ye Honor & Interest of ys. Most Honble
Order to bee provided for.'
' I delivered this Petition in ye Parliament Howse
before they sate, Jan. 23d. 1647.' (O. S.)
A copy of this Petition he sent to the Deputy
Chancellor. It would seem to have startled the
Knights, and Dr. Wren evidently wishes the way
smoothed. His letter, also an autograph, is headed
GOD'S PRISONER. 81
' Copye of my letter sent to the Deputie Chancelor
for removal of some scruples w ch arose among ye
Knights of ye Order before ye Time of their meeting
in Council.'
' Honble Chancelor. I have no pticular aime in
this my humble suite to ye Lords of ye Order to
propose any private or Personal Interest of my
owne, or any other man's, much lesse to engage their
Honors in anything that may seeme to contest w th
or dissent from ye Highe Court of Parliament
wherein they now sit & from whence I am not
ignorant ye Most Honble Society of ye Most
Noble Order receaved as at first Life and Being soe
now holds its establishment. My humble & earnest
desires, are to represent such Things only as I
humbly conceave may nearly concerne ye Honor &
Interests of their Most Noble Order. To w ch
(next as yr. Selfe Honored Sir) I am by oath
obliged : (to preserve ye Honor thereof, & of all
in itt to my utmost Power) For zeale of this duty
w ch upon ye intimation of what I here profess, I
presume they will not reject, I beseech you to give
y m this assurance as yf itt were from ye tender
of my owne mouthe, who am at this period God's
Prisoner, & under Him,
' Yr servant, C. W.'
Whether the Dean succeeded in gathering the
Knights together, and what the 'Things nearly con-
cerning their Honor ' may have been if they were not,
G
82 S7K CHRISTOPHER WREN.
as the letter implies they were not, the King's de-
liverance, the ' Parentalia ' does not say, neither does it
give any hint of the illness to which the end of the
Dean's letter appears to point.
CHAPTER IV.
1646-1658.
DEATH OF MRS. M. WREN KING CHARLES MURDERED A MONO-
TONOUS WALK INVENTIONS A DREAM ALL SOULS' FELLOWSHIP
BEGINNINGS OF ROYAL SOCIETY ASTRONOMY AN OFFER OF RELEASE
THE CYCLOID CROMWELL'S FUNERAL LETTERS FROM LONDON.
G 2
La Royaut seule, depuis vingt ans, n'avait pas 6t6 mise a I'dpreuve ;
seule elle avail encore a faire des promesses auxquelles on n'eut pas \.&
trompd. . . . On y revenait enfin, apres tant d'agitations comme au toit
paternel qu'a fait quitter 1'espdrance et ou ramene la fatigue. Monk,
par M. Guizot, p. 69.
CHAPTER IV.
A HEAVY sorrow fell upon the imprisoned Bishop of
Ely at the close of 1646. His wife was worn out by
grief for the loss of her children and anxiety for her
husband, for whom Laud's fate seemed but too pro-
bable, and the Bishop's diary records that on ' De-
cember 8, 1646, Ad Christum evolavit pia anima
conjugis E. media post 5 vum matutinam.' l The diary
contains no remark, no murmur, though this loss left
Bishop Wren very desolate and full of anxiety for his
seven surviving children, of whom the eldest, Matthew,
was but seventeen. Upon such troubles as these
prison life must have pressed heavily, and if Bishop
Wren's captivity was half as strict as was that of Dr.
John Barwick, who was consigned to the Tower in
i65o, 2 it was a sufficient hardship. Every rumour
which reached his ears from the tumultuous world
outside must have added to his grief. The King's affairs
grew more desperate, and the shadow of Cromwell
loomed larger and larger. Probably the Bishop did
not expect a long captivity. It must have come to
his ears that in the proposed treaty of Newport (1648),
' the persons only who were to expect no pardon
1 ' December 8, 1646. The pious soul of my wife Eliza flew up to
Christ at half-past five in the morning.'
2 Life of Dr. Barwick, ed. 1724, p. 122.
86 SfR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
were the Princes Rupert and Maurice; James, Earl
of Derby; John, Earl of Bristol; William, Earl of New-
castle ; Francis, Lord Cottington; George, Lord Digby ;
Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely,' and some fifty others. 1
Condemned thus without a trial, without a chance
of his vindication being known, the Bishop betook him-
self to prayer, and to writing a commentary on the
Holy Scriptures, a task for which, as a fine Hebrew,
Greek and Latin scholar, he was well qualified. In
this work he found solace and support, and quietly
waited until the tyranny should be overpast.
There is no need to recall in detail the thickcoming
sorrows of that time ; it is but too easy to guess how
doubly galling imprisonment must have been to Bishop
Wren when the royalists who were at liberty were
straining every nerve, exhausting every device to save
if possible their beloved King from his fate. In vain
at length came the fatal January 30 (1649), and King
Charles, attended by Bishop Juxon, walked to the
scaffold and uttered his final words, ' I have a good
cause and a gracious God on my side ; I go from a
corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no dis-
turbance can be, no disturbance in the world.' There
was one of the King's loyal subjects who, we may well
believe, envied Bishop Juxon his privilege of attendance
on his master to the last Bishop Wren, who had been
with him in bright early days, had attended him when
Prince of Wales, on his romantic journey to Spain, and,
when the weight of the corruptible crown first came
1 Grey's Examination of Neale's History of the Puritans^ vol. iii.
P- 333-
A MONOTONOUS WALK. 87
upon the prince's head, had accompanied him on the
journey to Scotland for his coronation at Scone, who
ever since then had been so trusted by him.
No word of his own grief, of his unavailing longing
to see his King once more, and once more kiss his
hand, is expressed in the brief record in his diary. It
is simply ' A sanguinibus, O Deus ! '
Horror at the crime, at the stain of innocent blood
which now denied his country, seems to have swallowed
up all expression of personal feeling. By degrees the
rigour of his imprisonment appears to have been a
little relaxed, and by the connivance of his gaoler he
obtained the opportunity, rarely granted to prisoners,
of walking upon the leads of one of the towers.
Thither he daily went for his exercise, and, says the
writer of the ' Parentalia,'
' by a just computation, he walked round the world.
The earth being affirmed to be 216,000 miles in
compass (at a calculation of sixty miles to a degree) ; l
if it were possible to make a path round the earth,
an able footman going constantly twenty-four miles
a day, would compass it in 900 days, and so on in
proportion of time and miles.'
It would seem that the Bishop, finding his life
was for the time spared, and having a steady conviction
that the evil days would pass, had determined to keep
himself ready in body, as in soul, for what work the
future might bring. A prison life leaves little to be
recorded ; the days wore away in the Tower, divided
between devotion, study, and that unchanging monoto-
1 It is really 24,899 miles.
88 SfX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
nous walk which at least gave the prisoner a distant
glimpse of the world from which he was excluded.
He was allowed the Bible and paper and ink, but
no other books. It is the testimony of one who has
studied Bishop Wren's manuscript
' He wrote in an exquisite hand, in very fair Latin, a
commentary on much of Holy Scripture enough to
fill an oak box of no mean dimensions. This box
he committed to the care of Dr. Beaumont, master
of S. Peter's College. 1 Had the Puritans read the
MS. they would have found some antidote to their
poison/
Two sermons and some treatises were also written
during his captivity. Probably suspicion attached to
anything that he did, for it is said to have been all
written by stealth.
His nephew's life differed as widely from his own as
did their characters. Christopher was at Oxford, deep
in the experiments of the ' New learning,' and in the
inventions which it suggested to his ready brain and
dexterous fingers.
One invention which he was at the time proud of
was that of a
' diplographic instrument for writing with two pens/
whose uses he thus describes ; ' by the help of this
instrument, every ordinary penman may at all times
be suddenly fitted to write two several copies of any
deeds and evidences, from the shortest to the longest
1 The box is, I believe, in Peterhouse Library to this day, but a
portion of the Commentary was published as a treatise against the
Socinians by the Bishop's son Matthew, under the title of Increpatio
Bar Jcsu, sive polemicae adsectiones locorum aliquot S. Scripturae ab
imposturts pervcrsis in Catechesis Racoviana collectae.
DIPLOGRAPHIC PEN. 89
length of lines, in the very same compass of time, and
with as much ease and beauty, without any dividing
or ruling ; as, without the help of the instrument, he
could have despatched but one.'
So successful was this instrument, that he obtained a
patent for it for seventeen years. In the same year an
exact duplicate of this invention was brought from
France, and another patent taken out for the same
number of years, by Mr. William Petty, 1 who claimed
to be the inventor.
Wren was indignant at the notion that he had
copied another person's idea, and gives good reasons
for his belief that his own instrument had been de-
scribed to Petty by a friend of his. Three years later
Wren wrote of it as ' an obvious Thing, a cast-off Toy ; '
ending, ' Indeed though I care not for having a Suc-
cessor in Invention, yet it behoves me to vindicate my-
self from the Aspersion of having a Predecessor.'
Another invention Wren describes as a ' weather
clock.' It consisted of a clock affixed to a weather
cock that moved a rundle covered with paper, upon
1 Petty's history is a curious one. The son of a clothier of Rumsey ;
he educated himself; was some years in the navy; became Gresham
professor of music ; then a physician of some fame ; was also Henry
Cromwell's secretary ; was a commissioner for Ireland, and married Sir
Hardress Waller's daughter. Soon after the Restoration he was knighted
by Charles II. Petty invented a ' double-bottomed ship to sail against
wind and tide ; it was flat-bottomed, had two distinct keels cramped to-
gether with huge timbers, so as a violent stream run between : it bore a
monstrous broad sail.' It excited much interest at the time, made one very
successful voyage, and was afterwards wrecked in a frightful storm. Its
model is still preserved at the Royal Society, of which he became a
member. He died in 1687. Lives of the Gresham Professors, p. 217.
Ward. See also Evelyn's Diary of March 22, 1675, for an interesting
ccount of Petty's career.
90 57A' CHRISTOPHER WREN.
which the clock moved a black-lead pencil, so that the
observer, by the traces of the pencil on the paper,
might certainly conclude what winds had blown in his
absence for twelve hours' space. The ' Parentalia '
contains a careful drawing in pen and sepia of this in-
vention elaborately worked out and remarkable for the
truth and finish of the drawing. Some of these designs,
and an instrument for sowing corn, nearly identical with
a modern 'drill,' he dedicated in a quaintly formal
letter to his father's friend, the Prince Palatine. He
appeared before the Prince in another character, due
probably to his Westminster training. A play was
performed (about 1652) at Oxford before the Prince,
Dr. Seth Ward, 1 and several others, entitled ' Hey for
Honesty, down with Knavery,' translated by Thomas
Randolph from the Plutus of Aristophanes, in which
Christopher sustained the part of Neanias. 2 It is
provoking to have this bare record merely, and no
clue as to the success or failure of any part of the
1 Seth Ward, born 1617. Was Savilian Professor of Astronomy at
Oxford and an active member of the Royal Society. Afterwards Bishop
of Exeter and then of Salisbury ; died 1689.
2 Life of Sir C. Wren, by J. Elmes, p. 12. The full title of the play
was ' nXouro<#oX/iia nXouroya/ii'a,' a pleasant comedy intituled Hey for
Honesty, &c., augmented and published by F. J. A copy, published in
1651, and containing a MS. note saying that Wren took the part of
1 Neanias Adolescens,' was in the possession of Isaac Reed, a commentator
on Shakespeare and a great book collector, who died in 1807. His
epitaph (given in Notes and Queries, series v., xiii. p. 304) was as follows :
' Reader of these few lines take heed,
And mend your ways for my sake ;
For you must die like Isaac Reed,
Tho' you read till your eyes ache.'
T. Randolph was a friend and pupil of Ben Jonson's ; he published
The Muses' Looking Glass, which satirised the Puritans ; died 1634.
BATTLE OF WORCESTER. 91
performance, especially where the young actor was
concerned.
To about the same date belongs a Latin letter
written by Christopher to his father, signed ' Christo-
phorus Regulus,' describing in glowing terms a visit
paid in the spring to a friend's house. Some pretty
touches give ' the lofty woods with their clamorous re-
public of rooks, the great fountains, the placid pools
without, you might say a terrestrial paradise, but with-
in, heaven itself.' It may have been, though there is
nothing in its favour but conjecture, that this was
Bletchingdon House, and that among ' the virgins sing-
ing holy psalms,' whom he mentions, was his future
bride Faith, (or as she spelt it, ' ffaith ') Coghill. The
letter says much, as does all that passed between them,
for the warm affection existing between father and
son, and the sincerely religious tone of Christopher's
mind.
The desperate efforts of the Royalists shortly after
this period to overthrow Cromwell's tyranny and to put
Charles II. on the throne, received a cruel check in
the disastrous battle of Worcester (1651), Cromwell's
' crowning mercy.' This crushed the hopes of the
Royalists and obliged them to turn their every effort
and thought to effecting the escape of their prince.
He must have passed very near Knoyle Hill, when he
crossed Salisbury Plain and met at Stonehenge the
friends who at last succeeded in conveying him to the
coast. Knoyle Hill had its own fugitive to shelter.
Aubrey, the Wiltshire Antiquary, gives the account
of a vivid dream which Christopher Wren had, when
92 .S7/? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
staying, in the autumn of 1651, with Dean Wren at
Knoyle. He
' dreamed he saw a fight in a great market-place, which
he knew not, where some were flying and others
pursuing ; and among those who fled, he saw a
kinsman of his, who went into Scotland with the
King's army. They heard in the country that the
King was come into England, but whereabouts he
was they could not tell. The next night came his
kinsman to Knoyle Hill, and brought with him the
disastrous news of Charles I I.'s defeat at Worcester.' x
It seems likely that this ' kinsman ' was Bishop Wren's
son Matthew, who afterwards went to the Hague.
There also, when his escape had been with great
difficulty contrived, went King Charles, as his brother-
in-law, the Prince of Orange, was his steady friend. In
the hope of utterly putting down the Cavaliers, the
greatest severity was shown at this time to all who
had helped the King, and even to those who merely
boasted of their good will towards him. Among those
who suffered was Inigo Jones, who had been architect
to. James I. and to Charles I., had been steadily loyal
to the Stuarts, and was therefore an object of suspicion.
He lived to see what was thought the utter downfall
of the monarchy, and following upon this the desecra-
tion and ruin of the finest churches in England. S.
Paul's, on which he had spent much labour and skill,
was, as being connected with Archbishop Laud, an
object of special hatred to the Puritans. It suffered
1 Miscellanies, ed. 1696.
MAKING HIMSELF. 93
every possible injury. The fine portico designed by
Inigo Jones was filled with stalls, blocked up by booths,
and used as a market-place. The. year after the battle
of Worcester, Inigo Jones died, poor and lonely, in
a lodging close to the defaced cathedral. He and
Christopher Wren must probably have met. Wren
had a sincere admiration for his predecessor's skill, and
spoke of the S. Paul's portico as 'an exquisite piece
in itself.'
In the autumn of 1653, Wren, then just twenty-one,
was elected to a fellowship at All Souls, and happy in
the comparative tranquillity of Oxford, pursued the
various studies which he loved. All this time he was
' making himself,' as was said of Sir Walter Scott in
his childhood on the Scotch hills, though perhaps at
the time no one could have guessed the particular
manner in which he would distinguish himself.
In the following summer he made acquaintance
with John Evelyn, who had come up to Oxford to hear
the ' Philosophy Act.' Evelyn mentioned that after
a dinner at All Souls he ' visited that miracle of a
youth Mr. Christopher Wren, nephew to the Bishop of
Ely.' l
' A day or two later Evelyn dined with ' that most
obliging and universally curious Dr. Wilkins at
Wadham College, who showed him his " transparent
apiaries, built like castles, and so ordered one upon
another as one might take the honey without hurt-
ing the bees," his " hollow statue, which gave a voice
1 Diary, July 13, 1654.
94 MX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
and uttered words, by a long, concealed pipe that
went to its mouth, whilst one speaks through it at
good distance ; " and his gallery filled with mathe-
matical and other curiosities ; a " thermometer," still a
curiosity, though fifty-two years had elapsed since
Galileo invented the first ; a " way-wiser," which,
when placed in a coach, exactly measured the
miles it travelled, and showed them by an index ;
" a monstrous magnet," and many other inventions,
most of them of his owne and that prodigious young
scholar, Mr. Christopher Wren, who presented me
with a piece of white marble which he had stained
with a lively red very deepe, as beautiful as if it had
been natural.'
The acquaintance thus made with Christopher
Wren ripened into a friendship lasting until Evelyn's
death in 1706.
Dr. Wilkins was also of Evelyn's friends, though
he was very submissive to Cromwell. 1 It is curious to
contrast two accounts which occur in the same page of
Evelyn's diary.
1 December 25, 1655. There was no more notice taken
of Christmas Day in churches. I went to London,
where Dr. Wild preached the funeral sermon of
Preaching, this being the last day, after which
Cromwell's proclamation was to take place, that
none of the Church of England should dare either
to preach or administer Sacraments, teach schoole
etc. on paine of imprisonment or exile. So this was
the mournfullest day that in my life I had scene, or
1 Prcesul. Ang., p. 779. Godwin.
GERM OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 95
the Church of England herselfe since the Reforma-
tion ; to the greate rejoicing of both Papist and
Presbyter. So pathetic was his discourse (on 2 Cor.
xiii. 9) that it drew many teares from the auditory.
Myself, wife, and some of our family received the
Communion ; God make me thankfull that hath
hitherto provided for us the food of our soules as
well as bodies ! The Lord Jesus pity our distressed
Church, and bring back the captivity of Sion !
' February 10, 1656. I heard Dr. Wilkins preach
before the Lord Mayor in S. Paul's, shewing how
obedience was preferable to sacrifice. He was a
most obliging person, who had married the Protector's
sister, and tooke greate paines to preserve the Uni-
versities from the ignorant sacrilegious commanders
and souldiers, who would faine have demolished all
places and persons that pretended to learning.'
Dr. Wilkins appears, like too many of that time, to
have regarded the Church as utterly overthrown, and
probably believed honestly in his peculiar interpre-
tation of the text upon which he preached. Much
credit is however due to him for the idea of the Oxford
meetings, and for the hospitality which he showed.
These meetings were the germ of the Royal Society,
and to them Dr. Thomas Sprat (afterwards Bishop of
Rochester), a great friend of Christopher Wren's, bears
testimony :
' Wadham College,' l he says, ' was then the place of
resort for virtuous and learned men. Their first
1 Hist, of Royal Society. Bishop Sprat, ed. 1722, p. 53.
96 MX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
purpose was no more than only the satisfaction of
breathing a freer air, and of conversing in quiet, one
with another, without being engaged in the passions
and madness of that dismal age. And from the
institution of that assembly it had been enough if
no other advantage had come but this ; that by
these means there was a race of young men provided
against the next age, whose minds receiving from
them their first impressions of sober and generous
knowledge, were invincibly armed against all the
enchantments of enthusiasm. ... It was in good
measure by the influence which these gentlemen had
over the rest, that the university itself, or at least
any part of its discipline and order, was saved from
ruin. . . . Nor indeed could it be otherwise, for
such spiritual frenzies, which did then bear rule, can
never stand long before a clear and deep skill in
nature. It is almost impossible, that they who con-
verse much with the subtilty of things, should be
deluded by such thick deceits. There is but one
better charm in the world than real philosophy, to
allay the impulses of the false spirit, and that is the
blessed Presence and assistance of the True.'
In 1656, on the 2Qth of May, Dean Wren died.
Sorrow and anxiety, the desolation of the Church, the
apparent ruin of the monarchy, had worn out his gentle
spirit ; and probably little thinking how great a change
was approaching to free the country, he passed away,
aged 69, at the house of his son-in-law, Mr. Holder,
and was buried in the chancel of Bletchingdon Church. 1
1 l Dr. Christopher Wren, Deane of Windsor, was buried June 3,
ASTRONOMY PROFESSORSHIP. 97
When we look back to the years of the Rebellion,
their darkness is lightened for us by the knowledge that
the Restoration came at last, and it is difficult to realise
fully how the times appeared to those who actually
lived in them, to whom the years brought only fresh
losses and sorrows, and the sickness of hope deferred.
Knowing how, on the 2 9th of May, but four years
later, all England was welcoming back the King to
' enjoy his own again/ one can hardly forbear wishing
that Dean Wren might have been spared to see that
day ; yet those who loved him best cannot have
grudged him the fulness of that peace which all his
life he had desired, and which he had invoked upon
his first home. Christopher was very warmly attached
to his father, as all his letters show, and must have
grieved greatly for his death.
Soon after this he was summoned to London. The
Gresham professor of astronomy, Mr. Laurence Rooke,
retired in 1657, and the chair was offered to Wren.
He was but twenty-four and doubted whether he
should accept such a post while so young, and he
clung to Oxford and his studies there.
The friends whom he consulted advised him
differently ; accordingly he came up to London and
delivered his opening address to a considerable
audience. It was in Latin, and after a brief apology
for his youth passed into a sketch of the history of
astronomy. He dwells on the great riches of the
science, how it is the handmaid of theology, the queen
1656,' is the entry in the register ; there does not appear to be any
monument or brass to his memory. The Parentalia and Elmes's Life
give 1658, but the dates are frequently inaccurate in both books.
H
98 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
of sciences, speaks of the vast discoveries made by
its means, touches upon Copernicus, whose mind
first grasped the idea that the earth moved round
the sun, then upon Kepler and upon Galileo, and the
storms that had arisen, when in 1632 he had demon-
strated that truth at which Copernicus had guessed ; he
praises highly Galileo's invention of the telescope, pays
a tribute to the great men who had lectured at Gres-
ham on these subjects, and especially to his own prede-
cessor, Rooke, and winds up with an eloquent descrip-
tion of London as a Pandora of cities to whom each of
the choir of planets gave a peculiar blessing, on whom
the sun shines benignly, who possesses more inhabi-
tants than any city in the world, a healthy air, a fertile
soil stretching far around her, beautiful buildings spring-
ing as of themselves from the earth, and, lastly, is blessed
by the moon, 'the governess of floods,' who alluring
the seas thus far inland by means of the beloved
Thames, makes her the city which nourishes the best
seamen of the world. The rough draft of this address,
written by Christopher in a bold hand with a few
changes and corrections, is preserved in the ' Paren-
talia.'
This professorship obliged him to come up to
London and give a course of lectures every Wednes-
day in term time at Gresham College. None of these
lectures have been preserved, and it seems from a
hint in one of Dr. Sprat's letters, that Wren was in the
habit of lecturing from rough notes merely, and used
no pains to keep any record of them.
At this time he made acquaintance with Richard
HE MAY COME OUT AN HE WILL} 99
Claypole, who was married to Elizabeth, Cromwell's
favourite daughter ; both she and her sister, Lady
Falconbridge, were faithful members of the persecuted
Church of England. Dr. Hewet still read the Prayer
Book services in S. Gregory's Church, which adjoined
S. Paul's, and there the two sisters resorted, there
Dr. Hewet secretly married Mary Cromwell to Lord
Falconbridge, as neither would be satisfied with the
ceremony performed by an independent preacher.
Cromwell's daughters used all their influence with
their father on the side of mercy, but when the ex-
cellent Dr. Hewet fell under his displeasure they
pleaded in vain for his life. 1 Mr. Claypole professed
a fondness for mathematical science and frequently
invited Christopher Wren to his house. On one of
these occasions when Wren was dining there, Crom-
well himself entered, and, as was his custom in his
own family, sat down to table without speech or
ceremony. After a while he fixed his eyes on Chris-
topher and said, ' Your uncle has been long confined
in the Tower.' ' He has so, sir,' said Wren ; ' but he
bears his afflictions with great patience and resignation/
' He may come out an he will,' was Cromwell's un-
expected reply. 'Will your Highness permit me to
take him this from your own mouth ? ' said Wren,
hardly able to believe his ears. ' Yes, you may/ said
1 Evelyn's Diary, March 31, 1658. ' That holy martyr Dr. Hewer
condemned to die, without law, jury or justice by a mock council of State
as they called it. A dangerous, treacherous time. June 8, ib. That
excellent preacher and holy man Dr. Hewer was martyred for having
intelligence of his Majesty, through the Lord Marquess of Ormond.
He was beheaded on Tower Hill. The name was spelt Hewer, Hewet,
.and, Hewett,
H 2
ioo .SY/? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Cromwell briefly. At the earliest possible moment
Christopher hurried to the Tower to communicate to
his uncle the tidings that the long years of his imprison-
ment were over. When he had poured out his news
the Bishop replied warmly that it was not the first
time he had received the like intimation from that
miscreant, but he disdained the terms proposed for
his enlargement, which were a mean acknowledgment
of his favour and an abject submission to his detest-
able tyranny ; that he was determined to tarry the
Lord's leisure, and owe his deliverance, which was not
far off, to Him only. Such an answer must have been
startling enough to Christopher, and may have opened
his eyes to the causes of Cromwell's seeming leniency.
He left the brave old man to await the deliverance
which the keen sight of faith showed him as drawing
near, and returned to his own work.
The death of Mrs. Claypole in the following
summer must have checked an intimacy upon which
Bishop Wren looked with little favour. She died of a
terrible illness, and in the paroxysms of her pain bitterly
reproached Cromwell for the innocent blood that he
had shed, and particularly for that of Dr. Hewet.
At about this period some experiments were made
by Wren's philosophical friends wherein he took a
principal part, and to which the barometer, now in
common use, is mainly due. The first instrument of
the kind was invented by Torricelli, the pupil of Galileo,
who used it in order to ascertain the pressure of the
air on fluids, the supposed cause of which pressure was
the passing by of the body of the moon. Pascal, in
THE CYCLOID. 101
those earlier days when his great genius employed
itself on natural philosophy, made several experiments
at Rouen, in 1646, with a friend, M. Petit, using
' Torricelli's tube,' as it was called. Similar trials were
afterwards made by M. Perier, his brother-in-law,
among the mountains of Auvergne. They then dis-
covered that the rising and falling of the mercury was
due not to the moon, but to the differences in the
specific gravity of the atmosphere. Wren's experi-
ments led him to the same conclusion, and at a later
period he and Robert Boyle continued them until they
produced the barometer, though it was not used
commonly as a weather-glass until a much later date.
Pascal did not pursue his discovery, but was satisfied
with having proved the point for which he was con-
tending.
Though Wren and Pascal never met, some com-
munication passed between them. Pascal, who was
Wren's senior by eleven years, propounded a problem,
under the name of Jean de Monfert, to the mathema-
ticians of England, adding a challenge to them to
solve it by a given day. Christopher sent a solution,
and in his turn propounded a problem which seems
never to have been answered. Pascal is said to have
considered Wren's solution very carefully, but the
promised prize of twenty pistoles was withheld by
some trickery. Besides this, Wren wrote four mathe-
matical tracts on the cycloid, and sent them to Dr. J.
Wallis, who was publishing a book on mathematics.
He corresponded with Pascal, 1 who was writing on the
1 Pascal is said to have written his treatise on the cycloid from a
LIBRARY
TTNTVERSTTY OF CALIFORNIA"
102 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
cycloid by the name of la Roulette, the problem being
1 to determine the curve made in the air by the
nail of a coach wheel from the moment it rises from
the ground, till the moment when the continual rolling
of the wheel brings it back to the ground, after a com-
plete turn, supposing the wheel a perfect circle and
the ground perfectly level.'
Wren was engaged also in a series of observations
on the planet Saturn. These pursuits were, however,
interrupted by an event that convulsed all England. On
September 3, 1658, during a fearful storm which swept
over London, Oliver Cromwell died. Hume * gives a
terrible account of the state of constant suspicion and
fear of assassination in which Cromwell passed the last
year of his life ; the secret armour which he wore, his
constant guard of soldiers wherever he moved, his fears
on a journey, his habit of never returning the way he had
come, nor by the direct road, seldom sleeping above three
nights together in the same chamber, or in any he
did not choose himself, or without sentinels. His body
lay in state for a considerable time. The funeral, on
October 22, Evelyn calls ' superb.' He says :
' I saw the Protector carried from Somerset House on
a velvet bed of state drawn by six black horses,
religious motive. It was a common opinion in France that the study of
natural sciences, especially of mathematics, led to infidelity. Accordingly
Pascal, writing for geometricians and mathematicians, wished to show,
by the solution, vainly sought before, of this problem, that the same man
who wrote the Lettres d un Provincial could also instruct them in abstract
science, and he published his treatise in the intervals of writing the
Penstes. See Vie de Pascal, par sa sceur Mad. Perier, Penstes de Pascal^
p. 13, ed. 1839.
1 Hist, of England, vol. vii. ch. Ixi. p. 292.
CROMWELL S FUNERAL. 103
houss'd with the same ; the pall held up by his new
lords ; Oliver lying in effigie in royal robes, crown'd
with a crown, sceptre, and globe like a king . . .
a knight of honour armed cap-a-pie, and, after all, his
guard, soldiers, and innumerable mourners. In this
equipage they proceeded to Westminster ; but it
was the joyfullest funeral I ever saw, for there were
none that cried but dogs, which the soldiers hooted
away with a barbarous noise, drinking and taking
tobacco in the streets as they went.'
Under the feeble rule of Richard Cromwell at first
and then under the multiform tyranny of the re-
assembled ' Long Parliament,' every kind of disorder
and oppression had free course. Monk grievously
disappointed the Royalist hopes by proclaiming
Richard Cromwell. The day of deliverance appeared
more than ever distant.
The Gresham Professors were all driven out of the
college except Dr. Goddard, Cromwell's physician, and
the place was garrisoned by soldiers, who did it great
damage. Matthew Wren made an attempt two days
after Cromwell's funeral to enter the college, and sent a
curious account to Christopher, who had returned to
All Souls at Oxford. He writes :
' Dear Cousin, Yesterday being the first of the term,
I resolved to see whether Dr. Horton l entertained
the new auditory at Gresham with any lecture, for I
took it for granted that if his divinity could be
spared your mathematics would not be expected.
1 Gresham Professor of Divinity, confirmed in his post by Cromwell.
104 SJK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
But at the gate I was stopped by a man with a gun,
who told me there was no admission upon that
account, as the college was reformed into a garrison.
Then changing my pretension, I scarce got permis-
sion to go in to Dr. Goddard, who gave me assurance
enough that none of your colleagues intend to
appear this term unless the soldiers be removed, of
which there is no probability. Upon these premises
it is the opinion of all your friends that you may
save that journey hither, unless some other occasion
calls you ; and for these I expect you will make me
your agent, if they be such as I am capable of de-
spatching.
' But it will not perhaps be amiss to take from hence
the occasion of a short and civil letter to the Com-
mittee, signifying that you hope you have not de-
ceived their expectations in choosing you, and that
you are ready to attend your duty but for this public
interruption and exclusion from your chamber ; or
what else you will that looks towards this.
' I know no more domestic news than what every-
body talks of. Yesterday I was in Westminster
Hall, and saw only Keudigate and Windham in the
two courts, and Wild and Parker in the Exchequer.
In the Chancery none at all ; Bradshaw keeps the
seal as if it were to be carried before him in the
other world, whither he is going. Glyn and Foun-
tain pleaded at the bar. They talk much of the
mediation of the two Crowns, and proceed so far as
to name Marshall Clerambault for the Embassador
who is to come hither from France. My service to
LETTERS FROM LONDON, 105
all friends. Dear Cousin, your most humble ser-
vant,
'M. W.
' London, October 25, 1658.'
Dr. Sprat 1 writes also to Christopher at about the
same time :
' Dear Sir, This day I went to visit Gresham College,
but found the place in such a nasty condition, so
defiled, and the smells so infernal that if you should
now come to make use of your tube, it would be
like Dives looking out of hell into heaven. Dr.
Goddard, of all your colleagues, keeps possession,
which he could never be able to do had he not
before prepared his nose for camp perfumes by his
voyage into Scotland, and had he not such excellent
restoratives in his cellars.'
1 Thomas Sprat, D.D., Dean of Westminster, and afterwards Bishop
of Rochester ; was an active member of the Royal Society, and was
educated at Wadham College with Sir C. Wren, whose intimate friend
he was : born 1636 ; died 1713.
CHAPTER V.
1659-1663.
APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION DIFFICULTY OF PRESERVING IT LETTERS
FROM LORD CLARENDON BISHOP WREN'S RELEASE THE RESTORA-
TION CONVOCATION SAVILIAN PROFESSORSHIP ROYAL SOCIETY
'ELEPHANT IN THE MOON' PEMBROKE CHAPEL BEGUN.
Yet bethink thee that the spirit whence those princely bounties flowed
To the ties of private feeling all its force and being owed ;
Severed from the bonds of kindred, taught his lonely heart to school,
By his Father's chastening kindness or his Church's sterner rule ;
Oft to spots by memory cherished, where his earliest love began,
In his age's desolation, fondly turned the childless man.
Phrontisterion, by Dean Mansel.
CHAPTER V.
ALL was confusion, doubt and anxiety in the country ;
the Royalist plots failed ; the Parliament was powerless ;
no one knew whether Monk intended, as was still
hoped by a few, to bring back the King, or to support
the Parliament, or to make himself dictator ; those were
keen eyes which could discern through the darkness
any ray of approaching light.
Nowhere perhaps did matters seem more desperate
than in the Church. Her discipline and order, barely
revived by the murdered Archbishop, had been for
eighteen years trampled upon and neglected ; ' by the
licentiousness of the times,' many were growing up
unbaptised and ignorant of Christianity. The number
of bishops living was but small, many sees being
already vacant when the Civil War broke out, and
imprisonments and hardships had so reduced the
Prelates that, in 1659, but ten survived, one of whom,
Dr. Brownrigg, Bishop of Exeter, very soon died. Of
the nine others, many were very old ; the Bishop of
London (Juxon) was very ill, and the Bishop of Ely
was in prison. How was the succession to be pre-
served if the troubles of the times continued ? The
Scotch Church had been reduced by persecution ; the
Irish Bishops were in as evil a plight as their English
i io SIX CtfKISTOPffEK WREN.
brethren, and the difficulty of communication was great.
There was then no daughter Church in America or in
the Colonies to render back in time of need the grace
they had themselves received. It was hardly possible
for the English Bishops to meet for consultation ; but
the indefatigable Dr. Barwick was authorised l
' not only to ride about among them all, and by pro-
posing and explaining to each what was thought for
the Church's Service ; to collect the opinions and
resolutions of every one of them upon all difficult
affairs ; but also to procure the communication of all
that was needful between their lordships and His
Majesty, which he frequently did by letters written
in characters ' (i.e. cypher).
Great difficulties lay in the way of the first step
a canonical election and in the face of the watchful
enmity of the Church of Rome, no doubtful step could
be taken ; and even were this difficulty surmounted and
three Bishops got together, the risk of imprisonment
and death to both consecrators and consecrated needed
no one to point it out. The two with whom Dr. Bar-
wick principally consulted were the Bishops of Ely and
Salisbury. Many letters passed between Dr. Barwick
and Mr. Hyde, 2 at Brussels, in one of which, written
on July 8, i659, 8 the latter speaks of
'much preferring the Bishop of Ely's judgment and
advice in that point (the method of election) before
any man's. I pray remember my service with all
1 Life of Dr. Barwick, p. 201. 8 Afterwards Lord Clarendon.
3 Life of Dr. Barwick. p. 424.
LETTERS IN CYPHER. in
imaginable reverence to my Lord of Ely and assure
him, that the King will always return that candour,
benignity and equality to both the Universities,
which he wishes ; and I hope all who shall be en-
trusted by him in that great affair will be as just
and dispassioned in all their interpositions and look
upon them as equal lights to learning and piety and
equally worthy of all encouragement and protection.
And if at present my Lord of Ely will recommend
any person to his Majesty for the Bishoprick of
Carlisle, he shall be approved. And if my Lord
will transmit a list of persons to be specially re-
commended to the King for any dignities of the
Church, I dare promise the persons shall find that
they could not have been better recommended. I
know not what more to add but my hearty service
to your sick friend, 1 whose health I pray for as a
publick concernment. To yourself I shall say no
more but that I shall think myself very faulty if I
do not serve you very heartily, and if you do not
with the first receive some evidence of the sense
the King hath of your service.
' I am very heartily, Sir, your most affectionate
servant, ' HYDE.'
These letters, thirty-six in number, were trans-
mitted in cypher, and with the utmost precaution and
considerable delay in awaiting a safe opportunity ; the
one quoted from is endorsed ' Received not till Aug.
29.' Nor was the cypher, however carefully contrived,
1 Probably Bishop Juxon, more than once alluded to under this name
in these letters.
112 SfK CHRISTOPHER WREN,
always a security when the letters fell into the wrong
hands. Dr. Wallis, the mathematician, was a most
skilful decypherer, and was the person who decyphered
the King's papers taken in his cabinet at Naseby,
though the Royalists considered this a vain boast
until Matthew Wren, the Bishop's eldest son, ob-
tained the proof of it from Dr. Wallis himself. One
important letter from Dr. Barwick to Mr. Hyde fell
into Dr. Wallis' hands ; Mr. Allestry his coadjutor
coming from Brussels was seized and imprisoned as
soon as he landed. Bishop Morton of Durham, the
last surviving Prelate of the province of York, had died,
as his epitaph says, ' deprived of all his goods except
a good name and a good conscience.' The rising in
Cheshire had been unsuccessful. Monk refused to
give even his brother any hint of his intentions, and
made no reply to the letter which King Charles sent
to him from Breda. In short, matters were as adverse
as it was possible for them to be, but yet Dr. Barwick
was undiscouraged ; with fresh precautions the corre-
spondence with Mr. Hyde was resumed, and in truth
the matter pressed ; ' for,' says Dr. Barwick, writing in
Sept. 1659, after mentioning his circuit among some
of the surviving Bishops, 1 ' I fear this winter will go
hard with some of them that may worst be spared
in the due performance of such a work.' It is evident
that Dr. Barwick was able to see and consult the im-
prisoned Bishop of Ely whenever it was needful.
These hurried meetings, full of anxiety and peril as
they were, must have been a great refreshment to the
1 Life of Dr. Barwick, p. 437.
'WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THE CHURCH?* 113
Bishop, who thus still took part in the work of the
Church. He declined to send any list of names to
the King, though he pressed Dr. Barwick to accept
the Bishoprick of Man. Mr. Hyde l wrote a letter in
September, which was not received till November 10,
where he says :
' The King hath done all that is in his power to do ;
and if my Lords the Bishops will not do the rest,
what is to become of the Church ? The conspiracies
to destroy it are very evident; and if there be no
combination to preserve it, it must expire. I do
assure you the names of all the Bishops who are alive,
and their several ages, are as well known at Rome
as in England, and both the Papist and the Pres-
byterian value themselves very much upon comput-
ing in how few years the Church of England must
expire.' . . . And again : 'His Majesty is most con-
fident that the Bishop of Ely will give all the assist-
ance and advice which his restraint will permit him
to do. ... I do beseech you,' says the next letter,
'present my humble service to my Lord of Ely,
whose benediction, I do hope to live to receive at
his own feet. I pray send me word our sick friend
is in perfect health.'
But little progress appears to have been made, since
Mr. Hyde writes, Nov. 28 :
' I can say no more with reference to the Church, but
that if there be nothing hinders it but the winter it
be quickly over, whilst preparations are making ;
1 Life of Dr. B arivick, p. 449.
I
114 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
and yet, God knows, it will be almost a miracle, if the
winter doth not take away half the Bishops that are
left alive ; and I must still lament that some way is
not found that the Bishop of Ely may be at liberty ;
which would carry on this work more than any ex-
pedient that I can think of.'
An entry in Evelyn's diary shows the general state
of affairs at this time :
' October 1 1 . The armie now turned out the Parlia-
ment. We had now no government in the nation ;
all in confusion ; no magistrate either own'd or pre-
tended but the souldiers, and they not agreed. God
Almighty have mercy on and settle us ! '
Evelyn was not slack in doing what in him lay
towards this much-desired settlement :
' November 7. Was published my bold " Apologie "
for the King in this time of danger when it was
capital to speake or write in favour of him. It was
printed twice, so universally it took.'
A fast was kept in secret, apparently about once a
fortnight, by the Churchmen in London to pray ' for
God's mercy to our calamitous Church.'
On February 3, 1660, Evelyn writes :
' General Monk came to London from Scotland, but
no man knew what he would do or declare. Yet
he was met on all his way by the gentlemen of all
the counties which he passed, with petitions that he
would recall the old, long-interrupted Parliament,
and settle the nation in some order, being at this
BISHOP WREN'S RELEASE. 115
time in most prodigious confusion and under no
government, everybody expecting what would be
next and what he would do.'
Later in the same month Mr. Hyde wrote almost
in despair to Dr. Barwick : l ' It would be very good
news if I could hear of my Lord of Ely being in full
liberty, to whom I pray present my humble service.
The truth is I have but little hope of the business
of the Church but by his being at liberty, and
therefore I hope he will make no scruple of accept-
ing it if it be offered, or if it can be reasonably ob-
tained.'
The suspense which Evelyn describes had not
long to be endured. On February n, the very day
after Monk had dismayed the city by breaking down
its gates and allowing the soldiers to march about it in
triumph, he turned out the Parliament then sitting at
Westminster, and called together the former one, to
the great joy of the people. From this moment all
hearts and wishes turned to the exiled royal family
as the one hope left of tranquillity and order ; thus
suddenly, when the royalist hopes were lowest, their
hearts' desire was given to them.
Monk, now in supreme power, did not forget the
Bishop of Ely, whose fellow-captive he had been and
who must have rejoiced to see Monk at last justify
his confidence. On March 15 the lieutenant of the
Tower received the order ' That Dr. Wren, Bishop of
Ely, be discharged from his imprisonment.' Thus the
eighteen years of captivity came to an end, and the
1 Life of Dr. Barwick p. 496,
I 2
n 6 S/X CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Bishop came forth from the Tower, an old man of
seventy-five, broken by many sorrows.
It cannot have been with unmixed joy that he once
more trod another path than that wonted one on the
leads of the Tower. True, the King was coming home
in peace to a people longing tc receive him. This
return was a promise of deliverance for the Church,
and an end to that difficulty of preserving the Aposto-
lical Succession which had so nearly proved a fatal one.
And yet, the flood, which in those eighteen years had
passed over the land, had swept away many whom the
Bishop loved well. The King might return in triumph,
but he was not the sovereign whom, from his youth,
Bishop Wren had loved and served. The primate
with whom he had worked, had been cruelly murdered ;
and none could restore the wife and children who had
pined and died during the long years of his imprison-
ment. The Church, however, remained, and for her
Bishop Wren would work while life lasted. Part of
his employment in the Tower had been the writing of
treatises and sermons, one of which on the Scotch
Covenant, from the text ' Neither behave thyself fro-
wardly in the covenant,' he dispersed over the dioceses of
Norwich and Ely, lodging the while where he could in
London, as he was not yet allowed to go back either to
Downham in Suffolk or to Ely House in Holborn.
It appeared, as was truly said, as if he had not been
' so much released as thrust out of prison.'
Homeless and penniless as he then seemed, Bishop
Wren's spirit was in no respect daunted ; when he left
in safety the Tower where he had once thought to lay
THE RESTORATION. 117
his head on the block, he planned the thank-offering
which he would make to God. His children, from
whom he had been so long separated, who were
scattered everywhere and had been reduced to the
greatest straits, he with much difficulty gathered to-
gether again, and they awaited the event of Monk's
decision.
At length came that 2Qth of May so often de-
scribed in history and fiction. Evelyn's l account of it
is interesting, as that of an eyewitness :
'This day his majestic Charles II. came to London,
after a sad and long exile and calamitous suffering
both of the king and church, being seventeen yeares.
This was also his birthday ; and with a triumph of
above 20,000 horse and foote, brandishing their
swords and shouting with inexpressible joy ; the
wayes strewed with flowers, the bells ringing, the
streetes hung with tapestry, fountaines running with
wine ; the maior, aldermen, and all the companies
in their liveries, chaines of gold, and banners ; lords
and nobles clad in cloth of silver, gold, and velvet ;
the windowes and balconies well set with ladies :
trumpets, music, and myriads of people flocking
even so far as from Rochester, so as they were
seven houres in passing the citty, even from two in
afternoone till nine at night. I stood in the Strand
and beheld it, and blessed God. All this was don
without one drop of bloudshed, and by that very
army which rebelled against him.'
By degrees matters settled down to a more
ordinary level. The Church Service was restored at
1 Diary, May 29, 1660.
n8 SfX CHRISTOPHER
Whitehall, and on June 28 Pepys mentions l ' poor
Bishop Wren going to chapel, it being a thanksgiving
day for the King's returne.'
The vacant sees were now filled up as speedily as
possible. Bishop Juxon was translated to Canterbury,
Sheldon succeeding him as Bishop of London ; the
northern province, then wholly without bishops, had
its losses supplied.
The Prayer Book was not by any means commonly
used again for some time, Pepys characteristically
says 2
' July i. This morning come home my fine camlett
cloak, with gold buttons, and a silk suit which cost me
much money, and I pray God make me able to pay
for it. In the afternoon to the Abbey, where a good
sermon by a stranger, but no Common Prayer yet.'
In the following November, to quote the same writer,
' men did begin to nibble at the Common Prayer.'
Matters were really progressing, the cathedrals and
the court chapels as well as those in the Bishop's
palaces setting the example. In February (1661)
Evelyn heard ' Dr. Baldero preach at Ely House on
St. Matthew vi. 33 ; after the sermon the Bishop of Ely
gave us the blessing very pontifically.' 3
Ely House was an ancient possession of the see, 4
the gift of William de Ludd, who in the reign of
Edward I. gave the house and endowed it with his
manor of Ouldbourne, a name which soon grew into
Holbourn. The garden and its strawberries are immor-
1 Diary, vol. i. p. 112, ed. 1828. 2 Ib., p. 114.
a Diary, 4 Repertothim, vol. ii. p. 273. Newcourt.
