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Article SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN AND HIS TIMES. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Sir Christopher Wren And His Times.
I do not propose to enter upon any artistic criticism , of the works of Sir Christopher Wren . These have their faults , and oftentimes those faults are grave ; but to him who scrutinizes , however severely , what may be called the makeshifts of St . Paul ' s , —say the double dome and the screenwalls of the nave , —one thing must always be apparent , — that these arc at least the makeshifts of marvellous ingenuity
and still great artistic power . They are falsities , it is true ; but they are those of a master mind . They are no common vulgar fibs , but great grand lies of genius . Prom the commencement of St . Paul ' s , the professional engagements of Sir Christopher Wren were incessant till he reached old age . The numerous churches of the City , Greenwich Hospital , Chelsea Hospital , the College of
Physicians , and other works , and above all the stupendous structure in the midst , carried him through a period of altogether forty-seven years' practice , to the year 1710 . In that year , being of the age of seventy-eight , lie laid by the hand of his son the highest stone of the lantern of St . Paul's : no doubt with heartfelt joy . AVe can fancy the venerable little gentleman , drawn up in a chair , as was Ms custom , to the
giddy summit , casting a thoughtful glance around upon the City below , and far backwards into time , —a proud glance , too , in its thoughtfulness , —for he remembered a waste of smoking ruins where stood that forest of graceful spires ; and he remembered , too , the echo of a youthful voice in Gresham College long ago , —the voice of a " rare and early prodigy of universal science , " people used kindly to say ;
and humble , and retiring , and gentle little man as he was , there was nevertheless a whisper in his ear that he had done well . The building of St . Paul ' s , of thirty-five years' duration , led the architect through various political vicissitudes , — past tho pitiable death of Charles II . and through tho brief
reign of tho unlovely James ; it witnessed tho Revolution and the reign of William and Mary ; and it closed in the days of Queen Anne . AVhen a new and foreign king brought new and somewhat foreign times , there arose some petty disputes , with a little pamphleteering and the like , which vexed him , because he had grown old and infirm , and had not perhaps the vigour in him with which a certain old uncle
of his , in long bygone days would have handled such enemies . The Government committed the egregious folly of dismissing him from tho office of surveyor-general , at the age of eighty-six years , iu Sworn . " of one Benson , a court favourite : it would have been only good policy to retain the name of so eminent an officer , ibr the few more years ho had to live , among the servants of the Crown . It is with very
natural satisfaction , therefore , that I notice the fact that Benson , within one short year , fell into terrible disgrace , and made his friends repent bitterly of their bargain . The Parliament in the reign of James , in 1683 , numbered amongst its members Sir Christopher AVren , then about fifty years of age . He sat for Plympton , in Devonshire . After the Revolution he was elected for Now Windsor . In 1700 , again wo find him sitting for Weymouth . His parliamentary career , therefore , extends over some twemw years
or more . He seems to have aimed at nothing of a political kind . After Ms ungracious treatment by tho Government , the aged architect retired to his house at Hampton Court . He came to London occasionally to inspect the repairs of Westminster Abbey , of which ho hold the office of surveyor till Ms death . Once a year he was carried to St . Paul ' s just to
look at it again before lie died . He still pursued his studies in science , and no doubt often talked with the pardonable garrulity of ago of the difference of men ' s ways and opinions since the days , seventy years ago and more , when he used to busy himself about his penna duplex and his weather-clocks , and his Micrographia ; and we may fancy that we hear the little old gentleman still laugh pleasantly when he
remembers bis transfusion of tho good strong ale into tho veins of unoffending Pincher till he became as drunk , sir , as a lord . And when they led Mm to discourse upon tho art by which he had attained to such hi gh eminence , and perhaps would sometimes hint , as many of us may do when we reckon up the matter , that if he had loft art to other men , what might ho not have done in science!—we can fancy him bowing to the compliment as modesty disclaimed it , but
glorying rather in the destiny which had enabled Mm to give his native country so many objects of just pride . " Eor architecture has its political use , " are his own words ; " public buildings being the ornament of a country ; it establishes a nation ; draws people and commerce ; makes the people love their native country , which passion is tho origin of all great actions in a commonwealth . "
He lived at Hampton Court for five more years of extreme age , till at length he was ninety-one . His annual visit to St . Paul ' s was a great delight ; the building of such a work being , in the words of AValpole , " an event which , one cannot wonder , left such an impression of content on the mind of the good old man , that it seemed to recall a memory almost deadened to every other use . "
At last one day , the 25 th of February , 1723 , on the occasion of a visit to London , resting at his house in St . James ' s street , he dined , and , as his custom was , went to sleep in Ms . chair . He slept longer than was usual ; an attentive servant came to sec that all was well . He had fallen asleep ¦ —pleasantly asleep—for ever . His body was buried in peaceand as was meetin splendourin the silent t of
, , , cryp St . Paul ' s . They built him no monument , for he had built his own . They jDut up this simple record , more majestic in its simplicity than would be the oratory of Cicero upon the marble of Chantrey ; they put up this simple record of plain English truth : —
Beneath is laid the builder of this Church and City , Christopher AVren , who lived above ninety years , not for himself , but for the public good . Header , if thou seeliest for his monument , look around . EOBEBT IvEEB . Mr . Ashpitel , at the conclusion of the paper , proposed that the meeting should give its most cordial thanks to Mr .
