can be wanting to render the name of Wren immortal while the cathedral of St. Paul's, the Monument, the hospitals at Greenwich, and Chelsea, or, while one of the fifty Parochial churches, which he built in London, remains? Wherever the inquiring traveller sets his foot in this metropolis, the shade of Wren seems to say, in the modest inscription over his remains in St. Paul's, Si monumentum requiris, circumspice."

The chances of birth and circumstances are often of much less importance than the world attaches to them the brightest geniuses in every department of art or science have been little indebted to them. Neither Shakspeare, nor Milton, nor Newton, derived any consequence from the antiquity or the rank of their families,--they were the architects of their own fame, and it is imperishable.

Sir Christopher Wren, though possessing some of the advantages of birth, was born in an obscure village, where his particular genius could scarcely be excited, and hence, his predilection for architecture may almost be considered as intuitive. He was the son of Dr. Christopher Wren, afterwards dean of Windsor, and was born at Knoyle in Wiltshire, on the 20th of October, 1632. Aubrey speaks of him early as a "youth of prodigious inventive wit ;" and at the early age of thirteen we find him the inventor of an astronomical instrument, which he dedicates in good Latin to his father. He gave many other early indications of genius; at the age of fifteen, he had a patent for seventeen years, for a diplographic instrument for writing with two pens. At the age of eighteen, young Wren was B. A. of Wadham College,

and a year after, he became M. A. It was at this period, that Evelyn speaks of him as a "miracle of a youth," and a "rare and early prodigy of universal science." When in his twenty-fifth year, he was appointed professor of geometry at Gresham College, at a time when the honour of such an appointment was by no means inconsiderable.

As there was no school for architects at this time, Wren's studies were rather accidental than otherwise; general, however, as they were, he was allowed to possess no ordinary knowledge of the subject of architecture; and hence was appointed surveyor-general in 1661. He remained two years unemployed, when he was offered an engagement to survey and direct the fortifications at Tangier, but this he refused. His first work was the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, and it gained him much praise.

Before Wren undertook any of those important works, on which his fame more immediately rests, he paid a visit to Paris, in order to investigate the works of art erected under the patronage of Louis XIV. Cardinal Mazarine, and the minister Colbert. Here he was introduced to all the men of genius, and had the most ample opportunity of pursuing his inquiries, relative to the progress of science and the arts. The Louvre was at this time building; and it was to be expected, that Wren would see the disparity between the plan furnished by Bernini, and that preferred by the king, from Perrault. So active was he during his stay in Paris, that he writes to a friend : "I shall bring you almost all France on paper;" and of Bernini's plan, he emphatically says, "Bernini's

design of the Louvre I would have given my skin for."

On his return to England, Wren was selected as the architect and one of the commissioners for examining the old cathedral of St. Paul's, when he proposed a plan for repairing it; but ere this could be accomplished, the great fire of London created for him a more extensive field for the display of his talents. The rebuilding of such portion of the metropolis as had become a prey to the flames, was an affair of greater magnitude than the foundation of any city in the world. It was not only desirable that the new city should surpass in convenience its predecessor, but, that it should be worthy of the architecture of the period-that it should be constructed so as to prevent a recurrence of the dreadful conflagration which had destroyed the old city; and not foster a pestilence which had but the year before swept away 100,000

citizens.

While the embers of the fire were still smoking, Wren commenced a plan for building the new city; and made a model of it, which Mr. Oldenburg, the Secretary to the Royal Society, says, " does so well provide for security, convenience, and beauty, that I can see nothing wanting as to these three great main articles." Unfortunately, the plan proposed by Dr. Wren was not adopted; but such was the confidence in his talents, that, although he had given no proof of his architectural genius, but in the erection of the Sheldonian Theatre, (not then finished,) and had rather been a seeker after new discoveries, than a practical artist, he was selected to raise all the principal struc

tures of the new city, and was appointed principal architect for rebuilding the whole city. The importance of such weighty objects did not, however, prevent him from pursuing his philosophical studies, and he still continued one of the most active members of the Royal Society, which for many years had been enriched by the memoirs he supplied.

As commerce was always an object of paramount importance in the metropolis, the erection of a new Custom House first occupied the attention of the architect. It is said to have been a stately building of brick and Portland stone, but was burnt down in the year 1718. The Royal Exchange, rebuilt after a design and superintended by Wren, was finished in 1669.

It was at first intended to repair St. Paul's cathedral; but this being found impracticable, Wren was employed to rebuild it, not, however, after the plan he first presented and preferred; nor, in the execution of the second and adopted model, was he permitted to exercise his own discretion. Spence, in his Anecdotes, relates, that the side oratories were added to the original design, by order of the Duke of York, who wished to have them ready for the popish service. This so encumbered the building and broke in upon the beauty of the design, that Wren, with tears, begged they might not be forced upon him; but the bigot prince was obstinate, and Wren was obliged to comply.

In 1671, Wren commenced that noble doric fluted column the Monument, which he finished in six years. Contemporary with the building of the Monument was the erection of that master-piece of composition, both in science and elegance, the spire of St. Mary VOL. II.]

H

le-Bow, Cheapside. Temple Bar was also built by Wren, about the same time, from one of his own designs. His life now became one of excessive activity, being at once occupied with churches for nearly all the parishes in London, the cathedral of St. Paul's, the Guildhall, the Halls of several Companies, and the repairs of the cathedrals of Salisbury and Chichester, and Westminster abbey. His labours are thus modestly recorded by the great architect himself, in his MSS. "Ab annos 1670, ad annos 1711. Quinquaginta et tres ecclesias, parochiales Londini, cum tholis, turribus, pyramidibus, et ornamentis erexit."

Of these churches, the one most esteemed is that of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. It was a church in Italy, built after this model, that Lord Burlington so much admired, when he was told that he had left the original in his own country. His lordship did penance for his ignorance, by hastening home and visiting the beautiful structure even before he went to his family or his friends. It is in the interior of this church, which is light and elegant, that its principal merit lies. "On entering from the street," says Mr. Elmes, the biographer of Sir Christopher Wren, " through a vestibule of dubious obscurity, ou opening the handsome folding wainscot doors a halo of dazzling light flashes at once upon the eye; and a lovely band of Corinthian columns, of beauteous proportions, appear in magic mazes before you. The cupola and supporting arches expand their airy shapes like gossamer, and the sweetly proportioned and embellished architrave cornice of original lightness and application completes the charm. On a second look, the columns