ELY HOUSE. 119
talised by Shakespeare. It was leased to Sir Christopher
Hatton by Bishop Cox in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and
a struggle between the Hatton family and the Bishops
of Ely then began which lasted until I772. 1 In
Wren's time, the Bishops had recovered some of the
buildings, and he had lived here before the rebellion.
During that time the house had been used as a prison
for ' malignant priests,' especially those of the city of
London, and he must have found the whole building
sorely defaced and injured.
The chapel, dedicated to S. Etheldreda, is a beauti-
ful piece of Gothic architecture ; and there, when it
had been cleansed and restored to some order, many
of the new bishops were consecrated, and Bishop
Wren assisted at that preservation of the Apostolical
Succession which but two years before had seemed
well-nigh hopeless.
Much was done at Ely House. In the May of
1 66 1 the Convocation of Canterbury met in S. Paul's,
its marred, plundered condition not inaptly showing
the adversities through which the Church of England
had passed. The Convocation had much work before
it, the most pressing being to prepare a service for
the baptism of those of riper years and for May 29.
In order to this a committee of both Houses of Con-
vocation was formed, which met at Ely House, and of
which Bishop Wren appears to have been the ruling
1 In that year the last Lord Hatton died ; the bishops resigned Ely
House to the Crown, and received No. 37 Dover Street in exchange. The
chapel, after years of neglect, has also been suffered to pass out of the
hands of the Church into those of the Romanists. See Walks in London
by A. C. Hare, vol. ii. pp. 196-201.
t2<5 SfK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
spirit. Many were still half afraid of their true posi-
tion and afraid of the Puritan party ; eighteen years of
confusion and persecution had slackened all discipline,
and many things seemed natural to the new generation
which neither Bishop Andrewes nor Archbishop Laud
would have tolerated for a day. It is implied in
Dr. Barwick's Life that many of those who should
have upheld the Church discipline were willing, from
a mistaken notion of conciliation and peace, to let it
go. Bishop Wren set his face resolutely against this
doctrine.
In November the Convocation met again. Dr.
John Barwick had been appointed to the deanery of S.
Paul's, and in spite of very failing health, had resumed
the weekly Communions, daily prayers, and musical
services of the cathedral, and had succeeded in making
the choir, where the Puritans had stabled their horses,
once more fit for Divine service. At this session of
Convocation the Prayer Book was finally revised, after
the Bishops had heard at the Savoy Conference all that
the Puritans could urge against it. Bishop Wren had
been actively engaged in this work, and suggested a
considerable number of alterations and additions, many
of which were adopted. A large number of gram-
matical errors had crept in to the old book : for
example, ' which ' instead of ' who ' was in almost all
the collects and the Apostles' creed. It still, by some
oversight, survives in the Lord's Prayer. 1 ' The alter-
ing whereof,' says Bishop Wren, ' if it may seem strange
1 Fragmentary Ilhistrations of the History of the Book of Common,
Prayer, edited by the Bishop of Chester, p. 47, et seq.
REVISION OF THE PRAYER BOOK. lit
at first to unskilful ears, yet will it not be a nine days'
wonder, but for ever after a right expression in all our
addresses unto God.'
Page after page he corrected with the utmost care,
from the very title-page and calendar to the end. July
has the characteristic note, ' Out with Dog-days from
amongst the Saints.' A considerable number of his
suggestions are part of the Prayer Book to this day.
The final clause of the prayer for the Church Militant
beginning ' We also bless, etc.,' though not Bishop
Wren's composition, as he intended to have replaced
the Commemoration of the Saints and the Thanks-
giving as it stood in the first Prayer Book of Edward
VI., is yet due to his suggestion. The whole series
of notes and emendations is very interesting, though
they are more than can be given here. Two things
plainly appear : that he wished to return as nearly as
possible to the first Prayer Book of Edward VI., as
the one most closely resembling the offices of the Early
Church ; that he was very desirous to have the book
made as full, as plain, and as clear as the English
language could make it. He was anxious that no
needless stumbling-blocks should remain in the path
either of Churchmen or of Nonconformists, but at the
same time he had no intention of bartering any portion
of Church truth or discipline for the doubtful advan-
tages of ' comprehension.'
It is a proof that he was not, with all his high-
minded firmness, the persecuting prelate of Puritan
pamphleteers, or the sour and severe man which, in
early days, Lord Clarendon thought him, that both in
122 SfR CHRISTOPHER, WREN.
Norwich, his former diocese, and in the one he then
ruled, most of the clergy renounced the Covenant. 1
S. Bartholomew's day, 1662, was the time fixed for
those who refused to conform to the Church to resign
their livings. It has been easy to represent this as
a piece of crael tyranny, as the turning out of a body
of pious men who were labouring in the work which
others neglected. In truth, as even Milton says, they
were ' time-servers, covetous, illiterate persecutors,
not lovers of the truth, like in most things whereof
they had accused their predecessors.' To this grave
indictment must be added that they were, in the strict-
est sense, intruders, thrust into charges by Cromwell's
authority, while the true priests were imprisoned, fined,
forbidden to minister, or even to teach as schoolmasters,
and literally left to starve.
' The majority of these were dead and none had been
ordained to fill up the gaps, during all the long years
since the Church's overthrow. . . Of the eight thou-
sand intruding Nonconformists, a bare two thousand
1 Bishop Kennet says, ' One particular will appear ' (from Bishop Wren's
Register), ' that there were but few of the parochial clergy deprived in this
diocese (Ely) in 1662, for not submitting to the Act of Uniformity,
though more of the old legal incumbents had been sequestered about
1644 than in proportion within any other diocese.' Grey's Examination
of Neale's History of the Puritans, vol. iv. p. 328. From the same
authority it appears that most of the clerks deprived in 1662 had other
callings, e.g. cobbling, gloving, skinning, bookselling, husbandry, and to
these they generally returned.
Some of his clergy had come to him in the Tower for institution, in
the early part of his imprisonment, and that many were faithful to him
is evident from the fact they were expelled their livings for ' following
Bishop Wren's fancies,' no other crimes being pretended against them.
Annals of England, p. 392.
GARTER RECORDS RESTORED. 123
1,700 would probably be nearer the number
refused conformity.
' In other words, the Church of the Restoration
had to begin her work with a clergy of whom at
least three-fourths were aliens at heart to her doc-
trine and her discipline. To the politician this result
was most satisfactory ; to the Church little short of
disastrous.' l
One of the earliest appointments made at the
Restoration was that of Dr. Bruno Ryves 2 to be Dean
of Windsor and Registrar of the Garter. In the
August of 1660, Christopher Wren went to Windsor,
and solemnly delivered to the Dean the three registers
and the note books of the Order of the Garter, which
Dean Wren had, with so much difficulty, recovered
and hidden carefully until, at his death, he transferred
the charge to his son. Dean Ryves gave a written
acknowledgment to Christopher that he had safely
received the books, and the service his father had done
in preserving them was fully admitted. Gresham
College had been cleansed and set in order after the
Restoration, and Christopher resumed his lectures
there, which were largely attended.
1 See an interesting article, The Church of England in the Eighteenth
Century, in the Church Quarterly Review, July, 1877, p. 321, et seq. It
is not however quite accurate to say ' none were ordained,' for Bishop
Duppa held secretly ' frequent ordinations of young loyal church scholars,'
among whom was Tenison, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury.
History of the Book of Common Prayer, Lath bury, p. 296.
2 Dr. Bruno Ryves, Dean of Chichester in 1642, was in the city
during Sir William Waller's siege, and left a description of the sack of
the cathedral and robbery of its plate by the commander and his troops.
Dean Ryves was fined I2O/. and deprived. Memorials of the See of
Chi Chester, p. 286.
i24 SJK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
After one of these lectures given in November,
Lord Brouncker, Mr. Robert Boyle, Dr. Goddard, Dr.
Petty, Dr. Wilkins, Sir Robert Moray and others
withdrew with Wren to his room, where they discussed
a project for a philosophical College or Society. It was
not an entirely new idea, for it had been a favourite
scheme of Evelyn's, also of the poet Cowley's. 1 It
was not a matter to be arranged in one sitting, and ac-
cordingly they settled to meet weekly in Wren's rooms
after his lectures, and agreed that for incidental ex-
penses each should pay down ten shillings and sub-
scribe a shilling weekly. A list was made of between
thirty and forty probable members, among them those
previously mentioned, and Christopher's old friend Sir
C. Scarborough, Dr. Seth Ward, Matthew Wren,
Cowley, Sir Kenelme Digby, Mr. Evelyn and others.
Sir Robert Moray undertook to explain the project to
King Charles, and brought back a gracious message
that he well approved of it, and would be ready to
give it every encouragement. One of the first orders
of the Society was that Wren should at the next meet-
ing of the Society bring in his account of the pendulum
experiment, with his explanation of it : this experi-
ment related to ' the determination of a standard
measure of length by the vibration of a pendulum.' 2
1 Abraham Cowley, born 1618; educated at Westminster; was the
intimate friend of Lord Falkland and of the poet Crashaw. Cowley
followed Henrietta Maria to Paris, remaining steadily loyal. He died
1667.
2 History of the Royal Society (by C. R. Weld), p. 96. Galileo is said
to have first discovered the use of the pendulum as a measure of time,
while watching the oscillations of the bronze lamp in the cathedral at
Pisa. A pendulum clock was long reckoned a ' rarity.' Bishop Seth
S AVI LI AN PROFESSORSHIP. 125
There followed experiments for the improvement of
shipping, in which Wren worked with Dr. Petty and
Dr. Goddard. It was a question to what mechanical
powers sailing, especially when against the wind, was
reducible ; ' he showed it to be a wedge ; and he
demonstrated how a transient force upon an oblique
plane would cause the motion of the plane against the
first mover. He made an instrument that mechanically
produced the same effect and showed the reason of sail-
ing to all winds.'
But to give all Christopher's experiments would be
to write over again the already well-told history of the
Royal Society. It had few more assiduous members.
In 1 66 1, Christopher resigned his Gresham Pro-
fessorship, in order to accept the Savilian Professorship
of Astronomy, at Oxford. 1 It had been held by Dr.
Seth Ward, who was soon afterwards made Bishop of
Salisbury in succession to Bishop Hyde. Shortly after
his appointment, Christopher had a command from the
King to make him a lunar globe, according to the
observations made with the best telescopes. He con-
structed one ' representing not only the spots and
Ward presented one, made by Fromantel, to the Society in 1662, in
memory of his friend Mr. Laurence Rooke, late Astronomy Professor at
Gresham College.
1 Founded 1619 by Sir Henry Savile. He required that the Professor
should explain the Ptolemaic and Copernican and other modern astro-
nomical systems, should teach and read on Optics, Dialling, Geography
and Navigation. He was to be of any nation in Christendom, provided
he was of good reputation, had a fair knowledge of Greek, and was twenty-
six years of age. If an Englishman he must have taken his M.A. degree.
The choice of a professor was to lie with the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of the University, the Bishop of
London, the principal Secretary of State, Chief Justices, the Lord Chief
Baron, and Dean of Arches. Oxford, vol. ii. p. 188. Ayliffe.
126 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
various degrees of whiteness on the surface, but the
hills, eminences, and cavities moulded in solid work.'
This curious toy was highly admired, placed in the
King's cabinet at Whitehall, and esteemed a great
1 rarity.'
In this year Wren took his degree as Doctor of
Civil Laws, Oxford, and received a similar honour
from the University of Cambridge. King Charles
purposed paying a visit to Oxford, and the Philoso-
phical Society both there and in London resolved to
give him an entertainment. Lord Brouncker wrote
from London to Wren to consult him. Wren wrote
back :
* My Lord, The Act and noise at Oxford being over,
I retir'd to myself as speedily as I could to obey
your Lordship and contribute something to the
collection of Experiments designed by the Society,
for his Majesty's Reception. I concluded on some-
thing I thought most suitable for such an occasion ;
but the stupidity of our artists here makes the
apparatus so tedious that I foresee I shall not be
able to bring it to anything within the time pro-
posed. What in the meanwhile to suggest to your
Lordship I cannot guess.' . . . ' Geometrical pro-
blems, and new methods, however useful, will be
but tasteless in a transient show.' He enumerates
various things which he had thought of and rejected :
' designs of engines, scenographical tricks, designs
of architecture, chymical experiments, experiments
in anatomy, which last are sordid and noisome
to any but those whose desire of knowledge
< so MUCH TATTLE: 127
makes them digest it.' ' Experiments of Natural
Philosophy are seldom pompous, and certainly
Nature in the best of her works is apparent enough
in obvious things, were they but curiously observed ;
and the key that opens treasures is often plain and
rusty, but unless it be gilt it will make no show at
Court/
He proposed to show an experiment with a
1 weather wheel to measure the expansions of air.'
Another 'no unpleasing spectacle of seeing a man
live without new air as long as you please ; ' this was
to be effected by an instrument of Wren's invention
which cooled, percolated, and purified the air. Also 'an
artificial eye truly and dioptrically rrec'e as bi as a
tennis-ball.'
' My Lord/ the letter ends, ' if my first design had
been perfect I had not troubled your Lordship with
so much Tattle, but with something performed and
done. But I am fain, in this letter, to do like some
chymist who when Projection (his fugitive darling)
hath left him threadbare, is forced to fall to vulgar
Preparations to pay his Debts/
The King appointed Wren as assistant to Sir John
Denham, the Surveyor-General of Works. Sir John
had been appointed by Charles I., in reversion during
the lifetime of Inigo Jones, surveyor at that time, and
had succeeded, at Inigo Jones's death, to what was
then but a barren honour. Evelyn, who had a dispute
with Sir John about the placing of Greenwich Palace
in that very year, says : ' I knew him to be a better
128 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
poet than architect, tho' he had Mr. Webb 1 (Inigo
Jones's man) to assist him.' Of this Charles II. was
probably aware, and anxious to supply his deficiency.
That his choice should have fallen upon Wren, unless
Evelyn's friendship suggested it, is remarkable, as,
until then, Wren seems to have made no special study
of architecture. No doubt the practical experience
learned in the details of the assistant-surveyor's work
was afterwards very serviceable to him. He appears
to have had a most retentive memory as well as a
very quick eye and power of apprehension. In spite,
however, of these calls on his time he was assiduous at
the Society's meetings.
The death of Laurence Rooke, his friend and
fellow-labourer, threw more work on his hands.
Rooke was succeeded in the Geometry Professor-
ship by Isaac Barrow, afterwards a well-known divine
who, in his first Latin oration, eulogised the Savilian
Professor as ' formerly a prodigy of a boy, now a
miracle of a man, and a genius among mortals. Lest
I should appear to speak falsehood, it will be enough
for me to name to you the most ingenious and ex-
cellent Christopher Wren.' 2 It was a high compli-
ment, but Barrow knew that his audience would heartily
re-echo it. It is to be hoped that Barrow's lectures
were somewhat shorter than his sermons, which, fine
as they are, were not always listened to with patience.
' On one occasion, when he was long preaching in the
Abbey on a holiday, the servants of the Church, who
1 He married Inigo Jones's daughter.
2 Lives of the Gresham Professors, Ward, p. 97.
A LONG SERMON. 129
on those days showed the tombs and effigies in wax
of the Kings and Queens to the common people,
fearing to spend that time in hearing which they
might more profitably employ in receiving, caused the
organs to blow until they had blowed him down/ l
On March 25, 1663, the Society was finally incor-
porated by a charter from the King, with a preamble
written by Christopher Wren, explaining its objects.
The style of the preamble is far more florid than is
usual in Wren's writing : it has in it the exultation
of one who is accomplishing a long-cherished scheme.
One paragraph is evidently intended as a defence
against certain attacks which were made upon the
English philosophers as they had been in past times
against Galileo :
' Not that herein we would withdraw the least ray of
our influence from the present established nurseries
of good literature and education, founded by the
1 Isaac Barrow, born 1630. He was so little studious as a boy, and
so fond of fighting, that his father used often solemnly to wish that if it
should please God to take one of his children it might be his son Isaac.
When, however, in 1677, he did really die, the Lord Keeper (Lord
Nottingham) sent his father a message of condolence, importing that
' he had but too great reason to grieve, since never father lost so good a
son.' Dr. Isaac Barrow, Bishop of Man, 1663, and S. Asaph, 1669, was
his uncle. Life of Dr. Barrow^ vol. i. p. ix., ed. 1830. Among his poems
is the following, which seems to be incomplete :
AD. DD. CHR. WREN.
Ad te, sed passu tremulo vultuque rubenti,
Fertur ad ingenii culmen, opella levis,
Nee quid vult aliud (quid enim velit haud tibi notum)
Quam ut justum authoris deferat. Ib. vol. viii. p. 541
K
1 30 5/A" CHRISTOPHER WREN.
piety of our royal ancestors and others, and whose
laws which as we are obliged to defend, so the holy
blood of our martyred Father hath especially en-
deared to us, but, that we purpose to make further
provision for this branch of knowledge likewise,
Natural Experimental Philosophy/ . . . ' Taking
care as in the first place for Religion so next for
the riches and ornaments of our kingdoms, as we
wear an Imperial Crown in which flowers are alter-
nately intermixed with the ensigns of Christianity.'
King Charles, the Duke of York, and Prince
Rupert, always a lover of experiments, were among
the first members of the Society, and its beginning was
prosperous enough ; but Court favour has always created
some envy. It happened that in the self-same year
Butler, 1 then secretary to Jeremy Taylor's friend, Lord
Carbery, published his famous ' Hudibras.' It created
a great sensation ; the Court read it, the town read it ;
Pepys, hearing ' the world cry it up so mightily, tried
twice or three times reading to bring himself to think
it witty.' It was in everyone's mouth, and Butler
naturally thought himself sure of promotion. None,
however, came to him, and he directed his bitter wit
against those more fortunate than himself, the members
of the new Royal Society, and Bishop Sprat in par-
ticular, in a poem called ' The Elephant in the Moon,'
which opened as follows :
1 Samuel Butler, born 1612, died, it is said, in great poverty, and was
buried in S. Paul's, Covent Garden, 1680.
'THE ELEPHANT IN THE MOON: 131
' A learn'd Society of late,
The glory of a neighbouring state,
Agreed upon a summer night
To search the moon by her own light,
To take an invent'ry of all
Her real estate and personal.
To observe her country how 'twas planted,
With what she abounded most or wanted,
And make the proper'st observations
For settling of new plantations,
If the Society should incline
T' attempt so glorious a design.'
With sharp touches indicating the various Members
of the Society the satire continues, telling how they see
in the moon, through the telescope, marvellous things,
and an appearance of an immense elephant ; they
agree that a record must be made, and during the
discussion who is to write it, one of the servants peep-
ing through the telescope discovers that a mouse has
got in between the two glasses ! It, and a swarm of
^> o
small flies, are the causes of the mysterious phenomena,
the vast beast, the marching and countermarching
armies which have been so learnedly explained ! l
The Society does not seem to have paid much
attention to the poet, and the experiments went on
as usual. A different task was presently offered to
Wren by the King. When he married Catharine of
1 Wren's lunar globe will be remembered. Vide supra^ p. 125.
The satire made some sensation and caused La Fontaine to write
Un Animal dans la Lune, in which, courtier like, he pays a compliment
to Charles II., and hints at the happiness of England at peace and able
to give herself ' a ces emplois,' while France was at war with Holland,
Spain, and the Empire.
K 2
1 32 SfR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Portugal, he received Tangiers, Tripoli, and Bombay
as part of her dowry. Tangiers was reckoned as a
very important place to the English, whose sailors
were still constantly harassed by the Moorish pirates,
and the fortifications of the town were a pressing care.
King Charles offered, through Matthew Wren, then
Lord Clarendon's secretary, a commission to Christopher
Wren, as one of the best geometricians in Europe, to
survey and direct the works at the mole, harbour, and
fortifications of Tangiers, offering him an ample salary,
leave of absence from his Professorship, and a rever-
sionary grant of Sir John Denham's office. Flattering
though the offer was, Christopher declined it on the
ground of his health, and begged the King to com-
mand his duty in England.
He no doubt judged wisely, and the refusal gave
no offence at Court. Perhaps the leave of absence
might not have been easily obtained, for the following
letter from Dr. Sprat shows that Wren was already
embarrassed by the difficulty of being in two places at
once :
' My dear Sir, I must confess I have some little Peek
against you therefore am not much displeased,
that I have this occasion of telling you some ill
news. The Vice-Chancellor did yesterday send
for me to inquire where the Astronomy Professor
was, and the reason of his absence so long after the
beginning of the term. I used all the arguments I
could for your Defence. I told him that Charles
the Second was King of England, Scotland, France
and Ireland-, and that he was by the late Act of
A WARM FRIEND. 133
Parliament declared absolute Monarch in these his
dominions : and that it was this mighty Prince who
had confined you to London. I endeavour'd to per-
suade him that the drawing of lines in Sir Harry
Savill's school was not altogether of so great a con-
cernment for the benefit of Christendom as the
rebuilding of St. Paul's or the fortifying of Tangier ;
(for I understood those were the great works in
which that extraordinary Genius of yours was judg'd
necessary to be employ'd). All this I urged, but
after some Discourse, he told me, that he was not
now to consider you as Dr. Bayly 1 (for so he ow'd
you all Kindness) but as Vice Chancellor, and under
that Capacity he most terribly told me that he took
it very ill you had not all this while given him any
Account of what hinder'd you in the Discharge of
your Office. This he bid me tell you, and I do it
not very unwillingly because I see that our Friend-
ships are so closely ty'd together that the same
Thing which was so great a Prejudice to me (my
losing your Company all this while here) does also
something redound to your Disadvantage. And so,
my dear Sir, now my Spite and Spleen is satisfied,
I must needs return to my old Temper again, and
faithfully assure you that I am with the most violent
Zeal and Passion, your most affectionate and de-
voted Servant,
' TIIO. SPRAT.'
Wren had also employment at Cambridge, of a
kind he would have been loth to put in other hands.
1 Dr. Richard Bayley, President of S. John's College.
I 3 4 S/ff CHRISTOPHER WREN.
His uncle, the Bishop of Ely, had instantly on his
release determined to give a chapel to Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge, where he had been a scholar under
Launcelot Andrewes, 1 and he employed his nephew as
his architect. Upon this work and its endowment the
Bishop expended 5,ooo/., the first money he received
after his release. His personal habits were austerely
simple ; for the last twenty years of his life he drank
no wine, and only ate off" a wooden trencher, practis-
ing fasting and abstinence with great strictness. He
had never spent any of the revenues of his see upon
his children, and now he made the chapel his heir,
bestowing upon it an estate at Hardwick in Cambridge-
shire.
The chapel, which has a peculiar interest as
Wren's first architectural work, is built in the classical
style he was to make famous in England, and bears
his mark in its beautiful proportions, the richness of its
stucco ceiling and the pannelled wood-work. The
plain glazing of the windows and a something of bare-
ness about the whole, are probably to be accounted for
by the necessity of limiting the expense to a fixed
sum. Its first stone was laid May 13, 1663, by the
Master, Dr. Frank, acting for Bishop Wren, who was
not present. 2
It was probably at the same time that Wren
executed some repairs in Ely Cathedral which had
1 Bishop Andrewes bequeathed 3327. to the library of Pembroke College.
2 Some alterations have recently been made at Pembroke, in which,
under the late Sir G. Scott's orders, the chapel has been lengthened by
about 20 feet, the stucco of the exterior stripped, and the red brick
pointed.
A SAD RETURN. 135
suffered, like every other grand church, from the fury
of the Puritans. Bitter indeed must have been the
regret with which the surviving clergy returned to find
the fabrics of their churches plundered and laid waste,
and their flocks scattered or corrupted.
CHAPTER VI.
1664-1667.
REPAIR OF S. PAUL'S SHELDONIAN THEATRE THE PLAGUE A
LETTER FROM PARIS CONSECRATION OF PEMBROKE CHAPEL FIRE
OF LONDON BISHOP WREN'S DEATH HIS FAMILY.
Yet, London, Empress of the Northern Clime,
By an high fate thou greatly didst expire,
Great as the world's, which, at the death of time,
Must fall, and rise a nobler frame by fire
Annus Mirabilis, ccxii. Dryden.
CHAPTER VI.
THE repairs of S. Paul's Cathedral could not be delayed.
Wren, as Sir John Denham's assistant, was greatly
occupied about the matter, which was one of no
ordinary difficulty. The responsibility was really his,
for Sir John went out of his mind, and though he re-
covered, probably did but little business.
When Inigo Jones built his portico, he cased the
nave with Portland stone, and rebuilt the north and
south fronts. In doing so he pared down the original
pointed architecture, until little of its beauty or charac-
ter remained. His work had in its turn been damaged
by the Puritans, who set up booths in the portico, and
dug sawpits in the cathedral inclosure. Besides these
injuries Christopher Wren's accurate eye detected
graver faults in the original design, some of which he
enumerates. ' The pillars of the nave, though eleven
feet in diameter, were only cased with stone, and filled
up with rubbish inside. The roof was always too
heavy for them, so that they are bent outwards on
both sides, so that the roof already cracked will finally
fall in.' He proposed to substitute a roof 1 of ' a light,
1 For an account of the great rarity of stone roofs see Fergusson's
Illustrated Handbook of Architecture, vol. ii. p. 879. It is said that Wren
used often to look at the beautiful roof of King's College Chapel, Cam-
bridge, and say he would build such another if anyone would tell him
where to put the first stone.
HO 67/? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
thin shell of stone, very geometrically made.' The
tower leant much to one side, and was propped with
arches and buttresses, so as to block the view from the
west end. Upon this tower, which he despairingly
calls ' a heap of deformities,' there had been formerly
a tall, thin, wooden spire, which was destroyed by
lightning. For this he wished to substitute ' a dome
or rotunda, and upon the cupola for outward ornament,
a lantern with a spring top to rise proportionately.'
He hints that when the dome was finished the rest of
the cathedral should be harmonised with it, almost
impossible though the task appeared. He expected
great difference of opinion, and that ' some would aim
at a greater magnificence than the age would afford,
and some might fall so low as to think of piecing up
the old fabric here with stone, there with brick, and
covering all faults with a coat of plaster, to leave it still
to posterity as an object of charity.' The miserable
state of the building is implied in the epitaph of its
Dean, Dr. Barwick, who in 1664, 'Inter sacras JEdis
Paulinae ruinas reponit suas (utrasque resurrecturas
securus) > . 1
Another work upon which Wren was engaged was
the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford. Sheldon, who
succeeded Archbishop Juxon in the see of Canterbury
in 1663, was determined to free S. Mary's Church
from the profane uses to which it was put when the
various ' Acts ' were kept there, and any kind of jesting
1 ' Among the sacred ruins of S. Paul's Church laid down his own
(sure that both will rise again).' Sancroft, afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury, succeeded him.
SHELDONIAN THEATRE. 141
and buffoonery was considered allowable. He had
had experience of Wren in the discussions about S.
Paul's, and now engaged him as architect. The
building is too well known to need a description ; the
roof was reckoned a triumph of skill because of ' the
contrivance of supporting the same without the help
of any beam, it being entirely kept up by braces and
screws; and is the subject of an excellent mathema-
tical treatise by that prodigy of the age, Dr. Wallis.' l
It was six years building, and cost 25,ooo/. Evelyn,
with whom Wren had often discussed the plans, went
to Oxford on purpose to be present at the opening on
July 9, 1669.
' In the morning,' he says, ' was celebrated the Encenia
of the New Theater .... it was resolved to keep
the present Act in it and celebrate its dedication
with the greatest splendor and formalitie that might
be, and therefore drew a world of strangers and
other companie to the Universitie from all parts of
the nation. The Vice Chancellor, Heads of Houses
and Doctors, being seated in magisteriall seates, the
Vice Chancellor's chaire and deske, Proctors etc.
covered with Brocatall (a kind of Brocade) and cloth
of gold ; the Universitie Register read the founder's
grant and gift of it to the Universitie upon these
solemn occasions. Then followed Dr. South, the
Universitie's orator, in an eloquent speech which
was very long and not without some malicious and
indecent reflections on the Royal Society as under-
miners of the Universitie, which was very foolish
1 Oxford^ vol. i. p. 473. Ayliffe.
142 S/R CHRISTOPHER WREN.
and untrue, as well as unseasonable. But, to let
that pass from an ill-natured man, the rest was in
praise of the archbishop and the ingenious architect.'
Dr. Plot, the historian of Oxfordshire, who was a
member of the Royal Society, in his quaint book gives
a careful technical description of the construction of
the theatre by Wren, and his assistant, ' Richard
Frogley, an able carpenter.'
During the years that the theatre was building
Wren did not intermit his attendance at the Royal
Society ; amongst other inventions he produced a
machine for drawing in perspective, which was exhibited
at one of the meetings.
A frightful interruption came to these and to all
other pursuits in London. In 1665, the plague, which
had more than once afflicted England, broke out with
fearful force in London, where the dark narrow streets
with their houses meeting overhead, and the foul state
of the entire town, gave every encouragement to its
ravage's. Pepys, who stayed in London all through
the worst time of the plague, gives many a record of
this visitation. 1
' June jt/i. The hottest day that ever I felt in my life.
This day, much against my will I did in Drury
Lane see two or three houses marked with a red
cross upon the doors and " Lord have mercy upon
us ! " writ there ; which was a sad sight to me, being
the first of the kind that, to my remembrance, I ever
saw.
1 August \bth. To the Exchange, where I have
1 Diary, vol. ii. p. 273, et sey., ed. 1828.
THE PLAGUE. 143
not been a great while. But Lord ! how sad a
sight it is to see the streets empty of people and
very few upon the 'Change ! Jealous of every door
that one sees shut up lest it should be the plague,
and about us two shops in three, if not more, generally
shut up.
' September yd (Lord's Day). Up ; and put
on my coloured silk suit very fine, and my new
periwigg, bought a good while since, and durst not
wear because the plague was in Westminster when
I bought it ; and it is a wonder what will be the
fashion after the plague is done as to periwiggs,
for nobody will dare to buy any haire for fear of
the infection, that it had been cut off the heads of
people dead of the plague. My Lord Brouncker,
Sir J. Minnes and I up to the Vestry ' (he was then
at Greenwich) ' at the desire of the justices of the
peace, in order to the doing of something for the
keeping of the plague from growing ; but Lord ! to
consider the madness of the people of the town who
will, because they are forbid, come in crowds along
with the dead corpses to see them buried ; but we
agreed on some orders for the prevention thereof.
Among other stories, one was very passionate, me-
thought, of a complaint brought against a man in
the town for taking a child from London from an
infected house. Alderman Hooker told us it was
the child of a very able citizen in Gracious Street '
(Gracechurch Street), ' a saddler, who had buried all
the rest of his children with the plague, and himself
and his wife being now shut up and in despair of
144 -SM CHRISTOPHER WREN.
escaping, did desire only to save the life of this
little child ; and so prevailed to have it received
stark naked into the arms of a friend who brought
it, having put it into fresh clothes, to Greenwich,
where upon hearing the story we did agree it should
be permitted to be received and kept in the town.'
So the days went on and the grass waved in
Whitehall Court, and to quote Pepys again : ' Lord !
how everybody's looks and discourse in the streets is
of death and nothing else, and few people going up
and down, that the town is like a place distressed and
forsaken/
None but those whom absolute necessity kept in
London stayed in the infected air ; the works at S.
Paul's were stopped ; all meetings and lectures ceased,
with good reason, since to gather people together was
but to spread the infection.
Christopher Wren profited by the cessation of his
London work, to travel abroad. Before going he had
much to settle ; to help Mr. Evelyn find a tutor,
' a perfect Grecian and more than commonly mathe-
matical,' for his son. This youth went two years later,
at the age of thirteen, to Trinity College, Oxford, ' being
newly out of long coates.'
Wren's Oxford Professorship, and his works, both
there and at Cambridge, required to be set in good
order before he could go. At Oxford he was engaged
on the repairs of Trinity College, for his friend Dr.
Bathurst. 1 On June 22, 1665, Wren writes to them
as follows :
1 Dr. Ralph Bathurst, born 1620, educated at Coventry and Oxford.
1 THE WORLD GOVERNED BY WORDS! 145
' My honoured Friend, I am convinced with Machi-
avel or some unlucky fellow, 'tis no matter whether
I quote true, that the world is generally governed
by words. I perceive the name of a quadrangle
will carry it with those whom you say may possibly be
your benefactors, though it be much the worse situ-
ation for the chambers, and the beauty of the college,
and of the particular pile of building. If I had skill
in enchantment to represent the pile, first in one
view, then in another, I should certainly make them
of my opinion ; or else I will appeal to Mons.
Mansard or Signer Bernini, both of which I shall
see at Paris within this fortnight.'
' But, to be sober, if anybody, as you say, will
pay for a quadrangle, there is no dispute to be
made ; let them have a quadrangle, though a lame
one somewhat like a three-legged table.' . . .
Some technical details for the builder follow, and
then :
' You need not use any apologies to me, for I must
beg you to believe you can command me in things of
greater moment, and that I love to serve you as your
most faithful and affectionate Friend and Servant,
' CHRISTOPHER WREN/
The College was repaired by Sir Thomas Pope, it
having been left in a very ruinous condition, but the
Was ordained, but during the rebellion maintained himself by the practice
of medicine. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1688 its
president. He was president of Trinity from 1644 till his death in 1704.
He was Dean of Wells, and was offered the bishopric, but refused it as
taking him from his college and hindering the improvements he was
making there. Evelyn speaks highly of his preaching and his admirable
parts and learning.'
L
1 46 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
ornamental part is due to Dr. Bathurst, aided by
munificent Archbishop Sheldon and other old members
of the College.
He was making considerable additions to Trinity
College at Cambridge : to this date belongs the library,
which he added to the beautiful western Quadrangle
known as Nevile's Court.
' A building,' said Wren, in a letter to the Master
of Trinity, ' of that consideration you go about,
deserves good care in the design and able workmen
to perform it ; and that he who takes the general
management upon him may have a prospect of the
whole, and make all parts inside and outside corre-
spond well together.'
Very full directions and six drawings follow, ex-
plaining the plan and its details.
' I suppose,' he ends, ' you have good masons ; how-
ever, I would willingly take a farther pains to give
all the mouldings in great ; we are scrupulous in
small matters and you must pardon us, the architects
are as great pedants as critics and heralds.'
It was not until midsummer that Wren was able
to start on his journey : he went at once to Paris to the
Earl of S. Albans, the English ambassador, to whom
he had letters. Lord S. Albans had lived at Paris
in great ease and luxury all through the Rebellion,
far more so, Evelyn indignantly says, than had the
King. He was supposed to be privately married
to the Queen Dowager, Henrietta Maria. He was
what was then called a great virtuoso, a friend of
WREN AT PARIS. 147
Cowley and of other wits, and entertained Wren with
much courtesy and hospitality. Wren's name was, in
itself, a sufficient introduction to the scientific men and
philosophers of the city, in whose society he took great
pleasure.
He had long been a Member of the Order of
Freemasons, and had distinguished himself by the atten-
tion he gave to the lodges under his care : at the time of
his journey to France he was Deputy Grand Master
under Earl Rivers ; no doubt he availed himself to the
full of the opportunities which Freemasonry afforded him
for observing the details of the work and becoming
acquainted with the workmen, the architects, and the
sculptors, whom Louis XIV. had brought in great
numbers to Paris.
It would have been interesting had Wren left us a
record of his impressions of Paris from a political point
of view. It was the brief interval of peace between
England and France before the war of the Nether-
lands. Louis XIV., climbing upwards to the zenith
of his brilliant reign, keeping the supreme power in
his own hands since Mazarin's death (in 1661), with
the wise Colbert for his financier, surrounded by all
the great captains, statesmen, wits and artists who
made up the ' Siecle de Louis XIV.,' must have been
a very interesting subject for the observation of a
philosopher like Wren, whose youth had been passed
among terrible political storms. There is, however,
but one slight hint in his journal, but one suggestion
that he discerned the true value of much of the glitter
and veneer of universal, if temporary, success. Pascal,
1 2
148 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
with whom he had corresponded, and between whose
brief career and his own there is a curious resem-
blance, had died three years before Wren took his one
foreign journey.
The 'Academic Royale des Sciences,' which had
just received the formal sanction of Louis XIV., had
begun much like the English Royal Society, by small
meetings and conferences at Paris amongst scientific
men, and in these conferences, Pascal, while very
young, had taken a brilliant place. His father, Etienne
Pascal, when he found it a vain attempt to withhold
mathematical science from his son, cultivated the boy's
genius to the utmost, beyond, perhaps, what the very
feeble physical frame could bear.
One cannot doubt that Wren was introduced to
this society, and took an interest in its discussions,
though his attention seems most of all to have been
given to architecture.
In a journal written for a Dr. Bateman, the friend
who gave him the letters to Lord S. Albans, he says :
' I have busied myself in surveying the most esteemed
Fabrics of Paris, and the country round ; the Louvre
for a while was my daily object where no less than
a thousand hands are constantly employed in the
works ; some in laying mighty Foundations, some
in raising the stones, columns, and entablements &c.
with vast stones, by great and useful engines, others
in carving, inlaying of marbles, plaistering, paint-
ing, gilding &c., which altogether makes a School
of Architecture, the best probably at this day in
THE LOUVRE. 149
Europe. The college of the Four Nations, 1 is
usually admired, but the Artist had purposely set it
ill-favouredly that he might shew his wit in
struggling with an ill-convenienced situation. An
Academy of Painters, Sculptors, Architects and the
chief Artificers of the Louvre, meet every first and
last Saturday of the month. Mons. Colbert, Surin-
tendant, comes to the works of the Louvre every
Wednesday, and if business hinders not, Thursday.
The Workmen are paid every Sunday duly.
Mons. Abbe Charles introduced me to the acquaint-
ance of Bernini, 2 who showed me his designs of the
Louvre, and of the King's Statue. Abbe Bruno
1 Wren refers to the University of Paris, which was divided into four
faculties arts (letters and science), theology, civil and canon law, and
medicine. The faculty of arts was divided into four nations. That of
France divided again into five provinces or tribes, that of Picardy divided
in the same way, that of Normandy, and that of Germany which was
divided into two tribes, that of the continents (divided into two provinces),
and that of .the islanders, which included Great Britain and Ireland.
Dictionnaire Historique de la France, par L. Lalanne.
2 Gio. Bernini was born at Naples 1 598 and was a great sculptor as
well as architect. He made a bust of Charles I. of England after a
picture by Vandyke. When the bust was carried to the king's house at
Chelsea his Majesty with a train of nobles went to view it, and as they
were viewing it a hawk flew over their heads with a partridge in his
claw which he had wounded to death. Some of the partridge's blood
fell on the neck of the bust, where it always remained without being
wiped off. This bust, with the picture from which it was taken, is
thought to have perished in the fireat Whitehall, 1697. Biographical
History, vol. ii. p. 88. Grainger.
Bernini was splendidly received at Paris and employed in several
works of sculpture, among which was a bust of Louis XIV., probably
the one to which Wren refers. His design for the Louvre was accepted,
and he had just begun to work it out at the time Wren wrote, but Colbert
and the two Perraults stirred up so many difficulties that Bernini aban-
doned the task, and the Louvre was left in the hands of Claude Perrault.
Bernini returned to Rome and died there in 1680.
ISO SIR CHRISTOPHER WREtf.
keeps the curious rarities of the Duke of Orleans'
library, well filled with excellent Intaglios, medals,
books of Plants and Fowls in miniature. Abbe
Burdelo keeps an Academy at his house for
Philosophy every Monday afternoon. But I must
not think to describe Paris, and the numerous
observables there in the compass of a short letter.
The King's Houses I could not miss, Fontainbleau
has a stately wildness and vastness suitable to the
Desert it stands in.
' The antique mass of the Castle of S. Germains
and the hanging gardens are delightfully surprising
(I mean to any man of judgement), for the pleasures
below vanish away in the breath that is spent in
ascending. The Palace, or if you please the Cabinet,
of Versailles call'd me twice to view it; the mix-
tures of brick, stone, blue tile and gold make it look
like a rich livery : not an inch within but is crowded
with little curiosities of ornaments : the women as
they make here the language and fashions and
meddle with Politics and Philosophy, so they sway
also in Architecture ; works of Filgrand and little
Knacks are in great vogue ; but Building certainly
ought to have the attribute of Eternal and therefore
the only thing uncapable of new Fashions. The
masculine furniture of Palais Mazarine pleased me
much better, where is a great and noble collection
of antique Statues and Bustoes, (many of porphyry),
good Basso-relievos ; excellent pictures of the great
masters, fine Arras, true Mosaics, besides pieces de
'TO PRY INTO TRADES AND ARTS} 151
Raport 1 in compartiments and pavements, vases
of porcelain painted by Raphael, and infinite other
rarities. The best of which now furnish the glorious
appartment of the Queen Mother at the Louvre
which I saw many times. After the incomparable
villas of Vaux and Maisons, I shall name but Ruel,
Coutances, Chilly, Essoane, St. Maur, St. Mande,
Issy, Meudon, Rincy, Chantilly, Verneuil, Liancour,
all which, and I might add many others, I have
surveyed, and that I might not lose the impressions
of them, I shall bring you all France on paper.
Bernini's design of the Louvre I would have given
my skin for ; but the old reserved Italian gave me
but a few minutes' view ; it was five designs on paper,
for which he hath received as many thousand pistoles.
I had only time to copy it in my fancy and memory,
and shall be able, by discourse and a crayon, to give
you a tolerable account of it. I have purchased a
great deal of taille-douce, that I might give our
countrymen examples of ornaments and grotesques,
in which the Italians themselves confess the French
to excel. I hope I shall give you a very good
account of all the best artists of France ; my busi-
ness now is to pry into trades and arts. I put
myself into all shapes to humour them ; it is a
comedy to me, and though sometimes expenseful, I
am yet loth to leave it.' There follows a long list
of what he calls ' the most noted artisans within my
knowledge or acquaintance,' in which is many a
famous name, Bernini, Poussin, Mignard, Mansard,
1 i.e. Mosaic,
t$2 J7/? CHRISTOPHER WREtf.
&c., and then he says, ' My Lord Berkeley returns
to England at Christmas, when I propose to take
the opportunity of his company, and by that time
to perfect what I have on the anvil observations
on the present state of architecture, arts, and manu-
factures in France.'
With the great men Latin was probably the com-
mon tongue, but with the artizans he must have talked
in French, and have either possessed or acquired no
small mastery of the language and of the technical
terms of their various trades. The ' observations '
were either never hammered into the shape Wren
wished, or else were subsequently lost or copied by
someone else, as frequently happened to one so careless
of his own fame as was Wren. In January 1666, the
English Ambassador was recalled from Paris, and the
war began between England, and the Netherlands with
France for their ally.
Pembroke Chapel was meanwhile completed, and
' being beautified with splendid and decorous furni-
ture and amply endowed with an annual revenue,
was upon the feast of S. Matthew ' (the Bishop's
patron saint) ' 1665, solemnly consecrated and dedi-
cated by Bishop Wren in person and by his Epis-
copal authority to the honour of Almighty God. A
noble and lasting monument of the rare piety and
munificence of that great and wise Prelate and in
every point accorded to his character, which was so
well known that the sole nomination of the founder
was a sufficient account of the magnificence of the
A THANKOFFER1NG. 153
foundation. Before evening service the exterior or
outer chapel and the cloister leading to it (a new
fabrick of Sir R. Hitcham's foundation) were by his
Lordship also consecrated for places of sepulture
for the use of the Society, together with a cell or
vault at the East end of the chapel under the altar
for a dormitory for his Lordship.' l
Bishop Wren must have looked with joy on the
completion of his thankoffering, and may have guessed,
as he surveyed its beautiful proportions, that he had set
his nephew, its young architect, on the road to fame.
Very little is told us of the latter years of Wren's
Episcopate ; one or two stories are given in the ' Paren-
talia ' and then contradicted, but it seems he kept his
old firmness. In 1662 he held the second Visitation of
his Diocese and the articles of inquiry and directions
show no change in his opinions and no deference to
Puritan notions. It was by a stretch of his power as
Visitor that he admitted Dr. Beaumont to be master
of Peterhouse, though the college had nominated two
other deserving persons, of whom Cosin was one.
The choice proved, in the end, a very wise one. He
could be lenient also when he thought it right, and
admitted several Fellows of Jesus College who came
to him, in some fear of a refusal, for institution. He
' was very fair and civil towards them, despatched
them without the usual height of the fees and per-
suaded them to studiousness and peace against all
1 Wood. Athena; Oxoniensis, vol. i. p. 735. He used certain pecu-
liarities in the Act of Consecration which have been repeated at he
consecration of the addition to the chapel, March 25, iSSi.
154 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
animosities.' So says a contemporary letter quoted in
the ' Parentalia.'
Wren had come home at Christmas to find London
comparatively free from the plague, and people gradu-
ally returning. The Royal Society, whose meetings
had of course ceased during the infection, busied them-
selves in investigations as to the plague, and the pos-
sible methods of preventing it. It still raged in the
country, and especially at Cambridge, driving Isaac
Newton from his lectures there to the garden at
Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire, where the idea of the
law of gravitation first occurred to his mind.
The repair of S. Paul's was again discussed and
commissioners appointed in 1666, among whom were
Evelyn, Wren, Dean Sancroft, and the then Bishop
of London, who was Humphrey Henchman, the early
friend of George Herbert.
On August 2 yth they inspected the cathedral. Two
of the commissioners, Mr. Chichley and Mr. Prat,
evidently wished to do as little as possible, declaring,
when the nave was proved to lean outwards on both
sides, ' it was so built for an effect of the perspective/
and proposing to repair the steeple on its old founda-
tions. Wren thought very differently, insisted on new
foundations, renewed his former proposal of ' a noble
cupola ' which was strongly supported by Evelyn, who
had never forgotten the grandeur of S. Peter's just
completed when he went to Rome as a young man in
1644. They retired to the Deanery to give their
opinions in writing, promising to send estimates of the
cost of their several plans. Six days later a new
FIRE OF LONDON. 155
P
disaster overwhelmed London and solved the question
of repairing the cathedral. On the night of September
2nd the Fire of London began ; for three days and
four nights it burned unchecked, having gained such
strength during the first panic that it could not be
beaten back, the sparks constantly kindling new centres
of flame.