Kerr , for the able communication just afforded to them . If interesting to them all , it was still more so to himself , who had shortly before gone over the same ground while writing the biographies of Vanbrugh , Wren , and several other English architects , for the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica . He was much pleased to find , ; that from the same sources the lecturer , had arrived at very much the
same opinions . To enter into a criticism of the merits of all the buildings of AVren , would , as Mr . Kerr had said , occupy too m-acb . time . In fact , such , a disquisition would fill volumes . He might , however , be permitted to call the attention of tho meeting to a very valuable collection of drawings of this great man , preserved in the library of All Souls' College , Oxford . These had been exhibited to him
by the kindness of Professor Max Miilier , and were carefully cherished among the gems of that library . Thoy consisted of original sketches of designs for various buildings , and seem to have been first got out in block , then to further scale , theii often set up in perspective , but all of which evinced an extraordinary genius for invention , and that based on the soundest principles of construction . Mr .
Ashpitel , however , ventured not exactly to differ from Mr . Kerr as to what he had said on Gothic architecture ; for there was no doubt , in his early career , Sir Christopher Wren had proposed to classsicisc the nave of Old St . Paul ' s . But it must be remembered that it was not long after he steadfully refused to do so with the west front of Westminster Abbey . AVren was not in the position we now are , with a perfect knowledge of Mediaeval detail , and with , workmen ready to carry out our wishes in the most careful way . All old traditions had been worn out : new fashions had come in :
new contours had been regognised as tho only correct type for mouldings , and other detail ; and Wren was much in the same situation as AVyatt and the other architects who endeavoured to revive Mediaeval art some fifty years ago . But when he ( Mr . Ashpitel ) looked at the general composition , the general masses of tho west front of the Abbey , and still more so , the noble tower of St . Michael ' s Cornhill , the
curious and able spire of St . Dunstan ' s in the East , the front at Christ's Church , Oxford , and many other works in the same style , which it would be impossible to detail at length ; he believed that , had Sir Christopher Wren lived in the present time , with "the appliances and means to boot" which we have , he would havebeen not only the greatest classic , but the greatest Gothic architect of tho day . He would
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sir Christopher Wren And His Times.
