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_.
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,[157] and it well became his
nephew to supply this lack. Sancroft 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 the façade 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
Surveyor-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 accurately the longitude at sea.[158] 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 500_l._ 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.
[_A COLLECTION OF 'RARITIES.'_]
The Museum at Oxford, known as the Ashmolean, was Sir Christopher's work
in 1677. It contained a collection 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 Phoenix
wing as tradition goes.'[159] 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 Evelyn's, whose tastes he shared. He was
created Lord Lempster[160] by William and Mary. The other sponsor was
Lady Newport, daughter of the Earl of Bedford, and wife of the Lord
Treasurer, Lord Newport, 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.[161] 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,'[162]
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 of London before the fire. Internally it
was a handsome 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[163] 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.
[_LONDON STONE._]
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![164] 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 Wren lavished considerable
care and skill, securing a spacious handsome interior, and a richly
carved oak altar-piece. The bold tower and steeple,[165] 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 proceeding. In 1676 Compton,
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 magnifical' 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 1,800_l._; Dr. John Fell, who gave 100_l._, '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 out of his scanty salary gave
50_l._ towards the expenses.
[_PORTLAND QUARRIES._]
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.[166] 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. Christopher Wren, Surveyor of our Works, as hath been
formerly accustomed in that behalf.'
Wren must have commanded an army of quarrymen 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 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.'[167] It was looked upon by Sir
Christopher as a singularly happy omen, and he took great pleasure in
telling the anecdote.
[_DR. HOLDER AND DR. WALLIS._]
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 received 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 the entire credit. In his
book Dr. Holder took occasion 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
Alexander Popham.
Wood, the antiquary,[168] 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 evasion (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.[169] 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 elaborate, 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.' Minute 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, ministering to the poor
around her. In early days she had made a careful study of such medical
science as was then known. Barbarous as the surgery was, the remedial
part of medicine appears to have been somewhat better understood. The
circulation of the blood had very lately been discovered by Harvey; and
whether 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, probably 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 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
Christianity with a more undoubting faith than did Sir Christopher Wren.
['_I THINK THEY ARE HIGH ENOUGH._']
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 are high enough_.'[170]
The beautiful S. Stephen's, Walbrook, was finished 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.'[171] 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[172] 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 communicated to Evelyn[173] 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 congenial 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.
[_POPISH PLOT._]
In 1678, the nation was excited to absolute frenzy by the declarations
of the infamous Titus Oates concerning 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
Oates, and were encouraged by Lord Shaftesbury and his party, who made
political capital out of this madness. Looking back, it is difficult 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, Oates' 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
communication 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 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 the Clerk of the Parliament, which no doubt felt itself more secure
after this precaution.
Evelyn, it is plain from passages in his diary, disbelieved and
distrusted Oates, 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 impressions 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, was
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 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 PHILOSOPHICAL SUPPER._]
A new discovery by a French doctor named Papin[174] of a 'digester' for
softening bones, caused much discussion 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[175]--
'All dress'd, both fish and flesh, in M. Papin's Digestors, 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 seene or tasted. We eat pike and other fish bones, and all
without impediment; but nothing exceeded the pigeons, which tasted
just as if baked in a pie, all these being stewed in their own
juice, without any addition of water, save what swam about the
Digestor, as _in balneo_; 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[176] published and dedicated to our
Society, of which he is a member.... This philosophical supper
caus'd much mirth amongst us, and exceedingly 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.'
[_SIR JOHN HOSKYNS._]
The Royal Society had another foreign visitor, M. Chardin,[177] the
Persian traveller. Sir Christopher, Sir John Hoskyns, and Evelyn[178]
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 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 Chardin,'
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, 1681, Wren was
re-elected President and chose Sir John Hoskyns as Vice-president.[179]
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[180] 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 spirits were elevated over a
bottle, he was remarkable 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 considerable 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._]
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 1700 these shops were all three let for 24_l._!
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 100_l._ 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[181]
in 1719. S. Antholin's, Watling Street, was entirely consumed by the
fire, so that all its registers 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
ornamented, was the chief feature of this beautiful little 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,[182] 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 frequently 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 Gwynne.
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 think that he at this time became acquainted with the
saintly Ken. The palace, which was finished as far as the shell in 1685,
was never used either by Charles II. 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 completion,
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.
[_PALACES AT WINCHESTER._]
Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchester, had also engaged 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 successor, 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.'
FOOTNOTES:
[157] It was 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
origine_, built N. and S. as is the Librarie.'
[158] _Vide infra_, p. 331-3.
[159] Evelyn's _Diary_, September 17, 1657, and July 23, 1678.
[160] His son Thomas was created Earl of Pomfret by George I., 1721;
the title is extinct.
[161] 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.
[162] _Repertorium_, vol. i. p. 276. Newcourt.
[163] Born 1437. Assisted Tindal in translating and printing the
Bible. Died 1568.
[164] _New View of London_, vol. i. p. 14. E. Hatton.
[165] 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.
[166] There is a quantity of stone quarried for S. Paul's still
lying at the back of the island, ready for transportation.
[167] _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.
[168] _Fast. Oxon._, vol. i. p. 139. Wood.
[169] _Vide supra_, pp. 77, 78.
[170] _Biographical History of England_, vol. iii. p. 327. Noble.
[171] _Lives of the Gresham Professors_, p. 104. Ward. The church
has been lately cleansed, but the disfiguring pews most
unfortunately still encumber the area.
[172] Thomas Tenison, Bishop of Lincoln and Archbishop of
Canterbury; his endowments were munificent: died 1715.
[173] _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.
[174] 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.
[175] _Diary_, April 12, 1684.
[176] _The New Digester, or Engine for the Softening of Bones_, 4to.
A modification of Papin's 'digester kettle' still exists, and
goes by his name, though used far less than it deserves.
[177] 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 in
1735. He was buried at Chiswick, but his monument is in
Westminster Abbey. 'Sir John Chardin. _Nomen sibi fecit
eundo._'--_Life of Sir C. Wren_, p. 419. Elmes.
[178] _Diary_, August 30, 1680.
[179] The friendship and connection with Sir Christopher is curious,
for in 1857 Mr. Chandos Wren Hoskyns married Theodosia Anne
Martha Wren, only surviving child of Christopher Roberts Wren,
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.
[180] _Biog. Hist._, vol. iii. p. 371, vol. iv. p. 314. Grainger.
[181] James Gibbs, a Scotch architect who built S. Mary-le-Strand,
S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, &c.; born 1674, died 1754.
[182] _Life of Bishop Ken,_ by a layman, ed. 1854, p. 186.