1 All the skie,' says Evelyn, 1 ' was of a fiery aspect,
like the top of a burning oven, and the light
seen above forty miles round about for many nights.
God grant mine eyes may never behold the like
who now saw 10,000 houses all in one flame ; the
noise and crackling and thunder of the impetuous
flames, the shrieking of women and children, the
hurry of people, the fall of towers, houses and
churches, was like an hideous storme, and the aire
all about so hot and inflam'd that at last one was
not able to approch it, so that they were forc'd to
stand still and let the flames burn on, which they
did for neere two miles in length and one in bredth.
The clowds also of smoke were dismall and reached
upon computation neere fifty-six miles in length.
Thus I left it this afternoone burning, a resemblance
of Sodom, or of the last day.
' Sept. 4. The burning still rages and it was now
gotten as far as the Inner Temple ; all Fleet Streete,
the Old Bailey, Ludgate Hill, Warwick Lane, New-
gate, Paules' Chaine, Wading Streete now flaming
and most of it reduced to ashes ; the stones of Paules
flew like granados, the mealting lead .running
1 Diary, September, 1666.
156 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
downe the streetes in a streame and the very pave-
ment glowing with fiery rednesse so as no horse nor
man was able to tread them and the demolition had
stopped all the passages so as no help could be
applied. The Eastern wind still more impetuously
driving the flames forward. Nothing but the Al-
mighty power of God was able to stop them, for
vaine was the help of man.'
At last the people were roused to take some steps.
King Charles, who showed on this occasion great
courage and presence of mind, got by water to the
Tower and insisted on the houses near being blown
up so as to prevent the flames from reaching the
po .' der magazine.
Pepys gives a vivid account of the dismay and
confusion ; the goods removed and removed again as
the fire reached what had been thought to be places
of safety ; the rain of fire drops, and the ever-new
places in which the fire broke out, and his own difficul-
ties of getting anything to eat but the cold remains of
his Sunday's dinner ! On September 1 7 he went by
water to Greenwich ' seeing the City all the way, a
sad sight much fire being in it still.' S. Paul's suffered
terribly ; the Portico was split and rent, nothing but the
inscription remaining, of which each letter was perfect.
The heat had calcined the largest blocks of stone, the
Portland stone flew off wherever the flames touched
it ; the lead roof (no less than six acres by measure 1 ),
melted and fell in, and carrying everything with it in
its fall, brp.ke into S. Faith's, the crypt below the choir,
1 Evelyn's Diary, September, 1666.
ITS LONG CONTINUANCE. 157
where the books belonging to the Stationers' Hall had
been carried for safety. They caught fire and con-
tinued burning for a week. The altar and roof above
it, though of lead, remained untouched, and one Bishop's
tomb. 1 When at length the fire burnt out, the city
was a ' ruinous heap,' the air still so hot as almost to
singe the hair of those who sought amongst the ruins
for some remains of former wealth. In the fields all
round were two hundred thousand people of all classes
equally destitute, silent from the very greatness of
their calamity and asking no relief. The King did his
utmost for them, and a proclamation was made for the
country to come in and refresh them. Most fortunately
the weather was warm and fair.
For a few days their stupor lasted, when it was
broken into by a general alarm that the Dutch were
in the river burning all the shipping. When this was
at length appeased, the people flocked back to what
had been the city, and either set up little sheds where
their houses had been or took refuge with friends whose
dwellings were uninjured, so that in four days' time of
the hundreds who had thronged the fields not one
remained. To rebuild the city was an urgent neces-
sity, and while the flames were in parts still burning
Wren and Evelyn had both made plans for a new city
and presented them to the King. Wren's was the
first shown to King Charles, and though there is much
resemblance between it and that of Evelyn, yet Wren's
1 That of Robert de Braybrook (Bishop of London 1382 and 1405).
The tomb of Donne (Dean of S. Paul's 1621-1631) was not entirely
destroyed.
158 577? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
is evidently the more useful, as well as the finer plan
of the two, and was the one which the King accepted.
All persons were agreed that to allow the old, narrow,
filthy streets, with their magazines of oil and rosin, and
their wooden houses touching each other overhead, to
be put back was only to insure another plague and an-
other fire, but the manner of rebuilding was in as great
dispute as was the origin of the fire. Pepys believed
that it was caused by the Dutch, who in the following
year did venture into Chatham and burnt several men-
of-war as they lay at anchor there ; but the popular
idea was that it was caused by the French and the
Roman Catholics, and there were plenty ready to
swear that they had seen foreigners kindling the flames
in fresh places by throwing fire-balls into the houses.
Some said it was done by the Puritans, and very few
appear to have accepted the theory, probably the true
one, that it was caused by the over-heating of a baker's
oven.
Christopher Wren began his work by having the
ruins cleared away. It was no easy task, especially as
every now and then the flames would break out anew
when the air reached the cellars where they had been
smouldering. But it was a mere matter of necessity,
as until this was done it was not possible to pass to and
fro or take the necessary levels and measurements.
He also repaired a portion of the west end of S. Paul's,
which best permitted it, for divine service. It was
employment enough for one man, but as the evenings
grew longer, in the intervals of elaborating his plans
DEATH OF BISHOP WREN. 159
for the new city, he returned to the Royal Society and
attended all its meetings.
Improvements in building naturally occupied much
of the Society's attention. Mr. Hooke produced a
scheme for a better method of brick-making ; l new
models for the London granaries were required, and
Wren gave an account of those at Dantzic.
On April 24, 1667, his uncle, the Bishop of Ely,
died, at the age of eighty-one, at Ely House, in
Holborn, which had probably been his chief abode,
though he left it on occasions for the work of his diocese
and for the consecration of the chapel at Pembroke
Hall. Back to his well-loved University, and to the
resting-place he had prepared for himself underneath
the altar of the chapel, the Bishop's remains were slowly
borne during the first bright days of May, attended
by ' his children, his alliance, and his family.' The
Heralds' College conducted the funeral with full
dignity and solemnity. When they reached Cam-
bridge the Vice-Chancellor and the whole university
met the procession, which was headed by Rouge
Dragon, Pursuivant-at-arms, carrying the silver-gilt
Crozier, and Norroy, King-at-arms, carrying the silver-
gilt Mitre, both of which, as well as a pair of massive
silver altar candlesticks, the Bishop had provided a
year before. On May 9, with the same attendance,
1 The bricks, which were temporarily used in the building of S. Paul's,
were of so good a quality that Richard Jennings, Wren's master carpenter,
bought and transported them by water to Henley-on-Thames (his native
town), and with them built a house a mile from Henley, which, bearing
the name of ' Badgemore,' is still to be seen. The bricks of which it is
built are often admired.
160 5Y/? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
which included ' twenty-four scholars of S. John's,
Peter House, and Pembroke who were his relations,' 1
the coffin was borne to Pembroke Chapel frotn the
Registry, at the end of the Regent's Walk, where it
had lain in state for two days, and after Evening
Service had been said was laid in a ' coffin of one
fair whole stone,' in the vault of the chapel. Dr.
Pearson pronounced a Latin oration over it, recalling
the chief events of the Bishop's long and troubled life,
describing his high-minded character, his resolute self-
denial, and contrasting his conduct in never seeking,
or by the least word asking, for promotion, but rather
being besought to accept it, with those who gaped for
church preferment, and rather snatched honours than
received them. Dr. Pearson dwelt on his liberality to
the University, on his never enriching his family out
of the revenues of the sees he had ruled ; and paid a
warm tribute to the courage and faith with which he
had fought for the Church, and either alone, or amongst
very few, had understood her discipline and dared to
revive it.
Of the four sons who survived the Bishop, Matthew,
the eldest, early attracted notice by an answer to
Harrington's ' Commonwealth of Oceana ' and by a
pamphlet ' Monarchy asserted,' a vindication of a
former work written in 1659. He was highly thought
of by the Royalists, and was a member of the Parlia-
ment which met in 1661. He was Lord Clarendon's
secretary, remained loyal to him during his unmerited
disgrace, and was then taken by the Duke of York as
1 Desiderata Curt'osa, p. 545. Peck.
BISHOP WREN'S SONS. 161
his secretary. Matthew remained with the Duke until
1672 ; when he died and was buried in the vault at
Pembroke Chapel. He had taken a share in most of
the political events of his day, always with honour and
credit. Thomas, the next brother, left the profession
of medicine, received holy orders, and was given
the Rectory of Littlebury in Essex by his father; a
preferment that he held until his death in 1680.
Bishop Wren also made him Archdeacon of Ely. He
was a great musician and a member of the Royal
Society. The two younger sons, Charles and William,
were both Oxford scholars, and received degrees at
the Restoration. Charles sat for Cambridge in the
Parliament of 1685, called by James II. on his acces-
sion. All these three younger sons received degrees
in 1660, with many others who had been ejected by
the Parliamentary Visitors in 1648-9. William Wren,
who was made a knight, was a barrister of the Middle
Temple, and enjoyed the questionable advantage of
Judge Jeffreys' acquaintance. Jeffreys, then Lord
Chancellor, writing to Pepys l in 1687, says :
' My most Hon ed Friend, The bearer, Capt. Wren,
came to mee this evening, with a strong fancy that a
recommendation of myne might at least entitle him
to your favourable reception ; His civillities to my
brother and his relation to honest Will Wren, and
you know who else, emboldens me to offer my re-
quest on his behalfe. I hope he has served our
M r . well, and is capable of being an object of the
King's favour in his request ; however, I am sure I
1 Pepys' Diary, vol. v. p. 326.
M
162 SfK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
shall be excused for this impertinency, because I will
gladly, in my way, embrace all opportunities where-
in I may manifest myselfe to be what I here assure
you I am, Sir,
' Your most entirely affectionate
' Friend and Servant,
'JEFFREYS, C.'
William Wren died in 1689 and was buried in
the Temple Church. There is no mention of the
marriage of any of the Bishop's children, and respect-
ing the daughters I can find no record whatever, so
it seems that that branch of the Wren family died out.
Captain Wren was probably one of the Durham
Wrens, or of those who lived at Withibrook in War-
wickshire and are mentioned by Dugdale.
CHAPTER VII.
1668-1673.
PATCHING s. PAUL'S BANCROFT'S LETTERS WREN'S EXAMINATION
OF s. PAUL'S SALISBURY CATHEDRAL LONDON AS IT MIGHT HAVE
BEEN LETTER TO FAITH COGHILL WREN MARRIES HER TEMPLE
BAR S. MARY-LE-BOW ARTILLERY COMPANY GUNPOWDER USED TO
REMOVE RUINS.
M 2
Methinks already from this chymic flame,
I see a city of more precious mold,
Rich as the town which gives the Indies name,
With silver pav'd, and all divine with gold.
Already, labouring with a mighty fate,
She shakes the rubbish from her mounting brow,
And seems to have renewed her charter's date,
Which heaven will till the death of time allow.
Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, ccxciii.
CHAPTER VII.
AFTER the death of Bishop Wren, Christopher was a
frequent attendant at the Royal Society, where several
experiments were made of raising weights by means of
gunpowder, a matter which Wren was anxious to in-
vestigate before trying to remove the mass of ruins
which had been S. Paul's. Much very tedious work
of carting away rubbish and opening roadways still
pressed on Wren and his assistants before even the
necessary levels could be taken and adjusted or any
building could be begun.
In spite of Wren's previous statement, and that of
Evelyn and Sancroft, in spite of the immense addi-
tional damage which the conflagration had caused,
attempts were still made to patch up the remains of S.
Paul's Cathedral.
As has been said, something was done in order to
make it possible to hold Divine Service in the ruins,
and there Sancroft ministered, and there possibly he
preached before the King on the occasion of the
solemn fast held for the fire on October 10, I666. 1
Parts of the sermon rise to real eloquence, and he
admonishes King Charles and his luxurious Court
1 'Lex Ignea, or the School of Righteousness.' Life of Sancroft
vol. ii. p. 355. Doyley.
1 66 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
with singular courage and directness. So matters re-
mained with the Cathedral until the spring of 1668.
Wren was at Oxford, delivering his Astronomy
Lectures, when he received the following letter from the
Dean of S. Paul's: 1
' What you whispered in my ear, at your last coming
hither, is now come to pass. Our work at the
west end of S. Paul's is fallen about our ears. Your
quick eye discerned the walls and pillars gone off
from their perpendiculars and I believe other de-
fects too, which are now exposed to every common
observer. About a week since, we being at work
about the third pillar from the west end on the
south side, which we had new cased with stone,
where it was most defective almost up to the
chapiter, a great weight falling from the high wall,
so disabled the vaulting of the side aisle by it,
that it threatened a sudden ruin so visibly that the
workmen presently removed, and the next night the
whole pillar fell, and carried scaffolds and all to the
very ground.
' This breach has discovered to all that look on it
two great defects in Inigo Jones' work; one that his
new case of stone in the upper walls (massy as it
is) was not set upon the upright of the pillars, but
upon the core of the groins of the vaulting ; the
other that there were no keystones at all to tie it to
the old work ; and all this being very heavy with the
Roman ornaments on the top of it, and being already
1 Life of Saner oft) vol. i. p. 141. Doyley.
'INDISPENSABLY NECESSARY: 167
so far gone outwards, cannot possibly stand long.
In fine, it is the opinion of all men, that we can pro-
ceed no farther at the west end. What we are to
do next is the present deliberation, in which you are
so absolutely and indispensably necessary to us that
we can do nothing, resolve on nothing without you.' . .
' You will think fit, I know, to bring with you those
excellent draughts and designs you formerly favoured
us with ; and, in the mean time, till we enjoy you
here, consider what to advise that may be for the
satisfaction of his Majesty and the whole nation, an
obligation so great and public, that it must be ac-
knowledged by better hands than those of
' Your affectionate Friend and Servant,
' W. SANCROFT.'
Wren seems to have been unable to come up to
London, and to have written an answer to Dean
Sancroft reiterating his opinion, while the attempt at
repairs continued.
At the beginning of July Sancroft wrote to him
again :
Sir, Yesterday my Lords of Canterbury, London,
and Oxford met on purpose to hear your letter read
once more, and to consider what is now to be done
in order to the repairs of S. Paul's. They unanim-
ously resolved, that it is fit immediately to attempt
something, and that, without you, they can do
nothing. I am therefore commanded to give you
an invitation hither in his Grace's name, and the rest
of the commissioners, with all speed, that we may
1 68 S/A CHRISTOPHER WREN.
prepare something to be proposed to his Majesty
(the design of such a quire, at least as may be a
congruous part of a greater and more magnificent
work to follow) ; and then, for the procuring of con-
tributions to defray this, we are so sanguine as not
to doubt of it, if we could but once resolve what we
would do, and what that would cost ; so that the
only part of your letter we demur to, is the method
you propound of declaring first what money we would
bestow, and then designing something just of that
expense : for quite otherwise the way their lordships
resolve upon, is to frame a design, handsome and
noble, and suitable to all the ends of it, and to the
reputation of the city and the nation ; and to take it
for granted that money will be had to accomplish it :
or, however, to let it lie by, till we have before us
a prospect of so much as may reasonably encourage
us to begin.
' Thus far I thought good to prepare you for what
will be said to you when you come, that you may
not be surprised with it : and, if my summons pre-
vail not, my lord the Bishop of Oxford hath under-
taken to give it you warmer, ore tenus^ the next
week, when he intends to be with you, if, at least, you
be not come towards us before he arrives, which
would be a very agreeable surprise to us all, and
especially to your very affectionate, humble Servant,
' W. SANCROFT.'
Wren obeyed this intreaty, came up from Oxford,
1 i.e. by word of mouth.
THE STATE OF S. PAULS. 169
made a thorough examination of the Cathedral, and
wrote a report for the commissioners.
' What time and weather/ he says, ' had left entire in
the old and art in the new repaired parts of this great
pile of S. Paul's, the calamity of the fire hath so
weakened and defaced, that it now appears like some
antique ruin of two thousand years' continuance,
and to repair it sufficiently will be like the mending
of Argo-nairs, 1 scarce anything at last will be left of
the old.' He enumerates the various ' decays ' of the
building from the date of the fire in Queen Elizabeth's
reign which burnt the whole roof and caused 'the
spreading out of the walls above ten inches from
their true perpendicular' up to the last fire, of
which he says ' The second ruins are they that
have put the restoration past remedy, the effects of
which I shall briefly enumerate.
1 First, the portico is nearly deprived of that
excellent beauty and strength which time alone and
weather could have no more overthrown than the
natural rocks ; so great and good were the materials,
and so skilfully were they laid after a true Roman
manner. But so impatient is Portland stone of fire
that many tons are scaled off and the columns
flawed quite through.'
Then follows an account of the injuries to the rest
of the building, but as they have been already touched
on in the extracts from Evelyn's Diary and Bancroft's
letters, they shall not be repeated here.
1 Probably a misprint for ' Argo-navis,' referring to the frequent repairs
of the Arsro.
i/o S/K CHRISTOPHER WREN.
' Having shown in part/ he continues, ' the deplor-
able condition of our patient, we are to consult of
the cure, if possible art may effect it. And herein
we must imitate the physician, who, when he finds a
total decay of nature, bends his skill to a palliative
to .give respite for the better settlement of the
estate of the patient. The question is then, where
best to begin this sort of practice ; that is to make a
new quire for present use.'
The only part of the cathedral where this could be
safely and easily done was at the eastern end of the
nave :
' Since,' he said, ' we cannot mend this great ruin,
we will not disfigure it, but that it shall still have its
full motives to work, if possible upon this or the
next ages : and yet prove so cheap, that between
three and four thousand pounds shall effect it all in
one summer.
' And, having with this ease obtained a present
cathedral, there will be time to consider of a more
durable and noble fabric, to be made in the place of
the lower and eastern parts of the Church, when the
minds of men, now contracted to many objects of
necessary charge, shall by God's blessing be more
widened, after a happy restoration, both of the
buildings, and the wealth of the city and nation.
In the meantime to derive, if not a stream, yet some
little drills of charity this way ; or, at least, to
preserve that already obtained from being diverted,
it may not prove ill-advised to seem to begin some-
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. 171
thing of the new fabric. But I confess this cannot
well be put in execution without taking down all
that part of the ruin ; which whether it be yet
seasonable to do we must leave to our superiors.'
Many meetings and much discussion ensued, and
Wren's opinion at last prevailed ; the King issued an
order in council for taking down the walls at the east
end, the old choir, and the tower, and for clearing the
ground in order to lay a fresh foundation. While
this was being done, Wren prepared sketches and
designs for a new S. Paul's. He had also an engage-
ment out of London : his friend Dr. Seth Ward, the
Bishop of Salisbury, an active member of the Royal
Society, asked Wren to survey his beautiful cathedral,
which had suffered much in the civil wars, and lately
by lightning and tempest.
Though the architecture of the cathedral was not
of the kind which he considered the best, Wren had
too fine a taste, too quick an eye for beauty of form,
not to admire it heartily, and in his report he pro-
nounced that ' the whole pile was large and magnifi-
cent, justly accounted one of the best patterns of the
age wherein it was built.' He praised the pillars and
mouldings, ' the stately and rich plainness ' to which
the architect had trusted. He made a thorough
examination of the whole, especially the spire, which
had declined to the south-west, and had caused great
alarm. Wren was of opinion that the architect had
not laid as sufficient foundations, especially under the
pillars, as he should have done, considering the marshy
nature of the soil, the frequent inundations, the great
/1 72 Sffi CHRISTOPHER WREN.
weight that the pillars had to bear, and that they
themselves were too slight, particularly those under
the spire.
To prevent further mischief to the spire, he
ordered some timbers in it, and in the tower, to be cut
away, and put in bands and braces of iron wrought by
anchor smiths who were accustomed to great work
for ships. He then had a plummet dropped to the
pavement, from the highest possible part of the spire,
the height of which he reckoned at 404 feet from
the ground, to see exactly what the decline was, and
ordered this trial to be repeated at certain times to see
if the decline increased.
When, nearly 200 years later, Mr. Wyatt made the
trial, he found that the decline was unaltered, so true
had Wren's science proved.
Both this year and the previous one had, so far as
London was concerned, been taken up by the business
of levelling, marking out streets, and adjusting the
claims of such as had had houses in the city before
the fire. Wren had laid before the King and Parlia-
ment a model of the city as he proposed to build it,
with full explanations of the details of the design ; the
model probably does not exist, but the ground-plan
has been preserved, and suggests a London very
different to the present one.
The street leading up Ludgate Hill, instead of
being the confined, winding approach to S. Paul's that
it now is, even its crooked picturesqueness marred by
the viaduct that cuts all the lines of the Cathedral, gra-
dually widened as it approached S. Paul's, and divided
LONDON AS IT MIGHT HA VE BEEN. 173
itself into two great streets, ninety feet wide at the
least, which ran on either side of the Cathedral, leav-
ing a large open space in which it stood. Of the two
streets, one ran parallel with the river until it reached
the Tower, and the other led to the Exchange, which
Wren meant to be the centre of the city, standing in a
great piazza, to which ten streets, each sixty feet wide,
converged, and around which were placed the Post
Office, the Mint, the Excise Office, the Goldsmiths'
Hall, and the Ensurance, forming the outside of the
piazza. The smallest streets were to be thirty feet
wide, ' excluding all narrow, dark alleys without
thoroughfares, and courts.'
The churches were to occupy commanding positions
along the principal thoroughfares, and to be ' designed
according to the best forms for capacity and hearing,
adorned with useful porticoes and lofty ornamental
towers and steeples in the greater parishes. All
churchyards, gardens, and unnecessary vacuities, and
all trades that use great fires or yield noisome smells
to be placed out of town.'
He intended that the churchyards should be care-
fully planted and adorned, and be a sort of girdle round
the town, wishing them to be an ornament to the
city, and also a check upon its growth. To burials
within the walls of the town he strongly objected,
and the experience derived from the year of the
plague confirmed his judgment. No gardens are
mentioned in the plan, for he had provided, as he
thought, sufficiently for the healthiness of the town by
his wide streets and numerous open spaces for markets.
174 MX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Gardening in towns was an art little considered in his
days, and contemporary descriptions show us that
' vacuities ' were speedily filled with heaps of dust and
refuse.
The London bank of the Thames was to be lined
with a broad quay, along which the halls of the city
companies were to be built, with suitable warehouses
in between for the merchants, to vary the effect of the
edifices.
The little stream whose name survives in Fleet
Street was to be brought to light, cleansed, and made
serviceable as a canal one hundred and twenty feet
wide, running much in the line of the present Holborn
Viaduct. 1
These were the main features of Christopher
Wren's scheme, and had he been allowed to accomplish
it, we can imagine what the effect of London might
have been without its noisome smells, without its dark
crooked lanes, without its worst smoke, its river
honoured not only with the handsome quay it has at
length obtained, but with a line of beautiful buildings
and fair spires, and above all S. Paul's, with an ample
space around it, giving free play to its grand propor-
tions. Wren, with a perfect knowledge of his own
powers, which he considered as dispassionately, and
knew as accurately as any matter of mathematical
1 In 1672 a bridge, with a beautiful arch resembling those that cross
the canals at Venice, was built over 'the Ditch,' opposite Bridewell
Hospital. One or two other bridges were built, and the stream made
navigable, but apparently not 'cleansed,' which in time rendered it a
nuisance. The bridges were taken down and the stream reduced to a
drain in 1765. Ann. Reg., 1765, p. 136.
PREOCCUPIED GROUND. 175
science, was ready to undertake and perform his scheme
to the uttermost.
The difficulties were however considerable : there
were the endless quarrels about property, the reluct-
ance to part with an old site, and, chief difficulty of all,
the utmost hurry of rebuilding in order to house the
people before the approaching winter.
Pepys 1 says that in April 1667 :
( Moorefields have houses two stories high in them,
and paved streets, the city having let leases for
seven years, which will be very much to the hinder-
ing of the building of the city ; but it was considered
that the streets cannot be passable in London till the
whole street be built ; and several that had got
ground of the city for charity to build sheds on, had
got the trick presently to sell that for 6o/. which did
not cost them 2O/. to put up ; and so the city being
very poor in stock, thought it as good to do it them-
selves and therefore let leases for seven years of the
ground in Moorefields.'
Thus Wren had by no means clear ground on
which to work, and an opportunity was forfeited, which,
absit omen, may never recur, of making London one of
the beautiful cities of the world.
Important sanitary improvements were, however,
made : the houses were not built of wood ; the principal
streets were less narrow ; and, above all, the lingering
contagion was burnt away. Nothing less would prob-
ably have availed ; but the fire was a cleansing one, and
1 Dt'ary, vol. iv. p. 8.
i;6 SfA CHRISTOPHER WREN.
left behind it this blessing, that though more than two
hundred years have elapsed the plague has not, as yet,
reappeared.
The Custom House of London was one of the first
buildings to be restored, and Wren began it in 1668.
It was a stately stone edifice, built in three sides of a
square, with an open court in front. The same fate
befell this building which had overtaken its pre-
decessor; in 1719 it was burnt down.
Besides all these architectural and scientific cares,
Wren had business of his own on hand, and was at
this time engaged to be married to a lady four years
younger than himself, whom probably he had known
for some time. His bride was Faith, daughter of Sir
Thomas Coghill and Elizabeth his wife, who lived at
Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire. Sir Thomas was sheriff
of the county in 1633, and was knighted at Woodstock
in that year, the same in which King Charles was
crowned in Scotland. Sir Thomas was a grandson of
Marmaduke Coghill, 1 of Coghill, Knaresborough. He
married, in 1622, Elizabeth Sutton, the heiress of
Horsell and some lands in Surrey. Faith, their
daughter, was born on March 17, 1636, and baptized
in the same month at Bletchingdon by her relation the
Rev. John Viell, the then rector. It seems likely that
Wren made her acquaintance while both were children
when staying with his sister Susan and her husband,
1 The Coghills of Glen Barrahane, county Cork, are descended
from the elder branch of this family. Captain Coghill, who died with
Lieutenant Melville, having carried off the colours from the battle of
Isandula, January 1879, was the eldest son of the present head of the
family.
FAITH COGHILL. 177
Dr. William Holder, at Bletchingdon Rectory. It may
have been Faith who comforted him when, on June 3,
1656, they laid Dean Wren in the chancel of Bletch-
ingdon Church.
One letter to Faith Coghill from her lover, exists
among the curious autographs of the ' Parentalia,' l its
delicate, finished and yet firm writing, eminently
characteristic of Christopher Wren : it is as follows
' Madam, The artificer having never before mettwith
a drowned watch, like an ignorant physician has
been soe long about the cure that he hath made me
very unquiet that your commands should be soe long
deferred ; however, I have sent the watch at last
and envie the felicity of it, that it should be soe neer
your side, and soe often enjoy your Eye, and be con-
sulted by you how your time shall passe while you
employ your hand in your excellent workes. But
have a care of it, for I put such a Spell into it that
every Beating of the Ballance will tell you 'tis the
pulse of my Heart which labours as much to serve
you and more trewly than the watch ; for the watch
I believe will sometimes lie, and sometimes perhaps
be idle and unwilling to goe, having received so much
injury by being drenched in that briny bath, that I
dispair it should ever be a trew servant to you more.
But as for me (unlesse you drown me too in my teares)
you may be confident I shall never cease to be,
' Your most affectionate humble servant,
' CHR. WREN.
' June 14.
1 Never before printed.
N
178 SJA CHRISTOPHER WREN.
1 1 have put the watch in a box that it might take
noe harm, and wrapt it about with a little leather,
and that it might not jog, I was fain to fill up the
corners either with a few shavings or wast paper.'
On December 7, 1669, Christopher Wren and
Faith Coghill were married in the Temple Church in
London. Of their married life there is absolutely no
record ; they probably lived chiefly in London, as
Wren had a house in Scotland Yard, which went with
the office of Surveyor- General.
One of Wren's early works was the rebuilding, on
a somewhat larger scale, of the Royal Exchange.
'Charles II. went to the Exchange with his kettle-
drums and trumpets tD lay the first stone of the new
building of the Exchange on the 23rd of October 1667.' *
Wren's own wish had been, as has been said, to make
it the nave or centre of the town, in which case he
meant to contrive it after the form of a Roman Forum
with double porticoes. Thwarted in this, he restored
it as much as possible to what it had previously been,
replacing the statue of Sir Thomas Gresham, the only
thing in the building uninjured by the Fire. It is
curious that this restoration should have begun just a
hundred years from the time when Queen Elizabeth
was feasted by Sir Thomas Gresham at his house,
visited the new building, and caused it to be pro-
claimed ' the Royal Exchange ' by the sound of the
trumpet.
The rebuilding was very quickly performed, though
1 Pepys' Diary, vol iv. p. 241.
TEMPLE BAR. 179
at considerable cost. 1 Readers of the Spectator'* 1 will
remember Addison's fine description of the Exchange,
and ' the grand scene of business which gave him
an infinite variety of solid and substantial entertain-
ments.'
Next came Temple Bar, which was begun in 1670,
and finished in 1672. It was built of Portland stone,
and had in its four niches statues of James I. and
Anne of Denmark on the west side, Charles I. and
Charles II. on the other. 3 Blackened and defiled as
it was, and disfigured by the neighbouring houses, it
was one of the picturesque, characteristic buildings of
London, now disappearing with alarming rapidity, and
had seen many a generation pass in triumph or in
sorrow under its archway. The thanksgiving for the
Prince of Wales's recovery (1872) was the last histori-
cal spectacle with which Temple Bar was connected.
On that occasion the City was moved to wipe off some
of the smoke of two hundred years, and to let Temple
Bar be seen somewhat as it must have been when the
great architect finished it, as the entrance to a city
which, in spite of all drawbacks, might be fairly called
his creation.
Wren attempted to prosecute his design for the
quay along the northern bank of the Thames, but the
ground was being rapidly encroached upon by build-
ings, some few of which were tolerable, but the greater
1 This building was destroyed by fire 1838, and rebuilt from designs
by Mr. Tite 1844.
* Spectator, vol. i. No. 69.
3 They were the best work of John Bushnell, an eccentric and half-
crazy sculptor, who died in 1701.
N 2
i8o SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
part unsightly. Various interests ; the immense
water traffic, doubled, one can believe, at a time when
the city streets were still impassable ; the uncertain
support given by the King all combined to defeat his
plan. Could he now walk along that glorious achieve-
ment the Embankment, what would not his feelings
be on seeing the hideous buildings which it has re-
vealed !
The Surveyor-General's office was one which en-
tailed endless work. There was not a street laid down,
hardly a house built, in any part of the town, without
the surveyor being first consulted ; now about ' a
parcel of ground bought by Colonel Panton ' (the
present Panton Street, S.W.) ; now about the houses
pulled down for the safety of Whitehall during the Fire.
Into every case Wren made careful inquiry, visiting
the places himself, and insisting on the buildings being
of stone or brick, with proper paving in the streets,
and having a due regard to health.
In spite of his care several wretched buildings
were put up in places which, as a few surviving names
testify, were then fields near the City.
When Wren found that the owners persisted in
erecting such shabby buildings he presented a petition
to the King, as follows :
' To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. The humble
petition of Christopher Wren, sheweth. That there
are divers buildings of late erected, and many
foundations laid, and more contrived in Dog's Fields,
Windmill Fields, and the fields adjoining to Soe
<MAN if A STATIONS: 181
Hoe, 1 and several other places without the suburbs
of London and Westminster ; the builders whereof
have no grant nor allowance from Your Majesty, and
have therefore been prohibited and hindered by
your petitioner as much as in him lieth. Yet, not-
withstanding, they proceed to erect small and mean
habitations which will prove only receptacles for the
poorer sort, and the offensive trades, to the annoy-
ance of the better inhabitants, the damage of the
parishes already too much burthened with poor, the
rendering the government of these parts more un-
manageable, the great hindrance of perfecting the
city buildings, and others allowed by Your Majesty's
broad seal ; the choking up the air of Your Majesty's
palace and park, and the houses of the nobility ; the
infecting or total loss of the waters which by many
expenseful drains and conduits, have formerly been
derived from these fields to Your Majesty's palace
of Whitehall and to the mewes ; the manifest decay
of which waters (upon complaint of your serjeant
plumber) the office of Your Majesty's works by
frequent views and experiments have found.
' May it, therefore, please Your Majesty to issue a
royal proclamation, to put stop to these growing in-
conveniences and to hinder the buildings which are
not already or shall not be licensed by Your Majesty's
grant ; and effectually to empower your petitioner to
restrain the same or otherways to consider of the
1 ' Soe Hoe ' became a favourite residence. In November 1689,
Evelyn came up ' with his family to winter at Soho in the Great Square.'
Some handsome houses are still standing.
i82 SIR CHRISTOPHER W 'REN.
premises as in Your Majesty's wisdom shall seem
most expedient.
1 And your Petitioner, &c,'
The petition was considered by the King in council,
a proclamation was issued, and full powers were given
to the surveyor, backed by commands that he should
take effectual care that the proclamation was obeyed.
This Wren was very ready to do : with all his gentleness
and courtesy he had inherited much of Bishop Wren's
firmness, and had no intention of swerving from his
point.
The churches of the City began to rise gradually.
Pepys says : l
' It is observed, and is true, in the late fire of London,
that the fire burned just as many parish churches
as there were hours from the beginning to the end
of the fire ; and next that there were just as many
churches left standing as there were taverns left
standing in the rest of the City that was not burned,
being, I think, thirteen in all of each: which is pretty
to observe.'
There has been much dispute as to whether or not
Wren repaired S. Sepulchre's Church. Mr. Elmes
and others declare that he repaired it in 1671, but Mr.
Hoby, one of its churchwardens, who made a careful
study of all the parchments and papers belonging to S.
Sepulchre's, gives it as his deliberate opinion that
' The church was not destroyed, but very much injured,
by the Fire of London, in 1666. The inhabitants
1 Diary, Jan. 31, 1667-8.
S. MARY LE BOW. 183
would not wait until Sir C. Wren could attend to
them, but repaired their own church, and did it so
badly that a long time elapsed before he would grant
the certificate necessary to enable them to obtain
the money from the commissioners.' l
As has been said, such unauthorised building and
patching took place pretty frequently, and all that
recent researches have brought to light goes to prove
that Wren had very little to do with S. Sepulchre's,
S. Mary le Bow, with its proverbial bells, 2 was
begun in this year and finished five years later, on a
very old foundation. The first S. Mary's was built by
William the Conqueror, 3 on marshy land, and stood upon
arches of stone, whence the church took the name of S.
Maria de Arcubus or le Bow. The ' great bell of Bow '
was, in 1469, ordered by the common council to be rung
at nine o'clock every evening, and money was left for
this object ; when the church was burnt in the Great
Fire it had twelve very melodious bells hung in its
steeple. When Sir Christopher came to rebuild the
church he found an older foundation to work upon
than even that in 1 100. In clearing the ground he
came upon a foundation firm enough to build upon,
which on examination proved to be the ' walls, with
windows and pavement, of a Roman temple.' Upon
these walls he built the body of the church, but for its
beautiful steeple it was necessary to buy the site of an
1 Restoration of the Church of St. Sepulchre, London. A. Billing.
2 It is said that in the children's game of ' Oranges and Lemons, say
the bells of S. Clement's, c.' the best peals of bells in London are
enumerated. I do not know the date of the game.
3 Repertorium, vol. i. p. 437-440. Newcourt.
1 84 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
old house and to advance about forty feet to the line
of the street. Here the workmen dug through about
eighteen feet of made earth, and then, to Wren's
surprise and their own, came to a Roman causeway of
rough stone firmly cemented, about four feet thick,
underneath which lay the London clay.
With this foundation Wren was content and built
up what has ever ranked as one of his finest churches.
A good judge of architecture has pronounced that the
steeple is ' beyond all doubt the most elegant building
of its class erected since the Reformation .... there
is a play of light and shade, a variety of outline, and
an elegance of detail, which it would be very difficult
to match in any other steeple.' l
The Arches Court of Canterbury derived its name
from this church, where, until the fire, its sittings were
held. The court then sat at Exeter House in the
Strand, then at Doctors' Commons, and finally in
Westminster Hall.
The vane which completes the spire is the City
dragon, with a cross on either wing, curiously chased
in gilt copper.
The ancient Church of S. Christopher le Stocks in
Threadneedle Street suffered severely in the Fire, only
the mere shell of the building remaining ; it had been
made a storehouse for a quantity of papers hastily
rescued from some merchant's office and placed in S.
Christopher's, where they perished and greatly damaged
the church. It had been lately repaired and was en-
dowed with 2O/. in trust ' for a minister to read divine
1 Hist, of Modern Architecture. Fergusson, pp. 306-307.
JOINS THE ARTILLERY COMPANY. 185
service there daily at 6 o'clock in the morning for ever.
5o.y. each yearly to the clerk and the sexton for their
attendance, ands/. yearly to provide for lights in winter
time.' In 1671, Wren finished the repairs of the
church, carefully preserving its pinnacled Gothic tower ;
in 1696 he further adorned the interior. It is curious
that the first church which came under Wren's hands
should have been one dedicated to his patron saint ;
curious also that this should have been the first of
the churches destroyed by those who should have been
their guardians. S. Christopher's was literally sacri-
ficed to Mammon ; it was destroyed for the enlarge-
ment of the Bank of England in 1781.
In 1669 Wren appears in a new character as a
member of the Honourable Artillery Company. He
was admitted at their festival on August 1 7, when the
company marched in state to a church in Broad Street,
probably one of the many temporary ones put up after
the Fire, and rewarded Dr. Waterhouse for his sermon
with three of the newly-coined guinea pieces. A great
banquet in the Cloth workers' Hall in Mincing Lane,
where the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury and many other distinguished
persons were present, concluded the festival. 1 It is
hardly conceivable that Wren could have found time
to be more than an honorary member, but scattered
notices here and there of observations made when
' firing off my piece ' seem to point to his having
attended the drills of the company.
1 Hist, of the Honourable Artillery Company. Captain Raikes, vol. i.
p. 194.
1 86 SSK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
One wishes there was a portrait extant of Sir
Christopher in his uniform, wearing the red-plumed
high hat which appeared on gala days !
In 1673 Wren resigned the Savilian astronomy
professorship, to which the pressure of his architectural
work made it impossible he should any longer at-
tend. No doubt it was with great regret that he gave
up the post, with all its curious speculations, its
boundless possibilities of discovery, and turned himself
from the study of the heavens to the dust and turmoil,
the endless difficulties and petty quarrels, which
thwarted him at every step of his London labours.
In truth, the pressure of business was enormous.
Not a moment could be spared while the popula-
tion of the City had neither churches, places of
traffic, nor houses to dwell in ; and the architect, whose
plan had been marred, had to do the best he could in
the midst of every kind of incongruity.
The futile attempts to patch up S. Paul's were in
1673 at last abandoned, and Wren ordered the ground
to be cleared that new foundations might be laid. A
great mass of material for building had had to be
disposed of while the repairs were going on.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of
London, Winchester, and Oxford, and the Lord Mayor,
were commissioners for the repair of S. Paul's ; from
them Wren obtained an order that
' The clerk of the works shall be required to dispose of
and sell the stone, chalk, timber and free stone for,
and towards, the rebuilding of the parochial churches
and to no other use whatsoever, as he shall be directed,
USE OF GUNPOWDER. 187
at merchantable rates to the masons and carpenters
that build the said churches by order of Sir Leoline
Jenkins (judge of the Admiralty Court), Dr. San-
croft, and Dr. Wren, or any two of them.'
The money thus collected was put aside for the
fabric of the Cathedral.
Though much of the old material was removed in
this manner, and yet not diverted from its proper
purpose, the ground was by no means clear. Wren,
appointed under the Great Seal, architect of S. Paul's,
and one of the commissioners in the new commission
for its rebuilding, had to take down by degrees what
portions of the old building were still standing.
Warped and cracked as they were, the walls, eighty
feet high and five thick, were yet strong enough to
make the process of pulling down both difficult and
tedious. Wren determined to avail himself of the
knowledge he had acquired in the Royal Society's
recent experiments in raising weights by means of
gunpowder. Houses, it is true, had been blown up in
several places during the Fire in order to protect the
Tower of London and Whitehall, but the use of gun-
powder to raise a definite weight, and throw it a fixed
distance and no farther, was a novel experiment. When
the labourers reached at last the old central tower,
the walls of which were two hundred feet high, they
were afraid to go up to the top, as they had done
elsewhere, and work with their pickaxes, while those
below shovelled away the stones and mortar that they
threw down into separate heaps.
This was the time for Wren's experiment.
1 88 .SY/? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
With great precautions, and the use of eighteen
pounds of gunpowder only, he blew up the north-
western angle of the tower, so contriving it that, while
he raised more than three thousand tons weight, it was
not scattered and no damage was done, though the
shock made the neighbours imagine it to be an earth-
quake.
Encouraged by this success, Wren had another
mine prepared, but unluckily was obliged to go out of
town himself and to leave it in the charge of his next
officer.
The man, thinking to improve upon his master,
increased the quantity of powder, caused an explosion
which shot stones far and wide, and though no lives
were lost, terrified the City, all the more that an old
superstition declared that the tower of S. Paul's and
the City of London would fall together.
Forbidden, owing to the panic thus caused, the use
of this modern method, Wren betook himself to ancient
times, and devised a gigantic battering ram, with a
great spike at one end. Thirty men, fifteen on each
side, worked the ram against one place in the wall,
Wren watching and encouraging them when, disheart-
ened by a day's work without visible result, they were
ready to give up in despair. On the second day the
wall fell.
Wren made great use of this machine and ' pleased
himself that he had recovered so notable and ancient
an engine.'
CHAPTER VIII.
1672-1677.
BIRTH OF HIS ELDEST SON S. STEPHEN S, WALBROOK S. BENNET
FINK PLANS FOR S. PAUL'S THE EXCAVATIONS SON CHRISTOPHER
BORN DEATH OF FAITH, LADY WREN SECOND MARRIAGE CITY
CHURCHES THE MONUMENT TOMB OF CHARLES I. REMAINS OF THE
LITTLE PRINCES IN THE TOWER.
K. Rich. But didst thou see them dead ?
Tyr. I did, my lord.
K. Rich. And buried, gentle Tyrrel ?
Tyr. The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them,
But where, to say the truth, I do not know.
Richard ///., Act 4, scene 3.
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY in October, 1672, Christopher Wren's eldest
son was born, and baptized by the name of Gilbert,
at S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, a very different-looking
building from the present S. Martin's with its stately
portico. Wren and his wife lived in the house in
Scotland Yard, and, avoiding the uneven, difficult
streets, could daily goby water, then the favourite way
of transit for a Londoner, to examine and superintend
his works in the city. Later on Wren built himself a
little house of red bricks in the yard of the Falcon Inn
at Southwark, and watched from its window the
progress of S. Paul's and of his other buildings in the
city.
Besides the churches already begun, three new ones
were taken in hand that year. S. Mary-at-Hill l was
only partially destroyed by the fire. Upon it Wren
first tried his plan of a domed roof, and succeeded in
making it, at any rate within, a beautiful little church.
S. Michael's, Cornhill, of which only the tower was left
1 To this church and parish belongs the honourable distinction of
having successfully resisted the encroachments of the railway company
which recently attempted to desecrate the church. ' The City Church
and Churchyard Protection Society ' alas ! that any such society should
be needed which fought this battle, must have the best wishes of any
biographer of Christopher Wren.
192 Sf/i CHRISTOPHER WREN.
standing, was rebuilt that year ; its situation threw a
great difficulty in the architect's way, as it could only
be lit from one side ; this difficulty Wren overcame and
produced an interior l equally light and good. The
tower was taken down in 1722, and rebuilt from
designs of Wren's. These designs were taken from
the tower of Magdalen College at Oxford, and instance
Wren's power of producing a bold, rich effect in a
style of architecture altogether foreign to his taste.
Perhaps the most beautiful of all Wren's churches
is S. Stephen's, Walbrook, begun at this same time, and
finished seven years later. The outside, cramped by
its situation, and overshadowed by tall houses, is not
handsome, but within, the church is as original as it is
graceful and beautiful : -
' The circular dome, placed on an octagonal base sup-
ported by eight pillars, was an early, and long a
favourite, mode of roofing in the East . . . Wren,
however, is the only European architect who availed
himself of it .... he certainly has produced the
most pleasing interior of any Renaissance church
which has yet been erected.' 2
So great was the fame, and such the charm of the
building that when the great sculptor Canova 3 visited
England, and was asked should he ever wish to return
to the country ? he answered, ' Yes, that I might again
see S. Paul's Cathedral, Somerset House, and S.
Stephen's, Walbrook.'
1 The interior has been lately altered.
2 History of Modern Architecture. Fergusson, p. 307.
3 Antonio Canova, born 1757, died 1822. He had come to England
to see the Elgin Marbles.
SIX ISAAC NEWTON. 193
In the midst of so much work it is not wonderful
that, for the moment, Wren's diligent attendance at the
Royal Society slackened somewhat, though at the end
of 1672 his name occurs among those of the Society
who cordially welcomed Isaac Newton to their fellow-
ship. Wren bestowed especial praise on Newton's
invention of a refracting telescope. Friends they
appear always to have remained, and their disposi-
tions were not unlike, though the travels and varied
experiences of Wren's early years had quickened his
faculties, and prevented that entire absorption in one
idea which is evident from many stories about Isaac
Newton. As, for instance, when one of Newton's
philosophical friends abroad
' Sent him a curious prism, at that time a rarity in
England, it was taken to the Custom House arid
Newton claimed it. The officers asked him to set
some value upon it that they might regulate the
duty. Newton, rating the prism by his own idea
of its use and excellence, replied, " The value is so
great I cannot ascertain it." They pressed him
again to set some estimate on it, but he still replied,
" I cannot say what it is worth, for the value is in-
estimable." The honest Custom House officers took
him at his word, and made him pay an exorbitant
duty for the prism, which he might have taken away
upon only paying a rate according to the weight of
the glass ! ' l
1 History of the Royal Society, p. 237. Weld. The anecdote is taken
from an article in an old Gentleman 's Magazine, written professedly by
one who knew Sir I. Newton.
