Drawings By Sir Christopher Wren.*

We have printed words erased m the MS . in smaller type , aud the corrections over them . " S ' A building of that consideration you goo about deserves good care in the designe , aucl able workemen to performc it , and that he who takes the gencrall management upon him may have a prospect of tho whole & make all inside & outside parts A corrcspondc well together , to this end I have comprissed the whole designe in 6 figures .

Pig . I Shelves halfc tho groundplot of tho Substruction , Cloister , & first flig htes of the Stairccascs . I have chosen middle pillars & a double porfcicoe & li g htes outward rather than a middle wall , as being the same expence , more gracefull , & according to the maimer of the auncicnts who made double walkcs ( with three roivcs of pillars or tivo rowes & a wall ) about the forum .

Pig . II . Shcwes half the gromidnlofc of the upper floor , the entrances from iho staireenses & the disposition of the shelves , both along the walls & breaking out from the walls . w must necdes prove very convenient & gracefull , & the best way for the Students will bo to have a little square table in each Celfe with 2 chaircs . The necessity of bringing ivindowes & dores to answer to tho old building leaves tivo

square places at the endes & 4 lesser Cellos not to study in but to be shut up with some neat Lattice dores for archives . Pig . III . Shcwes the face of the building next the court with the pavillions for tlio stairccascs and the sections of the old they buildings where . ljoync to the new . I chose a double order

rather than a single , because a single order must either have been mutilated in its members or have been very expensive , & if performed would not havo agreed ivith the lownesse of the porches iv cl 1 would liarc been , too clni-kc & tho solids too grosso for the openings . I have given the appearance of arches as the order required , fair and lofty : but I have layd ofthe Library

the floor A upon the impostes , iv * answer to the pillars in the cloister & the levells of the old floorcs , & have filled the Arches with relieves of stone , wlicro if you please you mayo of iv - ' ' I have seen the effect abroad in good building , & I assure you where porches arc lowe with flat ceelings is would be infinitely more gracefull than lowe arches A and is much more eyre open & pleasant , nor need the mason frcarc [ sic ] the performance because the Arch discharges tho weight , &

I shall direct him in a firmc maimer of executing the designe . By this contrivance the ivindowes of tho Library place rise high & give room for the deskes against the walls , and being high may bo afforded to be largo & being wide may have stone mullions & fche glassc pointed w after all inventions is the only durable way in our climate for a , publicum

building , where care must be hud that snoivo drive not in . frontispiece I have given noo other ornament to tho midlo than according to an ancient example statutes , because in this case I find anything else impertinent , the entrances being endwaies & the rootb not suiting it . This may be don if you please , you may make the three '

3 ita ' middle Arches with A colnmncs & the rest with pilasters of a third or llh of their module diameter , iv * - ' will save some charge in stone , bnt it is best as it is designed . " After describing Fi g . IV ., the document referring to Pig . V ., and speaking ofthe library , says : — "if the middle ally were paved of the Library were paved

for ¦ ivith small marbles 3-011 would much consult A the quiet of tbe place , & for the cleancsse of the books from dust , the Cellos may he floored with wain . scote , " and further , — large "the cornices divide the ceding into three rowes ot ' i square piuiimlls iinsivi . ring the pilasters w < - ' will proove the best I ' rot because in a long rooine it gives the most agreeable perspective . "

And as to Fig . VX , transverse section , it says as to the king-post roof , — "I have given tho ancient forme of roofe w ~! l the ex ] iericiicc of all ages hath found the surest , 110 c other is to bo trusted without doubling the thicknesses ofthe ivallcs . The Statues will bo a noble ornament , they are supposed of plaistcrthere are Flemish artists that doo them cheape .

, "I suppose 3-011 have good masons , how ever I would willingly take a farther paines to give all the mouldings in great ; woo arc scrupulous in small matters & yon must pardon us , the Architects arc as great pedants as Crit-iaks or Heralds . And therefore if 3-011 approve tho designes let the mason take his measures copies be taken of them A as much as is necessary for the present

getting out tlie worke & be pleased to transmit them to me again & I shall copj- out partes of them at large more proper for the use of the workmen and g ive 3-011 a careful estimate of the charge , & rctnnie you again the originall designes , for in the liandcs of the Workemen thc 3 ' will soon be soe defaced that they will not bo able from them to pursue the worke to a conclusion . I have made a cursory estimate &

it is not that at w 3-011 will grumble as not exceeding the charge proposed . " The date of this library has been variously given , as before and after the date of the Fire of London ; but a

quotation from the chronology 01 Wren ' s life and works derived from the Lansdowne MSS . ivould seem to settle the point . It is : — " 1077—1680 , ' Bibliothecam mngnificam collegii inccpit , S . S . Trinitatis Cantobrigim , et erexit . ' " In the second volume there are about forty of the draivings connected ivith the building of St . Paul ' s

Cathedral , or the reparation of the old fabric . There is a ground-plan of the cathedral " before Inigo Jones ' s portico , " as says the MS . catalogue , and carefull y drawn on vellum . There are also , a "Sketch of a doom for St . Paul ' s before IGG 6 , " in pencil , and resembling the dome of Sta . Maria , at Florence ; a p lan of one of the old Gothic p iers of St . Paul ' s , signed " C . Wren ; " a "Plan

of the intersection of the cross of the Church and the proposed doom in the middle , " also signed , —the angles being solid , with large niches , or four instead of eight arches ; a " Plan of the proposed doom , " and " Orihograph y of the doom ancl part of the old Church according to the same design . " Like the section which follows ifc in the cataloguethe " Orthograph y" has a signature

, , " C . Wren , 16 GG , " in small characters , amongst the timbers of the roof . The design lias , carried up to a great hei g ht , a gilt pine-apple hollow termination , which is very ugly . In the section , the choir remains Gothic , whilst the nave is Corinthian .

The appointment of architect to the new building , was made at the date named iu the following , as ive find it in Mr . Elmes ' s recent work , " Sir Christopher Wren and his Times" ( Svo ., London , 1852 ) . "' 1673 [ Nov ' . 13 ] Architcctns et commissionarius ad ajclificandum [ novam basilicam Dvi Pauli Loud , per mandatum regis sub magno sigillo , ex ruandato . & . '" After which there is : —

"' 1675 . Nova ) basilicas Dvi Paula : Lou . primum jiosic Lapidem . '" But at what date he entirely condemned the great tower of the old building is not clear , at least from the documents and authorities immediatel y before us . It appears , however , that he had , anterior to the occurrence of the Fire , proposed the removal , and that of the parts of the

old building adjacent to the tower , saying that theivhole ivere " such a heap of deformities , that no judicious architect will think it corri gible by airy expense that can bo laid out upon the dressing it , but that it will still remain unworth y the rest of the - "'ork , infirm & tottering . " He proposed , "by cutting off the inner corners of the cross , to render the middle part into a spacious rotunda , with a cupola , or hemispherical roof ; and