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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
A carat character is used to denote superscription. A
single character following the carat is superscripted
(example: y^r). Multiple superscripted characters are
enclosed by curly brackets (example: ma^{tie}).
The right-hand pages of the original text used italicised
page headings to indicate the current topic. These have
been retained and placed at the start of the paragraph
where the topic is addressed, using square brackets,
e.g.: [_OLD FAMILY MOTTO._].
A lengthy paragraph may have multiple topics, and each is
placed separately.
There are several Greek citations, which are rendered
here using a simplified transliteration, denoted with
square brackets, as [Hoti anestê Basileus...]. There is
also a Maltese Cross which is likewise rendered as
[Maltese Cross].
For detailed information about any corrections made,
consult the tenscriber's note at the end of this text.
[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER WREN, D.D. DEAN OF WINDSOR.]
[Illustration: MATTHEW WREN, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF ELY.]
[Illustration: S^R. CHRIS. WREN K^T]
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
His Family and His Times.
With Original Letters and a Discourse on
Architecture Hitherto Unpublished.
1585-1723.
by
LUCY PHILLIMORE,
Author of 'Bishop Wilberforce, 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.
[Illustration]
London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., 1 Paternoster Square.
1881.
(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved)
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 Christopher 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
careful 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 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and one
in the 'Biographica 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 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. Nor 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 meâ._ 1642.'
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
accounts 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 Christopher 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 grandson are both alike silent on all political
matters subsequent 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
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 emphatically anti-Roman. For this reason, if for no other, after the
trial of the Seven Bishops had shaken the confidence of every Churchman
in the country, Wren may have acquiesced in a settlement which appeared
to promise protection to the Church without finally excluding the Stuart
line. The 'Parentalia,' published five years after the last Jacobite
rising in 1745, preserves, 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 founded 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 professors, each of whom gave a lecture a day in term time, had a
salary of 50_l._ 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 aldermen, who had been less fortunate. In 1768 it was pulled down by
Act of Parliament, to give a site to the 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 belonging 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 Christopher was said to have presented to the
Lodge, with this inscription:--'A. L. 5831. A.D. 1827. To commemorate
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 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 1, 1881._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] From which the three vignettes in this volume are taken.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
1585-1636.
PAGE
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 Reconciliation--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--Imprisonment
of the Bishops--Bishop Wren's Defence--'Utterly Denieth
all Popish Affections'--The Garter Jewels--Archbishop Laud
Murdered--Christopher at Oxford--Philosophical Meetings. 55
CHAPTER IV.
1647-1658.
Death of Mrs. M. Wren--King Charles Murdered--A monotonous
Walk--Inventions--A Dream--All Souls' Fellowship--
Beginnings 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--Convocation--Savilian
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 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. 191
CHAPTER IX.
1677-1681.
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--Chichester 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
CHAPTER XIV.
1709-1723.
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
II. 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
[Illustration: THE PRINCIPAL WORKS OF SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
FROM A DRAWING BY C. R. COCKERELL, R.A.]
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 PETERHOUSE--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.
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
inconsiderable 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 picturesque struggle, in the rise
from a lower to a higher condition, which has so commonly attended
the conquest of genius over difficulty.'[2]
Far otherwise, the Wren family was an old one, tracing its descent from
the Danes; one of the house 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, performed 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 presented 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 Sigismund, 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.
[_OLD FAMILY MOTTO._]
William Wren was in Henry VIII.'s time the head of the family; his
younger brother Geoffrey, who was a priest, was of Henry VII.'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.[3] 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 vermibus ultimis donor,
Et sicut ponor, ponitur omnis honor.'[4]
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, 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 especially 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 seasonable
distinction what the king's hounds could perform above others by virtue
of their prerogative.'[5] Probably 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.
[_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.[6] 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 himself 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 permission, was tormented by a thousand fears for the
Prince's safety. The nation was in a state of ferment, 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 lawfully be done; "for," said he, "it hath
ever been my way to go with the Church of Rome _usque ad
aras_."'[7]
'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
preachings 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, ornaments 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 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 precaution on the chaplain's
part to preserve this discreet silence, but it is tantalising to have
only a hint concerning the transactions in Spain. How the negotiations
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.