O
194 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
The Royal Society was at this time put to serious
inconvenience, as more than half of the members failed
in paying their weekly money. Wren, who, as might
be expected, was one of those who paid most punctu-
ally, was re-elected a member of the council, and
agreed to serve on a committee for this special matter.
The death of his friend and cousin, Matthew, in
the summer of 1672, was a grief to him, as well as
a loss to the Royal Society, of which he had been
a member from its beginning/ On the 2Oth of
November, 1673, Wren received the well-earned
honour of knighthood from King Charles at White-
hall. No details of any kind respecting the ceremony
are to be found in the chary family record.
S. Bennet Fink, a very graceful and original com-
position despite the corner into which it was squeezed ;
and S. Olave's, Jewry, built of brick and stone with a
good pinnacled stone tower, were begun at this period,
and finished three years later. S. Dionysius, or, as it
was commonly called, S. Dionis, Back Church Street,
was one of the first completed ; its Ionic eastern fagade
was in Wren's most classical style ; the pulpit was
carved by Grinling Gibbons. Its tower and steeple,
according to a frequent custom of Wren's, were added
some years later. S. Dionis has, alas ! now been swept
away, and its site, where the original church was con-
secrated in 1288, desecrated. 1 The beautiful little S.
Bennet's has shared the same unholy fate. S. George's,
Botolph Lane, built also in 1674, a handsome stone
1 Destroyed 1876.
GRINLING GIBBONS. 195
church with a vaulted roof and good oak fittings, though
threatened, still fortunately survives.
Grinling Gibbons, whom Wren continually em-
ployed, was introduced to him by Evelyn, who found
the young man in a cottage at Deptford carving a
copy of Tintoretto's beautiful Crucifixion. Evelyn
showed Wren the carving and besought him to give
some employment to a man of such genius. This
he gladly promised, and accordingly, many a little
known city church is adorned with carvings so light
and so graceful that it is hard to believe that they are
cut out of wood.
Some works in stone Gibbons also did for Sir
Christopher, but wood appears to have been the
material he preferred. In 1674 Wren had the satis-
faction of restoring Le Soeur's l beautiful statue of King
Charles to its place at Charing Cross. In the Re-
bellion it had been overthrown by order of the
Parliament, who directed that it should be broken up.
John Rivet, a brazier in Charing Cross, purchased it,
hid it in the vaults of S. Paul's, Covent Garden, and,
to divert suspicion, sold bronze medals and knife-
handles, professedly made from its metal. After the
Restoration, he produced it intact, and, under Wren's
direction, it was placed on its present pedestal, which
was carved by Gibbons, whose handywork is easily
recognised in the free, flowing lines of the deeply-cut
carving, much as time, aided by London atmosphere,
1 Hubert Le Soeur was a pupil of John of Bologna ; he came to
England in 1630. The statue of Lord Pembroke at Oxford, and that of
King Charles, which has Le Soeur's name on the horse's hoof, are all
that now remain of his works.
O 2
196 S/tf CHRISTOPHER WREN.
has eaten the very stone away. The poet Waller
wrote an epigram l on its restoration, which, besides its
intrinsic merit, is interesting in connection with the
statue :
That the first Charles does here in triumph ride,
See his son reign where he a martyr dy'd ;
And people pay that rev'rence as they pass,
(Which then he wanted) to the sacred brass,
Is not th' effect of gratitude alone,
To which we owe the statue and the stone.
But heav'n this lasting monument has wrought,
That mortals may eternally be taught
Rebellion, though successful, is but vain,
And kings so kill'd rise conquerors again :
This truth the royal image does proclaim
Loud as the trumpet of surviving Fame.
It was about this period that Wren rebuilt the
theatre in Drury Lane, which had fallen a prey to its
usual enemy, fire. It was reopened in 1674 with a
play whose epilogue was written by Dryden. The
' old theatre in Salisbury Court,' as Horace Walpole
calls it, was also built by Wren. During this time
Sir Christopher, now formally appointed architect of
S. Paul's with a modest salary of 2oo/. a year, had
busied himself in designs for the future cathedral.
Everyone, whether qualified or not, gave their opinion
about the designs. The first, which was ' a fabrick of
moderate bulk, but of good proportion, a convenient
quire with a vestibule and portico, and a dome con-
spicuous above the houses,' was planned by Wren at a
time when the Cathedral fund was very small, and the
chances of increasing it appeared but slender. This
design was rejected as deficient in size and grandeur.
1 On the statue of King Charles I. at Charing Cross in the year 1674.
E. Waller.
HIS FAVOURITE DESIGN. 197
After this, in order to find out what style of building
was really desired, Wren made several sketches ' merely
for discourse sake,' and perceiving that the generality
had set their hearts upon a large building, he designed
one with which he was himself satisfied, considering-
o
it ' a design antique and well studied, conformable to
the best style of Greek and Roman architecture.' The
design was greatly admired by those who understood
the matter, and they begged Sir Christopher to let
them see it in a model. 1 Wren accordingly made a
large one, apparently with his own hands, in wood,
with all the intended ornaments properly carved. Its
ground plan was that of a Greek cross, the choir was
circular, it had a very short nave, and no aisles.
Externally there was a handsome portico, one small
dome immediately behind it, and over the centre of
the cross a larger dome. Within it would have been
as beautiful as it was original, with the eight smaller
domes, not seen outside, encircling the central dome.
The Duke of York on seeing the plan complained
much of the absence of side oratories, such as are
common in most foreign cathedrals, and insisted upon
their being added. Sir Christopher knew that such a
change would cramp the building and break the beauty
of the design to a degree that went to his heart. He
1 The model was long preserved in what was called the Trophy
Room of S. Paul's. ' It unfortunately has suffered much from neglect,
decay, and the uncontrolled mischief of visitors ; that which was one of
its noblest features, its long stately western portico, has entirely dis-
appeared. The model was lent to and still remains in the Architectural
Exhibition at South Kensington, on condition of repairing some of its
reparable parts (a condition but imperfectly fulfilled).' Annals of S.
Paul's Cathedral, Dean Milman, p. 40.
198 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
shed tears in attempting to change the Duke's opinion.
The latter was, as ever, obstinate, and the change, had
to be made.
The outside, with the two hollow curves joining
the transepts with the nave, and the two different-sized
domes, would probably have been disappointing ; but
one speaks with diffidence, for this was Sir Christopher's
favourite design, the S. Paul's which he told his son
he would most cheerfully have accomplished. When
the time came for working out the design, it is"
very likely that he would have remedied many of the
defects which critical eyes now see in the model ;
but no such opportunity ever came. Preparations
were indeed made, in May 1674, for a building
after this design ; but the clergy were startled by the
novelty of the plan, the circular choir, and the absence
of aisles, and the architect was compelled to give up
his cherished scheme. Several designs, none equal to
the first, were produced by Sir Christopher, the large
central dome appearing in each of them. Upon this
feature he had determined, even in the days before the
fire, when the old pointed choir still stood.
At length Wren grew weary of criticism and
showed his designs no more to the public. King
Charles decided on one, 1 and issued a warrant for its
erection, stating that the duty on coal 2 amounted to a
considerable sum, and saying : m
1 An engraving giving a section of this very curious design is to be
found at page 97 of Mr. Longman's exhaustive and interesting Three
Cathedrals dedicated to S. PauTs in London.
The fourth portion of the tax on coal granted for the public build-
ings of the City was given for the rebuilding of S. Paul's.
THE CROWN OF LONDON. 199
' Among the designs we have particularly pitched on
one as well because we found it very artificial, proper
and useful as because it was so ordered that it might
be built and finished by parts.' The east end was
to be begun first. Liberty was left to Wren ' to
make some variations rather ornamental than essential
as from time to time he should see proper,' and the
whole was left to his management.
This design is wholly unlike the present Cathedral,
and is inferior to any of Wren's other buildings.
' Artificial ' in the modern sense of the word, it un-
doubtedly is. The west end much resembles old S.
Paul's as Inigo Jones left it, and is poor and flat ; there
is a low flat dome, then a lantern with ribbed vaulting,
surmounted by a spire something like S. Bride's, but
thin and ungraceful. One feels that Wren must have
been disgusted with the design when finished, and
could only have done such a thing at a time when
his genius was rebuked and harassed by vexatious
limitations and interference. Accepted, however, the
design was, and Wren, provided with funds and ordered
to begin, shook off the fetters which had so cramped
him, and by a series of alterations, which certainly
reversed the King's order, being essential rather than
ornamental, he by degrees worked out the plan of the
beautiful S. Paul's which is the crown of London.
No objection seems to have been raised to these
changes.
He had a large staff of workmen under him, and an
assistant surveyor, John Oliver, who directed the work-
men, measured the masons' work, bought in materials,
200 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
and examined the accounts ; a clerk of the works,
Laurence Spenser, who overlooked the men, saw that
they did their work as directed, and made up the
accounts ; each of these was paid ioo/. a year, half as
much as the salary of the architect himself; a clerk
of the cheque, Thomas Russell, who called over the
labourers three times a day, and kept them to their
business. Besides these, there was the master-mason, 1
Thomas Strong, the master-builder of S. Stephen's,
Walbrook, frequently employed by Wren, and the
master-carpenter, Richard Jennings ; all were carefully
chosen, and were devoted to Sir Christopher, whose
great genius, gentle disposition, and steady equable
mind made him much beloved and respected.
On June 21, 1675, the first stone of S. Paul's was
laid by Sir Christopher and his master-mason, not by
King Charles, as is sometimes said. 2
In the previous year Wren had lost his son Gilbert,
who was buried in S. Martin's on March 23. In the
February following another son was born and baptized
by the name of Christopher. This son survived his
father and began the collection of letters, papers, and
miscellaneous facts about the Wren family which was
afterwards published under the name of ' Parentalia ;
or, Memoirs of the Wrens.' It is, in truth, little but a
heap of materials amongst which each fact has to be
sought for and its proper place ascertained.
1 Thomas was the son of Mr. Valentine Strong, a well-known master-
mason of Hertfordshire ; his six sons were all engaged in the same trade
as himself. Life of Sir C. Wren, p. 316. Elmes.
2 Sir C. Wren gave the mallet and trowel used on this occasion to
the Freemasons' lodge of which he was master, then called after his name,
now the ' Lodge of Antiquity, No. 21.'
EXCA VA TIONS. 2ot
It has been truly said that the accounts of the
building of S. Paul's ace meagre in the extreme. A little
is, however, known. As Wren had foretold, there was
much ' to be done in the dark ; ' the old foundations
were not to be trusted, and immense excavations had to
be made. In the course of this work, he discovered
' graves of several ages and fashions, in strata or layers
of earth, one above another, from the British and
Roman times.'
The ' Parentalia ' describes ' a row of Saxon graves,
the sides lined with chalk stones, below were British
graves, where were found ivory and wooden pins of
a hard wood, seemingly box, about six inches long ;
it seems the bodies were only wrapped up and
pinned in woollen shrouds, which being consumed
the pins remained entire. In the same row and
deeper were Roman urns intermixed.'
Below this was hard 'pot-earth, 'which Wren thought
would be sufficiently firm to bear the great weight
about to be laid upon it, but to ascertain its depth he
had dry wells dug, and found it very unequal, in one
place hardly four feet ; he searched lower and found
loose sand, then sand and shells ; he speaks of them as
sea shells, but it is now thought that they were pro-
bably river; below this again hard beach, and then
London clay. He took great precautions when he laid
any foundations here, fearing lest the sand should slip.
The bed of sand is a danger still, for if pierced by
a drain or other underground works the sand might
run off, leaving a hollow under the pot-earth. The
202 .SY/? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Cathedral authorities are accordingly wisely jealous of
any excavations near S. Paul's. When the north-east
portion of the choir was reached, in digging the foun-
dations a pit was found, from which all the pot-earth
had been taken, containing many fragments of vases
and urns, all of Roman pottery. This pit was a very
serious difficulty, occurring as it. did at the very angle
of the choir.
Sir Christopher's assistants suggested to him to drive
in piles of timber ; but he knew that, though timber
lasted well under water, yet in this case, where it
would be half in dry and half in wet sand, it would rot
in the course of time, and 'his endeavours were to
build for eternity.' He dug down more than forty
feet, till he came to the hard beach, below which was
the London clay, and upon the beach built a pier of
solid masonry ten feet square, till within fifteen feet of
the ground, and then by turning an arch brought it
level with the rest of his foundation.
The theory commonly received was that a temple
of Apollo stood where Westminster Abbey now stands,
and that the site of S. Paul's Cathedral was occupied
by a temple of Diana. Wren, however, believed in
neither legend. The temple of Apollo he thought
was invented merely that the monks of Westminster
might not be behind the Londoners in antiquities.
In spite of the horns of stags, tusks of boars, and the
like, said to have been found during former repairs of
S. Paul's, in spite of an image of Diana dug up hard by
and in the possession of Dr. Woodward, 1 he wrote to
1 J. Woodward, the founder of the Cambridge Geological Professorship,
SECOND MARRIAGE. 203
Bishop Atterbury ! that he ' changed all the foundations
of old S. Paul's, and rummaged all the ground there-
abouts, and being very desirous to find the footsteps of
such a temple, I could not discover any, and therefore
can give no more credit to Diana 2 than to Apollo.'
In the September of 1675, when the work with
which her husband's name is for ever connected was
but little advanced, Lady Wren died, and was buried, as
her son Gilbert had been, in the chancel of S. Martin's-
in-the-Fields, leaving her husband with a baby son
hardly seven months old. The ' Parentalia,' with
characteristic carelessness, gives neither the date of
her death nor the place of her burial.
No hint even is to be found of how this loss
affected Sir Christopher, but whether it was from the
desolate state of his home, or the helplessness of a
widower left with an infant son, or from other causes,
he was not long in marrying again. His second wife
was Jane Fitzwilliam, daughter of the second Baron
Fitzwilliam, her mother was an heiress, the daughter of
Hugh Perry alias Hunter, a sheriff and alderman of
London. Lord Fitzwilliam died in 1643, the same
was born 1665, published a series of curious geological speculations under
the name of A Natural History of the Earth. In 1707 he published
An Account of Roman Urns and Antiquities lately dug up near
Bishopsgate, addressed to Sir C. Wren, whom, as I have said, he did
not convince. Woodward was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the
College of Physicians. He died 1728.
1 Francis Atterbury, born 1662, made Dean of Westminster and Bishop
of Rochester 1715 ; was a strong Jacobite, and was banished in 1723 :
died 1732.
2 A stone altar was however found during some excavations in
Foster Lane in 1830, at no great distance from the Cathedral, with an
image of Diana about which there can be no misapprehension, as it
closely resembles the Diana of the Louvre. Annals of S. Paul*s, p. 7.
204 MX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
year that he had succeeded to his father, and the
widowed Lady Fitzwilliam died twenty-seven years
later at ' Dutchy House in the Savoy/ the family
house ; so Jane Fitzwilliam had been some years an
orphan when she was married to Sir Christopher in the
Chapel Royal at Whitehall, on February 24, 1676-7.
In this year Wren rebuilt S. Magnus, London
Bridge, 1 which having escaped one ' most dismal fire '
in 1633, was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. Sir
Christopher rebuilt the church with Portland stone and
oak timber, adding to it a picturesque tower with a
cupola and a peal of ten bells. London Bridge, then
covered with little houses and shops, would, Sir Chris-
topher foresaw, require alteration, and he, anxious that
S. Magnus should not suffer when the time came, pro-
posed to leave space by it for a footway. The church-
wardens overruled him. The improvement Wren
expected has since been made, and when the workmen
came to make a pathway under the portico they dis-
covered to their great surprise that Sir Christopher
had made the necessary arches, though bricked up, and
left them to be in readiness for the change which he
o
foresaw, though the churchwardens of S. Magnus did
not. The state of London Bridge was very unsatis-
factory ; constant repairs were needed, and to shoot the
narrow arches and not be swamped by the fall of the
water was no easy feat. Wren had a plan for saving
repairs and improving the water way by wide Gothic
1 Jack Cade's instruction to his followers on reaching London was
' Up Fish Street, down S. Magnus corner. Kill and knock down, throw
them into the Thames.' Henry VJ., part ii. act iv. scene 8.
MODERN DESECRATION. 205
arches, taking away every other arch, and making the
two into one, which would reduce the fall to nine inches
at the most. This seems to have remained a scheme
only.
S. Mildred's in the Poultry was also begun in this
year, a small stone church with a tower and cupola.
It was destroyed in I872, 1 and the details of its
removal are instructive as well as painful, and may
well be contrasted with the account of the manner of
removing the remains of old S. Paul's. 2
S. Stephen's, Coleman Street, on the site of an old
Jewish synagogue, is of the same date ; it is a neat
small church mostly built of stone, with a curious old
1 The following interesting anecdote was related to one of the
Honorary Secretaries (Mr. Wright) by a member of the Society (Mr.
Fytche) : 'Walking one fine summer morning in June 1872 down to
the Mansion House, on reaching the Poultry I was surprised to see a
man on the top of the tower of S. Mildred's Church hammering away
at the stones with a crowbar ; so, finding the door open, I went up the
stairs of the tower and said to my friend of the crowbar, " Why, you
are pulling the church down ! " " Ay," says he, " it's all to be down and
carted away by the end of July." " I suppose it's going to be rebuilt
elsewhere ! " " Built anywhere ? No ; my master has bought it." " Who
is your master?" "Don't you know him? Mr. So-and-So, the great
contractor." " What's he going to do with it ? " "Do with it ? Why,
he's twenty carts and forty horses to lead it away to his stoneyard, and
he's going to grind it up to make Portland cement ! " So I asked him
of the crowbar to show me round the church. " Would your master
sell the stones instead of grinding 'em up ? " I asked. " Sell 'em ? Yes,
he'll sell his soul for money ! " So I made an appointment for his
master to come up to the Langham Hotel next morning, and we agreed
about the purchase he to deliver the stones at a wharf on the Thames,
and they were brought down in barges and landed at the head of a canal
on the east coast of Lincolnshire, and are now lying in a green field
near my house, called S. Katherine's Garth, from an old Priory of S.
Katherine, which formerly stood there, and which I hope some day to
rebuild as my domestic chapel.' Report of the City Church and Church-
yard Protection Society, 1880.
2 Vide supra, p. 186-7.
206 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
stone carving, in high relief, of the Last Judgment, over
the door leading to the churchyard.
S. Lawrence, Jewry, ' that new and cheerful pile,' 1
is a large well-proportioned building in the Corinthian
style, with -a tower and spire, built in the following
year. It had been repaired by the parishioners in
1618, and boasted among its vicars three who had be-
come bishops : Edward Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich,
one of those who, during the Rebellion, sided strongly
with the Presbyterians, and conformed at the Restor-
ation ; Dr. Seth Ward, Bishop of Exeter and Salisbury,
who has been mentioned before ; and Wren's other
scientific friend, Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, who
was buried in the chancel of S. Lawrence's Church in
1672.
S. Lawrence's possesses some excellent stone carv-
ing of fruit, possibly from Gibbons' chisel.
S. Nicholas, Coleabbey, was built this year by Sir
Christopher on the site of a church so ancient that it
stood some feet below the street, and was entered by
steps descending down to the floor ; its most recent
addition was in Richard II.'s reign, though the whole
building was repaired in 1630. Wren's is a well-pro-
portioned brick and stone church with a square tower
and short fat steeple. S. Mary's, Woolnoth, was only
repaired by Sir Christopher ; it was afterwards rebuilt
entirely by his clerk and pupil, Nicholas Hawksmoor, 2
1 Evelyn's Diary, May 28, 1682.
2 Nicholas Hawksmoor, born the year of the fire, became Wren's
pupil in 1683 and helped him in many of his works. Hawksmoor built
several churches under Queen Anne's Act ; they are original, but heavy,
and not always in good taste. He died 1736.
THE MONUMENT. 207
in 1719. S. Mary's, Aldermanbury, a fine bold stone
church, its nave and aisles divided by well-sculptured
columns ; and S. Michael's, Queenhithe, belong also to
this busy year. S. Michael's, standing close to the
river, built of stone with plenty of space and room in
it ; its slender graceful spire ever beckoning to the
swarming river and riverside population, might, one
would have imagined, have been invaluable in zealous
hands, but it has been swept away and the opportunity
is lost.
It was also in 1677 that Sir Christopher completed
the column generally known to Londoners as ' the
Monument.' He began it in 1671 ; but the work had
been much hindered by the difficulty of getting blocks
of Portland stone of sufficient size. There had been
great debate about the ornament for the summit.
Wren wished it to be a large statue, as ' carrying much
dignity with it, and being more valluable in the eyes of
forreigners and strangers.' It was to be fifteen feet
high, cast in brass, at a cost of i,ooo/. The expense
was one reason why this was given up, and the
present ornament, a flaming vase of gilt bronze, sub-
stituted. Gibber l carved a basso-relievo on one side,
representing King Charles in a Roman costume, pro-
tecting the ruined city. The four dragons at the base
were carved by Edward Pierce, 2 a sculptor and architect
who frequently worked for Wren. The other three
sides have Latin inscriptions, of which one is an account
1 Caius Gibber, born 1630. The statues of Melancholy and Madness
at Bedlam were his greatest works : died about 1700.
2 He did much of the work of S. Clement Danes under Wren's direc-
tions, and made a bust of Sir Christopher, now at All Souls : died 1698.
208 SJX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
of the fire, accusing \hefurorPapisticus as its cause ; a
brief inscription in English, lower down on the pedes-
tal, repeats the same charge against the ' treachery and
malice of the Popish faction.' Sir Christopher had
written a Latin one for the column, which spoke of
the fire as originating in a humble house, and briefly
recounted its ravages ; he added, as he was well entitled
to add, that the city was rebuilt ' not with wood and
mud as before, but with edifices, some brick and some
stone, and adorned with such works that it was seen to
rise fairer from its ruins far than before.' As he wrote,
he must have given a sigh of regret to the perfection
of his unused plan.
The accusation against the Romanists appealed
powerfully to the inveterate prejudices of the multitude.
It was accordingly insisted upon and ordered to be
put up. James II. had the inscription effaced, but in
William III.'s reign it was re-cut deeper than before,
and so remained to justify Pope's well-known lines :
London's column pointing to the skies,
Like a tall bully lifts the head and lies. 1
It is a curious retribution that the Monument designed
by so great an architect as Wren, to commemorate
such an event as the burning of London, and the
singular courage and energy of its citizens, is now
more generally connected in men's mind with false-
hood and calumny than with a great historical event.
The column was at first used, as Wren had intended
it should be, as a place for certain experiments of
the Royal Society ; but the vibration of the column
1 Moral Essays, Ep. iii.
A TARDY HONOUR. 209
during the ceaseless traffic of London proved too great
to allow of the experiments being successfully carried
on. Evelyn, with much sense, wished that the column
had been placed where the fire ended, and a ' plain
lugubrious marble ' where it began ; and says :
' I question not but I have the architect himself on my
side, whose rare and extraordinary talent and what he
has performed of great and magnificent, this column
and what he is still about and is advancing under
his direction, will speak and perpetuate his memory,
as long as one stone remains upon another in this
nation.' l
The King had proposed to Sir Christopher a very
congenial piece of work. The remains of Charles I.,
which had been hastily buried in S. George's Chapel
at Windsor, were to be removed to what was known as
the tomb-house at the east end of the chapel, re-interred
there with the solemn service that had been denied
to them before, and a grand tomb built over them.
Lord O'Brien proposed in the House of Commons a
grant of money for the purpose, and the House voted
7O,ooo/. to be raised by a two months' tax. Sprat,
Bishop of Rochester, preaching before the Commons
on the following day, the anniversary of King Charles's
death, alluded to the tardy honour done ' by that much-
desired, long-expected vote.' Sir Christopher pre-
pared designs for a splendid monument.
It was to take the form of a Rotundo with a
beautiful Dome and Lantern, and a Colonnade with-
1 Of Medals, p. 162, ed. 1697. Evelyn.
P
210 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
out, like that of the Temple of Vesta at Rome.
Mosaic work was to be freely used, black and white
marble and gilded brass ; the cupola was to be painted
in fresco. In the central niche fronting the entrance
was the King's monument. Four statues, emblems of
heroic virtues, standing on a square plinth, and press-
ing underneath the prostrate figures of Rebellion,
Heresy, Hypocrisy, Envy and Murder, support a
large shield, on which is a statue erect of King
Charles in modern armour, over his head a group of
angels bearing a crown, a cross, and branches of palm.
Two designs were made, one for brass work, one for
marble : one design is drawn by Grinling Gibbons,
whom Wren meant to employ for the carving. The
other is by Wren himself, drawn with extraordinary
care, in delicate pen and ink, and they yet remain with
his note upon them. ' Alas ! for the state of the times !
not yet erected.' The failure of his design was a
great annoyance to Wren, who was most anxious to
have paid this tribute to the King's memory.
Why the plan was never executed it is hard to
say. Charles II. kept the designs for some time and
then returned them, begging Wren to keep them
carefully ; but the moment for their use never arrived.
Though he was not allowed to honour King
Charles, curiously enough, it fell to Wren's lot to
provide a tomb for two other murdered Princes of
England.
Some repairs were being made in the Tower of
London under the orders of Wren, who was at that
time repairing what is known as the White Tower,
THE REMAINS OF THE PRINCES. 211
one of the oldest parts of the fortress. As the work-
men were removing some stairs which led from the
Royal lodgings to S. John's Chapel, they came upon
a wooden chest, which proved to contain the remains
of two children, exactly corresponding in age and state
of decay with the date of the murder of Edward V.
and his brother Richard Duke of York in 1573. The
place also corresponded in every respect with the
traditions respecting the murder : l it was said to have
been done in the Bloody Tower the spot where the
bones were found is but seventy yards distant; they
were always said to have been buried in consecrated
ground by the Priest of the Tower the place where
the remains were was just within S. John's Chapel.
The discovery caused considerable interest, and was
fully represented to the King, who desired that the
bones should be laid, under the Surveyor's directions,
in Henry VI I. 's Chapel in Westminster Abbey in a
white marble coffin with a suitable monument. Wren
designed a pedestal and urn of white marble sur-
mounted by twin crowns and palms. No doubt the
monument accords better with the taste of the age in
which it was erected than with that of the building in
which it is placed, but it has an interest of its own.
By the King's wish a mulberry-tree was planted on the
spot where the bones were discovered, but subsequent
buildings at the Tower destroyed the tree, and even
its stump has perished.
1 For an interesting account of these see The Tower of London, by
Lord de Ros, p. 417.
P 2
CHAPTER IX.
1677-1682.
EMMANUEL COLLEGE GREENWICH OBSERVATORY BIRTH OF JANE
AND WILLIAM WREN S. BARTHOLOMEW'S PORTLAND QUARRIES
DR. AND MRS. HOLDER DEATH OF JANE, LADY WREN POPISH
PLOT PAPIN'S DIGESTER SIR J. HOSKYNS ALLHALLOWS, BREAD
STREET PALACE AT WINCHESTER.
Who taught that heaven-directed spire to rise ? POPE, Moral Essays.
CHAPTER IX.
GREAT as was the pressure of Wren's London work,
he did not confine himself to that city alone, but in
1677, we find him at Cambridge, busied with buildings
there. The beautiful chapel of Emmanuel College,
which still stands unaltered as he left it, was Sir
Christopher's work in that year. More than thirty years
before, Bishop Wren, when Bishop of Ely, had instanced
amongst the irregularities to be amended at Cambridge
the absence of a chapel at Emmanuel College, 1 and it
well became his nephew to supply this lack. Bancroft
had first set the plan on foot, and when he was
removed in 1665 to S. Paul's a removal so costly that,
little knowing, he consoled himself by thinking the
next would be to his grave his successor, Dr. Breton,
continued his work.
A picturesque cloister runs north and south across
1 It \vas founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, a great supporter
of the Puritans.
In Bishop Corbet's poem, The Distracted Puritan, the hero says :
' In the house of pure Emmanuel
I had my education,
Where my friends surmise
I dazel'd my eyes
With the sight of Revelation.'
Evelyn, who visited it in September 1655, says : ' That zealous house
.... the Chapel (it was but a room) is reformed ab originc, built N.
and S. as is the Librarie.'
216 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
the fa$ade built of stone instead of the brick with
stone dressing as Wren at first intended ; within the
chapel the rich stucco ceiling, the pannelling and wood
carving, the tall columns which support a pediment
behind the altar, as well as the bold metal scroll-work
of the altar rails, all show Wren's hand and eye. In
the manuscript list of Wren's- architectural works in
the ' Parentalia' the Chapel of Queen's College at Oxford
is assigned to him as built at about this time ; but it
does not appear in the more accurate printed list, and
is not generally reckoned amongst his works.
The Observatory at Greenwich, known by the name
of Flamsteed House, was being completed. It was
built at the suggestion of Sir Jonas Moor, the Sur-
veyor-General of the Ordnance, for the purpose of
ascertaining the motions of the moon and the places of
the fixed stars, in order, if possible, to discover accu-
rately the longitude at sea. 1 Wren, confessedly one of the
best astronomers in England, was on the commission
for building the Observatory, and was its architect.
Greenwich was chosen as the site at his suggestion ;
the King, who took a great interest in the project,
allowed 5oo/. towards it, and Sir Christopher used in
the work some spare wood, iron, and lead from the
Tower Gatehouse, and the bricks taken from Tilbury,
the fort built by Elizabeth to repel the Spanish
Armada.
The Observatory was begun in June, 1675, and
roofed in at the Christmas of the same year, and
Flamsteed shortly afterwards installed there.
1 Vide infra.) p. 331-3.
A COLLECTION OF 'RARITIES: ii?
The Museum at Oxford, known as the Ashmolean,
was Sir Christopher's work in 1677. It contained a col-
lection of objects of natural history which was then
reckoned a very good one : it had been collected by
John Tradescant, and bequeathed by him to Mr. Elias
Ashmole, the historian of the Order of the Garter,
who made the whole over to the University, endowing
a lecture upon them.
The collection contained several curious specimens
of Roman, Indian, and other weapons, some clothing
made of feathers ; among other ' rarities/ a ' toad
included in amber/ and a ' habit of feathers from the
Phcenix wing as tradition goes/ 1 Ashmole was of the
Royal Society and a student of astrology.
In the November of this year, Sir Christopher's only
daughter Jane was born, and was baptized at S. Martin's,
probably by the Rev. William Lloyd, then the vicar,
who bore the high character of ' an excellent preacher,
a man of great integrity and piety, one who thoroughly
understood all the parts of his function and had a
mind fully bent to put them in execution.' Wren's
fourth and youngest child was born in June, 1679,
and baptized, also at S. Martin's, by the name of
William. Sir Christopher's good friend Evelyn was
one godfather, the other was Sir William Fermor, the
head of an old Cavalier family of Northamptonshire,
whose father, all but ruined in the civil wars, survived
to attend as one of the Knights of the Bath at Charles
II/s coronation. Sir William, who was by his mother's
side first cousin to Lady Wren, was a friend of
1 Evelyn's Diary, September 17, 1657, and July 23, 1678
218 SfK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Evelyn's, whose tastes he shared. He was created
Lord Lempster 1 by William and Mary. The other
sponsor was Lady Newport, daughter of the Earl of
Bedford, and wife of the Lord Treasurer, Lord New-
port, who, greatly distinguished by his loyalty and his
suffering in the Civil War, was made Comptroller of
the Household, and in 1672 Lord Treasurer, an office
which he held under the two succeeding monarchs. 2
Lord Newport was a friend both of Wren and of
Evelyn, and entertained them, Prince Rupert, and others
at his house, where he had a fine collection of pictures.
Wren began five of his churches in this year : one
was the little square church of SS. Anne and Agnes,
Aldersgate, with its four Corinthian columns and
decorated ceiling.
' There is a constant tradition in the parish that
SS. Anne and Agnes were two sisters who first built
this church at their own charge,' 3 but at what date is
not said. It once bore the name of ' S. Anne-in-the-
Willows,' from the willow-trees that grew hard by.
S. Bartholomew's, Bartholomew Lane, near the
Exchange, had been consumed all but its old square
tower, which must have been a striking object standing
up tall and fire-scathed amongst the ruins. To this
tower Wren added a sort of crown of open arches, but
he carefully preserved the tower, itself a curious relic
1 His son Thomas was created Earl of Pomfret by George I., 1721 ;
the title is extinct.
* He appeared for the seven bishops on their trial, greatly angering
King James thereby. He voted for William and Mary, and was by them
created Earl of Bradford, 1694.
3 Rcpcrtorium, vol. i. p. 276. Newcourt.
LONDON STONE. 219
of London before the fire. Internally it was a hand-
some basilican church, effective from the good keeping
and harmony of all its parts. Its date of consecration
went back to the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Bishop Miles Coverdale 1 was buried there. Alas !
that all must be written in the past tense ! The
church has been destroyed because its site was wanted
for the Sun Fire Office ! It is a cruel fate, having been
rebuilt after the Great Fire to be destroyed for a Fire
Insurance Office.
S. Michael's, Bassishaw, or Basinghall, taking this
name from the great merchant family of Basing, several
of whom were sheriffs, and others lord mayors of
London, was rebuilt of brick and stone with a curious
little stone spire.
S. Swithin's in Cannon Street is reckoned a model
of excellence in construction ; it is of stone with a
tower and spire, and domed roof; the curious relic
known as ' London Stone,' is built into the church
wall ; it was formerly fixed in the ground in the street.
Many different opinions have been advanced about it
that it was the centre of the City, which however it
was not, being too near the river ; that it was a place
for tendering money before the Exchange existed ;
and, most prosaic of all, that it was set up by one
named London Stone who lived there ! 2 All agreed
that it had been there since the time of the Saxon kings.
S. Bride's, Fleet Street, was begun in this year,
but not entirely finished until twenty years later ; on it
1 Born 1437. Assisted Tindal in translating and printing the Bible.
Died 1568.
3 New View of London, vol. i. p. 14. E. Hatton.
226 StR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Wren lavished considerable care and skill, securing a
spacious handsome interior, and a richly carved oak
altar-piece. The bold tower and steeple, 1 with its
graceful diminishing circles with their open arcades,
are thought to rival S. Mary's, Bow, but the latter is
perhaps the more poetical of the two.
The great work at S. Paul's was the while pro-
ceeding. In i676Compton, Bishop of London, issued
an Address, urging the claims of the Cathedral, not on
the citizens alone, but upon the country at large ; he
insisted with some eloquence that all churches should
as much as possible imitate the ' exceeding magnificat '
temple of Solomon in their beauty and grandeur, and
especially the cathedral of wealthy London. His
address, his warm interest in the work, and that of
Dean Sancroft, who was a contributor until driven
from his archbishopric, brought many contributions :
among them may be mentioned Morley, Bishop of
Winchester, who gave i,8oo/. ; Dr. John Fell, who gave
ioo/., 'in lieu of his consecration dinner and gloves'
when consecrated Bishop of Oxford, 1680 ; Bishop Ken,
who gave the same sum at his consecration, 1685, also
in lieu of the dinner and gloves ; Bishop Wilson, of
Sodor and Man, who gave from the quarries of the
island the dark stone steps which lead to the west
doors. Though hampered often, the architect was
never actually stopped by lack of money. He himself
1 The steeple has been slightly lowered by Sir W. Staines in recent
years ; it was 234 feet high. When this was done, it was discovered
that an old hawk had inhabited the two upper circles, the open arcades
of which were filled with masses of bird's bones, chiefly those of the city
pigeons upon which he had preyed.
PORTLAND QUARRIES. 221
out of his scanty salary gave 5O/. towards the ex-
penses.
In a letter speaking of his progress in building S.
Paul's he says, ' I have received a considerable sum,
which, though not proportionable to the greatnesse of
the work, is notwithstanding sufficient to begin the
same and with all the materials and other assistances
which may probably be expected, will put the new
quire in great forwardness.' The materials referred
to are probably such parts of the old building as it was
possible to use again ; and it may here be said that
Wren had the control of the quarries of Portland stone. 1
In 1669, King Charles issued a proclamation that
' Whereas great waste had been for many years past
made of our quarries in the Isle of Portland, . . .
and the great occasion we have of using much of the
said stone, both for the building and repairing our
houses and for the repaire of S. Paul's, our pleasure
is ... that all persons forbeare to transport any
more stone from our Isle of Portland without the
leave and warrant first obtained from Dr. Christo-
pher Wren, Surveyor of our Works, as hath been
formerly accustomed in that behalf.'
Wren must have commanded an army of quarry-
men in the little island, not then grim with convicts
and with a prison ; but nevertheless he had, as in the
case of the Monument, not seldom to pause in his work
before he could get blocks of the size he required.
As the choir rose the time came in which the space
1 There is a quantity of stone quarried for S. Paul's still lying at the
back of the island, ready for transportation.
222 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
for the great Dome was to be marked out. The
architect stood watching with some of his friends, and
called to one of the workmen to bring him a stone to
mark a special spot ; when the man obeyed, Wren saw
that the stone thus brought had an inscription upon it
the single word ' Resurgam.' 1 It was looked upon
by Sir Christopher as a singularly happy omen, and he
took great pleasure in telling the anecdote.
In the meantime a sharp controversy was going
on within the Royal Society between Dr. Wallis and
Sir Christopher's brother-in-law, Dr. Holder. Dr.
Holder had a living in Hertfordshire and had re-
ceived from Bishop Henchman a canonry in S. Paul's.
In 1678 he brought out a book called ' The Elements
of Speech ' with an appendix concerning ' Persons
deaf and dumb.' In this book he described the cure
he had himself performed when at Bletchingdon of a
young gentleman, Mr. Alexander Popham, the son of
a certain Edward Popham, admiral in the service of
the Long Parliament, whom, though born dumb, he
had gradually taught to speak. The youth, taken
away before the cure was quite finished, lost the lately
acquired power of speech, but on being sent to Dr.
Wallis recovered it ; thereupon Dr. Wallis claimed
1 Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons^ vol. ii. p. 310. Seward. It is
supposed to have been part of the gravestone of Dr. John King, Bishop
of London, 1611-21, called by King James 'the King of preachers.'
' He was a most solid and profound divine of great gravity and piety,
and a most excellent volubility of speech.' Repertorium^ vol. i. p. 29.
Newcourt. Bishop King preached at S. Paul's Cross before King
James I. and all his Court when James the First began the restoration
of the Cathedral under Inigo Jones. A quaint print of this scene still
exists. Three Cathedrals of S. Paul, p. 20. Longman.
DR. HOLDER AND DR. WALLIS. 223
the entire credit. In his book Dr. Holder took occa-
sion to speak of the Royal Society as originating in
meetings held at Oxford.
Upon this Dr. Wallis wrote a pamphlet entitled ' A
Defence of the Royal Society in reply to some cavils
of Dr. W. Holder.' The quarrel appears to have been
a hot one, turning chiefly on the credit of curing Alex-
ander Popham.
Wood, the antiquary, 1 speaks of Dr. Wallis ' as one
that can make black white, and white black, for his
own ends, and hath a ready knack of sophistical eva-
sion (as the writer of these matters doth know full
well)/ and gives the credit to Dr. Holder. Wallis was
little loved by any royalist because of his conduct in
decyphering King Charles I.'s papers at Naseby. 2 In
the ' Parentalia ' are two finger alphabets, with two
hands drawn in Indian ink, the fingers of which have
different letters assigned to the different joints ; one
is an ordinary and simple way, the other, more ela-
borate, is entitled ' An arte to make the Dumbe to
speake, the Deafe to heare. To speake amongst others
unseen and unhearde. Learned in an howre.' Min-
ute directions are given, but the system is so elaborate
that it is very sanguine to think it could have been
' learned ' under several hours. The writing is not
like Christopher Wren's, and I think it must belong
to Dr. Holder's scheme.
Mrs. Holder went on in her tranquil course, minis-
tering to the poor around her. In early days she had
1 Fast. O.r0n., vol. i. p. 139. Wood.
2 Vide supra, pp. 77, 78.
224 S7K CHRISTOPHER WREN.
made a careful study of such medical science as was
then known. Barbarous as the surgery was, the re-
medial part of medicine appears to have been some-
what better understood. The circulation of the blood
had very lately been discovered by Harvey ; and whe-
ther it was the efficacy of the herbs and simples used,
or the faith of the patients, or both, it is certain that
many cures were made and much suffering alleviated.
It is said of Mrs. Holder that ' she happily healed
thousands.' She cured Charles II. of a hurt in his
hand, whether in his early days of peril and wandering,
or in later life, is not said. After the Restoration
she was connected more or less with the Court, as
her husband was subdean of the Chapels Royal, and
she healed Queen Catharine and many of the Court.
When one reads in Evelyn's or in Pepys' diary of the
frightful remedies used : the 'hot fire pans' applied to
the head in cases of apoplexy, the constant bleeding,
the roughness of the entire treatment, one is thankful
to think that they were occasionally ministered to by
the gentler hand of a woman.
A taste for the science of medicine seems to have
been common in the Wren family. Sir Christopher
studied it at Oxford under Sir Charles Scarborough
and drew the plates for Dr. Thomas Willis' ' Cerebri
Anatome,' which was in great repute. His cousin,
Thomas Wren, made it a matter of serious study, pro-
bably living by it as a profession at the time when
Bishop Wren's imprisonment left his younger children
penniless. The same honourable calling was chosen by
Sir Christopher's grandson, Stephen Wren. Among
'/ THINK THEY ARE HIGH ENOUGH.' 225
all the patients whom good Mrs. Holder tended and
cared for, in none could she have taken more pride
than in the brother over whose sickly childhood she
had watched, and whose fame she saw daily increasing.
Nor was there any drawback to her delight : loving,
gentle, modest, and courteous he had been as a boy,
and the famous successful architect possessed those
qualities still. In a corrupt age, all testimony leaves
him spotless ; in positions of great trust and still
greater difficulty his integrity was but the more clearly
shown by the attacks made against him ; among the
foremost philosophers of his age, he was a striking
example that ' every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above ; ' no child could hold the truths of Christi-
anity with a more undoubting faith than did Sir
Christopher Wren.
His personal appearance is only known to us from
pictures : it seems he was ' thin and low of stature,'
and it is recorded that when he was building a hunting
palace at Newmarket for Charles II., the King came
to see it, looked round, and was well satisfied with the
general effect, but said he thought the rooms were too
low. Wren, who knew the King well, and could hold
his own when needful, looked up to the ceiling, and
said quietly: ' Sir, I think they are high enough.'
On hearing this, King Charles stooped till he was
the architect's height, crept about the room in this
attitude, and said laughing, ' Ay, Sir Christopher, I
think they arc high enough! l
The beautiful S. Stephen's, Walbrook, was finished
1 Biographical History of England, vol. iii. p. 327. Noble.
Q
226 SfK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
in 1679, and the parishioners, aware that their church
was a gem of no common order, offered ' a purse of
twenty guineas to the Lady of Sir Christopher Wren,
as a testimony of the regard that the parish has for the
great care and skill that Sir Christopher Wren showed
in the rebuilding of our church.' 1 Lady Wren did
not long survive to share in her husband's fame and to
sympathise in his work.
Early in October she died and was buried in
S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, where Dr. Thomas Tenison 2
had succeeded Dr. Lloyd, when the latter was made
Bishop of S. Asaph. He, too, was a hard-working
parish priest, though neither so zealous nor so whole-
hearted a churchman as the former vicar. He com-
municated to Evelyn 3 his plan ' of erecting a library
in S. Martin's parish for the public use, and desired
his assistance with Sir Christopher Wren about the
placing and structure thereof.' Dr. Tenison said that
he had ' between thirty and forty young men in orders
in his parish either governors to young gentlemen, or
chaplains to noblemen, who being reproved by him
on occasion for frequenting taverns or coffee-houses,
told him they would employ their time better if they
had books.' Wren fell readily into a scheme so con-
1 Lives of the Gresham Professors^ p. 104. Ward. The church has
been lately cleansed, but the disfiguring pews most unfortunately still
encumber the area.
2 Thomas Tenison, Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of Canter-
bury ; his endowments were munificent : died ^71 5.
3 Diary, February 15, 1684. The very valuable library which Dr.
Tenison founded was, alas ! sold by Act of Parliament, 1861, and the
proceeds ordered to be applied to middle-class education, which was
hardly what the donor intended.
POPISH PLOT, 227
genial as this, and in a very few days the two friends
were together at Dr. Tenison's making a drawing and
estimate of the library to be begun in the spring of
that same year.
In 1678, the nation was excited to absolute frenzy
by the declarations of the infamous Titus Gates con-
cerning the ' Popish Plot.' In the same spirit as that
in which they had laid the burning of London at the
door of the Romanists, the mob lent greedy, credulous
ears to the tales of Gates, and were encouraged by
Lord Shaftesbury and his party, who made political
capital out of this madness. Looking back, it is dif-
ficult to understand how such manifest falsehoods
could have obtained credit ; but it should be borne in
mind that only seventy-three years had passed since
the Gunpowder Plot had all but succeeded, and despite
its failure left a mark in popular feeling which, however
obscured and travestied, remains to this day. That it
was fresh in the minds of the Members of Parliament
may be seen from their insisting that a guard should
be placed in the vaults over which they sate.
Bedloe, Gates' villainous ally, having declared that
an army of thirty thousand pilgrims was coming from
Spain to join forty thousand who were ready to rise in
London, the House of Lords insisted that a communi-
cation between the Spanish ambassador's house and
that of his neighbour Mr. Weld should be secured.
No less a person than Sir Christopher himself was to
be despatched by the Lords' committee to see to this
matter. Wren took the matter quietly enough ; went
with Mr. Edward Warcup, one of his assistants, and
Q2
228 S//? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
sent in a report stating that they had caused ' padlocks
to be hung on all such dores as open out of Mr. Weld's
house into the Spanish Embassador's house;' had then
' acquainted his Excellency Count Egmont, who with
great civility gave permission for all things necessary
to be done on his side.' They locked the doors on his
side, barred some with iron, and handed over the keys
to tne Clerk of the Parliament, which no doubt felt
itself more secure after this precaution.
