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.
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 preferment 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 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 '10th.'
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.[20] 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.
[CHANCEL AT EAST KNOYLE.]
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
Andrewes. 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 architecture. He employed himself in decorating
East Knoyle chancel, and to him, in all probability, are owing the[21]
'flower borders, figures, and texts of Scripture in raised plasterwork'
which, though much defaced, 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:
Sic ae Am a
pr sis. a. A Deo pta.[22]
ut o or o
'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
'Comfortable 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
Tam solenni præcepto, tempestivo voto
Subscripsi introiens
C. W. RECTOR,
Julii 28. Anno dicto.'[23]
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 himself 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. It 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 chancellor 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.'
[GARTER RECORDS.]
Sundry particulars follow, and he promises a record 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.
'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 opportunities. 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 compliments 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^m qui in eo sunt. 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 picturesque account, the admission on May 19,
1638, of the Prince of Wales, then but eight years old, as a 'companion
of the Garter.' The little Prince, Dean Wren says, acquitted himself
admirably during the three days of intricate ceremonial, doing his part
with accuracy 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 these words: 'Tibi, et perpetuo Tuo servitio, partem
bonitatis Tuae offero Domine Deus Omnipotens.'[24]
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[25] of Nuremberg, estimated at over 3,000_l._,
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 embroidered in gold, altar-cloths and hangings worked
with the same costly material.
[GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.]
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.'
A few years later King Charles presented Dean Wren to the rectory of
Great Haseley[26] 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 lay _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.
[AN AWFUL WITNESS.]
The stone tied to the neck was evidence of foul play, though no one
could guess at the murderer. 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 fretté and semé of Flower de Lyces or, put
there together with his own coat by Lord Barentine, knight of
Rhodes and a great benefactor 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 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, '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 13,305_l._; but it was probably not even
begun.
[CHRISTOPHER AT WESTMINSTER.]
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
promise. 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 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 Nottinghamshire
family, a good mathematician, and one 'who had good skill in the practic
and theoretic parts of music'[27] 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.
[THE FIRST FRUITS OF HIS PAINS.]
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.
[28]'Venerande Pater,--Sententia apud antiquos vulgata est, quam
ex ore tuo me habuisse memini, Parentibus nihil posse reddi
æquivalens. Frequentes enim curae et perpetui labores circa pueros
sunt immensi quidem amoris indicium. At praecepta illa 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 conatibus meis adsit
et Tibi, pro visceribus illis Paternae Pietatis, quae maximè velis
praestet.
'Id orat Filius tuus, Tibi omni obsequio devotissimus,
'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.)'
[DIOCESE OF ELY.]
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 translated, May 5,
1638, and rejoiced in renewing his connection with the university where
his early years had been spent. The expenses attending so many removals
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,[29] 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 Traytors, Devouring Wolves,' and the like; especially
attacking Wren, and declaring, that, 'in all Queen Marie'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 comparative peace. Little opposition seems to
have been made, for the factious spirit which was rampant in Norfolk 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 because divers of the benefices are impropriations
belonging 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 as far as he could and to see that
they did their duty. His advice and help were readily given. A
clergyman, 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.[30] 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 summoned 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, where the High Commission then sat, and tore down
the benches, with cries of 'No Bishops--no commission!' Before this they
had attacked Lambeth Palace, threatening to tear the Archbishop in
pieces, and would probably have done so had he not been prepared 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 assassination, 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 presages of his ruin and death.' The
King's return, on October 30, brought a gleam of sunshine.
[A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE.]
Evelyn[31] says:--
'I saw His Majesty (coming from his Northern expedition) 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 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 Harbottle Grimston, in a virulent speech, vented his
hatred against Archbishop Laud; 'and those prelates he hath advanced--to
name but some of them: Bishop Manwaring, 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 repaired 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 18) and chapter l. 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 436_l._ for his
charges, besides a fine of 500_l._ He was then transferred to the Tower.
[WREN UNDER CENSURE.]
The Archbishop being secured, the Bishops were next attacked. Hampden
came to the Lords with a message to acquaint their lordships that the
Commons 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 judgment of Parliament. Bishop
Wren was in his place in the House when this summons came, and was
ordered to find bail for 10,000_l._; helped by three of the bishops, he
managed to do so. When the Primate was in custody, and Wren under
censure, at the beginning of the next year Lord Strafford was attacked.
Dr. Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, not long released from the Tower,
anxious to please the Commons, declared 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, 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 12, when 'the wisest head in England was severed from
the shoulders of Lord Strafford.' So writes John Evelyn. To the
Archbishop, 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 'excommunicating fifty painful ministers,
practising superstition in his own person, placing "the table"
altarwise, elevation of the elements, the "eastward position," 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 (canon 5), publishing a book of articles, to which
the churchwardens were sworn, containing 187 questions.'
[BISHOP WREN'S RESIGNATION.]
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
presumed 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.'
FOOTNOTES:
[20] _Vide infra_, p. 43.
[21] 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 Wiltshire. The inscriptions on the columns have
been destroyed.
[22] So guide and govern as to profit souls. Love, Pray. One thing
needful. Ask fit things from God.
[23] 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.
[24] 'To Thee, and to Thy service for ever, I offer a portion of
Thy bounty, O Lord God Almighty.'
[25] 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 12_s._ per oz.--_Anecdotes of
Painting_, Walpole, vol. ii. p. 323.
[26] 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.
[27] Wood, _Fasti Oxon._, p. 139.
[28] '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 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^o Ætatis suae, Decimo. Ab Octobris 20^o 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.
[29] Heylin, _Cypr. Ang._, p. 309.
[30] _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
(1604-1611); 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.
[31] _Diary_, October 30, 1640.