[_RETURNS FROM SPAIN._]
That his departure was attended with some sea-peril appears from one of
Edmund Waller's[8] early poems 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:--
'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
Pembroke and the living of Feversham.
[_AT WINCHESTER HOUSE._]
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, 'suddenly' 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 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:--[9]
'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 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 unfittest person must be the speaker. But
thus it is. After you left us yesterday at Whitehall, 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 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."
[_BISHOP ANDREWES' PROPHECY._]
'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 Durham; 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,
'I 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 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 Archbishop 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 persuaded 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.'[10]
[_MASTERSHIP OF PETERHOUSE._]
The consequences of such an ecclesiastical appointment made for so
insufficient a reason were disastrous indeed. Had Andrewes succeeded
Bancroft, and had Laud succeeded Andrewes, 'the Church had been settled
on so sure a foundation that it had not easily been shaken.'[11]
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 subscriptions
enough to build a handsome chapel, and to ornament it richly.[12] The
wood-panelled hexagonal roof, the marble steps on which the altar
stands, flanked by two tall candlesticks, give a character to the
interior enhanced 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 visited, and hidden away in boxes. A wise precaution,
for the commissioners destroyed all the other ornaments, 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.[13] 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 Châteauneuf.
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 property 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 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. Curle, Bishop of Winchester, washed them over again
in white wine and then kissed them.
[_BISHOPRIC OF HEREFORD._]
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 Peterborough, 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 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:[14]
'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.'
[_CONSECRATION OF ABBEY DORE._]
Bishop Wren began vigorous work in Hereford, 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 Scudamore 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 employed 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 'Historie of the Turks' shows that 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 resulted 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 Rainsborough's ship.[15]
['_RECONCILIATION OF A RENEGADO._']
The 'Form of Penance and Reconciliation of a Renegado or Apostate from
the Christian Religion to Turcism,'[16] which Wren and Laud prepared
together, is a very striking one. First came the solemn excommunication,
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
Christians for a poor wretched renegado;' 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 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 congregation. 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
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 reremice, being
neither birds nor beasts, and yet both together,'[17] 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 callings. 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 possible 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 themselves vigorously to enforce the
Archbishop's plans, 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.
[_FOREIGN CONGREGATIONS._]
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-consequence 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 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
government 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 congregations. 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 Government. 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 congregations remained
a focus of Calvinism and discontent, secretly encouraged by all the
leading Puritans, and envied by the lecturers who wished themselves in
the like case.
[NORWICH CLOTH WEAVERS.]
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 1636,[18] 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 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.'
[Sidenote: 'NO LECTURE, BUT VERY MUCH PEACE.']
The charge has been often revived, the more so as though the accusation
is well known enough, the defence, 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
unyielding, 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, however, 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 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,[19] 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 undertaking 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.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] _Warwickshire Worthies_, p. 845. Article by C. Wren Hoskyns, Esq.,
M.P.
[3] 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.
[4] Laid under the stone,
For the worms alone,
All mortal pride
Is laid aside. (G. A. D.)
[5] Bishop Andrewes was so well pleased that he 'sent the moderator
(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.
[6] _Life of Bishop Andrewes_, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p.
xvii.
[7] _Cypr. Ang._, p. 100. Heylin.
[8] 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.
[9] '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. lvii.
[10] _Life of Bishop Andrewes_, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. x.
[11] _Cypr. Ang._, p. 59. Heylin.
[12] 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.
[13] _Beauties of England and Wales_ (Cambridgeshire).
[14] _Life of Archbishop Juxon_, p. 27. Rev. W. H. Marah.
[15] _Annals of England_, p. 407.
[16] _Eccles. Hist._, vol. ix. p. 388, ed. 1841, Collier, where the
office may be found entire.
[17] _Cypr. Ang._, introduction, p. 9. Heylin.
[18] '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. Curle), 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.
[19] 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 adorning their
church within and out, to build a stone wall round the
churchyard which now had but a hedg. _I 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.