Evelyn, it is plain from passages in his diary, dis-
believed and distrusted Gates, and Wren, who gave no
heed to panics, was probably of the same opinion.
One wishes that Pepys had not been compelled in
1669, by failing eyesight, to give up keeping his most
amusing diary, that he might have recorded his im-
pressions of this time of frenzy. He, however, was a
sufferer by it, being clapt into the Tower on a charge
of ' Popery, felony, piracy, and treason,' in 1679. The
' treason ' charged seems to have been that he sent
information to the French Court about the state of
the English navy. The ' Popery,' from which he was
certainly free, \vas probably thrown in to give a flavour
suited to the times. It is an incredible charge, and
Pepys, who defended himself in a spirited letter to
the Duke of York, was discharged in the following
February.
The Royal Society, despite all these storms, kept
its even course. Wren, who had been Vice- President,
was elected President in 1680. With all his work, he
contrived to take the Chair frequently at the meetings.
Their discussions were very varied : observations with
A PHILOSOPHICAL SUPPER. 229
the barometer, ways of sounding the sea, the curve
described by a granado shot into the air, an account of
the anatomy of the otter, and its power of diving ; Sir
Christopher hereupon described the seal which was in
S. James's Park, as having muscles by which it could
contract and dilate its nostrils, and by such means sink
itself and lie at the bottom of the pool made for it,
for a great while together, and that it ate its food at
the bottom of the river.
A new discovery by a French doctor named Papin 1
of a ' digester ' for softening bones, caused much dis-
cussion at the Society. Wren inquired whether a
contrary process to M. Papin's could not be devised to
harden bones, but Papin could give no answer. Two
years later M. Papin gave a supper to which several
of the Society went. Evelyn says, it was 2 -
' All dress'd, both fish and flesh, in M. Papin's Digesters,
by which the hardest bones of beef itselfe and mutton
were made as soft as cheese, without water or any
other liquor, and with lesse than eight ounces of
coales producing an incredible quantity of gravy ;
and, for close of all. a jelly made of the bones of
beef, the best for clearness and good relish, and the
most delicious that I had scene or tasted. We eat
pike and other fish bones, and all without impedi-
ment ; but nothing exceeded the pigeons, which
tasted just as if baked in a pie, all these being
1 Denys Papin," born at Blois, was an M.D. of Paris ; came to
England, and in 1680 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He
died in 1710.
2 Diary, April 12, 1684.
23d S/A CHRISTOPHER WREN.
stewed in their own juice, without any addition of
water, save what swam about the Digestor, as in
balnco ; the natural juice of these provisions acting
on the grosser substances, reduced the hardest
bones to tenderness ; but it is best descanted with
more particulars for extracting tinctures, preserving
and stewing fruite, and saving fuel, in Dr. Papin's
booke ! published and dedicated to our Society, of
which he is a member. . . . This philosophical
supper caus'd much mirth amongst us, and exceed-
ingly pleased all the company. I sent a glass of
the jelly to my wife, to the reproch of all that the
ladies ever made of the best hartshorn.'
The Royal Society had another foreign visitor, M.
Chardin, 2 the Persian traveller. Sir Christopher, Sir
John Hoskyns, and Evelyn 3 went to visit him when he
arrived in England in 1680, and invited him to honour
the Royal Society with his company. They found
him dressed in his Eastern habit, speaking Latin, and
understanding Greek, Arabic, and Persian from his
eleven years of travel in those parts. He was a well-
bred, modest man ' not inclined to talk wonders.'
Chardin was a fair draughtsman and had besides taken
two artists with him to draw landscapes, to measure
1 The Nwu Digester, or Engine for the Softening of Rones, 4to.
A modification of Papin's 'digester kettle' still exists, and goes by his
name, though used far less than it deserves.
- Born in Paris, 1643. The son of a Protestant jeweller, he went to
Persia in search of diamonds, amassing a considerable fortune. He
married in England in 1681, and died there 1735. He was buried at
Chiswick, but his monument is in Westminster Abbey. ' Sir John
Chardin. r Nomen sibi fecit cundo? Life of Sir C. Wren, p. 419. Elmes.
a Diary, August 30, 1680.
SSR JOHN HOSKYNS. 231
and design the palaces and temples burnt at Persepolis.
He was then on his way to France, but on his return
promised to show the drawings. He returned, finding
the persecution of the Protestants still hot in France,
and Sir Christopher proposed him as a member of the
Royal Society. His book, ' Travels of Sir John Char-
din,' was published in London and is still in high
esteem both for its special interest and the accuracy of
its statements. Evelyn assisted him in engraving the
plates and in the translation of the book. Charles II.
made him a knight, and he was employed in Holland
as the agent of the English East India Company.
At the meeting of the Royal Society on November
30, 1 68 1, Wren was re-elected President and chess Sir
John Hoskyns as Vice-president. 1 Sir John Hoskyns,
who, like Wren, had been educated at Westminster,
was a Master in Chancery highly thought of for his
legal attainments and his integrity ; he and Wren
appear always to have been friends ; and when Wren
resigned the presidency, Sir John succeeded him.
Tradition 2 says that Sir John ' affected plainness in
his garb, walked in the street with a cudgel in his
hand and an old hat over his eyes. That he was
often observed to be in a reverie ; but when his
1 The friendship and connection with Sir Christopher is curious, for
in 1837 Mr. Chandos Wren Hoskyns married Theodosia Anne Martha
Wren, only surviving child of Christopher Roberts \Vren, of Wroxall
Abbey in Warwickshire, who was himself the great -great-grandson of
Sir C. Wren, Mr. Chandos Hoskyns being the direct descendant of
Sir J. Hoskyns mentioned above. To their only child, now the wife of
the Rev. C. F. C. Pigott, Rector of Edgmond, Salop, and Prebendary of
Lichfield, I am indebted for the use of many valuable family papers.
2 Diog. Hist., vol. iii. p. 371, vol. iv. p. 314. Grainger.
232 6YA- CHRISTOPHER WREN.
spirits were elevated over a bottle, he was remark-
able for his presence of mind and quickness of
apprehension and became a most agreeable and
instructive companion.' It also says that he bore
an irreproachable character.
The great western front of Christ Church, Oxford ,
was at this time occupying Wren's attention. Wolsey
had laid the foundations of the gateway, but it had
been left unfinished until Wren took it in hand and
built the grand gateway and noble tower which are
among the features of Oxford.
The churches which at this time were building in
London were All Hallows, Bread Street ; the original
church dated back to the beginning of the thirteenth
century. Lyndwode, the author of the ' Provincial
Constitutions,' was rector there in 1418. The poet
Milton was baptized there December 20, 1608. An
inscription on a tablet at the west end of the church
recorded this, and also Dryden's lines :
Three Poets in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn ;
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed,
The next in majesty ; in both the last.
The force of nature could no further go,
To make a third she joined the other two.
Here also it is supposed that Sir Isaac Newton
was buried, though the exact spot was not known.
Wren built on the old site a stone church of consider-
able beauty, whose tall pinnacled tower had a singular
grace of its own. All, alas ! destroyed, the ancient site
desecrated, and the materials sold, no matter for what
purpose.
CHURCH BUILDING. 233
S. Peter's, Cornhill, a small compact brick and
stone church with a low tower and a key for its vane
and camerated roof, was rebuilt in this year. Several
small charitable legacies belong to this church: Sir B.
Thorowgood settled three shops, at the west end of the
churchyard, upon the parish for the maintenance of an
organist to play on Sundays and Holydays for ever.
In i 700 these shops were all three let for 2/j./. !
-S. Clement Danes in the Strand, which had been
patched up in 1674, was taken down and rebuilt,
being finished in 1682. Sir Christopher, who received
the moderate salary of ioo/. for the rebuilding of the
City churches, had nothing necessarily to do with S.
Clement's, but yet, as is recorded on a marble slab on
the north side of the chancel, he ' freely and generously
bestowed his great care towards the contriving and
building.' It stands in too frequented a place and is
too well known to need description, and will, I think,
be .readily admitted to bear Wren's mark. Evelyn
calls it ' that pretty and well-contrived church/ The
steeple surmounting the tower was added by Wren's
pupil Gibbs 1 in 1719. S. Antholin's, Watling Street,
was entirely consumed by the fire, so that all its re-
gisters perished, a misfortune which happened to but
few of the churches. Sir Christopher spent especial
care upon it. The roof was a cupola adorned with rich
festoons ; the octagonal spire was built of freestone,
with three circles of windows and considerably orna-
mented, was the chief feature of this beautiful little
1 James Gibbs, a Scotch architect who built S. Mary-le-Strand, S.
Martin's-in-the-Fields, &c. ; born 1674, died 1754.
234 MX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
church. At the time of its building the spire was much
remarked, and must have formed a pleasant contrast to
the little neighbouring church of S. Augustine in the
same street, with its tower cupola and small steeple,
which was added in 1695. This church was finished in
1683 and survives S. Antholin's, which has shared the
evil fate of All Hallows, Bread Street.
The hunting palace at Newmarket, of which
mention has been made, was accidentally burnt down,
and this made King Charles more anxious to have a
palace in the ancient city of Winchester. Lands were
bought for a park, a river was to have been brought
from the downs with a thirty-foot cascade in the park,
and a broad street planned to lead to the cathedral
from the future palace. Wren designed a magnificent
palace, 1 with a great cupola which would have been
seen far out at sea, and laid the first stone on March
23, 1683. The work was much pressed forward both
by King Charles and by the Duke of York, who fre-
quently stayed at Winchester for a considerable time
watching the progress of the building, and hunting in
the forest. At such times the King was lodged in the
Deanery and his train in the houses of the close, where
most of them were sufficiently incongruous inmates.
Ken, then a prebendary of the Cathedral, utterly refused
to give a lodging in his house to the notorious Nell
G wynne.
Winchester had many associations for Wren, to
whom the name of Lancelot Andrewes must have been
a household word from childhood, and it is pleasant to
1 Life of Bishop Ken, by a layman, ed. 1854, p. 186.
PALACES AT WINCHESTER. 235
think that he at this time became acquainted with the
saintly Ken. The palace, which was finished as far as
the shell in 1 685, was never used either by Charles 1 1. or
his successors, though Queen Anne made one visit to
Winchester, and was so much struck with the situation
and the shell of the building as it stood awaiting com-
pletion, the marble pillars sent by the Duke of Tuscany
for the great staircase lying on the ground, that she
resolved to finish it as a jointure house for Prince
George, but his death and the cost of the great war
made her give up the scheme. Sir Christopher seems
to have hoped that George I. might finish it. It is,
however, now used as a barrack.
Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchester, had also en-
gaged Sir Christopher's assistance ; and having pulled
down a part of the old episcopal palace, he began to build
another ; he died when but one wing was erected and
left sufficient money to finish it. Bishop Mew, his suc-
cessor, as the ' Parentalia ' says, ' never minded it ; ' but
it was finished, apparently not under Wren's auspices,
by Sir Jonathan Trelawney. He became Bishop of
Winchester in 1707 ; as Bishop of Bristol he was one
of the famous ' Seven Bishops.'
CHAPTER X.
1681-1686.
CHELSEA COLLEGE S. JAMES'S, WESTMINSTER A HARD WINTER
CHICHESTER SPIRE AN ASTRONOMICAL PROBLEM A SEAT IN PAR-
LIAMENT MORE CITY CHURCHES A CURIOUS CARVING.
If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had
been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces. Merchant of
Venice, act i. scene ii.
CHAPTER X.
CHARLES II.'s gift of Chelsea College to the Royal
Society had proved a gift of greater magnitude than
they had been able to deal with, and the building had
remained unused since 1669. Nor did their funds
allow them to make use of Mr. Howard's donation of
a piece of land, though the ever-ready Sir Christopher
produced a design for it of some size, on the principle
' that a fair building may be easier carried on by con-
tribution with time, than a sordid one.' At last, in 1681,
he proposed the sale of Chelsea College back again
to King Charles, and Wren and Evelyn undertook to
manage what must have been rather a delicate trans-
action. During the negotiation Sir Stephen Fox came
to Evelyn and proposed that the King should buy it,
and build there a hospital for soldiers. The proposal
came well from Sir Stephen, who, originally a chorister
of Salisbury Cathedral, by the favour and help of
Bishop Duppa first, and then by that of the King, and
most of all by his own honesty and dexterity, became
paymaster to the whole army and acquired an honest
and unenvied fortune. The King agreed to the plan,
and the matter was arranged by Wren, Evelyn, and
Fox, who was a liberal benefactor to the college. The
three men went across to Lambeth to their old friend
240 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Sancroft and acquainted him with the plan, and re-
ceived his approval.
Wren set instantly to work, and in August 1682
the foundations were being laid ; the whole building was
not completed until William and Mary's reign ; but
during all that time Wren's energy and care never
flagged, but were extended even to the minutiae of the
regulations, all of which he drew up, for the health,
comfort, and economy of the building. As architecture
the building has been severely criticised ; but when the
worst is said, it still remains picturesque, cheerful and
spacious, and a beautiful object as seen from the Thames.
The Royal Society continued its meetings at Gres-
ham College, which it did not quit until, in 1710, the
members purchased a house in Crane Court, which has
only very lately been pulled down. The next year
saw many of Wren's churches finished.
All Hallows the Great, in Thames Street, a plain
brick and stone edifice with a strong square tower, was
then completed : it, like by far the greater number of
the City churches, had been repaired and beautified
under the vigorous rule of Laud while Bishop of
London. Thomas White, who came into the living a
few months only before the Fire, was afterwards as
Bishop of Peterborough one of the famous ' Seven
Bishops.' At the time when Wren rebuilt the church
the living was held by the learned church historian,
Dr. William Cave. 1
S. Mildred's, Bread Street, is another church be-
1 He wrote Primitive Christianity, Lives of the Fathers, &c. ; was a
Canon of Windsor, where he died in 1713.
S. JAME&S, WESTMINSTER. 241
longing to this date. It is so hidden by the tall ware-
houses that have sprung up round it that it is but little
known ; but its red brick tower, tall spire, and, above all,
its most light and graceful dome, are all after Wren's
best manner. The destruction of this beautiful little
church has actually been threatened, but it has been
ably defended, and it is to be hoped it will not add
another name to the black list of desecrated City
churches.
A third church belonging to this year is S. James's,
Westminster, then called ' in the fields,' from the large
parish of S. Martin's, out of which it was taken. It
was built principally at the expense of Henry Jermyn,
Earl of S. Albans, Wren's Paris friend, who gave his
name to Jermyn Street, where the church stands.
The proportions of S. James's and the technical
skill displayed in building it, especially the construction
of the roof, have been always admired. Wren, who was
allowed but a moderate sum to expend upon it, was
proud of having combined beauty with ' the cheapest
of any form I could invent.' l When the church
was newly done, with its bricks red instead of darkly
grimed with smoke, with the handsome pillared
entrance to the south aisle, a flight of steps lead-
ing up to it, which have vanished, leaving only as a
mark the closed iron gates in the railings, without the
strange excrescence that now does duty as a porch its
exterior must have been far more attractive than it is
now ; the little pinched steeple 2 is said, as indeed one
1 Vide infra, p. 310.
2 Newcourt says, ' A lofty spire was at first built, but the tower
R
243 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
would imagine, to be no building of Wren's. Within,
Evelyn 1 gives us his description of the effect.
' I went to see the new church at S. James's
elegantly built ; the altar was especially adorned,
the white marble inclosure curiously and richly
carved, the flowers and garlands about the walls by
Mr. Gibbons in wood ; a pelican with her young at
her breast, just over the altar in the carved compart-
ment and border, invironing the purple velvet fringed
with I.H.S. richly embroidered, and most noble plate
were given by Sir R. Geere to the value (as was
said) of 2oo/. There was no altar anywhere in
England nor has there been abroad more handsomely
adorned.'
The font, now well placed in a baptistery beneath
the tower, is one of Gibbons' few works in marble. It
represents Adam and Eve, two detached statuettes
standing on either side of the Tree of Knowledge, the
branches of which support a bowl whereon are finely cut
in low relief the Ark of Noah, and the baptism of the
Ethiopian Eunuch. With all this, and without the high,
stiff indevout pews which now disfigure the church
pews that Sir Christopher did not put there, and to the
presence of which in any of his churches he always
strongly objected, it must have been a decidedly
handsome edifice. The organ, built by Renatus
Harris, was made for James II.'s timber chapel at the
not proving strong enough, it was taken down, and another sort of spire
built.' It is said to be by Willcox, a carpenter.
1 Diary, December 7, 1684,
S. BENNET, PAULS WHARF. 243
camp on Hounslow Heath ; after the King's flight
Wren obtained the organ from Queen Mary for S.
James's Church.
Dr. Tenison, who then held S. James's jointly with S.
Martin's, obtained the timbers of the chapel and used
them in erecting the chapel of the Holy Trinity in
Conduit Street, 1 which was also included in the enor-
mous parish of S. Martin. S. Bennet, Paul's Wharf, 2
was finished in this year ; picturesque and character-
istic in its red brick, stone carving, well suited to its
situation, then less cramped and overshadowed than it
is now.
Its rector, Mr. Peter Lane, had experienced all the
greater perils that had lately befallen the City ; pre-
sented to the living in 1662, he steadily ministered
there through the terrible time of the plague, and was
then burnt out by the Great Fire. He lived, how-
ever, to return and to minister for five years in the
new church built by Sir Christopher. In this church
Inigo Jones was buried, in the darkest days of the
Rebellion.
The handsome Church of S. James's, Garlickhithe,
with its curious columnated steeple, and its projecting
clock surmounted by a figure, is also of this date.
It was well that Sir Christopher had been able to
get even this much of his numerous works finished, for
the winter of 1683-4 was f exceptional severity. On
December 23 the Thames was frozen over ; on January 9,
1 It was private property and never consecrated, and has within the
last few years been pulled down and the site used as a shop.
2 Repertorium, p. 367. Newcourt. Now used by the Welsh congre-
gation.
R 2
244 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Evelyn 1 ' went crosse the Thames on the ice, now
become so thick as to beare not only streetes of booths
in which they roasted meate and had divers shops of
wares, quite acrosse in a towne, but coaches, carts, and
horses passed over.' Evelyn himself drove across it
to Lambeth to dine with Archbishop Sancroft, who had
succeeded Sheldon in 1677. ' London/ says Evelyn
a few days later in words which, alas, still describe but
too vividly a genuine ' London fog,' ' by reason of
the excessive coldnesse hindering the ascent of the
smoke, was so filled with the fuliginous steame of
the sea-coale that hardly could one see crosse the
streetes, and this filling the lungs with its grosse
particles exceedingly obstructed the breath so as
one could scarcely breathe. Here was no water to
be had from the pipes and engines, nor could the
brewers and other tradesmen worke, and every
moment was full of disastrous accidents.'
In addition to this dismal state of things ' the small
pox was very mortal.'
For eight weeks no foreign posts reached the city,
for ' the very sea was so locked up with ice that no
vessell could stir out or come in.' It was not until
April was advanced that there was any sign of spring.
It was certainly no building weather, and must have
sharply tried the rising Choir of S. Paul's. Sir
Christopher made a journey to Chichester on the in-
vitation of the old Bishop, Guy Carleton, to examine
the spire of the Cathedral. The whole building had
1 Diary, January 9, 1684.
CHICHESTER SPIRE. 245
suffered terribly under the wanton sack of Sir William
Waller and his men, and required extensive repair.
Sir Christopher ' for about two hours viewed the
tower at the north west angle both without and
within, and above and below, and observed the great
want of repairs especially in the great western tower ;
made his report ; proposing to clear away the ruin of
the fallen tower ; to pull down the south western
tower ; to shorten the nave by one arch, and to sub-
stitute a fair built west end of his own.' l
He next examined the beautiful spire, well known as
a landmark to sailors in the channel, sister spire to that
most perfect one at Salisbury which he has preserved
to this day. He adopted a different plan with the
Chichester spire to that which he had formerly pursued,
for he took down the top of the spire, and fastened to
the finial within an immense pendulum of yellow fir
wood, which in great gales preserved exactly the balance
of the spire. This lasted till 1813, when the pendulum
was repaired by Mr. Elmes, and so remained until,
after a great gale in 1861, the spire fell in ; it has since
been rebuilt, and is now rather higher than it was'
formerly. The other part of Wren's scheme was not
acted upon. At this time he built Fawley Court in
Oxfordshire : the place had lain in ruins since the civil
war, when it suffered, though the property of Sir
Bulstrode Whitelock, even more from Cromwell's
troops than from those of Prince Rupert. Sir Bul-
strode's descendants sold the property to Mr. William
Freeman, who pulled the ruins down and got Sir
1 Memorials of the See of Chichester, p. 306
246 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Christopher to build the present Court, with its four
fronts, handsome hall, and characteristic festoons of
flowers in the ceiling.
In this same year Wren was made Controller of the
Works, for which he received a salary of gl. 2s. 6ct. a
year ; not a very magnificent sum considering that a
good deal of petty work and cares went with the office.
It was necessary to see that this person had not in-
croached on the castle stables, or that person on the
castle ditch ; to measure and plan, and settle little
quarrels and disputes in a way infinitely tormenting,
one would think, to a man who had already such
enormous works to consider. But Wren's genius was
a patient one, and had a great grasp of details ; he
dealt with point after point as it arose, and no one
seems ever to have complained of his breaking an
engagement or neglecting to settle their difficulties.
While this work was going on all London was
startled by the tidings of Charles II.'s sudden illness
and death, when all the luxury of the Court was at its
height. With all his grave faults, the King's death
caused considerable grief throughout England ; to both
Wren and Evelyn he had been always kind and friendly,
and both looked with great anxiety to the reign of his
successor.
The Royal Society certainly lost a steady friend in
Charles II. and was soon to see its court favour fade
away. It was, however, much occupied with a discus-
sion between Newton and Robert Hooke concerning
the planetary motions. The question was one which
deeply interested Wren, and which hitherto he had
RETURNED TO PARLIAMENT. 247
not been able to answer. As he and Hooke were
walking together Wren, whom one can never imagine
but with all the courtesy and refinement of a finished
gentleman, and Hooke half a miser, utterly slovenly,
and jealous of any rising fame they were met by
Dr. H alley, an astronomer of some note even then,
who was struggling with this problem and confessed
that he had hitherto failed.
Wren promised a book worth forty shillings to
whoever should solve the problem, whereupon Hooke
declared he understood it from Kepler's ' Law of
Periods and Distances,' and would show his solution
some day to Wren ; this he never did, and very soon
Newton published his ' Principia,' l in which he solved
this problem, acknowledging freely that Wren and
Halley had independently deduced the law of gravity
from Kepler's second law. He had a great quarrel
with Hooke, the less to be wondered at, as, excepting
Sir Christopher, Hooke quarrelled with everybody
and was a philosopher of the sourest type. In 1685
Sir Christopher was returned to Parliament for the
borough of Plympton S. Maurice, in Devonshire, a
Parliament in which his cousin Charles also sat. The
elections in Devonshire are supposed to have been
specially influenced by the Court.
The 'Parentalia' gives no hint even of what his
politics were, whether he spoke often or how he voted.
And yet it was a stormy time. The Parliament had not
sat a month before Monmouth's brief rebellion began,
1 The title of Newton's book is Philosophies Naturalis Principia
Mathematica. The MS. is in the possession of the Royal Society.
248 Sffi CHRISTOPHER WREN.
to be bloodily quenched ; public feeling was in a state
of irritation and suspense, no one feeling sure what
King James might not do. He did continue Wren un-
molested in the S. Paul's commission, and the progress
of the building was steady, though probably its archi-
tect thought with no light anxiety that it might be
used for services other than those for which it was
designed.
The same doubt may have clouded his satisfac-
tion in the many churches which were finished in this
and the immediately following years. S. Martin's on
Ludgate Hill, closely wedged in by the neighbouring
houses, with its little tapering spire, of which that of
S. James's, Westminster, appears a caricature, should
have had its place among the churches of the previous
year. It harmonizes beautifully with the great dome
of S. Paul's. Sir Christopher bestowed on the inside
much of the ornament, the festoons and the carving,
which its situation did not allow him to bestow on
the outside ; in those days it had daily services and
may well have stood open, offering ' a shadow from
the heat ' to the incessant passers-by.
S. Alban's, Wood Street, is in the pointed style of
architecture in which Wren's genius generally felt
fettered, though, as in the case of S. Michael's, Corn-
hill, he sometimes dealt very successfully with it.
S. Mary Magdalene's, Fish Street, 1 is more after
1 Matthew Griffiths, the favourite and the pupil of Dean Donne, held
this living through the Rebellion, and being a hearty Episcopalian was se-
questered, plundered, and twice imprisoned ; he returned to London and
read the Prayers of the Church in the obscure church of S. Nicholas
AN ALTAR-PIECE: 249
Wren's usual manner, with its good proportions, its
highly ornamented round-headed windows, its stone
balustrade and solid square stone tower, with the little
steeple rising from it on seven steps. Within, carving
in 'right oak' was bestowed with no sparing hand, es-
pecially in the altar-piece. And here one may say that,
while defects in church arrangement, such as gal-
leries, pews, and the like, are invariably laid on Sir
Christopher and said to be the inevitable concomitants
of his style, it should be borne in mind that in many
and many an instance the churchwardens during the
eighteenth century repewed and ' beautified ' the
churches which Wren had left as completed ; in what
style, and on what principle one can readily guess. It
should be remembered also that an 'altar-piece,' as
the old books call it, was an invariable part of his
design. If there was rich carving, if there was black
and white marble, he placed it there ; the altar was
the principal part of the church in his eyes, even
though he did not often avail himself of the dignity
given by a flight of steps. The close altar rails which
are now not admired, were, it must be remembered,
ordered by Archbishop Laud to protect the Holy
Table from profanation, and were always so placed
by Wren.
Olave's,* hard by his own church, to the poor Cavaliers ; for this he
suffered seven violent assaults and five imprisonments ; the last for
preaching before General Monk a strong Royalist sermon before Monk
had declared himself. Mr. Griffiths was speedily released and restored
to his benefice.
* S. Nicholas Olave was burnt to the ground and the parish incorporated with
that of S. Nicholas Coleabbey. Newcourt's Rep., p. 305.
250 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
S. Mary Magdalene's included the parish of S.
Gregory, the little church which nestled by old S.
Paul's, so that Fuller described the Cathedral as ' the
mother church, having a babe in her arms.' *
S. Bennet's, Gracechurch Street, or Grasschurch
Street, as it was really named, from a herb market
formerly held hard by, is, or rather was, of the same
date. It was well placed at the corner of two streets,
and stood boldly out with a tall tower crowned with a
cupola and slender spire ; the interior was full of carv-
ing and ornament. S. Bennet's is, however, a thing
of the past; the building is gone, the site desecrated,
and the memory of such an edifice alone survives in
the names of the streets which formerly led to and
now usurp its place.
The little plain Church of S. Matthew, Friday
Street, close pressed by neighbouring houses, is the last
completed in this year. Obscure as the street where it
stands may have been, it was full of associations for
Wren. In Friday Street was the house where his
aunt Anna lived, and where his uncle Matthew ' lay,'
when summoned to that memorable conference
with Bishop Andrewes. Hard by in the parish of
S. Peter's, Eastcheap, now incorporated with that of
S. Matthew, Christopher's merchant grandfather had
lived and died, and there his own father had been
born. S. Peter's churchyard was preserved, and its
single plane-tree is carefully protected.
1 It would seem from the S. Gregory's vestry books that Sir C. Wren
put up at the request of the parishioners ' a wooden tabernacle ' for the
use of both parishes. It was set up in S. Paul's Churchyard, and taken
down after a time as interfering with the building of the Cathedral.
COMPLAINTS FROM WINCHESTER. 251
S. Matthew's has a less pleasant association : the
living was for a time held by the notorious Henry
Burton, 1 the friend and ally of Prynne. Burton was
at first designed to accompany the Prince of Wales to
Spain, but doubts of his principles arising, he was
rejected and dismissed from his attendance as the
Prince's chaplain. This formed one strong motive for
the bitter spite he bore to the church of his ordination.
It is likely also that he stirred Prynne's malice against
Bishop Wren, who appears to have been Burton's
successor in the vacant chaplaincy.
The lesser details of the Surveyor-General's work
must this year have been a burden. There were
complaints from Winchester, where the sudden stop-
page of the buildings and plans for the palace caused
great inconvenience ; a complaint from Catherine
Barton, the beautiful niece of Sir Isaac Newton, widow
of Colonel Barton, who sold her farm to Charles II.,
and by the trickery of the agent never received her
money ; and a complaint of the same kind from Sir
Richard Tichbourne's son. Sir Christopher examined
both these cases carefully, and compelled the agent to
submit, and to satisfy the parties. Then there were
troubles with the Duke of Buckingham and the 'chaos '
he had made in Spring Gardens, that chaos so vividly
described in ' Peveril of the Peak.' Nobody but
Wren could give the estimates for the new stables at
S. James's Palace, or order the new planting at
Hampton Court and in Greenwich Park, or secure
1 Repertorium, p. 475. Newcourt.
252 S/X CHRISTOPHER WREN.
the proper tithes for the Rector of S. Thomas's,
Winchester.
Again, there was Verrio the painter's account for
work done at Whitehall and Windsor to be examined.
For the chapel at Whitehall Verrio demanded i,2^o/.,
and, says Wren, ' I suppose when the rest of the
ceiling and walls are finished, as they ought to be, it
may fully deserve it.' The whole bill was 2,O5O/., of
which Verrio had received already more than i,4oo/.,
so that he may be reckoned as fortunate.
It is not wonderful that in 1686, Wren attended no
meeting of the Society. Two churches were finished
this year : S. Clement's, East Cheap, and S. Mary's,
Abchurch, in Cannon Street.
S. Clement's, with its square tower and balustrade,
has within a great deal of fine oak carving, and its
ceiling adorned with one great circle with an outer
line of curious fretwork. Bishop Pearson was rector
before the Fire, and the famous treatise on the ^dctrtie?
Creed is dedicated to his parishioners there.
S. Mary's, with its quaint little round windows and
flat-topped roof, is not externally beautiful, but within
it is one of the gems which Wren bestowed on out-of-
the-way nooks : its cupola ' is gracefully supported on
eight arches and pendentives, the east end is rich with
Gibbons' carving of festoons of fruit, palm leaves and a
pelican in her piety. Much handsome work has also
been bestowed on the inside doorcases.
Wren's promise to Evelyn to employ Gibbons
was certainly redeemed ; for, besides 'the works which
1 Walks in London. A. Hare, vol. i. p. 331.
CARVERS IN WOOD. 253
have been glanced at, Gibbons was busied on the stalls of
S. Paul's choir, where, darkened but uninjured by time,
his work stands out in all the peculiar grace and tender-
ness which his chisel could give to wood. The angels
which cluster beneath the great organ seem themselves
to be taking part in the music which flows from it, and
are as unlike as possible to the lumps of marble or
wood with which other hands too often deform a
church, and which the old guide-books term ' Cupids ' !
Still, it is a physical impossibility that all the
work which bears Gibbons' name is by him and him
only.
The fame of the Cathedral, its architect, and its
carvings, was widely spread, and brought many from
the country to seek for work on the new building. Of
one of these a curious account remains. 1 A young
man, named Philip Wood, of Sudbury, Suffolk, who
had great skill in carving, came up to London to make,
if he could, sufficient fortune to enable him to marry
the daughter of his patron, a retired London merchant
named Haybittle. After long waiting in London,
without work, till his money was all but spent, he,
remembering the rich wood-work which abounded in
the churches of his native Suffolk, bethought himself
that in the Cathedral, whose progress he daily watched,
' they would surelie put carvings.' The foreman to
whom he spoke repulsed him, saying ' We want no
carpenters here.' Undiscouraged, the young man
1 For this anecdote (taken from MS. in the British Museum) I am
indebted to a number of the British Workman for 1877. It is, I think,
the foundation of Mr. J. Saunders' graceful story of Jasper Deane.
254 S'/fl CHRISTOPHER WREN.
came again day after day for a week, till at length Sir
Christopher noticed him, and learning from the fore-
man that he was ' a country fellow who troubled them
to give him some of the carving to do,' beckoned to
Wood to come and speak to him. As the young man
approached full of hope, he said, ' Friend, you want
carving work what have you been used to carve ? '
At this critical, long-desired moment the poor youth
lost his presence of mind, and instead of mentioning
the ' sundry figures of lions and elephants ' that he
had carved for Mr. Haybittle's house, stammered out,
' Please your worship, I have been used to carve
troughs.' ' Troughs ! ' said Sir Christopher ; ' then
carve me as a specimen of your skill, a sow and pigs
(it will be something in your line), and bring it to me
this day week. I shall be here.' So he went away,
with a smile at the presumption which could aspire
to step straight from such work to that of adorning
S. Paul's.
Distracted at his own folly and the loud laughter
of the workpeople, Wood rushed back to his lodging,
and but for the kind advice of his Quaker landlady,
would have given up all for lost. She wisely told him
to take Wren at his word and carve the best sow and
pigs that he could make.
He obeyed her exactly, spent his last guinea on a
block of pear-wood, and wrought with all his might to
get it ready by the appointed day. Sir Christopher
was showing the building to a party of friends,
but as soon as he saw Wood with his carving
hidden in an apron, he beckoned him forward. Wood
MAKING A FORTUNE. 255
produced his carving ; Wren looked at it a moment in
silence, and then said, ' I engage you, young man ;
attend at my office to-morrow forenoon.' Shortly
afterwards he came to Wood again and said, ' Mr.
Addison l wishes to keep your carving, and requests
me to give you ten guineas for it ; ' then with his
gentle courtesy, he added, ' Young man, I fear I did
you some injustice, but a great national work is en-
trusted to me, and it is my solemn duty to mind that
no part of the work falls into inefficient hands. Mind
and attend me to-morrow.' Wood was employed for
seven years in the Cathedral, and received considerable
sums of money ; and it is pleasant to know that he
did marry Hannah Haybittle.
Thus some of his work is in S. Paul's, and to him
London streets were indeed paved with gold. Yet
one cannot but think sadly, for one who thus succeeded,
what numbers then and now come full of hope, to the
great city, and without help or friends lose their all,
and are left without even the means of returning. To
the number of these the House of Charity, which
occupies one corner of Wren's once handsome Soho
Square, can bear but too true a testimony.
1 Probably the father of the great writer.
CHAPTER XL
1687-1696.
PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED CHURCH BUILDING ACQUITTAL OF THE
SEVEN BISHOPS JAMES II.'S FLIGHT WILLIAM AND MARY
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS HAMPTON COURT GREENWICH HOSPITAL
RICHARD WHITTINGTON S. PAUL'S ORGAN.
Be it enacted then
By the fair laws of thy firm-pointed pen,
God's services no longer shall put on
A sluttishness for pure religion ;
No longer shall our churches' frighted stones
Lie scattered like the burnt and martyr'd bones
Of dead devotion.
On a treatise on Charity. RICHARD CRASHAW.
CHAPTER XI.
WREN'S parliamentary career was soon interrupted, for
King James dissolved, in 1687, an assembly which had
done so little to forward his views.
Church building went on apace. S. Andrew's,
Holborn, which, though the fire had not reached it,
was in a ruinous state, was rebuilt and made a large
handsome stone church, with an interior very like that
of S. James's, Westminster. The tower was merely
repaired and not rebuilt.
Christ Church, Newgate, on the site of the old
Franciscan Monastery of Grey Friars, had formerly
been a magnificent edifice : the choir only was rebuilt
by Wren, and sufficed to make a large parish church,
which was filled with handsome carving ; a graceful
pillared steeple was added in 1 704.
S. Margaret Pattens, 1 in Rood Lane, was finished
in 1687 : built of brick and stone with a tall tower and
graceful spire, and much enriched by carving within.
Its existence has been threatened, but it stands out an
honourable, though fortunately not at all a solitary ex-
ample, of a well-worked, and therefore well-filled, City
1 The name is often supposed to originate in the patten-makers who
are said to have lived near, but its origin is more probably ' S. Margaret
with the Paten?
S 3
26o SfX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
church, and it is to be hoped may defy its threatened
destroyers.
Early in the following year came the trial of those
Seven Bishops who refused to publish in church the
King's declaration of liberty of conscience. 1
It was perhaps the most unwise thing that James
II. ever did, and as the Bishops passed to the barge
that was to take them to the Tower, rank upon rank of
kneeling people besought their blessing. It was an
event to move Wren greatly : he could remember when
a child hearing of Archbishop Laud's imprisonment,
and the long years of Bishop Wren's captivity were
frequently cheered by his nephew's visits to the Tower.
Most of those who now passed to that ill-omened
abode were his friends or acquaintance. Bishop
Turner of Ely was on the S. Paul's Commission ;
Bishop Lloyd of S. Asaph while rector of S. Martin's
had baptized Wren's daughter and youngest son ;
Bishop White he had known in the days when he
was rector. Bishop Ken at Winchester, and Arch-
bishop Bancroft had been for years his steady friends.
1 'Not,' says Evelyn (Diary ; May 18, 1688), 'that they were averse
to the publisheing of it for want of due tendernesse towards Dissenters
. . . but that the Declaration being founded on such a dispensing power
as might at pleasure set aside all laws ecclesiastical, .it appeared to them
illegal and .... a point of such consequence that they could not so
far make themselves parties to it as the reading of it in church during
the time of Divine Service would have done.' They were sent to the
Tower June 8, for refusing to give bail for their appearance. They
refused on the ground that to do so would have prejudiced their peerage.
The bishops were Francis Turner of Ely, William Lloyd of S. Asaph,
Thomas Ken of Bath and Wells, John Lake of Chichester, Sir Jonathan
Trelawney of Bristol, Thomas White of Peterborough, and William
Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury.
DEATH OF MRS. HOLDER. 261
If he failed in dignity at one crisis, there is abundant
material in Sancroft's letters, and in the rest of his life,
to show he must have been a charming companion and
capable of inspiring sincere affection.
They remained in the Tower about a week, and on
June 29 were triumphantly acquitted. The story of
their acquittal has been told once for all by Lord
Macaulay and need not be re-told here. London was
full of illuminations, the favourite device being seven
candles the tallest central one representing the arch-
bishop and all the newly-hung bells of the city were
set ringing. Wren had private sorrows to hinder him
from entering into the public rejoicing : his only sur-
viving sister, Susan, died just at this time, and Wren
must have been watching by her on the very day oi
the Bishops' acquittal. A little later, he, and her
husband, Dr. William Holder, brought her body to the
crypt of S. Paul's and laid her there. The epitaph,
on a marble monument, is written with all the diffuse-
ness of style common to those of that time, but is
touching from its real affection.
The crypt of S. Paul's was of course the part of the
building first finished. Long ago Wren had spoken of
' the quantity of work to be done in the dark,' and it
certainly proved enormous. The crypt of S. Paul's is
one of the largest and most intricate that exists, ex-
tending under the entire church, not the choir only, as
is the case in S. Peter's at Rome. The dimness of a
London atmosphere renders it hard to get much effect
of light and shade, but on a clear day the curious twi-
light effect is striking. There are all the tombs which
262 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
were preserved from the old cathedral, there are now
the remains of some of our greatest dead, and there is
the Church of S. Faith, the floor of which is now
being slowly covered with a beautiful mosaic. 1
When, however, Sir Christopher laid his sister
there, all was empty and not fully complete ; the cluster
of pillars and arches that sustain the great dome with
their massive strength must have been but newly
finished.
Only one church was completed by Sir Christopher
in this troubled year, that of S. Michael, Crooked
Lane ; a handsome stone church with a stately tower
and spire. It contained the tomb of a famous city
worthy, Sir William Walworth :
Who with courage stout and manly might
Slew Wat Tyler in King Richard's sight. 2
This association had no value in the eyes of the Cor-
poration of London, with whom it might have weighed :
they were as indifferent to this lesser reason as to the
infinitely higher claim of consecrated ground, and in
1830 the church was swept away for the new London
Bridge.
All through the year the relations between King
James and his people were growing more and more
strained. Messages were passed and repassed between
many of the high officials and the Prince of Orange,
and in their dread of the Church of Rome, the people
forgot what they had suffered under the tyranny of
1 The mechanical part is done by the women convicts of Woking
Gaol.
2 New Vieiv of London, vol. ii. p. 423.
WILLIAM AND MARY. 263
the Puritan sects. Hurry and confusion were every-
where ; as the year advanced the Prince of Orange's
landing was hourly reported on all parts of the coast.
Too late King James took some of the measures which,
taken earlier, might have saved all ; and on November
5, 1688, the Prince landed at Brixham in Torbay.
For some time all was confusion and all private
business was suspended. Early in the next year a con-
vention was called of the Lords and Commons, and
the crown offered to William and Mary. The Queen's
behaviour, the absence of even the show of feeling
for her father, were much remarked on at the time
and are a great stain on her memory. A Parliament
was called on the i3th of February, to which Sir C.
Wren was returned for the borough of New Windsor.
His election was set aside for a technical error in the
manner of his return, but he was instantly re-elected.
It is evident from this that he took the new oath of
allegiance, probably holding, with Evelyn and other
honourable men, that King James had abdicated and
that therefore the throne was vacant. The S. Paul's
commission was renewed, and amid all the changes
the work there went on ; making in its steady, un-
deviating progress, its unity of design, a fair type of
the growth of the spiritual church, despite the sharp
contrast apparently existing between the peaceful,
regular growth of the material edifice, and the hin-
drances and trials that beset the spiritual one. Those
were the days when some of the best and most learned
churchmen, unable to reconcile the contradiction of
the two oaths, lost high office, honours, and all pros-
264 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
pects of worldly success by becoming ' non-jurors/ It
should be borne in mind that it was on no doctrinal
ground that they left the Communion of the Church
in England, but simply because, considering James
II. still as King, they could not honestly take an oath
of allegiance to William as his successor, or attend
services where an usurper was prayed for as the right-
ful sovereign.
It was a most grievous blow to the Church, by no
means recovered from the struggle with Puritanism or
from the semi- Puritan clergy she had been constrained
to accept. Yet, in the midst of all these misfortunes,
thus much at least was gained ; men were forced to
understand the true grounds of their position and to
learn, as the Church in Scotland learnt by a sharper
lesson, that State aid, and State protection, are not
among the essentials of the Church. The misfortune
of so many friends, and especially that of good Arch-
bishop Sancroft, must greatly have moved Wren, and
it is provoking that his grandson has given no intima-
tion of his ancestor's views, not even saying on which
side he voted in the Convention Parliament, which
offered the crown to William and Mary.
Wren certainly knew how to manage his Windsor
constituents. He had erected from time to time
several buildings there, among which was the Town
Hall, built upon arches, with a wide vaulted space
below, which is now used as the Corn Exchange.
When all was finished, the mayor and corporation
came in state to inspect the new building, and to stamp
with their approval another of the great architect's
ADDITIONAL PROPS. 265
works. Much seems to have been approved of, but
one member of the municipality declared in alarm that
the room above the vaulted space was inadequately
supported and would one day fall in.
In vain Wren, who had built vault after vault and
knew to a nicety what weight each of his arches would
bear, explained the perfect security of the upper room ;
the anxious man could not be pacified and the archi-
tect promised to put two columns below. He did so,
and the alderman was calmed, little knowing that Sir
Christopher's columns when complete had about half
an inch of space between themselves and the ceiling
they were supposed to support ! Wren must many a
time have laughed to himself when he passed that
way.
Two other buildings of his, one of which is called
'the Bank House,' stand in Windsor not far from what
are known as ' The Hundred Steps.' There is another
house there of his design, now used by the freemasons
and the volunteers. Wren sent his eldest son to
Eton, where the boy was at this time, and afterwards
to Pembroke College, where his name alone was a
recommendation.
In 1689 Wren finished building the College of
Physicians in Warwick Lane ; as far as the confined
space would admit, the front was handsome, but the
dome and its ornament provoked the satire of Garth
in the opening lines of his ' Dispensary ' : l
1 Canto i. Samuel Garth, a physician of some fame, who provided
for Dryden's funeral in Westminster Abbey. Died 1718.
266 .S7./? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Not far from that most celebrated place, 1
Where angry justice shows her awful face,
Where little villains must submit to fate
That great ones may enjoy the world in state ;
There stands a dome majestic to the sight,
And sumptuous arches bear its oval height ;
A golden globe, placed high with artful skill
Seems, to the distant sight, a gilded pill.
Whatever its exterior defects may have been, the
theatre within was arranged with masterly skill so as
to enable all the students to see and hear during the
lectures and demonstration. The difficult science of
acoustics was one to which Wren gave much attention,
and his churches are, in this respect, very successful.
The Physicians retained the college Wren built for
them until very recent times, when they moved into
the present building which does not adorn Trafalgar
Square.
Not all the Halls belonging to the City Companies
perished by the fire, though many suffered severely.
Wren, and Jarman, the City Architect, rebuilt and
repaired some seventy-nine of them. 2
Of these, a large number have been altered or
pulled down, but a few may be mentioned.
The Mercers' Hall in Cheapside ; the Grocers', a
portion of which was long used by the Bank of
England ; the Haberdashers', where the rich ceiling
was its great ornament ; the Tallow Chandlers', with its
interior colonnade and its fountain ; the Apothecaries',
one of the largest in the City ; the Stationers' ; and, last
but not least, the Alderman's Court adjoining Guildhall,
1 Newgate. 2 See Appendix ii.
HAMPTON COURT. 267
rebuilt almost immediately after the fire ; a very hand-
some room, rich in carving, and finely proportioned.
S. Edmund the King, in Lombard Street, was
finished this year. The necessities of the site caused
Wren to build it north and south, the altar being at the
north end. The front to Lombard Street, the only
part of the outside visible, is of stone and very pictur-
esque with its belfry and little domed spire. The
interior has been lately re-arranged with a wise treat-
ment of the old work and carving. The ' marble
font possesses, like that of S. Mary Abchurch, a
very beautiful canopied cover; it is in two stages,
the lower being domed, and above are four seated
figures of the Cardinal Virtues ; it is railed in and is
on the west side of the church.' l
S. Margaret's, Lothbury, belongs to the same date,
and was rebuilt of stone. Some years later Wren
bestowed much rich wood carving on the interior. He
chose the Corinthian style for this building and handled
it with considerable skill.
Queen Mary, who had the Stuart love for genius,
was invariably gracious and even friendly to Wren,
with whom she held many a conversation on matters
of art and science. He considered her to be very well
versed in all these subjects and enjoyed discussing
them freely with her. Queen Mary was much charmed
with the situation of Cardinal Wolsey's old palace
of Hampton Court, and engaged Wren to make
alterations there. The old buildings were accord-
ingly in part pulled down and two sets of royal
1 R. I. B. A. Sessional Papers, 1876-7, p. 162.
268 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
apartments built ; Queen Mary, though she amused
herself with planning the gardens and making sugges-
tions, had yet the wisdom to defer to Wren's better
taste and knowledge. Her husband, with characteris-
tic obstinacy, insisted on his own ideas, thereby dwarfing
the cloisters and marring much of the architecture. It
is, however, fair to say that King William always
owned that the defects l were his, the merits, Wren's ;
and these merits are very great, as anyone who knows
the fine old palace with its rich red brick, its arcades,
and the quaint formal gardens will readily allow. He
built, at about the same time, the Pavilion and Ranger's
House in Bushey Park.
Kensington Palace was also under Wren's hands.
It had been the property of Lord Chancellor Finch,
and was sold by his son to William III. Wren added
another story to the old house, which forms the north
front of the palace, and also built the south front. The
defect of the building as seen at the end of the long
avenue of Kensington Gardens is its want of height,
but on a nearer approach this fault is much diminished.
King William was in the midst of his Irish campaign
while the work went on, but found time to send back
repeated inquiries as to its progress, and complaints
when that did not answer his expectations. There,
five years later, Queen Mary died, to the regret of all
her subjects, and even of her cold-hearted husband.
Nor were these the only palaces which Wren
1 Horace Walpole says that Wren's descendant assured him that
Sir C. Wren had prepared a far better design for Hampton Court which
Queen Mary preferred, but it was overruled by William III. This may
only mean the cloisters, as Walpole is not accurate. Anec., vol. iii.
GREENWICH AS A HOSPITAL. 269
contrived for Queen Mary. That of Greenwich had
been begun by Inigo Jones for Henrietta Maria, and
a wing had been built for Charles II., but it had
been left unfinished. Wren, who knew Greenwich
well from his visits to the Observatory, and who took
a great interest in sailors, observing the entire lack of
any refuge for them in illness, proposed to Queen
Mary the magnificent plan of making the palace into a
seaman's hospital. The Queen willingly entered into
the idea, and proposed to add to the Queen's House,
as it was called, so as to make it a dwelling for herself,
at the same time. Evelyn, Sir Stephen Fox and
others, came readily into the scheme and contributed
liberally. Wren's contribution, though not in money,
was a liberal one also ; for he gave his time, labour,
skill and superintendence, despite his innumerable
other works.
The plans were prepared and money collected, but
nothing was actually done until some years later.
Wren's eldest son had in the meantime finished his
Eton and Cambridge career and had obtained, by his
father's interest, the post, which must surely have been
a sinecure ! of Assistant Deputy Engrosser. He
does not seem to have inherited any of the brilliant
genius of his father, though apparently of very fair
abilities and with much taste for antiquities. Far more
like Sir Christopher was his daughter Jane, who shared
his tastes and studies and took a vivid interest in his
work. She added to her other accomplishments that of
being a very skilful musician. She was never married,
but remained all her life her father's affectionate
companion.
270 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Wren's old friend, Dr. Bathurst of Trinity College,
Oxford, appealed to him, in the spring of 1692, for help
in the buildings which were still going on there.
' Worthy Sir, When I sent Mr. Phips (the sur-
veyor of the buildings) to wait on you with a scheme
of our new building, he told me how kindly you was
pleased to express your remembrance of me, and
that you would send me your thoughts concerning
our design ; and particularly of the pinnacles, the
which as they were superadded to our first draught,
so I must confess I would be well content to have
omitted with your approbation. The season for our
falling to work again will now speedily come on ;
which makes me the more hasten to entreat from
you the trouble of two or three lines in relation to
the promises whereby you will farther oblige,
' Sir, your old friend, and ever faithful servant,
' R. BATHURST.'
Wren's answer comes promptly, and shows his
generous readiness to help the schemes of others, no
matter how pressing his own work was.
' Sir, I am extremely glad to hear of your good
health, and, what is more, that you are vigorous and
active, and employed in building. I considered the
design you sent me of your Chapel which in the main
is very well, and I believe your work is too far
advanced to admit of any advice : however, I have
sent my thoughts, which will be of use to the mason
to form his mouldings.
HE SENDS HIS THOUGHTS. 271
' He will find two sorts of cornice ; he may use
either. I did not well comprehend how the tower
would have good bearing upon that side where the
stairs rise. I have ventured a change of the stairs,
to leave the wall next the porch of sufficient
scantling to bear that part which rises above the
roofs adjoining.
' There is no necessity for pinnacles, and those
expressed in the printed design are much too slender.
' I have given another way to the rail and baluster,
which will admit of a vase that will stand properly
upon the pilaster. 1
' Sir, I wish you success and health and long life,
with all the affection that is due from,
' Your obliged, faithful friend, and humble servant,
' CHRISTOPHER WREN.
' P.S. A little deal box, with a drawing in it, is
sent by Thomas Moore, Oxford carrier.'
In the same year the Church of S. Andrew by the
Wardrobe 2 was finished ; recent alterations in the city
have benefited this building ; it now stands well above
a flight of steps, with its square tower, and the red
brick which contrives to be red and not black, and
stone dressings.
Two years later Wren rebuilt All Hallows, Lombard
1 This plan was adopted. Dr. Bathurst died in May 1704 at the
age of 86.
2 So called from being in the street where formerly was a strong
tower where several kings, and Oueen Philippa, Edward the Third's
wife, lodged, also called the Queen's Wardrobe, as the building near S.
Andrew's was the King's Wardrobe. New View, vol. ii. p. 427.
272 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Street, on an ancient foundation : outside it is one of
his plainest and most solid churches, inside he spent
upon it much rich work and curious carving both in
stone and wood.
S. Michael Royal, College Hill, belongs to this
same date, and was built under Wren's directions
by Edward Strong, his master-mason. It is a well-
lit, handsome church with a tower at one corner, and
contains an altar-piece of singular beauty, carved by
Grinling Gibbons in ' right wainscot oak.' The old
church was founded and made a collegiate church of
S. Spiritus and S. Mary by no less a person than Sir
Richard Whittington, three times Lord Mayor of
London (1397, 1406, 1419), whose fame, with that of
his cat, survives in the well-known story. He founded
also another college, known as the Whittington College,
and endowed it with a divinity lecture * for ever.'
Edward VI., however, suppressed both the colleges
and the lecture, though the Whittington College was
allowed partially to survive as almshouses for poor
men. Whittington l was buried in this church, but
his monument perished in the Fire.
In the following year Wren added a well-propor-
tioned, peculiar steeple, the gift of the parishioners, to
the little stone Church of S. Vedast 2 in Foster Lane,
1 ' The said Sir R. Whittington, as he was three times Lord Mayor,
was as often buried in this church ; first, by his executors under a fine
monument ; second, by the avaricious parson for the riches he hoped to
find ; and a third time by his friends, to interr him in lead under his
monument as at first.' New View> p. 428.
- ' S. Vedast was Bishop of Arras, A.D. 484, a man of great holiness
and charity. Once he met with a cruel bear prowling in the ruins of
an old Christian church ; at his command the bear departed into the
CLIPT WINGS. 273
a church to which a painful interest now attaches from
the recent persecution and imprisonment of its rector,
the Rev. T. P. Dale.
The church was decorated, as was Wren's custom,
with fret-work, carving, and stucco, but is not otherwise
remarkable.
S. Mary's, Somerset, or Somers'hithe, was likewise
finished in this year : a stone church with two aisles
surmounted by a handsome cornice and balustrade ;
its great .feature was the beautiful pinnacled tower,
which, though the church is gone, still stands a per-
petual memorial of that reckless disregard of God's
honour, which has counted any common want, any
farthing of money, of more importance than the claims
of His service, or than gifts solemnly offered to Him. 1
The Cathedral meanwhile grew slowly, though
many a hindrance annoyed its architect. The Parlia-
ment took part of the fabric money and applied it to
the expenses of King William's wars, so that, as Sir
Christopher complained, his wings were clipt and the
Church was deprived of its ornaments. 2 The organ was
wilderness and never returned there again. S. Vedast is usually pictured
with a bear.' Repertoiium, Newcourt, vol. i. p. 563.
1 Fourteen churches (eleven of which were built by Wren) have been
destroyed since 1781 ; during which time the increase of the City
population has been by hundreds of thousands. The only attempt at an
apology for this destruction has been based on the fact that on Sundays
the City is empty. On so poor a plea as this the churches have been
closely shut throughout the other days of the week, their incumbents
have lived far away, leaving their parishioners uncared for ; and then,
when a grudgingly given Sunday service has been poorly attended, have
hastened first to close and then to help in destroying the buildings which
reproached them ; and have called it ' thinning the City churches.' See
on this subject, Sessional Papers, 1876-7, R. I. B. A.
a Three Cathedrals, Longman, p. 151.
T
274 S/A' CHRISTOPHER WREN.
another annoyance. Sir Christopher's wish and in-
tention was to place the organ where it now is, on
either side of the choir, in order to leave the vista
clear from the west door to the altar, which in his
design stood grandly raised under a handsome canopy.
This was overruled, and the organ was to be placed in a
gallery cutting right across the entrance of the choir
With his wonted philosophy, Wren bent his mind
to reducing as much as possible the injury to the
architectural effect, by keeping the pipes as low as
he could. But in the builder of the organ, Bernard
Smith, or ' Father ' Smith, as he is called, Wren had a
difficult person to deal with. Far from lowering the
pipes, Smith made them higher than in his estimate,
so that the case and ornaments had to be enlarged,
and Sir Christopher complained bitterly that the
Cathedral ' was spoilt by that box of . whistles.' The
rival organ builder, Renatus Harris, if indeed he
was the author of an anonymous paper, called ' Queries
about the S. Paul's Organ,' l was not sparing in his
criticisms. One query asks ' Whether Sir C. Wren
wou'd not have been well pleas'd to have receiv'd
such a proposal from the organ builder of S. Paul's,
as shou'd have erected an organ, so as to have
separated twenty foot in the middle, as low as the
gallery, and thereby a full and airy prospect of the
whole length of the church, and six fronts with
towers as high as requisite ? '
This question is easy enough to answer, and for-
tunately Wren's wishes have been at last fulfilled by
1 Documents illustrating the History of S. Paul's, p. 165-72.
A GRAND DESIGN. 275
that division of the organ, which now leaves the desired
clear view from the great western doors to the altar.
Harris, in 1712, proposed to erect a great organ over
the west doors of the Cathedral, ' study'd to be in all
respects made the most artful, costly and magni-
ficent piece of organ-work that ever has hitherto been
invented. The use of it will be for the reception
of the Queen, on all publick occasions of thanks-
givings for the good effect of peace or war, upon
all state days, S. Cecilia's Day, the entertainment of
foreigners of quality, and artists, and on all times of
greatest concourse etc., and by the advice and
assistance of Sir C. Wren, the external figure and
ornaments may be contrived so proportionable to
the order of the building, as to be a decoration to
that part of the edifice and no obstruction to any of
the rest Sir Christopher Wren approves it.'
Alas ! at that time Wren's approval was enough to
determine the majority of the commission to reject
any plan thus sanctioned, and Renatus Harris's grand
design survives on paper alone.
T 2
CHAPTER XII.
1697-1699.
OPENING OF S. PAULS CHOIR A MOVEABLE PULPIT LETTER TO
HIS SON AT PARIS ORDER AGAINST SWEARING PETER THE GREAT
s. DUNSTAN'S SPIRE MORNING PRAYER CHAPEL OPENED
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wit.
Two Gentlemen of Verona.
CHAPTER XII.
ONE serious trouble and hindrance in all public works
was the state of the coinage. The money had been so
clipped and defaced, that no coin was worth its pro-
fessed value, and for some time the expedients used
by the Government failed to lighten the pressure.
In pay ing such an army of workmen as those employed
about S. Paul's, the inconvenience must have amounted
to positive distress. Scattered here and there through
Evelyn's diary are many references to the ' great con-
fusion and distraction ' it occasioned.
A sudden subsidence of a large part of the ground
at Portland, close to the quarries set apart for Wren's use,
caused an inconvenient delay in bringing the stone to
London, but yet the work progressed, and on Decem-
ber 2nd, 1697, *h e choir was opened for service.
It was the occasion of the thanksgiving for the
peace of Ryswick, which, though it brought little glory
to England, was yet heartily welcomed as the close of
a long and exhausting war.
King William went to Whitehall, and heard
Bishop Burnet's flattering sermon, while Bishop Comp-
ton preached for the first time in the new S. Paul's.
No report of his sermon has come down to us. The
choir was not yet enriched with the carvings of
2$o SfX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Gibbons ; but the pulpit appears to have been very
remarkable in its way : Sir Christopher had placed it
011 wheels, perhaps with a design of using it afterwards,
for services under the dome, not unlike those we are
now familiar with.
A pulpit on wheels was a novelty, which gave rise,
we can well believe, to many squibs, one of which has
been preserved.
A faithful copy of the Verses, lately fastened upon the pulpit
of S. Paufs Choir.
TO THE ARCHITECT UPON HIS HAPPY INVENTION OF A PULPIT ON
WHEELS FOR THE USE OF S. PAUL'S CHOIR.
This little Structure (Excellent Sir Kit)
Holds forth to us that You bestowed more Wit
In Building it than on all Paul's beside ;
This shows the Principles, that but the Pride
Of its Inhabitants ; True Sons of Saul,
For he (Good Man) became All things to All,
That by all Sorts of Means he might gain some.
They too for Gain would follow him to Rome,
This Passively Obedient thing will go as
They'd have it, or to Mecca, Rome, or Troas ;
All one to it, if forward Hawl'd or back,
'Twill run a Holy Stage for Will or Jack ;
And truckle to and fro' 'twixt Cause and Cause,
Just as Strongest Pull of Interest draws.
But if the Pulpit be a Vital Part
O' th' Church, or as the Doctors say her Heart,
Why don't you fix that also on a Rock
And let the Steeple Roost the Weather-Cock^
Where if a Puff of Strong Temptations blow,
It might remind the Staggering Saints and Crow.
Improve the Thought, Dear Sir, and let St. Paul's
Wise Fane be this new Going Cart for Souls. 1
It hardly needs the hint that these lines were
1 Given in Documents illustrating the History of S. PauFs, p. 157.
A FOREIGN TOUR. 281
affixed to ' the Dean's side of the pulpit/ to read in
them a bitter satire on Dean Sherlock, whose sudden
change of front relative to the non-jurors, and accept-
ance of the Deanery of S. Paul's, laid him open to
the grave suspicion of having acted from interested
motives, and stirred up much vehement animosity.
A spirited, if not an impartial, account of this con-
troversy, is given by Lord Macaulay. 1
Sir Christopher's remarkable invention appears to
have survived the laughter against it, and to have
remained in the Cathedral until 1803.
The vaults of S. Paul's were opened shortly after
this thanksgiving to receive the body of Dr. White,
the non-juring Bishop of Peterborough, whose funeral
was attended by Bishop Turner, Bishop Lloyd and
forty nonjuring clergymen.
At the beginning of the following year, as soon as
travelling was possible, Wren sent his son Christo-
pher to Paris ; not indeed with the intention of his
making that grand tour which a few years later was
supposed to finish a young gentleman's education, but
that he might acquire a little experience and know-
ledge of the world. The young man, evidently, had
other ideas, spent a good deal of his money, and then
wrote home to his family a letter complaining in true
English fashion, of the climate and the cookery of
France, and asking leave to continue his journey to
Italy. Sir Christopher's reply has been preserved ; and
in its folio sheet and brown ink exists in the ' Parentalia.'
1 History of England, vol. iv. p. 44-51. Sherlock was born 1641, died
1707.
282 S/X CHRISTOPHER WREN.
It is, I think, so charming as to double one's regret
that so very few of his letters have been preserved.
1 < Whitehall, March 7.
' My dear Son, I hope by this time you are pretty
well satisfied of the condition of the climate you are
in ; if not, I believe you will ere Lent be over ; and
will learne to dine upon sallad ; arid morue with egges
will scarce be allowed : if you thinke you can dine
better cheape in Italy you can trie, but I think the
passing of the Alpes and other dangers of disbanded
armies and abominable Lodgings will ballance
that advantage ; but the seeing of fine buildings I
perceive temptes you, and your companion, Mr.
Strong, whose inclination and interest leades him,
by neither of which can I find you are mov'd ; but
how doth it concerne you ? You would have it to
say hereafter that you have seen Rome, Naples and
a hundred other fine places ; a hundred others can
say as much and more ; calculate whither this be
worth the expence and hazard as to any advantage
at youre returne. I sent you to France at a time of
businesse and when you might make your observa-
tions and find acquaintance who might hereafter
be usefull to you in the future concernes of your life :
if this be your ayme I willingly let you proceed,
provided you will soon returne, for these reasons, the
little I have to leave you is unfortunately involved
in trouble, and your presence would be a comfort to
me, to assist me, not only for my sake, but your
own that you might understand your affaires, before
1 The year is not given in the MS. original, but it must be 1698.
'/ WILL NOT DISCONTENT YOU? 283
it shall please God to take me from you, which if
suddenly will leave you in perplexity and losse. I
doe not say all this out of parsimony, for what you
spend will be out of what will in short time, be your
owne, but I would have you be a man of businesse
as early as you can bring your thoughts to it. I
hope, by your next you will give me account of the
reception of our ambassador ; l of the intrigues at
this time between the two nations, of the establish-
ment of the commerce, and of anything that may be
innocently talked of without danger, and reflection,
that I may perceive whither you look about you or
noe and penetrate into what occurres, or whither the
world passes like a pleasant dream, or the amuse-
ment of fine scenes in a play without considering
the plot. If you have in ten weeks spent half your
bill of exchange besides your gold, I confesse your
money will not hold out, either abroad for yourself
or for us at home to supply you, especially if you
goe for Italy, which voyage forward and backward
will take up more than twenty weekes : thinke well
of it, and let me hear more from you, for though I
would advise you, I will not discontent you. Mr.
Strong hath profered credit by the same merchant
he uses for his son, and I will thinke of it, but
before I change, you must make up your account
with your merchant, and send it to me. My hearty
1 William, Earl of Portland, whose embassy was of extraordinary
splendour. Of intrigues there must have been plenty, for at the very
moment that Louis XIV. was for the first- time recognising the Prince
of Orange as King of England, King James II. was residing at S.
Germains, surrounded by his own Court.
284 $//? CHRISTOPHER WREN.
service to young Mr. Strong and tell him I am obliged
to him for your sake. I blesse God for your health,
and pray for the continuance of it through all adven-
tures till it pleases him to restore you to your
Sister and friends who wish the same as doth
' Your most affectionate Father,
' CHR. WREN.
' P.S. Poor Billy continues in his indisposition,
and I fear is lost to me and the world, to my great
discomfort and your future sorrow.'
What answer the younger Christopher sent does
not appear ; but his father did not ' discontent ' him ;
the young man did make the journey to Italy, then
such a formidable undertaking, and was ever after
reckoned a very accomplished and travelled gentleman.
'Young Mr. Strong' must have been the son of Sir
Christopher's faithful master-mason, Edward Strong,
one of a great family of builders and stone-cutters ; I
suppose the ' poor Billy ' of the postscript to have been
the writer's youngest son, then nearly nineteen, who
however recovered and outlived his father by about
fifteen years.
The Royal Society had sustained a severe loss
by Charles II.'s death, and if King James took
little interest in their discussions, William III. was
utterly indifferent. Still it had won a certain position
of its own, and was able to keep its steady course.
Wren remained one of the members who attended
most regularly and contributed to discussions on a
variety of subjects, though not perhaps on the ' jessa-
ORDER AGAINST SWEARING. 285
mine-scented gloves,' which figure so often in Pepys'
diary, the secret of whose perfumery Wren once under-
took to find out. He was again chosen Grand Master
of the Freemasons, and continued in that office until
1702.
His friend and fellow-member in the Royal Society,
Robert Boyle, had written a book called 'A Free
Discourse against Swearing,' which was published
after his death. Wren followed this up by an order
which he had affixed in many parts of S. Paul's, while
the building went on :
' Whereas, among labourers, &c. that ungodly cus-
tom of swearing is too frequently heard, to the dis-
honour of God and contempt of authority; and to
the end, therefore, that such impiety may be utterly
banished from these works, intended for the service
of God and the honour of religion it is ordered that
customary swearing shall be a sufficient crime to
dismiss any labourer that comes to the call, and the
clerk of the works, upon sufficient proof, shall dismiss
them accordingly, and if any master, working by
task, shall not, upon admonition, reform this pro-
fanation among his apprentices, servants and labour-
ers, it shall be construed his fault ; and he shall be
liable to be censured by the Commissioners.'
Such was Sir Christopher's care for his grand work :
it was intended for the service of God, and therefore
was to have no blemish which Wren's diligence could
avoid. He was constantly there and shrank neither
from fatigue nor from risk. The famous Duchess of
286 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Maryborough, in her quarrels with Vanbrugh over the
building of Blenheim, complained bitterly that he asked
3OO/. a year for himself and a salary for his clerk,
' when it is well-known that Sir Christopher Wren was
content to be dragged up in a basket three or four
times a week to the top of S. Paul's, and at great
hazard, for 2OO/. a year.' Probably it was because her
Grace considered his charges so moderate that, after
her last quarrel with Vanbrugh, she engaged Sir Chris-
topher to build Marlborough House, at the corner of
Pall Mall. The site presented great difficulties, but
the building in red brick and stone was a handsome
one, and lately has been much enlarged. Vanbrugh's
first start in life was his being engaged by Wren to
act as clerk of the works to the buildings at Greenwich.
Gibbs and Hawksmoor were also pupils of Wren's,
and worked under him at some of the innumerable
works on which he was engaged. The building of
Greenwich was vigorously continued, and in I7O5, 1
' they began to take in wounded and worn-out seamen,
who are exceedingly well provided for.'
At the beginning of 1698, Peter the Great made
his extraordinary voyage to England and took posses-
sion of Evelyn's house, Sayes Court, at Deptford, in
order to be near the -dockyard and inspect the ship-
building. He was anything but a desirable tenant.
' There is a house full of people and right nasty,' wrote
Evelyn's servant. 'The Czar lies next your library,
and dines in the parlour next your study. He dines
at ten o'clock and six at night, is very seldom at
1 Evelyn's Diary, June, no date of day.
.9. nmVSTAN'S SPIRE. 287
home a whole day, very often in the King's yard,
or by water, dressed in several dresses. The King
is expected here this day, the best parlour is pretty
clean for him to be entertained. The King pays for
all he has.' 1 The Czar's three months' occupancy
of Sayes Court left it a wreck, and Evelyn got Sir
Christopher, and the Royal gardener, Mr. Loudon, to
go down and estimate the repairs which would be
necessary. They allowed I5O/. in their report to the
Treasury, but could not by any money replace the
beautiful holly hedge through which Peter the Great
had been trundled in a wheel-barrow, or repair the
garden he had laid waste.
In 1699, Wren finished the last of those City
churches which the Fire had injured or destroyed.
S. Dunstan's in the East had suffered severely by the
Fire : the walls of the church had not fallen, but the
interior had been much damaged and the monument to
the famous sailor and discoverer, Sir John Hawkins,
who was buried there, perished. The old church had
a lofty wooden spire cased with lead, which of course
fell and was consumed. When Sir Christopher had
repaired the body of the building the parishioners were
anxious to have back the spire also, and Dame Dionis
Williamson, a Norfolk lady, who had been a great bene-
factress to S. Mary's, Bow, gave 4OO/. towards this ob-
ject. It is one of the most curious of all Wren's spires,
as it rests on four arches springing from the angles of the
tower. Three more such spires exist, two in Scotland
and one at Newcastle. Tradition says that the steeple
1 Evelyn's Diary, Jan. 30, 1698.
288 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
of S. Dunstan's was the design or the suggestion of
Wren's daughter Jane. Perhaps, like the leaning
tower of Pisa, it is more wonderful than satisfactory
to the eye, but Sir Christopher was certainly proud of
it and confident in its stability. Great crowds assem-
bled to see the supports taken away, and Wren watched
with a telescope, says the story, on London Bridge for
the rocket which announced that all was safely done,
but it is hardly probable that he was anxious about the
result.
Four years later, when the tempest known as the
' great storm ' raged in England, destroying twelve
ships in the Royal navy, many merchant vessels,
and a great number of buildings, some one came
with a long face to tell Sir Christopher, that 'all the
steeples in London had suffered ; ' he replied at
once, ' Not S. Dunstan's, I am sure.' He was per-
fectly right, and the account given of the others was an
exaggeration.
On February i, 1699, the Morning Prayer Chapel
of S. Paul's was opened for service. Later in the same
month, a fire broke out at the west end of the choir,
where ' Father Smith ' was still at work. It caused con-
siderable alarm, and was got under with some damage,
especially to two of the pillars, and to a decorated
arch. The gilding also lost some of its brightness.
A nameless poem T fixes the date of this fire, which
has been much disputed. It may have been in con-
sequence of this alarm that Sir Christopher covered
all the woodwork of the upper parts of the Cathedral
1 Documents illustrating, etc., p. 1 58.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 289
with ' a fibrous concrete ' said to resist fire so well that
faggots might be kindled below it with impunity.
While S. Paul's was thus advancing towards its full
beauty, the care of Westminster Abbey was assigned to
Wren. Little or no attention seems to have -been spent
on it between the time of Charles I.'s reign and that in
which it was handed over to Wren.
With the energy which his sixty-seven years had
not checked, he examined the grand building where he
had worshipped as a schoolboy, and instantly ordered
some of the most needful repairs.
In 1713 he sent in a statement to Dr. Atterbury,
who was both Bishop of Rochester and Dean of West-
minster, having in that year succeeded to Wren's old
friend, Bishop Sprat : from this paper, though it is
anticipating the date, some extracts are here given.
'When I had the Honour to attend your Lordship,
to congratulate your Episcopal Dignity, and pay
that Respect which particularly concerned myself as
employed in the chief Direction of the Works and
Repairs of the Collegiate-Church of S. Peter in
Westminster, you was pleased to give me this sea-
sonable admonition, that I should consider my ad-
vanced Age ; and as I had already made fair steps
in the Reparation of that ancient and ruinous Struc-
ture, you thought it very requisite for the publick
Service, I should leave a Memorial of what I had
done, and what my Thoughts were for carrying on
the Works for the future.' Then follows the history
of the building of the abbey up to the reign of Henry
u
290 Sfft CHRISTOPHER WREN.
III., who rebuilt it 'according to the Mode which
came into Fashion after the Holy War.
' This we now call the Gothick manner of Archi-
tecture (so the Italians called what was not after
the Roman style), tho' the Goths were rather Des-
troyers than Builders ; I think it should with more
Reason be called the Saracen Style ; for those People
wanted neither Arts nor Learning, and after we in the
West had lost both, we borrowed again from them,
out of their Arabick Books, what they with great
Diligence had translated from the Greeks.
They built their Mosques round, disliking the
Christian form of a Cross : the old quarries whence the
Ancients took their large blocks of marble for whole
Columns and Architraves were neglected, for they
thought both impertinent. Their carnage was by
camels, therefore their Buildings were fitted for
small stones, and Columns of their own fancy con-
sisting of many pieces, and their Arches were pointed
without key-stones which they thought too heavy.
The Reasons were the same in our Northern Climates
abounding in free stone, but wanting marble
The Saracen mode of building seen in the East, soon
spread over Europe and particularly in France, the
Fashions of which nation we affected to imitate in all
ages, even when we were at enmity with it.' ....
Wren laments over the mixture of oak with the less-
enduring chestnut wood in the roof of the Abbey, and
the use of Rygate stone which absorbed water, and
in a frost scaled off. He says he cut all the ragged
ashlar work of Rygate stone out of the east window,
THE ORIGINAL INTENTION. 291
replacing it with durable Burford stone, and secured
all the buttresses on the south side. The north side
of the Abbey is so choked up by buildings, and so
shaken in parts by vaults rashly dug close to its but-
tresses, that he can do little.
' I have yet said nothing of King Henry Vllth's
Chapel, a nice embroidered Work and performed
with tender Caen stone, and though lately built in
comparison, is so eaten up by our Weather, that it
begs for some compassion, which I hope the
Sovereign Power will take as it is the Regal Sepul-
ture.' The most necessary outward repairs of stone-
work, he says, are one-third part done ; the north front,
and the great Rose Window there are very ruinous ;
he has prepared a proper design for them. Having
summed up the repairs still essential for the security
of the building, he proceeds to state what are, in his
judgment, the parts of the original design for the Abbey
still unfinished.
' The original intention was plainly to have had a
Steeple, the Beginnings of which appear on the
corners of the Cross, but left off before it rose so
high as the Ridge of the Roof, and the Vault of the
Quire under it, is only Lath and Plaister, now rotten
and must be taken" care of.
I have made a Design, which will not be very ex-
pensive but light, but still in the Gothick Form, and
of a Style with the rest of the structure, which I
would strictly adhere to, throughout the whole in-
U 2
292 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
tention : to deviate from the old Form would be to
run into a disagreeable mixture which no Person
of a good Taste could relish. I have varied a little
from the usual Form, in giving twelve sides to the
Spire instead of eight, for Reasons, to be discerned
upon the Model.
' The Angles of Pyramids in the Gothick Archi-
tecture were usually enriched with the Flower the
Botanists call the Calceolus, which is a proper form
to help workmen to ascend on the outside to amend
any defects, without raising large scaffolds upon
every slight occasion ; I have done the same, being
of so good Use, as well as agreeable Ornament
It is evident, as observed before, the two West
Towers were left imperfect, and have continued so
since the Dissolution of the Monastery, one much
higher than the other, though still too low for Bells,
which are stifled by the Height of the Roof above
them ; they ought certainly to be carried to an equal
Height, one story above the ridge of the Roof, still
continuing the Gothick manner, in the stone-work,
and tracery It will be most necessary to re-
build the great North Window with Portland stone, to
answer the South Rose Window which was well re-
built about forty years since ; the stair-cases at the
corners and Pyramids set upon them conformable
to the old style to make the whole of a piece
For all these new Additions I have prepared perfect
Draughts and Models, such as I conceive may agree
with the original scheme of the old architect, with-
out any modern mixtures to show my own Inventions:
< MODERN MIXTURES; 293
in like manner as I have among the Parochial
Churches of London given some few Examples
(where I was obliged to deviate from a better style),
which appear not ungraceful, but ornamental to the
East part of the city ; and it is to be hoped, by the
publick care, the West part also, in good time will
be as well adorned : and surely by nothing more
properly than a lofty Spire and Western Towers to
Westminster Abbey.'
With this, still unfulfilled hope, Wren's interesting
paper closes. Nine years afterwards he did, however,
finish the north front, commonly known as Solomon's
Porch.
Wren is so commonly spoken of as having built
and spoilt the western towers, that it is well here
to mention that his share in them is very small ; he
only restored with a careful hand the lower portion of
the towers then standing. 1 They were continued by
Hawksmoor after Wren's death, and by two other
architects in succession after the death of Hawksmoor
in 1736. No one of these had, as Wren had, the high-
minded desire to do justice to ' the original architect
without any modern mixtures of my own.'
1 Three Cathedrals^ Longman, p. 86-88.
CHAPTER XIII.
I/OO-I/OS.
MEMBER FOR WEYMOUTH RISING OF THE SAP IN TREES PRINCE
GEORGE'S STATUE JANE WREN'S DEATH THANKSGIVING AT s.
PAUL'S LETTER TO HIS SON SON MARRIES MARY MUSARD DEATH
OF MR. EVELYN QUEEN ANNE'S ACT FOR BUILDING FIFTY
CHURCHES LETTER ON CHURCH BUILDING.
' The old knight turning about his head twice or thrice to take a
survey of this great metropolis, bid me observe how thick the City was
set with churches, and that there was scarce a single steeple on this
side Temple Bar. "A most heathenish sight ! " says Sir Roger ; "there
is no religion at this end of the town. The fifty new churches will very
much mend the prospect, but church work is slow, church work is
slow."' The Spectator, No. 383.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN 1700 Wren was returned by the boroughs of
Weymouth and Melcombe Regis to a somewhat stormy
Parliament.
He was finishing several of the City churches by the
addition of towers to some, where, as at S. Magnus,
London Bridge, and S. Andrew's, Holborn, the main
parts had been previously built.
He gave a design for All Saints' Church, Isle-
worth ; it was, however, reckoned too costly, and nothing
was done until, in 1705, Sir Orlando Gee left a legacy
of 5oo/. towards the rebuilding of the church, when
Wren's design was partially adopted, and the work
done by his faithful master-mason, Edward Strong. 1
With all this work, Wren yet found time to write a
treatise on ' The rising of the sap in trees.' It is a short
treatise, evidently copied by a copyist, though a little
inclian-ink drawing at the side is probably Wren's
own. The question in dispute seems to have been
whether this natural rising of the sap contradicted the
newly discovered law of gravity.
' It is wonderful,' he says, ' to see the rising of the sap
in Trees. All will bleed more or less when they are
1 Environs of London, vol. iv. p. 458. Lysons.
298 SSX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
tapped by boring a hole through the Bark, some very
considerably, as Birch, which will afford as much
liquor every day almost as the milke of a cow ; in a
Vine when a bough is cut off it will if not stopped
bleed to death. Now by what mechanisme is water
raised to such a height, as in Palmitos to 120 foot
high ? A skillfull Engineer cannot effect this with-
out great force and a complicated engine, which
Nature doth without sensible motion ; it steals up as
freely as the water descends : the reason of this is
obscure as yett to naturalists.' After some discus-
sion of various theories, he proceeds to show by the
help of the little drawing, ' that the onely Vicissitudes
of heat and cold in ye aire is sufficient to raise the sap
to the height of the loftiest trees.' Then follows the
proof of this by mechanics refuting the notion of ' a
secret motion in nature contrary to that of the gravity,
by which plants aspire upwards.
' But though I have shown how the sap may be
mechanically raised from the Root to the top of the
loftiest trees, yett how it comes to be varyed ac-
cording to the particular nature of the Tree by a
Fermentation in the Root ; how the Raine water
entering the Root acquires a spirit that keeps it from
freezing, but also gives it such distinguishing tastes
and qualities is beyond mechanical Philosophy to
describe and may require a great collection of
Phenomena with a large history of plants to shew
how they expand the leaves and produce the Seed
and Fruit from the same Raine water so wonderfully
diversified and continued since the first Creation.'
LONDON AS IT WAS. 299
Another paper of the same date was written ' On
the surface of the terrestrial Globe,' but this does not
appear to have been preserved. Many of Sir Chris-
topher's writings and many also of his inventions were
lost by Mr. Oldenburg, the Royal Society's secretary,
of whom Wren frequently complained that he not only
neglected to enter them on the Society's Register, but
conveyed them to France and Germany, where they
appeared, attributed as inventions to those who had
stolen them.
One cannot but admire the versatility of mind
which enabled Wren, in the midst of great architec-
tural works, and endless business details, to write
papers such as these, and to digest and decide upon
Flamsteed's long letters on the Earth's motion, his
quarrels with Mr. Halley, and his measurement of the
height of the Welsh hills.
The progress of Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals,
the growth of his beautiful S. Paul's, the repairs of
the Abbey, were now the absorbing interests of Wren's
life. From the house in Whitehall which he occupied
with his daughter he could easily reach the two former
by water, or the latter on foot. Two most interesting
pictures by Canaletto, 1 giving a general view of the
city and of Westminster, enable us to realise what the
whole effect must have been in an atmosphere far
clearer than at present, before the river was cut by
iron bridges, or the city robbed of steeple or tower.
The death of King William and the accession of Queen
Anne in the spring of 1 702 made little difference to
1 In the possession of H.M. the Queen.
300 .STA* CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Wren, except to his advantage. He appears to have
been on very good terms with her, and with her Danish
husband. He is said to have built S. Anne's, Soho, 1
and to have made it externally to resemble a Danish
church as much as he could, out of compliment to Prince
George. He also gave to the Town Hall of Windsor,
a statue of Prince George, to correspond with that of
Queen Anne. The Prince is dressed in a Roman cos-
tume, and the pedestal has the following inscription :
SERENISSIMO PRINCIPI
GEORGII PRINCIPI DANIAE
HEROI OMNI SAECULO VENERANDO
CHRISTOPHORUS WREN, ARM :
POSUIT MDCCXIII.
One marvels how ' Est-il possible ' came to merit such
an inscription as this !
In 1702 Sir Christopher suffered a grievous loss
by the death of his only daughter, Jane, on the 29th
of December. She was laid in the vault of S. Paul's
close to the graves of Dr. and Mrs. Holder, 2 and her
father wrote the short Latin inscription which records
her virtues, her skill in music, and implies how loving
and how congenial a companion he had lost in her.
She was but twenty-six when she died. The sculptor,
Bird, 3 of whose power Wren had a good opinion,
/
1 I can find no proof of this, and it is not mentioned in any list of his
buildings that I have seen.
2 Dr. Holder died 1694.
3 Francis Bird, born in London 1667. His masterpiece was the
monument to Dr. Busby. He died in London 1731. A stonecutter of
the same name at Oxford is mentioned by Plot in connection with an
invention for staining marbles and cutting them like a cameo, who I am
inclined to think was a relation.
THANKSGIVING AT S. PAUL'S. 301
carved a monument in low relief, representing Jane
Wren playing on an organ ; a harp and a spinnet are
beside her, and a group of angels in the clouds above,
one of whom holds the music. It is but an ordinary
piece of monumental sculpture, now much obscured by
dust. Jane Wren's death must have left a great blank
in the life of the father whose interests and pursuits
she had shared, and one wishes she could have lived
long enough to see the top stone laid on the dome of S.
Paul's. The Duke of Marlborough's brilliant victory
at Blenheim, on Aug. 13, 1704, brought Queen Anne
and all her court in their utmost splendour to a thanks-
giving at S. Paul's on the yth of September. ' The
streets were scaffolded from Temple Bar, where the
Lord Mayor presented her Majesty with the Sword,
which she returned. Every Company was ranged
under its banners, the Citty Militia without the
rails, which were all hung with cloth suitable to the
colour of the banner. The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs
and Aldermen were in their scarlet robes, with
caparisoned horses ; the Knight Marshall on horse-
back, the Foot Guards ; the Queen in a rich coach
with eight horses, none with her but the Duchess of
Marlborough in a very plain garment, the Queene
full of Jewells. Music and trumpets at every Citty
Company. The great Officers of the Crown, Nobility
and Bishops, all in coaches with six horses, besides
innumerable servants, went to S. Paul's where the
Deane preached. After this the Queen went back
in the same order to S. James's. The Citty Com-
panies feasted all the nobility and Bishops, and
302 Sffi CHRISTOPHER WREN.
illuminated at night. Music for the Church and
anthems by the best masters. The day before wet
and stormy, but this was one of the most serene and
calm days that had been all the year.' l
No doubt it was a splendid pageant, the grandest
that had been seen since those which celebrated the
Restoration, and S. Paul's, despite the scaffolding still
round the dome, must have looked magnificent. In
1705, Sir Christopher's eldest son went abroad
again, travelling this time to Holland, where in the
excitement of Marlborough's brilliant campaign he very
nearly joined the army as a volunteer.
A letter 2 to him from Sir Christopher is extant ; the
handwriting is not quite so steady as in the former letter,
but still clear.
'Whitehall, Oct. n, 1705.
1 Dear Son, I received at once three of y r le trs : one
from Harlem, Sep. 26, another from Amsterdam of
Sep. 28, O.S., a third of Oct. 13, N.S., by all which
I rejoyced in your good Health & your recovery
from your cold. I am very well satisfied you have
layd aside your designe for the Army ; which I
think had not been safe or pertinent, at least not
soe much as Bookes & Conversation with ye learned.
Your Traffic for good Bookes I cannot disapprove.
You tell me Gronovius 3 is 25 volumes, I am told
they are 26, and that the last is the best & comonly
1 Evelyn's Diary, September 7, 1704.
~ Hitherto unpublished.
3 G. F. Gronovius, 1613-1672. He was the author of many works,
chiefly annotations of the classics, and succeeded Heinsius in the Greek
chair at Leyden.
BARCELONA. 303
sold by its selfe, you will have a care [a word seems
to be omitted] being imposed upon. Mr. Bateman in
his (?) will give you advice how you may get them
into the Secretary's packets. You remember how
much trouble Mr. Strong was put to at Dover by
the impertinence of the Customer there. I hope this
may bee prevented. Wee have not yet rejoyced
for Barcelona l though you have ; though wee doe
not doubt it and wagers are layd 6 to one : last night
the scales were given to Mr. Cowper & changes are
made of Lord Lieutenants. Give my Service to
Mr. Roman & thanks for his Civilities to you. I am
importuned to take a little journy to my cosin
Munson's to christen her 8 th son. Wee are told
here that my L d D. of Marlborough goeth certainly
to Vienna, & you resolve well to wait on him be-
fore he goes, & then I thinke you have little else to
doe but to take the best opportunity to returne,
which I am told may happen if you come with my
L d Woodstock 2 who will have convoy. Wee are
all in good health at both Houses and wish you
happinesse w ch wee also contrive for you.
' I am, dear Son, your affectionate Father,
' CHR. WREN.'
I suppose the mention of ' both houses,' and the
hint of happiness being contrived, refer to young
Christopher's marriage, which took place in the following
1 Barcelona was taken by Lord Peterborough and Sir Cloudesley
Shovel, October 4, 1705, in the war of the Spanish Succession.
2 The eldest son of the Earl of Portland, afterwards created Duke of
Portland.
304 S/X CHRISTOPHER WREN.
year. He married Mary, 1 daughter of Mr. Philip
Musard, jeweller to Queen Anne, by whom he had a
son, a fourth Christopher Wren.
Wren lost a faithful and valued friend in Mr. Evelyn,
who died in the February of 1 706, at the age of eighty-
five. If Evelyn's diary, of which such frequent use has
been made in these pages, is not the same entire re-
velation of the man himself as is the diary of his friend
Pepys, it yet possesses a singular charm in its refinement
of thought, and, when the veil is raised, shows us a
gentleman and a Christian to be respected as well as
loved. He had kept up a steady friendship with Sir
Christopher since the day when they first met at
Oxford, and had the highest opinion of his powers : ' an
excellent genius had this incomparable person,' is his
remark after a conversation with Wren. Evelyn was
on the S. Paul's Commission from the first, and Wren
was destined, a few years later, sorely to miss the sup-
port of this constant friend.
The needful sum for covering in the dome of S.
Paul's was voted by Parliament in 1 708. The question
of using copper or lead was greatly discussed ; lead was
finally chosen ; it does not clearly appear which way
Sir Christopher's judgment inclined. Probably to the
lead, as he considered it susceptible of much ornament,
and the lead covering of S. Paul's dome is peculiarly
beautiful. Bird in this year finished the statue of
Queen Anne, which is in the fore court of the Cathedral,
and is not without merit. He also carved the relief of
1 A portrait of this lady in full profile, with a pale face and black hair,
painted somewhat in the style of Sir Peter Lely, is in the possession of
Mrs. Pigott.
FIFTY NEW CHURCHES. 305
the Conversion of S. Paul above the western portico :
the height is too great for it to be possible to judge of
the goodness of the sculpture.
The Act known as ' Queen Anne's Act for build-
ing Fifty New Churches ' was passed in this year,
and Wren was of course one of the commissioners. At
the age of seventy-six he could not undertake the
designing of these new churches. They were princi-
pally built by Gibbs, Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh and
others. S. George's, Hanover Square, S. Anne's,
Limehouse, S. George's, Bloomsbury, S. Leonard's,
Shoreditch, are some of those built under this Act.
Perhaps the best specimen is the beautiful S. Mary-
le-Strand, built by Gibbs, on an old site stolen from the
Church by the Duke of Somerset in the reign of Henry
VIII. Recent careful painting and gilding and the
removal of pews have made S. Mary's a charming
example of the amount of decoration which can be
advantageously bestowed on a Paladian church.
Wren wrote on this occasion a letter to a friend on
the Church-building Commission in which he gives the
result of his great experience in building town churches.
The letter is given with a few omissions. I fear that
few of the Queen Anne churches were built strictly
on the principles he here lays down ; certainly the hint
as to pews was disregarded, and grievous indeed
have been the results of such disregard. It has been
a common fallacy that all Wren's churches were built
for pews, and that anything but high pews would ruin
the architectural effect. What was Wren's own opinion
is manifest from the letter ; the actual effect can be
3 o6 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
seen, for instance, in a print of S. Stephen's, Walbrook,
where this gem of all his churches is represented, just
after its completion, with the area clear ; or in S. Mary's,
Bow, where the pews have lately been diminished into
just such ' benches ' as the great architect desired.
' Since Providence,' he writes, * in great mercy has
protracted my age, to the finishing the Cathedral
Church of S. Paul, and the parochial churches of
London, in lieu of those demolished by the fire, (all
which were executed during the fatigues of my em-
ployment in the service of the Crown from that time
to the present happy reign) ; and being now con-
stituted one of the Commissioners for building, pur-
suant to the late Act, fifty more Churches in London
and Westminster ; I shall presume to communicate
briefly my sentiments, after long experience, and
without further ceremony exhibit to better judge-
ment, what at present occurs to me, in a transient
view of this whole affair ; not doubting but that
the debates of the worthy Commissioners may here-
after give me occasion to change, or add to these
speculations.
*i. I conceive the Churches should be built, not
where vacant ground may be cheapest purchased
in the extremities of the suburbs, but among the
thicker inhabitants, for the convenience of the better
sort, although the site of them should cost more ;
the better inhabitants contributing most to the
future repairs, and the ministers and officers of the
church, and charges of the parish.
CEMETERIES. 307
2. I could wish that all burials in churches might
be disallowed, which is not only unwholesome, but
the pavements can never be kept even, nor pews
upright ; and if the churchyard be close about the
church, this also is inconvenient, because the ground
being continually raised by the graves, occasions, in
time, a descent by steps in the church, which renders
it damp, and the walls green, as appears evidently
in all old churches.
' 3. It will be enquired, where then shall be the
burials ? I answer, in cemeteries seated in the
outskirts of the town
' A piece of ground of two acres in the fields will
be purchased for much less than two roods among
the buildings ; this being enclosed with a strong brick
wall, and having a walk round, and two cross walks
decently planted with yew trees, the four quarters
may serve four parishes, where the dead need not be
disturbed at the pleasure of the sexton or piled
four or five upon one another, or bones thrown out
to gain room It may be considered further,
that if the cemeteries be thus thrown into the fields,
they will bound the excessive growth of the city
with a graceful border, which is now encircled with
scavengers' dung-stalls.
' 4. As to the situation of the churches, I should
propose they be brought as forward as possible into
the larger and more open streets ; not in obscure
lanes, nor where coaches will be much obstructed
in the passage : nor are we, I think, too nicely to
observe east or west in the position, unless it falls
X 2
3 o8 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
out properly ; such fronts as shall happen to lie
most open to view should be adorned with porticoes,
both for beauty and convenience ; which together
with handsome spires or lanterns, rising in good pro-
portion above the neighbouring houses (of which I
have given several examples in the City of different
forms), may be of sufficient ornament to the town,
without a great expense for enriching the outward
walls of the Churches, in which plainness and duration
ought principally, if not wholly, to be studied
'5. I shall mention something of the materials
for public fabrics. It is true, the mighty demand
for the hasty works of thousands of houses at once
after the Fire of London, and the frauds of those
who built by the great, (?) have so debased the value
of materials, that good bricks are not to be now had
without greater prices than formerly, and indeed, if
rightly made, will deserve them ; but brickmakers
spoil the earth in the mixing and hasty burning, till
the bricks will hardly bear weight ; though the
earth about London, rightly managed, will yield as
good bricks as were the Roman bricks (which I have
often found in the old ruins of the City), and will
endure, in our air, beyond any stone our island
affords ; which, unless the quarries lie near the sea,
are too dear for general use. The best is Portland
or Roch- Abbey stone ; but these are not without
their faults. The next material is the lime : chalk-
lime is the constant practice, which, well mixed with
good sand, is not amiss, though much worse than
hard stone-lime. The vaulting of S. Paul's is a
CHURCHWARDEN'S CARE DEFECTIVE. 309
rendering as hard as stone : it is composed of cockle-
shell lime well beaten with sand : the more labour
in the beating, the better and stronger the mortar.
I shall say nothing of marble (though England,
Scotland, and Ireland afford good, and of beautiful
colours) ; but this will prove too costly for our pur-
pose, unless for Altar-pieces. In windows and doors
Portland stone may be used, with good bricks and
stone quoins. As to roofs, good oak is certainly
the best, because it will bear some negligence. The
churchwardens' care may be defective in speedy
mending drips ; they usually whitewash the church,
and set up their names, but neglect to preserve the
roof over their heads. It must be allowed, that the
roof being more out of sight, is still more unminded.
Next to oak, is good yellow deal, which Is a timber
of length, and light, and makes excellent work at
first ; but, if neglected, will speedily perish ; especi-
ally if gutters (which is a general fault in builders)
be made to run upon the principal rafters, the ruin
may be sudden. Our sea-service for oak, and the
wars in the North Sea, make timber at present of
excessive price. I suppose, ere long, we must have
recourse to the West Indies, where most excellent
timber may be had for cutting and fetching. Our
tiles are ill made, and our slates not good : lead is cer-
tainly the best and lightest covering, and being of our
own growth and manufacture, and lasting, if properly
laid, for many hundred years, is, without question,
the most preferable ; though I will not deny but an
excellent tile may be made to be very durable : our
310 SJR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
artisans are not yet instructed in it, and it is not
soon done to inform them Now, if the
churches could hold each 2,000, it would yet be very
short of the necessary supply. The churches, there-
fore, must be large ; but still, in our reformed religion
it should seem vain to make a parish church larger
than that all who are present can both hear and see.
The Romanists, indeed, may build larger churches ;
it is enough if they hear the murmur of the Mass,
and see the elevation of the Host ; but ours are to
be fitted for auditories. I can hardly think it prac-
ticable to make a single room so capacious, with
pews and galleries, as to hold above 2,000 persons,
and all to hear the service, and both to hear dis-
tinctly, and see the preacher. I endeavoured to
effect this in building the parish Church of S. James,
Westminster, which, I presume, is the most capa-
cious, with these qualifications, that hath yet been
built ; and yet, at a solemn time, when the church
was much crowded, I could not discern from a
gallery that 2,000 were present. In this church I
mention, though very broad, and the middle nave
arched up, yet as there are no walls of a second
order, nor lanterns, nor buttresses, but the whole
roof rests upon the pillars, as do also the galleries,
I think it may be found beautiful and convenient,
and, as such, the cheapest of any form I could
invent.
' 7. Concerning the placing of the pulpit, I shall
observe a moderate voice may be heard fifty feet
distant before the preacher, thirty feet on each side,
'NO PEWS, BUT BENCHES: 3 n
and twenty behind the pulpit ; and not this unless
the pronunciation be distinct and equal, without
losing the voice at the last word of the sentence,
which is commonly emphatical, and, if obscured,
spoils the whole sense. A Frenchman is heard
further than an English preacher, because he raises
his voice, and sinks not his last words : I mention
this as an insufferable fault in the pronunciation of
some of our otherwise excellent preachers, which
schoolmasters might correct in the young as a
vicious pronunciation, and not as the Roman orators
spoke : for the principal verb is, in Latin, usually
the last word ; and if that be lost, what becomes of
the sentence ?
'8. By what I have said, it may be thought
reasonable, that the new church should be at least
sixty feet broad, and ninety feet long, besides a
chancel at one end, and the belfry and portico at the
other.
' These proportions may be varied ; but to build
more than that every person may conveniently hear
and see is to create noise and confusion. A church
should not be so filled with pews, but that the poor
may have room enough to stand and sit in the
alleys ; for to them equally is the Gospel preached.
It were to be wished there were to be no pews,
but benches ; but there is no stemming the tide of
profit, and the advantage of pew-keepers ; especi-
ally since by pews, in the chapel of ease, the minister
is chiefly supported. It is evident these fifty
churches are enough for the present inhabitants,
312 SfX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
and the town will continually grow : but it is to be
hoped, that hereafter more may be added, as the
wisdom of the Government shall think fit ; and,
therefore, the parishes should be so divided as to
leave room for subdivisions, or at least for chapels
of ease.
' I cannot pass over mentioning the difficulties
that may be found in obtaining the ground proper
for the sites of the churches among the buildings,
and the cemeteries in the borders without the town ;
and, therefore, I shall recite the method that was
taken for purchasing in ground at the north side of
S. Paul's Cathedral, where, in some places, houses
were but eleven feet distant from the fabric, exposing
it to the continual dangers of fires. The houses
were seventeen, and contiguous, all in leasehold of
the Bishop, or Dean alone, or the Dean and Chapter,
or the petty-Canons, with divers under-tenants. The
first we recompensed in kind, with rents of like value
for them and their successors ; but the tenants in
possession for a valuable consideration ; which to find
what it amounted to, we learned by diligent inquiry,
what the inheritance of houses in that quarter were
usually held at ; this we found was fifteen years'
purchase at the most, and, proportionably to this,
the value of each lease was easily determined in a
scheme, referring to a map. These rates, which we
resolved not to stir from, were offered to each ; and,
to cut off much debate, which it may be imagined
everyone would abound in, they were assured that
we went by one uniform method, which could
CLEAR BUILDING GROUND, 313
not be receded. We found two or three reasonable
men, who agreed to these terms ; immediately we
paid them, and took down their houses ; others, who
stood out at first, finding themselves in dust and
rubbish, and that ready money was better, as the
case stood, than to continue paying rent, repairs,
and parish duties, easily came in. The whole
grotind at last was cleared, and all concerned were
satisfied, and their writings given in This
was happily finished without a judicatory or jury ;
although, in our present case, we may find it per-
haps, sometimes necessary to have recourse to
Parliament.'
CHAPTER XIV.
17091723.
PRIVATE HOUSES BUILT QUEEN ANNE'S GIFTS LAST STONE OF
s. PAUL'S WREN DEPRIVED OF HIS SALARY HIS PETITION
'FRAUDS AND ABUSES' INTERIOR WORK OF s. PAUL'S WREN
SUPERSEDED PURCHASE OF WROXHALL ABBEY WREN'S THOUGHTS
ON THE LONGITUDE HIS DEATH BURIAL IN S. PAUL'S THE END.
Heroick souls a nobler lustre find,
E'en from those griefs which break a vulgar mind.
That frost which cracks the brittle, common glass,
Makes Crystal into stronger brightness pass.
Bp. Thos. Sprat, quoted in Parentalia,
CHAPTER XIV.
THE year 1 709 passed in steady work, and has little but
finishing touches to the churches to be recorded, unless
some of the various private houses built by Wren be-
long to this period. A house for Lord Oxford, and
one for the Duchess of Buckingham, both in S. James's
Court; two built near the Thames for Lord Sunder-
land and Lord Allaston ; one for Lord Newcastle
in Queen's Square, Bloomsbury ; and a house, so
large and magnificent that it has been divided in
late years into four, in Great Russell Street. This
house was afterwards occupied by Wren's eldest son,
and in turn by his second son Stephen.
Sir Christopher himself, while keeping the house
in Whitehall from which his letters are dated, had
received from Queen Anne the fifty years' lease of
a house at Hampton Green at a nominal rent of io/. a
year ; 1 he must have found great refreshment in going
there occasionally by the then undefiled Thames, to
country rest and quiet. Queen Anne was uniformly
gracious and friendly to her Surveyor, and presented
him with a buhl cabinet inlaid with red tortoiseshell
of remarkably handsome work and design. 2
1 This lease was renewed to his eldest son in 1737 for 28^ years,
running on from 1758.
2 Now in the possession of Mrs. Pigott.
3 i 8 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
The following year saw the crown put to the labour
of thirty-five years. Mr. Christopher Wren, who had
been a year old when the first stone was laid, now laid
the last stone of the lantern above the Dome of S.
Paul's in the presence of his father, Mr. Strong the
master-builder, his son, and other free and accepted
masons, most of whom had worked at the building.
The scene could hardly be better painted than in the
words of Dean Milman : l
' All London had poured forth for the spectacle, which
had been publicly announced, and were looking up
in wonder to the old man . . . who was on that
wondrous height setting the seal, as it were, to his
august labours. If in that wide circle which his eye
might embrace there were various objects for regret
and disappointment ; if, instead of beholding the
various streets of the city, each converging to its
centre, London had sprung up and spread in ir-
regular labyrinths of close, dark, intricate lanes ; if
even his own Cathedral was crowded upon and
jostled by mean and unworthy buildings ; yet, on the
other hand, he might survey, not the Cathedral
only, but a number of stately churches which had
risen at his command and taken form and dignity
from his genius and skill. On one side the pic-
turesque steeple of S. Mary-le-Bow ; on the other
the exquisite tower of S. Bride's, with all its graceful,
gradually diminishing circles, not yet shorn of its
full and finely-proportioned height. Beyond, and on
1 Annals of S. Paufs, p. 432.
THE WORK OF ONE MAN. 319
all sides, if more dimly seen, yet discernible by his
partial eyesight (he might even penetrate to the in-
imitable interior of S. Stephen's, Walbrook), church
after church, as far as S. Dunstan's-in-the-East,
perhaps Greenwich, may have been vaguely made
out in the remote distance ; and all this one man
had been permitted to conceive and execute ; a
man not originally destined or educated for an
architect, but compelled as it were by the public
necessities to assume the office, and so to fulfil it,
as to stand on a level with the most consummate
masters of the art in Europe, and to take his stand
on an eminence which his English successors almost
despair of attaining.'
There then the Cathedral stood, complete externally
in its stately beauty, the work of one man, who, it has
been truly said, ' had the conception of a painter as
well as an architect.' View, the Cathedral when and
where we will, with every disadvantage of smoky at-
mosphere and lack of space, it yet fascinates the eye
by the perfection of its lines and the majesty of the
whole effect, so as to leave no power of criticising
petty defects. Such was the triumphant success
achieved by Wren's patient genius, but
Envy will merit as its shade pursue ;
and a series of troubles fell upon him.
There will always be a number of people who
imagine that anything can be procured by money, and
that for the sake of money anything and everything
will be done. People of this mind considered that
320 SIX CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Sir Christopher Wren prolonged the process of build-
ing S. Paul's in order to prolong his own enjoyment
of the 2OO/. a year which was the salary he had himself
chosen, though it was considered utterly inadequate by
the Commissioners when first the work began.
Accordingly in 1696-7, a clause was inserted in the
Act ' for the completing and adorning S. Paul's ' ' to
suspend a moiety of the Surveyor's salary until the said
Church should be finished ; thereby the better to en-
courage him to finish the same work with the utmost
diligence and expedition.' 1
No doubt they considered that the Cathedral could
be finished off regardless of details, and so left like
the shell of an ordinary house to be adorned by
any chance person ; and to this end they offered their
grim ' encouragement ' !
It was an insult to a man like Wren, who had again
and again as in the case of Greenwich given his
skill for nothing, and it was doubly unjust because, what
delays there were, sprang from the conceit and ignor-
ance of the S. Paul's Commission. Wren protested,
but took no active step until he had seen the Dome of
his beloved Cathedral completed.
Then he sent in a petition to Queen Anne as
follows :
' The most humble petition of Sir Christopher Wren
' Sheweth,
' That there being a Clause in an Act of Parliament
which suspends a moiety of your Petitioner's salary
1 It must be to this that Wren refers in his letter to his son, p. 282.
' FRAUDS AND ABUSES: 321
at S. Paul's, till the building be finished, and being
obstructed in his measures for completing the same,
by the arbitrary proceedings of some of the Com-
missioners for that fabric,
' Your Petitioner most humbly beseeches your
Majesty graciously to interpose your Royal Author-
ity so as that he may be suffered to finish the said
building in such manner and after such designs as
shall be approved by your Majesty or such persons
as your Majesty shall think fit to appoint for that
purpose ; and your Petitioner, etc.,
' CHRISTOPHER WREN.'
This petition was sent to the Commissioners, whose
reply was, that when Sir Christopher had acted with-
out their approbation his performances had proved
very faulty ;(!) they then digressed into remarks on
their own devotion to the Queen's service, and into a
series of petty charges against some of the workmen
employed in the Cathedral, especially the bell-founder,
Richard Phelp, and Richard Jennings the master-car-
penter, whom they charged with a variety of frauds and
abuses, and begged should be at once dismissed ; they
also venture to assert that 'Sir Christopher, or some
employed by him, may be supposed to have found
their advantage in this delay.' There is little attempt
at proof in this reply of the Commissioners, but much
supposition and conjecture. A pamphlet, ' Frauds
and Abuses at S. Paul's,' published anonymously at this
time, sets out all their suspicions in detail. Sir Christo-
pher replied in a pamphlet entitled ' An Answer to
322 S/fi CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Frauds and Abuses in S. Paul's/ and laid a petition
before the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop
of London, in which he sets out his grievances, how
little power had been really given to him and how far
he had ' been limited and restrained.'
' However,' he says, ' it has pleased God so far to bless
my sincere endeavours, as that I have brought the
building to a conclusion so far as is in my power, and I
think nothing can be said now to remain unperfected,
but the iron fence round the Church, and painting
the Cupola, the directing whereof is taken out of my
hands, and therefore I hope I am not answerable for
them, nor that the said suspending clause can, or
ought, to affect me any further on that account. As
for painting the Cupola, your Lordships know that it
has been long under consideration ; that I have no
power left me concerning it ; and that it is not yet
resolved in what manner to do it, or whether at all.
And as for the iron fence, it is so remarkable and so
fresh in memory, by whose influence and importunity
it was wrested from me, and the doing of it carried
in a way which I venture to say will ever be con-
demned. I have just this to observe further, that
your Lordships had no hand in it ; and consequently
ought not share in the blame that may attend it.'
He then asks them for their warrant for the pay-
ment of the arrears, amounting to more than i,3oo/.,
which were due to him, and says he will ever be ready
in the future, to give his advice and assistance in any-
thing about the said Cathedral. Archbishop Tenison
A REMEDY FOUND. 323
and Bishop Compton laid Wren's petition before the
Attorney-General, Sir Edward Northey, who pro-
nounced ' that Sir Christopher Wren's case was very
hard, but that the terms of the Act were so positive
that it could not be overridden, but the Commissioners
ought in justice to find some remedy.'
Wren then addressed the House of Commons in a
petition in which he repeats that his ' measures for
completing the Cathedral are wholly over-ruled and
frustrated.'
The House considered the matter, and cut the knot
by declaring the Cathedral to be finished, and directing
the payment of all the arrears of the architect's salary.
Their prompt decision gratified Sir Christopher,
who contrasts it with the conduct of the Commission,
' which was such as gave him reason enough to think
that they intended him none of the suspended salary
if it had been left in their power to defeat him of it.'
The attacks on Jennings, whom Wren firmly de-
fended, fell to the ground : they probably had as little
foundation as the ' Screw Plot,' by which at a Thanks-
giving, by one man's moving a few of the bolts and
screws, the whole dome was to fall in. 1 The bell-
founder Phelps, who had removed the faulty bell put
up by Wightman under the direction of the Commis-
sioners, also triumphed : he offered to give a bond to
the Dean and Chapter to recast the bell at his own
expense if, after a year's trial, they were dissatisfied
with it : as this offer was never claimed, Wren justly
says that they were either content with the bell or else
1 Documents illustrating, &>c., p. 62.
Y 2
324 SfK CHRISTOPHER WREN.
showed great neglect. Until the last few years it was
the only bell possessed by the Cathedral.
To perfect S. Paul's some things had still to be done,
and, rather than these should suffer, Wren was willing
still to undergo the slights and annoyances of the other
S. Paul's Commissioners, amongst whose names one
wishes that of Sir Isaac Newton did not appear, with-
out clear evidence that he stood by his early patron
and friend. One hopes it may have been so, certainly
he was not a frequent attendant at the meetings.
Within the Cathedral there was some important
work to do. Gibbons' carving had to be completed,
and the beautiful iron-work gates on either side of
the choir had yet to be set up. For this work Wren
employed a M. Tijou, at that time a famous worker
in iron, though no account of him is to be obtained at
the present day. Possibly he was one of the French
refugees. Wren saw both the carving and the gates
successfully finished. But for the east end of the
Cathedral he had a magnificent design which is unful-
filled to this day. He intended to inlay the columns
of the apse with rich marble, to use a considerable
amount of colour and gilding, and to place over the
Altar a hemispherical canopy supported on four
writhed pillars of the richest Greek marbles, with
proper decorations of architecture and sculpture : he
had prepared his model and the needful drawings,
Bishop Compton had even received some specimens of
marble from a Levant merchant in Holland, but un-
luckily the colours and the class of marble were not
what Wren desired, and the plan waited for a better
DECORATION OF S. PAUL'S. 325
opportunity, which, in Wren's lifetime, never came.
Thus, of all this grand design, the only trace is the
painting of the apsidal pillars, in imitation of lapis
lazuli, which was meant as a temporary experiment,
and the model of the canopy in the possession of
the Dean and Chapter. Hardly anything could be
done which would more enhance the interior beauty
of S. Paul's than the erection of this canopy.
Besides the adornment of the east end of the
Cathedral there was also that of the dome to be ac-
complished. The decoration of S. Paul's is so vexed
a question that one almost fears to touch upon it, but
the statement in the ' Parentalia ' is explicit.
' The judgement of the Surveyor was originally, instead
of painting in the manner it is now performed, to
have beautified the inside of the Cupola with the
more durable ornament of mosaic work, as it is
nobly executed in the Cupola of S. Peter's in Rome,
which strikes the eye of the beholder with a most
magnificent and splendid appearance ; and which,
without the least decay of colour, is as lasting as
marble, or the building itself. For this purpose he
had projected to have procured from Italy four of
the most eminent artists in that profession ; but as
this art was a great novelty in England, and not
generally apprehended, it did not receive the en-
couragement it deserved ; it was imagined also
that the expense would prove too great, and the
time very long in execution ; but though these, and
all objections were fully answered, yet this excellent
design was no further pursued.'
326 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
In weighing the value of this evidence as to Sir Chris-
topher's views, it is important to remember that the
' Parentalia ' was, though edited by Stephen the grand-
son, actually written by Christopher, the son who was
constantly with his father and shared in his interests,
and had himself seen, and no doubt described to
Sir Christopher that very cupola of S. Peter's, of
which he speaks.
The question of the iron fence round the Cathedral,
of which Wren made mention in his petition, was
much in his thoughts ; he wished it to be low, and
made of hammered iron, the Commissioners were deter-
mined that it should be high, and made of cast iron.
Wren, who doubtless intended to employ Tijou,
and have a low, graceful railing which would throw up
the height and solid grandeur of the Cathedral, repeat-
edly expressed his opinion ; but the majority overruled
him, and the Cathedral was imprisoned by a high,
heavy, clumsy fence, the gates of which were sedu-
lously closed, and were but too apt an emblem of the
manner in which the Cathedral was soon shut off from
its true uses. A century later, and Bishop Blom field
could say, ' I never pass S. Paul's without thinking
how little it has clone for Christianity.' Now the iron
fence has departed, 1 and with it all possibility of such
a reproach.
During all this time Wren was engaged on the
Abbey repairs and the affairs of Chelsea College.
1 The Dean and Chapter of S. Paul's removed the fence in 1874,
and substituted the present open, low one, thus removing a blemish from
the exterior of the Cathedral.
DEATH OF QUEEN ANNE. 327
The Duke of Ormonde sends him a summons in
November, 1713, the more pressing, as several Com-
missioners are out of town, to meet him ' at twelve of
the clock at his Grace's house at the Cockpitt, in order
to give directions for the cloathing of the Invalide
Companys who are in a perishing condition for want
thereof, not having been cloathed for near these three
years past.' The death of Evelyn and that of Sir
Stephen Fox had lost to Chelsea Hospital its two best
friends, but doubtless the Duke and Sir Christopher
were able to provide for this emergency.
We hear of Wren at this time busied as of old for
the Royal Society, going, with his son and Sir Isaac
Newton, to inspect a house in Crane Court, L and
finally buying it as a residence for the Society.
Again he appears with Newton, and the son who
seems to have been his constant companion, going
down to Greenwich as visitors of the Royal Observa-
tory there and making their report upon it. As Flam-
steed hated Newton, and greatly resented any formal
visitation, the expedition must have taxed even Wren's
peace-making powers, but Flamsteed never seems to
have quarrelled with him.
In the summer of the following year 'good Queen
Anne ' died, and with her all real chance of the return
of the Stuart family, despite the gallant and devoted
attempts made for 'Prince Charlie' in 'the '15 'and
' the '45.' The sixth and last English reign which
1 The Royal Society occupied this house, till 1847, when it was
pulled down to make room for the new Record Office. Hist. R. S.,
p. 399. Weld.
328 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
Wren was destined to see began in 1714 with the
accession of George I.
The S. Paul's Commission was renewed, with, of
course, Wren's name upon it, but the annoyances of
his position increased.
In his design, S. Paul's stood complete with a
plinth over the entablature, and with statues on the
four pediments only. The Commissioners took it into
their heads that a balustrade with vases was greatly
needed, and that it should be put up, unless Wren could
'set forth in writing, under his hand, that it is contrary
to the principles of architecture and give his opinion in
a fortnight's time.' This looks very like a device for
tormenting the old man of eighty-five, and revenging
themselves for their previous defeat. Exactly within
the fortnight Wren sent an answer which certainly
shows no trace of failing powers.
' I take leave, first, to declare that I never designed a
balustrade. Persons of little skill in architecture did
expect, I believe, to see something they had been
used to in Gothick structures ; and ladies think noth-
ing well without an edging. I should gladly have
complied with the vulgar taste but I suspended for
the reasons following.'
The technical reasons are given, and he adds :
' that as no provision was originally made in my plan
for a balustrade, the setting up one in such a con-
fused manner over the plinth must apparently break
into the harmony of the whole machine, and, in this
DISMISSED FROM HIS OFFICE. 329
particular case, be contrary to the principles of archi-
tecture!
Nothing daunted, either by Wren's reasons or his
sarcasm, and regardless of their implied promise, the
wise Commissioners of the Cathedral set to work on
their balustrade.
This transaction belongs to the autumn of 1717.
In the April of the ensuing year, George I., who cared
nothing about art or architecture, and who only wished
to gratify his German favourites, was easily prevailed
upon to dismiss Sir Christopher Wren from that post of
Surveyor-General which he had held for forty-eight
years, and to bestow it upon William Benson, a favour-
ite's favourite, as ignorant and incapable as he was
grasping and unscrupulous. There was probably but
little outcry, for, as Steele 1 had truly said, 'Nestor/
under which name he described Wren, ' was not only
in his profession the greatest man of that age, but
had given more proofs of it than any man ever did ;
yet for want of that natural freedom and audacity
which is necessary in commerce with men, his per-
sonal modesty overthrew all his public actions.'
The person least disposed to make a complaint
was Wren himself. Finding his patent superseded,
he quietly retired to his house at Hampton Court, say-
ing, ' Nunc me jubet Fortuna expeditius philosophari.' 2
One other comment he made, as a note to the date
1 The Taller^ No. 52, 1709. Both the paper and its note contain
eloquent tributes to Wren. It is remarkable that Steele wrote this at
the very time Wren's salary was first ' suspended.'
8 ' Now Fortune commands me to apply myself more closely to
Philosophy.'
330 -S/ff CHRISTOPHER WREN.
(April 26, 1718) of this dismissal: "On cWc
Tepo<s 6? OVK i^Set TOP 'I(ocnj<f> : /cat ovSev TOVTOJV r&>
JTaXXlWl {Ji\V. ^ ' *
It is some satisfaction to know that Benson so
disgraced himself as in five years' time to be dismissed,
and narrowly escaped a prosecution by the House of
Lords. Pope held him up to deserved scorn in the
' Dunciad/ where he also says :
While Wren with sorrow to the grave descends,
but this, one is glad to think, tells rather what might
have been Sir Christopher's state of mind than what
it really was.
Wren had had the interest of watching his eldest
son's career in Parliament as member for that borough
of Windsor which he had himself represented.
This son's wife had died, and in 1715 he married
again. His second wife was Constance, daughter of
Sir Thomas Middleton, and widow of Sir Roger
Burgoyne ; by this marriage he had another son, named
Stephen. On this occasion Sir Christopher bought
the estate of Wroxhall Abbey 2 in Warwickshire,
1 ' Then another king arose which knew not Joseph.' Acts vii. 18.
' And Gallio cared for none of these things.' Acts xviii. 17.
2 Now spelt Wroxall. This property remained in the hands of Sir
Christopher's direct lineal descendants (five Christophers held it in suc-
cession) until 1861. Wren's son and heir died in 1747, and is buried in
Wroxhall Abbey ; his son Christopher displeasing him, he left away
much of the estate to his stepson, Sir Roger Burgoyne. At the death of
the elder Christopher many of the great architect's plans and drawings
were bought by Mr. Justice Blackburn, who presented them to All
Souls' College. The Parentalia was principally written at Wroxhall by
Sir Christopher's son Christopher, and was published by his second son
Stephen Wren, M.D., in 1750. See Worthies of Warwickshire^ p. 852,
and Biog. Hist, of England, vol. iii. p. 329. Noble.
LONGITUDE AT SEA. 331
which had belonged to the Burgoynes and was heavily
encumbered. Sir Christopher is said to have stayed at
the Abbey occasionally, and to have designed the
kitchen garden wall which is built in semicircles.
It was probably when he thus became a Warwickshire
Squire that he gave the designs for S. Mary's Church
at Warwick, designs entirely different from those
adopted in the present building, which is said to have
been designed and built by one Francis Smith, a
mason in the town.
But the greater part of Wren's declining years was
spent at Hampton Court, from which he went up to
London to watch the progress of the works at West-
minster Abbey, the surveyorship of which he still kept.
A report was spread that the ceiling of the Sheldonian
Theatre, in which, as a piece of mechanical construction,
Sir Christopher took great pride, was giving way.
Careful examination proved this to be a perfectly
groundless rumour, and no further annoyance arose to
disturb the calm evening of the old man's life. To be
' beneficus humano generi/ as he said, had ever been
his aim and wish. He now employed his leisure
in looking over old papers on astronomy and mathe-
matics and the method of finding out the longitude
at sea. It had been long considered by the general
world as impossible to find out as was the secret of per-
petual motion, and the attempt at either discovery was
treated with equal ridicule. The merchants, and cap-
tains of merchant ships were, however, from bitter
experience of vessels and crews wrecked or lost, aware
of the immense importance of the discovery of the
332 S/jR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
longitude, if it could be made. They presented, in
1714, a petition to Parliament, begging that a reward
might be offered ' for such as shall discover the same.'
This, after due consideration, was done by a Bill, passed
rapidly through both Houses, offering a reward of
2O,ooo/. for the discovery. 1
The subject was one which greatly occupied Wren,
who all his life had been interested in sailors and
sea matters. He amused himself by throwing his
latest thoughts on the longitude into the form of
three cryptographs : 2
1. OZVCVAYINIXDNCVOCWEDCNMALNABECIRTEWNG-
RAMHHCCAW.
2. ZEIYEINOIEBIVTXESCIOCPSDEDMNANHSEFPRPIW-
HDRAEHHXCIF.
3. EZKAVEBIMOXRFCSLCEEDHWMGNNIVEOM REWWE-
RRCSHEPCIP.
1 The reward was adjudged in two portions of io,ooo/., to Mr. J.
Harrison in 1726 and 1775, for making two chronometers, which gave the
longitude within 10' 45" of the truth. Rewards were offered for further
discoveries. The Board of Longitude was abolished in 1828. Life of
Sir Isaac Newton, vol. ii. p. 258-267. Sir David Brewster.
2 These cryptographs were first published by Sir David Brewster in
his Life of Sir Isaac Newton, vol. ii. p. 263, ed. 1855. No key was
found until Mr. Francis Williams, of Grange Court, Chigwell, sent the
following :
1. WAcCHhMArGNwETrlCeBAnLAmNCdEWcOUcNDxINi-
Wach magnetic balance wound in
VAvCUzO.
vacuo. (One letter a misprint).
Omitted letters make CHR. WREN, MDCCXIV.
2. FIcXHhEArDHwIPrPEeSHnANmDEdSPcOIcSExTUiBEi-
Fix head hippes handes poise tube
ONiEYieZ.
on eye. (One letter a misprint).
Omitted letters make CHR. WREN, MDCCXIIII.
HIS DEATH. 333
A copy, signed by H alley as a true one, of this
cipher was sent to the Royal Society in 1714 by
Wren's son. Probably Sir Christopher had not per-
fected his instruments sufficiently to proclaim his
discovery, and did not wish either to lose his idea,
or, when later on he disclosed it, to appear as a
plagiarist in case a similar method had suggested
itself to anyone else. Old age had weakened Wren's
limbs, but had had little effect on his clear understand-
ing ; his scientific pursuits interested him still, and
were among the employments of those few leisure
years which closed a life of incessant work. He gave,
however, the greater part of his time and care to the
diligent study of the Holy Scriptures, which all his life
he had loved ; and thus, serene and gentle as ever,
waited for his summons.
Once a year it was his habit to be driven to
London, and to sit for a while under the dome of his
own Cathedral. On one of these journeys he caught
a cold, and soon afterwards, on February 25, 1723, his
servant, thinking Sir Christopher slept longer after
dinner than was his wont, came into the room and
found his master dead in his chair, with an expression
of perfect peace on the calm features.
3. PIcPEhSCrRewWErMOeVInNGmWHdEEcLScFRxOMi-
Pipe screwe moving wheels from
BEvAKzE.
beake.
Omitted letters make CHR. WREN, MDCCXIV.
The three last omitted Z,s occurring in the first part of each cipher to
show that that part must be taken last. Report of the British Asso-
ciation/or 1859.
334 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.
They buried him near his daughter in the south-east
crypt of S. Paul's, by one of the windows, under a plain
marble slab with this inscription : ' Here lieth Sir
Christopher Wren, the builder of this Cathedral Church
of S. Paul, &c., who died in the year of our Lord
MDCCXXIIL, and of his age xci.'
The spite of those who had hampered his genius
in life showed itself again after his death. The famous
inscription, written by his son: ' Subtus conditur
hujus Ecclesiae et Urbis Conditor Christophorus Wren,
qui vixit annos ultra nonaginta, non sibi, sed bono
publico. Lector, si Monumentum requiris circum-
spice.' x was placed in the crypt, and in the Cathedral
itself there was nothing to preserve the memory of its
architect.
This has in later years been remedied and the in-
scription is now in gold letters over the door of the
north transept. Some of Sir Christopher's plans have,
as has been shown, been executed ; and further, the
Cathedral has been set in green turf, and all around it
is cared for instead of neglected, the once empty cam-
panile is filled by twelve bells, whose music floats down
over the roar of London, as if out of the sky itself,
and the Dome is filled by vast congregations in the
way which Sir Christopher almost foresaw.
I n the Cathedral his memory is cherished ; but in
1 * Beneath is laid the builder of this church and city, Christopher
Wren, who lived more than ninety years, not for himself, but for the
good of the State. Reader, if thou ask for a monument, look around
thee.'
THE END. 335
the city of London, which he rebuilt from its ashes, no
statue has been erected to him, no great street has
been honoured by taking as its own the name of
Christopher Wren, though a name
On fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled.
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX I.
REVERENDO PATRI DOMINO CHRISTOPHORO WREN,
S.T.D. ET D. W. CHRISTOPHORUS FILIUS HOC SUUM
PANORGANUM ASTRONOMICUM D. D. XIII. CALEND.
NOVEM. ANNO 1645, p. 73.
Si licet, et cessent rerum (Pater alme) tuarum
Pondera, devotae respice prolis opus.
Hie ego sidereos tentavi pingere motns,
Coelicaque in modulos conciliare breves.
Quo (prolapsa diu) renoventur tempora gyro,
Seculaque, et menses, et imparilesque dies.
Quomodo Sol abeat, redeatque, et temperet annum,
Et (raptum contra) grande perennet iter ;
Cur nascens gracili, pleno orbe refulget adulta,
Cur gerat extinctas menstrua luna faces.
His ego numinibus dum cito, atque ardua mundi,
Scrutor, et arcanas conor inire vias,
Adsis, O ! faveasque, pater, succurre volanti
Suspensum implumis dirige prolis iter,
Ne male, praecipiti, nimium prae viribus audax
(Sorte sub Icarea) lapsus ab axe ruam :
Te duce, fert animus, studiis sublimibus hisce
Pasci, dum superas detur adire domos.
33*
APPENDICES,
APPENDIX II.
CHURCHES, HALLS, COLLEGES, PALACES, OTHER
PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND PRIVATE HOUSES,
BUILT AND REPAIRED BY SIR CHRISTOPHER
WREN.
Churches.
S. Alban, Wood Street.
* All Hallows, Bread Street.
Lombard Street.
UpperThamesSt.
All Saints, Isleworth.
S. Andrew, Holborn.
by the Wardrobe.
SS. Anne & Agnes.
S. Anne, Soho (?).
* S. Antholin, Watling St.
S. Augustine.
* S. Bartholomew, Bartholomew
Lane.
* S. Benedict, Gracechurch Street.
* Fink,Threadneedle
Street.
S. Benedict, Paul's Wharf.
S. Bride, Fleet Street.
Chichester Cathedral.
Christ Church, Newgate.
* S. Christopher, Threadneedle
Street.
S. Clement Danes, Strand.
Eastcheap.
Dartmouth Chapel, Blackheath.
* S. Dionysius, Back Church.
S. Dunstan in the East.
S. Edmund the King, Lombard
Street.
S. Faith (Crypt of S. Paul's).
S. George, Botolph Lane.
S. James, Garlickhithe.
Westminster.
S. Lawrence, Jewry.
S. Magnus, London Bridge.
S. Margaret Lothbury, Pattens,
Rood Lane.
S. Martin, Ludgate Hill.
S. Mary, Abchurch.
Aldermanbury.
Aldermary.
atHilL
le Bow.
* Somerset.
Woolnoth.
S. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish St
S. Matthew, Friday Street.
S. Michael, Bassishaw.
Cheapside.
Cornhill.
* Crooked Lane.
* Queenhithe.
Royal, College HilL
S. Mildred, Bread Street.
* Poultry.
S. Nicholas, Cole Abbey.
S. Olave, Jewry.
S. Paul's Cathedral.
S. Peter's Abbey, Westminster.
Cornhill.
Salisbury Cathedral.
S. Stephen, Coleman Street.
Walbrook.
S. Swithin, Cannon Street.
S. Vedast, Foster Lane.
* Signifies that the church has been destroyed.
APPENDICES.
339
Halls.
Company.
Mercers
* Grocers
Drapers
* Fishmongers
* Goldsmiths
Skinners ,,
Merchant Taylors
Haberdashers
* Salters
Ironmongers
Vintners
* Dyers
Brewers ,,
* Leathersellers
Cutlers
Bakers
Tallow Chandlers
Girdlers
Saddlers Company
Cordwainers
Paper Stainers
Curriers
Masons ,,
* Plumbers
Innholders
Founders ,,
Coopers
Tilers and
Bricklayers
Joiners
Weavers
Plasterers
Stationers
Apothecaries
Pinmakers
Coachmakers
Many of these buildings have been considerably altered since
Wren's time, and many are now let as warehouses, or turned to other
uses.
Colleges.
Pembroke, Cambridge.
* Physicians, Warwick Lane,
London.
Queen's (?) Oxford.
Sion, London.
Christ Church, Oxford.
Emmanuel, Cambridge.
Holy Trinity
Oxford.
Morden, Blackheath.
Palaces.
Hampton Court. Kensington. * Newmarket. Winchester.
Other Public Buildings.
Alderman's Court, Guildhall.
Archbishop Tenison's Library.
Ashmolean Museum.
Bohun's Almshouses, Lee.
j Pavilion.
^ \ Ranger's house at.
* Signifies that the building has been destroyed.
Z 2
340
APPENDICES.
Chapter House, S. Paul's.
* Custom House, Port of London.
Deanery, St Paul's, London.
Hospitals, (Chelsea College.
{ Greenwich.
London, City of.
Merchant Taylors' Almhouses,
London.
Middle Temple, front of.
Monument, the.
Monument
to Edward V. &
. Richard, Duke of
York
Observatory, Greenwich.
* Royal Exchange, London.
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.
* Temple Bar.
* Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
* Theatre in Salisbury Court.
Tower of London.
Windsor, Town Hall.
Private Houses.
Allaston's, Lord, London.
Bloomsbury, two in.
Buckingham's, Duchess of, Lon-
don.
Chichester, two at.
Cooper's, Madam, London.
Fawley Court, Oxon.
Marlborough's, Duchess of, Lon-
don.
Oxford's, Earl of, London.
Sunderland's, Lord, London.
Windsor, two at.
This list, which is, I fear, imperfect, only professes to give such
buildings as were actually built or repaired ; there are, besides, a
large number of unexecuted designs.
APPENDIX III.
Sir Christopher Wren left the rough drafts of four tracts on
architecture, which are printed in the ' Parentalia,' and a few notes
on Roman and Greek buildings, some of which Mr. Elmes tran-
scribed in his ' Life ; ' they are for the most part very technical and are
incomplete. The copy of the ' Parentalia ' now in my hands
contains the autograph draft of a Discourse on Architecture, which,
as I think, has never been printed ; it appears to me to be of great
interest. It is therefore given entire, though I regret I cannot give
the quaint prints of Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, Babylon, &c.,
with which the original is illustrated. The two former prints tally so
exactly with the descriptions in the ' Discourse ' the print of the
ark containing a small section, an elevation, and a vignette of a man
APPENDICES. 34i
feeding one of the creatures, besides a large drawing of the floating
Ark that I incline to think they were engraved, either by Wren
himself, or from his drawings. Engraving was an art he well under-,
stood. He divides with Prince Rupert the honour of the invention
of mezzo-tint. The prints are numbered PI. IV. and V. respectively,
and have no signature.
Discourse on Architecture*
WHATEVER a man's sentiments are upon mature deliberation,
it will be still necessary for him in a conspicuous Work to
preserve his Undertaking from general censure, and so for him
to accomodate his Designs to the gust of the Age he lives in,
tho it appears to him less rational. I have found no little
difficulty to bring Persons, of otherwise a good genius, to
think anything in Architecture would be better then what
they had heard commended by others, and what they had
view'd themselves. Many good Gothick forms of Cathedrals
were to be seen in our Country, and many had been seen
abroad, which they liked the better for being not much differ-
ing from ours in England : this humour with many is not yet
eradicated, and therefore I judge it not improper to endeavour
to reform the Generality to a truer taste in Architecture by
giving a larger Idea of the whole Art, beginning with the
reasons and progress of it from the most remote Antiquity ;
and that in short touching chiefly on some things, which have
not been remarked by others.
The Project of Building is as natural to Mankind as to
Birds, and was practised before the Floud. By Josephus we
learn that Cain built the first City, Enos, and enclosed it with
Wall and Rampires ; and that the Sons of Seth, the other son
of Adam, erected two Columns of Brick and Stone to preserve
their Mathematical Science to Posterity, so well built that
tho ye one of Brick was destroy 'd by the Deluge, ye other of
Stone was standing in ye time of Josephus. The first Peece
of Naval Architecture we read of in Sacred History was the
Arke of Noah, a work very exactly fitted and built for the
Purpose intended.
342 APPENDICKS.
It was by measure just 6 times as Long as Broad, and the
H eighth was f of the Breadth. This was the Proportion of
the Triremes afterwards. The Dimensions, and that It was
3 Stories high, and that It had a Window of a Cubit Square
is only mention'd ; but many things sure were of necessity to
be contrived for Use in this Model of the Whole Earth.
First, One small Window was not sufficient to emit the
Breath of all the Animals ; It had certainly many other
Windows as well for Light as Air. It must have Scupper-
Holes and a large Sink and an Engin to Pump It ; for It
drew, as I compute, with all its Cargo and Ballast, at least 12
foot Water. There must be places for Insects the only Food
of some Birds and Animals. Great Cisterns for Fresh Water
not. only for Land Animals, but for some Water fowl and
Insects. Some Greens to grow in Tubs, the only food of
Tortoises and some Birds and Insects ; since we certainly
have learnt that nothing is produced by Spontaneous Genera-
tion, and we firmly believe there was no new Creation. I
need not mention stairs to the several Stories, with many
other things absolutely necessary for a year's Voyage for
Men and Animals, tho not mention'd in the Story, and Pro-
vidence was the Pilot of this Little World, the Embrjo of the
next.
Most certainly Noah was divinly qualified not only as a
Preacher of Righteousness but the greatest Philosopher in the
' Historia Animalium' that ever was ; and it was Work enough
for his whole Family to feed them, and take care of the young
Brood ; for in a year's time there must be a great increase
in the Ark, w ch was food for the Family, and the Beasts of
Prey.
The first Peece of Civil Architecture we meet with in
Holy Writ is the Tower of Babel. Providence scatter'd the
first Builders, so the Work was left off, but the Successors of
Belus the son of Nimrod probably finished It and made it His
Sepulchre, upon his Deification.
It was built of Burnt Brick Cemented with Bitumen.
Herodotus gives us a surprizing Relation of it w ch being
APPENDICES. 343
set down by measure is not beside our subject to observe.
It consisted of Eight several Stories ; the First was one
Stade, or 625 foot square, and of the same measure in Height
upon which were rais'd seven more, w ch if they were all equal
with the First would amount to 2,500 foot, which is not
credible : the Form must be therefore Pyramidal and being
adorn'd on the outside with Rows of Galleries in divers stories
diminished in Height in Geometrical Proportion ; so the
whole Mass would have the Aspect of Half an Octaedron,
which is that of all the Egyptian Pyramids.
These Corridors being Brick wasted in more than 1600
years : and it was these which Alexander actually began to
Repair, not the whole Bulk, as I suppose.
How Herodotus had his measures I question, for He
flourished but 100 years before Alexander's Conquests of
Babylon, so it was then 1500 years Old.
I proceed next to those mighty Works of Antiquity the
Wonderful Pyramids of Egypt yet remaining without con-
siderable decay after almost 4000 years : for 2000 years,
agoe, they were reckon'd by Historians of Uncertain Original.
I cannot think any Monarch however Despotick could
effect such things meerly for Glory ; I guess there were reasons
of State for it.
Egypt was certainly very early Populous, because so
Productive of Corn by the help of Nile, in a manner without
labour. They deriv'd the River when it rose, all over the Flat
of the Delta ; and as the People increas'd, over a great deal
of Land that lay higher. The Nile did not always Flow high
enough for a great Part of the then inhabited Country, and
without the Nile, They must either Starve or prey upon those
who had Corn ; This must needs create Mutiny and Blood-
shed, to prevent which it was the Wisdom of their ancient
Kings and Priests to Exact a certain Proportion of Corn, and
lay it up for those who wanted the benefit of the Rivers when
it disappointed their sowing.
Thus Joseph lay'd up for seven years, and sur'ly He was
not first : this Provision being ever so essentially necessary to
344 APPEXDICES.
support the Popularity and consequently the Grandure of the
Kingdom ; and continued so in all Ages, till the Turks
neglected all the upper Canales except one which still suppli'd
Alexandria. Now what was the consequence ? It was not
for the Health of the Common People nor Policy of the
Government for them to be fed in Idleness : great Multitudes
were therefore imploy'd in that which requir'd no great Skill,
the Sawing of Stone Square to a few different scantlings, nor
was there any need of Scaffolding or Engines, for hands
only would raise them from step to step : a little teaching
serv'd to make them set Line : and thus these great Works
in which some Thousands of hands might be imploy'd at once,
rose with Expedition : the difficulty was in mustering the
men to move in order under proper Officers, and probably
with Musick, as Amphion is said much about the same Age
to have built the walls of Thebes with his Harp ; that is
Musick made the Workmen move exactly together without
which no great weight can be moved, as Seamen know, for the
Sheet Anchor will by no means be moved without a fiddle to
make men exert their United force in equal time : other-
wise they pull one against another and lose great part of their
force.
The next observable Monument of great Antiquity which
yet remain is the Pillar of Absolom.
By the description given of it, and what I have learnt from
Travellers who have seen it, we must allow it to be very
Remarkable though not great.
It is compos'd of seven Pillars six about in a Hexagon,
and one in the middle and the Tholus solid, a large Archi-
trave, Frize and Cornice lie upon the Pillars which are larger
in proportion to their height then what we now allow to the
Tuscan order, so likewise is the Entablature larger.
This whole composition though at least 30 foot high, is all
of the one Stone, both Basis, Pillars and Tholus cut as it stood
out of the adjacent Cliff of white Marble.
I could wish some skilful Artist would give us the exact
dimensions to inches, by which we might have an idea of the
APPENDICES. 345
Antient Tyrian manner ; for it was probable Solomon by his
correspondence with King Hiram employ 'd the Tyrian
Artists, in his Temple ; and from the Phoenicians I derive as
well the Arts as the Letters, of the Graecians, tho it may be,
the Tyrians were Imitators of the Babylonians, and they of
the Egyptians. Great Monarchs are ambitious to leave great
Monuments behind them, and this occasions great Inventions
and Mechanick Arts.
What the Architecture was that Solomon used we know
little of, though Holy Writ hath given us the general dimen-
sions of the Temple, by which we may in some manner collect
the Plan but not of all the Courts.
Villapandus hath made a fine Romantick Piece after the
Corinthian Order, which in that age was not used by any
Nation : for the First Ages used grosser Pillars then Dorick.
In after Times they began to refine from the Dorick, as in the
Temple of Ephesus (the United Work of all Asia) and after-
wards improved into a Slenderer Pillar, and Leavy Capital of
various inventions which they called Corinthian. So that if
we run back to the Age of Solomon, we may with reason
believe they used the Tyrian manner, as gross at least as the
Dorick, and that the Corinthian manner of Villapandus is
meer fancy : Nay when long after Herod built the Atrium
Gentmm,\\& that carefully considers the description in Josephus
will find it to be a Tripple Portico, and thick Pillars of the
grosser Proportions which being whole stones of an incredible
Bulk our Saviour's Disciples admired them : Master, said
they, see what stones are here ! Titus would have sav'd this
noble structure, but a soldier throwing a torch upon the Roof
which was Cedar planks covered with Bitumen, it easily took
Fire and consumed the whole Building. All the City was thus
covered flat with Bitumen (easily gathered from the Lake of
Sodom) and upon the flat roofs the Jews celebrated under
Palm-boughs the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Body of the First Temple was gilt upon Bitumen,
which is good Size for gilding and will preserve the timber.
The ROof and Cedar Wainscot within being carved with
346 APPENDICES.
Knotts was gilded all over with a thick Leaf, so I understand
the word Overlay' d ; for if it was cover'd with plate apply'd over
the knots and Imbossments the gold nails to fix it on would
have increased the Weight of the plate, whereas the quantity of
the Nails is reckoned but small in Proportion. The Doors might
be plated over and nail'd, and the Hinges and Bars, called
Chains, might be solid ; for these were afterwards stripp'd when
the Egyptians pillaged the Temple in the Reign of Rehoboam.
That Herod did more than the Upper Portico doth not
appear, for the substruction under the Portico was certainly
Solomon's Work. The whole Hill Moriah was wall'd upright
by him from the bottom of the Valley which render'd a broad
Area above for all the Buildings of the Courts. This is the
work in which were us'd stone of 10 and 12 Cubits, call'd as
well they might Costly Stones.
Now it may well be inquired how in an uneven craggy
Country, as it is about Jerusalem, such mighty Loads of Stone
could be brought. I shall give my thoughts.
Solomon had an Army of Labourers in his Works ; now
suppose 12 Cubits long and 2 broad, and I thick, this would
amount to 648 of our solid feet, which in marble would be 64
Tuns and more. Eight men can draw a Tun, but the ground
being hilly, we will allow 10 men to a Tun which would be 640
men. Now how all these men can be brought to draw together
I show as follows. First, 10 men draw in a Rope (as barge-
men with us) at the end of this Rope is a Spring-tree (as our
Coachmen use for ye two fore Horses) to each end of which
is a rope so 20 men can draw in the second rank ; each rope
hath again its Spring-tree, and so on to a sixth rank each rank
doubling the number and supposing 10 men to govern the rest
(possibly with Musick) makes the number 640 men ; and this
will be found readier than capsterns, and by this means much
vaster stones may be mov'd and even by Barbarous People
without Engins. I cannot otherwise see what need Solomon
had of such great multitudes of Labourers as Threescore and
ten Thousand Bearers of Burdens, and Fourscore Thousand
Hewers of stone in the Mountains, &c. Probably too they
APPENDICES. 347
were employ'd by Months, and the rest were by turns to till
the ground and bring food for the Labourers that the Country
Work might proceed.
The Walls of Babylon were most stupendious Works,
built with Brick and Cement with Bitumen ; the Height of
them, according to Herodotus, was Two Hundred Royal
Cubits, and the Breadth Fifty ; which in our measure (reckon-
ing every Royal Cubit with Herodotus I foot 9 inches which is
3 inches above the common cubit measure) makes the Height
375 foot and the Breadth 93 ft. 9 in.
In these Walls were one hundred gates of Brass with
Ornaments in Architecture of the same metal. Besides the
first Wall, (which was encompassed with a wide and deep Foss
always supply 'd with water the sides of which were Lin'd with
Brick) was an inner Wall built of near the same strength,
tho not altogether of the same Breadth.
The extent of the City must add to the Surprise which
being a Square contained a Front on every Side of one
hundred and Twenty Stadia, that is Fifteen of our miles, and
makes up in the whole Threescore miles.
Another stupendious Fabrick of I think also Tyrian
architecture, was the monument of Porsenna, King of
Etruria. This Sepulchre we have describ'd by Pliny, with
the particular Dimensions in Feet which I have accordingly
Delineated.
First, a Basis of squar'd stone fifty foot high rais'd the
Pile above any vulgar contiguous Buildings which being solid
only in those Parts that bore weight was so contriv'd within-
side as to form a very intricate Labyrinth, into which whoever
enter'd without a clew of thread would not be able to find
the way out. Upon this Basis stood five Pyramids of 1 50
foot high ; Four in the Angles, and one in the Centre ; Bodies
call'd Pyramids tho it is manifest they must have been so
cut off as to have a large space on the Top to carry a Second
Story of Four more lofty Pyramids of 100 foot high ; and over
them a third Order of Five more. Now how these could be
borne is worth the consideration of an architect. I conceive it
might be thus perform'd securely.
348 APPENDICES.
Set half Hemispherical Arches, such as we make the heads
of Niches, but lay'd back to back, so that each of these have
its Bearing upon three Pyramids of the Lower Order, that is
two angular ones and the middle Pyramids ; and these cutting
one another upon the Diagonals will have a firm bearing for
all the Works above.
Pliny mentions a Brass Circle and Cupola, lay'd upon the
Five Lower Pyramids, not I suppose to bear anything, but
chiefly for Ornament, and to cover the stone work of the Arches
upon the strong Spandrells of which if another Platform were
rais'd upon that might the upper structure be built and the
whole have a stupendious effect, and seemingly very open.
Pliny took his Description of this extraordinary Pile from the
Measures set down by Varro, a diligent and therefore credible
author, who probably might have taken his Dimensions when
it was standing before the absolute conquest of Etruria by the
Romans ; the summary then of this prodigious Edifice (erected
to show the Vanity of the Eastern Monarchy could be exceeded
by the Italians) may be thus compriz'd.
The Basis of the whole was 300 ft. square, and 50 ft. h ; gh ;
upon which stood Five Pyramids each of 75 ft. square at 1 50 ft.
high ; upon which rested the Brazen Circle and Cupola, stil'd
by Pliny Petasus, (which I take to be a Brass Covering securing
the Arches) from which hung little Bells by Chains, which
sounded as they mov'd by the Winds.
The Four Pyramids of the Second Order of looft. high
standing upon the Circle or Brim of the Petasus as upon an
Entablature, were evidently the Four First Angular Pyramids
continu'd to an Apex, or near to a Point, so each will be in all
from the Basis 450 ft. high, and rise as high as the Petasus \
above which was again a Platform containing the Third Order
of Five more Pyramids, of which the four angular Pyramids
rested firmly upon the keys of the Diagonal Sections of
the half Hemispherical Vaultings, which were called by the
Ancients Conchae resembling the heads of Niches joyn'd back
to back. This Platform I take to have been round as being
the Horizontal Section of the Petasus ; and the Bases of the
APPEXDICES. 349
Five Upper Pyramids would be contiguous, and thus would be
of the same shape and as high as the same below, as Varro
asserts with some suspicion, fearing how they would stand,
but I with confidence, the Proportions persuading, which
indeed are very fine.
The H eighth to the Breadth of the Basis is 6 to i. The
Heighth of the Pyramids to the Brass Petasus is 2 to I, but
taking in their whole heighth it would have 4 to I, but allowing
the Point of the Pyramid to be taken off (as it ought) and
allowing for the Brasen Brim and Bells it will be 250 foot,
above which was the Floor that bore the Five upper Pyramids
of 4 to I, so the Heighth is 550 foot as 6 to 1 1.
I have ventured to put some Ornaments, at ye Top belong-
ing to the Tuscan superstition, (They then us'd not Statues)
They are Golden Thunderbolts, so the whole will be 600 foot
high, that is double to the Basis and the Heighth to the Brass
circle will appear half the Face, or like the Fagade of a
Tuscan Temple, to which the Breadth of the Brim of the
Petasus and the Bells supply the Place of an Entablature :
I have been the longer in this Description because the
Fabrick was in the Age of Pythagoras and his School,
when the World began to be fond of Geometry and Arithme-
tick.
N.B. In all the Editions of Pliny for Tricenum read
Tricentinum as the sense requires.
At the end of the Discourse on Architecture is an elevation, drawn
in pen and sepia, of the tomb of Mausolus, as Sir Christopher supposed
from Pliny's account that it must have been constructed. It is drawn to
a scale, with indications of statues, of which he supposed there to have
been forty-eight. It is remarkable how closely Sir Christopher's con-
jectural elevation tallies with what recent excavations have brought to
INDEX.
ABB
A BBOT, Bishop of London, i r,
^ 14 ; Archbishop of Canter-
bury, 24
Academic Royale dcs Sciences,
148
Addison, 74, 179
All Hallows, Bread Street, rebuilt
by Wren, 232 ; destruction of,
232, 234
Lombard Street, rebuilt by
Wren, 271, 272
Thames Street, 240
All Saints, Isleworth, 298
Andrewes, Lancelot, Dean of West-
minster, Bishop of Chichester, of
Ely, of Winchester, kindness of,
to Matthew Wren, 6, 7 ; his pro-
phecy, 10 13; his death, 14;
funeral of, at St. Saviour's, South-
wark, 15 ; care of, in giving
church preferment, 31 ; chaplain
sent to the New Forest by, 40 ;
appointment of Mr. Bois by, 46 ;
quoted by Bishop Wren, 62 ;
church views of, 120; legacy of,
to Pembroke College library, 134
'Annals of England,' 20, 58, 77,
122
Anne, Queen, 300, 301, 305, 317,
320, 327
Annual Register,' the (1765), 174
Arches Court, The, origin of the
name, 184
BIL
Architecture, 119, 148, 150, 171,
184, 197, 240, 268, 290, 329 ; Dis-
course on, by Sir C. Wren. See
Appendix III., 340
Artillery Company, the, 185
Ashburnham, Mr., 75
Ashmole, Mr. Elias, founder of the
Ashmolean Museum, 217
Atterbury, Dean of Westminster,
and Bishop of Rochester, 203,
209
Aubrey, the Wiltshire Antiquary, 91
Ayliffe's 'Oxford,' 125, 141
"D ANCROFT, Archbishop, 14
Barrow, Dr. Isaac, eulogy of,
on Christopher Wren, 128, 129
Barwick, Dr., Dean of Durham, of
S. Paul's, 'Life of,' 72, 76, 85,
IIO, 112, 115, I2O, 140
Bathurst, Dr., 144, 145, 270, 271
' Beauties of England and Wales,'
16
Bedloe, witness in the Popish plot,
227
Benson, William, appointed by
George I. to supersede Wren,
329, 33
Bernini, Giov., 145, 149
Billing, A., ' Restoration of the
Church of S. Sepulchre,' 183
352
INDEX.
RIR
COR
Bird, Francis, sculptor, 300, 304
' Black Book of the Garter,' the, 4,
68
Blenheim Palace, building of, by
Vanbrugh, 286
Blenheim, victory of (1704), 3 O1
1 Blue Book of the Garter,' the, 68
Blunt, ' Key to the Holy Bible,' 46
Bois, Mr. John, 46
Bow Church. See S. Mary-le-Bow
Boyle, Robert, 283
Brewster, Sir David, 'Life of
Newton,' 330
British Association, the, report of,
for 1859, 333
Brouncker, Lord, 124, 126, 143
Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, 279
Burton, Henry, 251
Busby, Dr., head-master of West-
minster, 41, 300
Bushnell, John, 179
Butler, Bishop of Bristol, 65
Butler, Samuel, 130
CAMBRIDGE, 6, 15,45, 216
Canova, Antonio, 192
Catechism, the, clergy compelled
to use, 22, 50
Cave, Dr. William, 240
Cemeteries, Wren's plan for placing
outside London, 307
Chardin, Sir John, 230, 231
Charles I., his journey to Spain as
Prince of Wales, 7-9 ; his coro-
nation in Scotland, 16 ; sets up
his standard at Nottingham
(1642), 60; sends a pardon to
Laud, 70 ; his flight from Oxford,
75 ; his death, 86 ; his bust by
Bernini, 149 ; proposed monu-
ment to, 209, 210
Charles II., escape of, after the
battle of Worcester, 91 ; letter of,
to Monk from Breda, 112; entry
of, into London,' 117; encourage-
ment given by, to the founding
of the Royal Society, 124, 130;
spirited behaviour of, at the Fire
of London, 156 ; first stone of
the Royal Exchange laid by, 178;
portion of the tax on coal given to
building of S. Paul's by, 198 ;
palace at Newmarket built for,
225 ; death of, 246
Chelsea College, building of the
hospital at, 239, 24.0, 300, 326,
327
Chichester, sack of, by the Parlia-
mentary troops, 79, 123
cathedral of, spire repaired by
Wren, 243
Christ Church, Newgate, repaired
by Wren, 260
Christ Church, Oxford, gateway at,
built by Wren, 232
' Church Quarterly Review,' the, 65,
123
Gibber, Caius, 207
City churches, the. See Names of
Churches. For complete list of,
see Appendix II., 338
City Church and Churchyard Pro-
tection Society, 191 ; Report of,
205
City companies' halls rebuilt by
Wren, 266. For list of, see Appen-
dix II., 339
Clarendon, Lord, 19, 20, 23, 47,
no, 121, 160
Claypole, Richard, 99
Coal, portion of tax on, granted for
the rebuilding of S. Paul's, 198
Coghill, Faith, 91, 176, 177
Collier, ' Ecclesiastical History,' 20
Common Prayer. See Prayer Book
Compton, Bishop of London, 220,
279, 323, 324
Convocation, meeting of, in S.
Paul's (1661), 119, 120
Corbet, Bishop of Norwich, of Ox-
ford, 22, 24, 27, 215
INDEX.
353
COS
C- sin, Dean of Peterborough,
Bishop of Durham, 153
Coverdale, Bishop Miles, 219
Cowley, Abraham, 124, 147
Cromwell, Oliver, 9, 91, 99, 102
Cromwell, Richard, 103
Custom-house, the, rebuilt by Wren,
176
TT\ALE, Rev. T. P., rector of S.
Vedast's, Foster Lane, impri-
sonment of, 273
Davenport, ' Oxfordshire Annals,' 25
' Decoy Duck,' the, a pamphlet
against Archbishop Williams, 59
Denham, Sir John, 127, 139
De Ros, Lord, 'The Tower of
London,' 211
Dore, Abbey of, 19
Doyley, ' Life of Bancroft,' 165, 166
Dunton, John, leader of the expedi-
tion against the Sallee pirates, 20
Duppa, Dr. Brian, Bishop of
Salisbury, appointed executor of
Archbishop Laud's will, 71 ;
Archbishop Tenison secretly or-
dained by, 1 23
"PAST Knoyle, living of, held by
J -' Dr. Wren, 31, 32, 33
Elmes, ' Life of Sir C. Wren,' 90,
97, 200, 230
Ely, 44, 45
Ely House, 118, 119
Ely, Bishop of. See Wren ; Turner
Emmanuel College, Chapel of,
built by Wren, 215, 216
Evelyn, John, 'Diary' of, 15, 49,
50, 51, 89,93, 94, 95,99. IH, H7,
118, 127, 145, 146, 154, 155, 181,
206, 209, 215, 217, 226, 228, 229,
230, 242, 244, 260, 286, 287, 302
death of, 304
Exchange. See Royal Exchange
GOD
A
T7AWLEY Court built by Wren,
r 245
Fell, Bishop of Oxford, 220
Fergusson ' Hist, of Architecture,'
15, 184, 192
' Illustrated Handbook of Archi-
tecture,' 139
Fifty new churches, Act fqr build-
ing the, 305
Fire of London, the, 155, 159, 175,
184, 185, 187, 191, 192, 204, 219,
243, 288
Flamsteed, Astronomer Royal, 216,
299, 327
Fogg, Captain, pillage of S.
George's Chapel by, 67
Fox, Sir Stephen, 239, 269, 327
' Fragmentary Illustrations of the
History of the Book of Common
Prayer,' 120
Freemasons, the Order of, 147,
200, 285
Frogley, Richard, Wren's carpen-
ter, 142
Fuller, Dr. Thomas, 6, 10
/BARTER, the Order of the, 4,
^ 5, 16, 34-36, 67, 68, 80, 81, 123,
217
Garth, Samuel, physician and poet,
265
George I., 329
George, Prince, 235, 300
Gibbons, Grinling, 194, 195, 242
252, 253, 324
Gibbs, James, pupil . of Wren's
builder of S. Mary-le-Strand and
S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 233,
286, 305
GodJard, Dr., Warden of Merton
College, 77, 78, 103, 104, 105, 124,
125
Godwin, ' De Praesulibus Angliae
Commentarius,' 57, 94
A
354
INDEX.
GRA
KEN
Grainger, ' Biographical History of
England, 1 59, 149, 231
Great Haseley, detection of a mur-
der at, 38
Greenwich Hospital, 269, 299
Observatory, 216, 327
- Palace, 127
Greshajn College, London, 98, 103,
105, 123, 240
Gresham Professors. See Ward's
'Lives of
Grey, 'Examination of Neale's
Hist of the Puritans,' 62, 86,
122
Griffiths, Matthew, Rector of S.
Mary Magdalene's, Fish St. 248
Gustavus Adolphus, his George
and Garter, 37, 67
TTACKETT, Dr., 18
Hawksmore, Nicholas, a
pupil of Wren's, 206, 286, 293
305
Hall, Bishop of Norwich, 58
Halley, Dr., 247, 299, 333
Hampton Court Palace, Wren's
alterations at, 267, 268.
Hare, A. C, 'Walks in London,'
119,252
Harris, Renatus, builder of the
organ at S. James', Westminster,
243 ; at S. Paul's, 274, 275
Hatton, E. ' New View of London,'
219, 262, 271, 272
Hawkins, Sir John, monument of,
at S. Dunstan's-in-the-East 287.
Henchman, Bishop of London, 154,
222
Henley-on-Thames, 38, 75, 159
Henry VI., 4
Hewet, Dr., 99
Heylin, < Cyprianus Anglicus,' 15,
. 22, 44
Hoare, Sir R., ' History of Wilt-
shire,' '33
Holder, Dr. 42, 177, 222, 223, 261,
300
Holder, Mrs., 42, 176, 223, 224, 225,
261, 300
Hooke, Robert, 159, 246, 247
Hope, Right Honourable, A. J. B. B.
' Worship in the Church of Eng-
land,' 65
Hoskyns, C. Wren, 3, 231
Hoskyns, Sir John, 231
Hudson, Dr., chaplain to Charles I.,
75
Hume, ' History of England,' 102
Hyde, Mr., no, in, 112, 113, 115.
See Clarendon.
TNIGO JONES, 42, 93, 127, 166,
243, 269
Ipswich, Disturbances'at, stirred up
by Prynne, 44, 45 ; Tower church
at, 65.
T AMES I., visit of, to Cambridge,
J 6 ; plans the Spanish match,'7 ;
his opinion of Bishop King, 222
James 1 1., Inscription on Monument
effaced by, 208 ; continues Wren
on S. Paul's commission, 248 ;
Declaration by, of liberty of con-
science, 260 ; Abdication of, 263 ;
Residence of, at S. Germain's, 283
Jarman, the city architect, 266
Jeffreys, Judge, his lettef to Pepys,
161, 162
Jennings, Richard, Wren's master
carpenter, 159, 200, 321, 323
Juxon, Bishop of London, 17, 49,
86, 109 ; Archbishop of Canter-
bury, 118
^" EN, Prebendary of Winchester,
> Bishop of Bath and Wells,
220, 234, 200
355
KEN
Kennet, Bishop, 122
Kensington Palace, additions to,
made by Wren, 268
King, Bishop of London, his grave-
stone, 222
Knolles, ' Historic of the Turks,'
19
T AKE, Bishop of Chichester,
*- 260
Lalanne, L., 'Dictionnaire Histo-
rique de la France/ 149
Lambeth Palace, 41, 47, 48, 239
Lane, Mr. Peter, Rector of S. Ben-
net's, Paul's wharf, 243
Lathbury, ' History of Book of Com-
mon Prayer,' 123
Laud, Bishop of S. David's, of
London, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, advice of, respecting chap-
lains for the Prince of Wales, 7 ;
form of penance, and reconcili-
ation for a renegado prepared with
Bishop Wren by, 20; measures
taken by, against the lecturers,
22 ; his treatment of the foreign
congregations, 23, 24 ; works at
S. Paul's carried on by order of,
41, 42 ; yearly report of, to the
King, 45 ; impeachment and im-
prisonment of, in the Tower, 48,
50 ; his refusal to escape, 61 ;
Trial of, 69, 70 ; his execution on
Tower Hill, 70 ; order of, re-
specting altar-rails, 249
Lecturers, measures taken against,
22, 27
Lenthall, William, Speaker of the
House of Commons, 38, 79
Le Sceur, Hubert, his statue of King
Charles, 195
Littleton, Lord Keeper, 57
Lloyd, Bishop of S. Asaph, 217,226,
260, 281
Longitude, the, attempts to discover
accurately, 215, 331, 332
INDEX.
NEI
London, city of, 25, 41, 98, 142, 154,
155, 179, 1 86, 188,335. See Fire i
Plague ; Tower.
London Bridge, 204, 262, 288
Stone, 219
Long Parliament, the, 56, 68, 103
Longman, ' Three Cathedrals dedi-
cated to S. Paul's in London,' 198,
222, 273, 293
Louvre, the, 148, 149
Lysons, ' Environs of London,' 298
]\T ACAU LAY, ' History of Eng-
iV1 land '261, 281
Marah, ' Life of Archbishop Juxon,'
18
Marlborough, Duchess of, 285, 286
Duke of, 301, 302
Mary, Princess, her marriage, 49
Queen, her arrival in England
263 ; employs Wren to rebuild
Hampton Court, 267 ; her death,
268
Maw, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 7
' Memorials of the See of Chi-
chester,' 79, 123, 245
Merchant Taylors' School, 6
Milford, Rev. R.N., 33
Milman, 'Annals of S. Paul's Cathe-
dral,' 197, 203, 318
Milton, 122, 232
Monk, George, afterwards General,
71, 72, 103, 112, 114
Monument, the, built by Wren, 207 ;
inscriptions on, 207, 208
Morley, Bishop of Winchester,
220
Morton, Bishop of Durham, 112
Motley ' Life of Barneveldc,' 61
~\T EALE, History of the Puri-
^ tans,' 58
Neile, Bishop of Rochester, of
Lichfield, of Lincoln, of Durham,
A A 2
356 % INDEX.
NEW
of Winchester, and Archbishop
of York, 10, ii, 13, 57, 70
Newcourt, ' Repertorium,' 118, 183,
218, 222, 241, 243, 249, 250, 273
Newmarket, hunting palace built
for Charles II. at, 225
Newport, Lord, 218
Newton, Sir Isaac, 154, 193, 232,
246, 247, 324, 327
Noble, 'Biographical History of
England,' 225, 330
Non-jurors, the, 264, 281
Norris, Lord, 38, 39
Norwich, diocese of, overrun with
lecturers, 22 ; weavers at, Bishop
Wren's treatment of, 23, 25
Notes and queries, 90
RED
/~\ATES, Titus, 226
^-^ Oldenburg, Mr., Secretary of
the Royal Society, 299
Oughtred, the Rev. W., 78; his
death fromjoy at the Restoration,
79
Oxford, 25, 31, 74, 75, 90, 93, 140,
144, 192, 217, 232
pAPIN, DENYS, inventor of
Papin's Digestor, 229, 230
Parentalia, the, 26, 32, 34, 66, 74,
82, 87,90,98, 153, 154, 155,177,
200, 201, 203, 223, 235, 247, 281,
325, 326, 33
Pascal, 101, 102, 148
Pearson, Dr., His sermon at Bishop
Wren's funeral, 160
Peck, ' Desiderata Curiosa,' 46, 75,
160
Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, 6, 134;
Consecration of chapel of, 162 ;
Bishop Wren buried at, 160 ;
Matthew Wren buried at, 161 ;
Sir C. Wren's son educated at,
265
Pepys' Diary, 118, 142, 143, 144,
156, 158, 161, 175, 178, 182, 228
Perier, Madame, ' Vie de Pascal,'
102
Peter the Great at Sayes Court,
286, 287
Peterhouse, Cambridge, 15,17,45,
88, 153, 1 60
Petty, Dr., afterwards Sir William,
89, 124, 125
Phelp, Richard, bell-founder, 321,
323
Philosophical Society, the, 126
Philosophy Act, the, kept at Cam-
bridge, 6 ; at Oxford, 93
Physicians, College of, built by
Wren, 265
Pierce, Edward, sculptor under
Wren, 207
Pigott, Mrs., only surviving de-
scendant of Sir C. Wren, 231, 304,
317
Plague, the (in 1636), 25 ; (in 1665),
142, 143, 144, 154, 243
Plot, Dr., 142, 300
Pope, ' Moral Essays,' 208
' Dunciad,' 330
Popish Plot, the, 227
Portland, Earl of, 282, 303
Portland quarries, the, 221, 279
Prayer Book, the, 65, 69, 118
of Edward VI., the first, 121
Prynne, William, 44, 45, 50, 70
/QUENCH COAL,' pamphlet by
>C Prynne, 44
' Querela Cantabrigiensis,' 76
"DAIKES, Captain, 'History of
the Honourable Artillery
Company,' 185
Randolph, Thomas, 90
Red Book of the Garter, the, 68
INDEX.
357
REN
SAI
Renegade, form of penance and
reconciliation for, 19, 20
Restoration, the, 79
Rooke, Laurence, Astronomy Pro-
fessor at Gresham College, 125,
128
Rowe, Sir Thomas, 34, 35
Royal Exchange, the, rebuilt by C.
.Wren, 178
Royal Society, the, 95, 124, 129,
Hi, H5> 154, 159, 193, 194, 203,
208, 222, 223, 228, 230, 231, 239,
240, 246, 284, 299, 327,333 ; His-
tory of,' by Sprat, 95
' History of,' by Weld, 124, 327
Ryswick, peace of (1697), 271
Ryves, Dr., Bruno, Dean of Chi-
chester, and of Windsor, and
Registrar of the Garter, 123
C ALBAN'S, Lord, 146, 148, 241
*-> Alban's, Wood St., rebuilt
by Wren, 248
Andrew's, Holborn, rebuilt by
Wren, 259, 297
Andrew's-by-the- Wardrobe, re-
built by Wren, 271
SS. Anne and Agnes' Church, re-
built by Wren, 218
S. Anne's, Soho, 300
Antholin's, Watling St., rebuilt
by Wren, 233 ; destruction of, 234
Augustine's Church, 234
Bartholomew's, Bartholomew
Lane, rebuilt by Wren, 218 ; de-
stroyed to give site for the Sun
Fire-office, 219
Bartholomew's Day (1662), 122
Bennet's, Gracechurch St., re-
built by Wren, 250 ; destruction
of, 250
- Bennet's, Paul's Wharf, rebuilt
by Wren, 243-
Bennet Fink, rebuilt by Wren,
194; destruction of, 194
S. Bride's, Fleet St., rebuilt by
Wren, 219, 220
Christopher-le-Stocks, repaired
by Wren, 185
Clement Danes, rebuilt by Wren,
233
Eastcheap, rebuilt by Wren,
252
Dionysius or S. Dionis, Back
Church, rebuilt by Wren, 194 ;
destruction of, 194
Dunstan's in the East, repaired
by Wren, 287, 288
Edmund the King, rebuilt by
Wren, 267
Faith (crypt of S. Paul's), built
by Wren, 262
George's, Botolph Lane, rebuilt
by Wren, 194
George's Chapel, Windsor, 4, 5,
67, 68, 209
Gregory's Church, 41, 99, 250
James's, Garlickhithe, rebuilt by
Wren, 243
Westminster, built by Wren,
241, 242, 310
John's College, 31, 71
Lawrence, Jewry, rebuilt by
. Wren, 206
Magnus, London Bridge, 5 ; re-
built by Wren, 204, 297
Margaret's, Fish St., 5
Lothbury, rebuilt by Wren, .
267
Pattens, rebuilt by Wren,
259
Martin's-in-the-Fields, 191 ; re-
built by Gibbs, 233
Martin's, Ludgate Hill, rebuilt
by Wren, 248-
Mary's, Abchurch, rebuilt by
Wren, 252
Aldermanbury, rebuilt by
Wren, 207
- -at- Hill, 191
le-Bow, rebuilt by Wren, 183
358
INDEX.
SAI
SAN
S. Mary-le-Strand, built -by Gibbs,
233, 305
Somerset, rebuilt by Wren,
273
- Woolnoth, repaired by Wren,
rebuilt by Hawksmore, 206
Magdalene, Fish St., rebuilt
by Wren, 248
- Matthew's, Friday St., rebuilt by
Wren, 250
Michael's, Bassishaw, rebuilt by
Wren, 219
Cornhill, rebuilt by Wren,
191
Crooked Lane, rebuilt by
Wren,262 ; destruction of (1830),
262
- Queenhithe, repaired by-
Wren, 207
Mary's, Royal College Hill, re-
built by Strong, Wren's master-
mason, 272
Mildred's, Bread St., rebuilt by
Wren, 240
Poultry, rebuilt by Wren,
205 ; destruction of, in 1872, 205
Nicholas, Cole Abbey, rebuilt by
Wren, 206
Olave's, Jewry, rebuilt by Wren,
194
Paul's Cathedral, old, repairs of,
41, 42 ; attacked by the Puritan
mob (1640), 46-47 ; meeting of
the Convocation of Canterbury
at (1661), 119 ; Wren's proposed
repairs of, 139, 140, 154 ; burning
of, in the Great Fire (1666), 156,
158 ; removing the ruins of, 165 ;
Sancroft's letters to Wren re-
specting, 1 66, 1 68 ; Wren's ac-
count of the effect of the fire
upon, 169, 170, 171 ; sale of the
ruins of, for the rebuilding of
parochial churches, 186, 187 ;
ruins of, blown up with gun-
powder, 187, 1 88; New or present
building, different designs for, and
Wren's model of, 196, 197 ; first
stone of, laid by Wren, 200 ;
Wren's care in laying the founda-
tions of, 201 ; Bishop Compton's
address to obtain contributions for,
220 ; quarries of Portland stone
set apart for, 221 ; the crypt of,
finished, 261, 262 ; part of the
money for, taken by Parliament
for the expenses of King William's
wars, 273 ; placing of the organ
in, 273, 274, 275 ; opening of the
choir of, 279 ; Wren's order
against swearing among the
workmen in, 285 ; morning-prayer
chapel of, opened, 288 ; burial of
Jane Wren in, 300 ; thanksgiving
for the victory of Blenheim at, 301 ;
covering of the dome of, with lead,
303 ; last stone of, laid by Wren's
son, 318, 319 ; the iron gates set
up in, 324 ; Wren's design for
east end of, 324, 325 ; iron fence
round, 326 ; design of the com-
missioners to put up a balustrade,
in, 328; late improvements in
334
S. Peter's, Cornhill, rebuilt by
Wren, 233 ; charitable legacies
belonging to, 233
Sepulchre's Church, 182, 183
Stephen's, Coleman St., rebuilt
by Wren, 205
Walbrook, rebuilt by Wren,
192, 225, 226
Swithin's, Cannon St., rebuilt by
Wren, 219
Vedast's, Foster Lane, steeple
of, added by Wren, 273
Salisbury Cathedral, Wren's work
at, 17
Sancroft, Dr., Dean of S. Paul's
and Archbishop of Canterbury,
appointed a S. Paul's com-
missioner, 1 54 ;. sermon of, after
INDEX.
359
SAV
WAL
the Fire, I 5 ; letters of, to Sir C.
Wren, 166-168 ; contributions of,
to the building of S. Paul's, 220 ;
imprisonment of, in the Tower,
260, 261 ; refuses to take the oath
of allegiance to William III., 264
Savoy conference, the, 120
Sayes Court occupied by Peter the
Great, 286, 287
Scarborough, Sir Charles, 78, 224
Scudamore, Lord, 19
' Sessional Papers, R.I.B.A.,' 267,
268
Seven Bishops, the, trial of, 235, 260
Seward, ' Anecdotes of Distin-
guished Persons,' 222
Sheldon, Bishop of London and
Archbishop of Canterbury, 140,
146
Sheldonian Theatre, the, built by
Wren, 140, 331
Sherlock, Dean of S. Paul's, 281
Simpson, Dr. Sparrow, 'Documents
illustrating the History of S.
Paul's,' 27, 274, 280, 288, 323
Smith, Bernard, or Father, builder
of organ at S. Paul's, 275, 288
South, Dr., 69, 141
Spain, expedition of the Prince of
Wales to, 7, 9
Spectator, the,' 179
Sprat, Dr., Dean of Westminster
and Bishop of Rochester, his
account of the meetings of the
Royal Society, 95 ; ' History of
Royal Society,' 95 ; letters of, to
Christopher Wren, 105, 132, 133 ;
his sermon before the Commons,
209 ; is succeeded by Atterbury,
289
Steele, Sir R., The Tatler,' 239
Strafford, Lord, 48, 49, 50
Strong, Edward, Wren's master-
mason, 272, 284, 297, 303
Thomas, brother of Edward,
200
'T'ANGIERS, fortifications of,i32;
- Tenison, Thomas, Bishop of
Lincoln and Archbishop of Can-
terbury, his secret ordination by
Bishop Duppa, 123 ; founding of
a library at S. Martin's by, 226 ;
building of the Chapel of the
Holy Trinity, Conduit St., by, 243
Temple Bar, built by Wren, 1 79
Tijou, M., worker in iron, maker
of the gates in S. Paul's, 324,
326
Tilbury Fort, 216
Torricelli, his invention of the
barometer, 100, 101
Tower of London, the, 44, 58, 59,
69, 71,87,114, 115,187,211,212,
260, 261
Tradescant, John, collector of the
objects of natural history in the
Oxford Museum, 217
Trelawney, Bishop of Winchester,
235
Trinity College, Oxford, 144, 145,
146
Trinity College, Cambridge, 146
Turner, Bishop of Ely, 260
WANBRUGH, Sir John, 286,
35
Van Vianen, Christian, 37
Ven, Colonel, 68
Verrio, painter, his work at White-
hall and Windsor, 252
TV r AD HAM COLLEGE, Ox-
ford, 73, 77, 79, 93, 95, 105
Waller, Edmund, 9, 196
Waller, Sir William, sack of the
city of Chichester by, 79, 123
Wallis, Dr., 77, 78, 112, 141, 222,
223
Walpole, ' Anecdotes of Painting,'
37, 268
360
WAL
Walworth, Sir William, his tomb,
262
Ward, ' Lives of the Gresham Pro-
fessors,' 79, 89, 128, 226
Ward, Dr. Seth., Bishop of Exeter,
of Salisbury, 90, 124, 125, 171,
206
' Warwickshire Worthies,' 3, 330
Weather-clock, the invention of, by
Wren, 89
Weavers, the, at Norwich, 23
Weld, 'History of the Royal
Society,' 124, 193, 327
Westminster Abbey, 57, 230, 289,
293, 320, 33i
- School, 41, 57, 69, 9, 231
White", Bishop of Peterborough,
260, 281
Whitehall, 144, H9 2 5 2 > 2 99> 3 1 ?
Whittington, Sir Richard, 272
Wilkins, Dr. John, Bishop of
Chester, 74, 77, 93>94,95> I2 4, 206
William, Prince of Orange, 49
William III., 208, 263, 268, 299
Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, and
Archbishop of York, 57, 59
Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man,
220
Winchester, Wren's scheme for
palace at, 234, 235
House, conference at, 10, n
Windsor, 4, 16, 37, 4, 68, 263, 264,
265, 300
Wiseman, attack of the mob on
Westminster Abbey, led by, 57
Wood, ' Athense Oxonienses,' 153
' Fasti,' 223
Wood, Philip, carvings of, 253-255
Woodward, Dr., 202, 203
Worcester, battle of (1651), 91, 93
< Workman, the British,' 253
Wren, Capt, 161, 162
Charles, son of Bishop Wren,
161
Wren, Christopher, Dr., birth of, 5 ;
education of, 31 ; given the
INDEX.
WRE
living of Fbnthill Bishops, 31 ; ot
East Knoyle, 31 ; made Dean of
Windsor and Registrar of the
Garter, 34 ; made rector of
Great Haseley, 38 ; building at
Windsor for Charles I. designed
by, 40 ; his care for the treasures
of the Order of the Garter, 67 ;
letter of, to the Knights of the
Garter, 80, 8 1 ; death of, 96
Wren, Sir Christopher, birth of, 32;
sent to school at Westminster,
41 ; his Latin letter to his father,
42, 43 ; goes to Oxford, 73, 74 ;
his life there, 77, 78 ; his transla-
tion of the ' Clavis Auiea,' 78, 79 ;
his early Inventions, 88, 89, 90 ;
friendship of, with Evelyn, 93,
94 ; made Gresham professor of
astronomy, 97 ; his first lecture,
97, 98 ; discovery of the baro-
meter by, 101 ; origin of the Royal
Society in meetings in his rooms,
124 ; is made Savilian professor,
125 ; and doctor of civil laws at
Oxford and Cambridge, 126 ; his
letter to Lord Brouncker on Ex-
periments, 126, 127; writes the
preamble to the Charter of the
Royal Society, 129; declines the
commission to direct the fortifi-
cations of Tangiers, 132 ; his
designs for the chapel at Pem-
broke Hall, Cambridge, 134; his
letter to Dr. Bathurst, 144 ; his
journey abroad, 146 ; his journal,
149-152 ; his return to London
and inspection of S. Paul's, 154 ;
his plan for rebuilding the city
after the fire, 157, 158. 172, 173 ;
Sancroft's letters to him as to the
patching of S. Paul's, 166-171 ;
his work at Salisbury Cathedral,
171 ; letter of, to Faith Coghill,
177; his marriage, 178; rebuilding
of the Exchange by, 178; building
INDEX.
361
WRE
of Temple Bar by, 178 ; petition
of, to Charles II., 180-182; re-
building of Bow Church by, 183-
184; of S. Christopher-le-Stocks,
184 ; is made a member of the
Honourable Artillery Company,
185 ; resigns the Savilian astro-
nomy professorship, 186 ; ap-
pointed architect of S. Paul's,
1 87 ; clears away the ruins of old
S. Paul's, 187; his experiment in
blowing up the tower with gun-
powder, 1 88; his use of a batter-
ing ram, 188 ; birth of his eldest
son, 191 ; repairof S. Mary-at-Hill
by, 191 ; building of S. Stephen's,
Walbrook, by, 192, 225; knighted
by Charles II., 194 ; rebuilding of
Drury Lane by, 196; salary as
architect of S. Paul's, 196 ; his
model for S. Paul's, 196-198 ;
lays the first stone of S. Paul's,
200 ; death of his wife, 203 ; his
second marriage, 203 ; rebuilding
of eight city churches by, 204-
207 ; building of the Monument
by, 207 ; his designs for a monu-
ment to Charles I., 209 ; build-
ing of the chapel at Emmanuel
College by, 216 ; of the Observa-
tory at Greenwich, 216 ; birth of
his daughter Jane, 217; rebuild-
ing of five more city churches
by, 218, 219 ; the marking out of
the dome of S. Paul's by, 222 ;
death of his second wife, 226 ;
elected President of the Royal
Society, 228 ; Christ Church
gateway built by, 232 ; All
Hallows, Bread Street, rebuilt
by, 232 ; S. Peter's, Cornhill, and
S. Clement Danes rebuilt by,
233 ; his design for a palace at
Winchester, 234, 235 ; Chelsea
Hospital built by, 240 ; S.
James's, Westminster, built by,
WRE
241 ; Chichester Cathedral re-
paired by, 245 ; Fawley Court
built by, 245 ; made Controller of
the Works, 246 ; elected member
for Plympton, 247 ; eight more
city churches built by, 248-252 ;
death of his sister Susan, 261 ;
buildings by, erected at Windsor,
264, 265 ; College of Physicians
built by, 265 ; halls of city
companies rebuilt by, 266 ;
Hampton Court palace rebuilt
by, 257, 268 ; scheme of, for
Greenwich Palace, 269; his diffi-
culties in placing the organ of S.
Paul's, 273 ; invention by, of a
pulpit on wheels, 280 ; letter of,
to his son in Paris, 282, 283 ;
chosen Grand Master of the
Freemasons, 285 ; Marlborough
House built by, 286; S. Dun-
stan's-in-the-East repaired by,
287, 288 ; statement of, as to re-
pairs of Westminster Abbey,
289-293 ; elected member for
Weymouth, 298 ; death of his
daughter Jane, 300; second letter
of, to his son, 302, 303 ; letter of,
on church building, 305-313 ;
private houses built by, 317 ;
last stone of S. Paul's laid by his
son, 318 ; attack on, by S. Paul's
Commissioners, 320 ; his petition
to Queen Anne, 320, 322 ; his
unfulfilled design for east end of
S. Paul's, 324, 325 ; dismissal of,
by George I., from the post of
surveyor-general, 329 ; purchase
of* Wroxhall Abbey by, 330; his
studies and papers in cipher re-
specting the longitude at sea,
331, 332; his death 333; his
burial and monument, 334
Wren, Christopher, son of Sir C.
Wren, 200, 265, 269, 281, 282,
283, 302, 303, 304, 318, 330
B B
362
INDEX.
WRE
Wren, Francis, 5
Geoffrey, 4, 5
Jane, daughter of Sir C. Wren,
217, 269, 288, 300, 301
Matthew, birth and education
of, 6 ; sent with the Prince to
Spain, 7, 8 ; return and state-
ment of, to three Bishops respect-
ing the Prince of Wales, 10-13 ;
elected Master of Peterhouse, 15 ;
made Dean of Windsor, 16 ; his
marriage, 16 ; made Bishop of
Hereford, 17 ; Clerk of the
Closet, 17 ; service composed by,
for the Reconciliation of Rene-
gados, 19, 20; made Bishop of
Norwich, 23 ; translated to Ely,
44 ; his care for his diocese, 45,
46 ; Sir Harbottle Grimston's
and Hampden's attack upon him,
48, 49 ; officiates at the marriage
of Princess Mary, 49 ; resigns the
Deanery of the Chapels Royal,
51 ; articles of accusation drawn
up against him in the Commons,
55 ; his imprisonment, 58 ; his
defence, 6 1-66 ; death of his
wife, 85 ; his life in the Tower,
86 j refuses freedom on Crom-
YOR
well's terms, 100 ; his conferences
with Dr. Barwick, 110-113; re-
leased from prison, 115, 116;
revision of the Prayer Book by,
1 20 ; consecration and dedication
of Pembroke Chapel by, 152 ;
second visitation, 153 ; death and
funeral of, 159, 160, 161
Wren, Matthew, son of Bishop
Wren, 60, 78, 85, 88, 92, 103, 112,
124, 160, 161, 194
Stephen, grandson of Sir C.
Wren, 224
Susan, daughter of Dean Wren,
34, 41. See Holder.
Thomas, son of Bishop Wren,
161, 162, 224
William, 4, 5
Sir William, son of Bishop
Wren, 161, 162
Wrenne, ancient form of spelling
Wren, 4
Wrenne, John, 4
Wroxhall Abbey, purchase of, by
Sir C. Wren, 330
, Duke of, 160, 185, 228,
234. .S>i James II.
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