I do not propose to enter upon any artistic criticism , of the works of Sir Christopher Wren . These have their faults , and oftentimes those faults are grave ; but to him who scrutinizes , however severely , what may be called the makeshifts of St . Paul ' s , —say the double dome and the screenwalls of the nave , —one thing must always be apparent , — that these arc at least the makeshifts of marvellous ingenuity
and still great artistic power . They are falsities , it is true ; but they are those of a master mind . They are no common vulgar fibs , but great grand lies of genius . Prom the commencement of St . Paul ' s , the professional engagements of Sir Christopher Wren were incessant till he reached old age . The numerous churches of the City , Greenwich Hospital , Chelsea Hospital , the College of
Physicians , and other works , and above all the stupendous structure in the midst , carried him through a period of altogether forty-seven years' practice , to the year 1710 . In that year , being of the age of seventy-eight , lie laid by the hand of his son the highest stone of the lantern of St . Paul's : no doubt with heartfelt joy . AVe can fancy the venerable little gentleman , drawn up in a chair , as was Ms custom , to the
giddy summit , casting a thoughtful glance around upon the City below , and far backwards into time , —a proud glance , too , in its thoughtfulness , —for he remembered a waste of smoking ruins where stood that forest of graceful spires ; and he remembered , too , the echo of a youthful voice in Gresham College long ago , —the voice of a " rare and early prodigy of universal science , " people used kindly to say ;
and humble , and retiring , and gentle little man as he was , there was nevertheless a whisper in his ear that he had done well . The building of St . Paul ' s , of thirty-five years' duration , led the architect through various political vicissitudes , — past tho pitiable death of Charles II . and through tho brief
reign of tho unlovely James ; it witnessed tho Revolution and the reign of William and Mary ; and it closed in the days of Queen Anne . AVhen a new and foreign king brought new and somewhat foreign times , there arose some petty disputes , with a little pamphleteering and the like , which vexed him , because he had grown old and infirm , and had not perhaps the vigour in him with which a certain old uncle
of his , in long bygone days would have handled such enemies . The Government committed the egregious folly of dismissing him from tho office of surveyor-general , at the age of eighty-six years , iu Sworn . " of one Benson , a court favourite : it would have been only good policy to retain the name of so eminent an officer , ibr the few more years ho had to live , among the servants of the Crown . It is with very
natural satisfaction , therefore , that I notice the fact that Benson , within one short year , fell into terrible disgrace , and made his friends repent bitterly of their bargain . The Parliament in the reign of James , in 1683 , numbered amongst its members Sir Christopher AVren , then about fifty years of age . He sat for Plympton , in Devonshire . After the Revolution he was elected for Now Windsor . In 1700 , again wo find him sitting for Weymouth . His parliamentary career , therefore , extends over some twemw years
or more . He seems to have aimed at nothing of a political kind . After Ms ungracious treatment by tho Government , the aged architect retired to his house at Hampton Court . He came to London occasionally to inspect the repairs of Westminster Abbey , of which ho hold the office of surveyor till Ms death . Once a year he was carried to St . Paul ' s just to
look at it again before lie died . He still pursued his studies in science , and no doubt often talked with the pardonable garrulity of ago of the difference of men ' s ways and opinions since the days , seventy years ago and more , when he used to busy himself about his penna duplex and his weather-clocks , and his Micrographia ; and we may fancy that we hear the little old gentleman still laugh pleasantly when he
remembers bis transfusion of tho good strong ale into tho veins of unoffending Pincher till he became as drunk , sir , as a lord . And when they led Mm to discourse upon tho art by which he had attained to such hi gh eminence , and perhaps would sometimes hint , as many of us may do when we reckon up the matter , that if he had loft art to other men , what might ho not have done in science!—we can fancy him bowing to the compliment as modesty disclaimed it , but
glorying rather in the destiny which had enabled Mm to give his native country so many objects of just pride . " Eor architecture has its political use , " are his own words ; " public buildings being the ornament of a country ; it establishes a nation ; draws people and commerce ; makes the people love their native country , which passion is tho origin of all great actions in a commonwealth . "
He lived at Hampton Court for five more years of extreme age , till at length he was ninety-one . His annual visit to St . Paul ' s was a great delight ; the building of such a work being , in the words of AValpole , " an event which , one cannot wonder , left such an impression of content on the mind of the good old man , that it seemed to recall a memory almost deadened to every other use . "
At last one day , the 25 th of February , 1723 , on the occasion of a visit to London , resting at his house in St . James ' s street , he dined , and , as his custom was , went to sleep in Ms . chair . He slept longer than was usual ; an attentive servant came to sec that all was well . He had fallen asleep ¦ —pleasantly asleep—for ever . His body was buried in peaceand as was meetin splendourin the silent t of
, , , cryp St . Paul ' s . They built him no monument , for he had built his own . They jDut up this simple record , more majestic in its simplicity than would be the oratory of Cicero upon the marble of Chantrey ; they put up this simple record of plain English truth : —
Beneath is laid the builder of this Church and City , Christopher AVren , who lived above ninety years , not for himself , but for the public good . Header , if thou seeliest for his monument , look around . EOBEBT IvEEB . Mr . Ashpitel , at the conclusion of the paper , proposed that the meeting should give its most cordial thanks to Mr .
Kerr , for the able communication just afforded to them . If interesting to them all , it was still more so to himself , who had shortly before gone over the same ground while writing the biographies of Vanbrugh , Wren , and several other English architects , for the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica . He was much pleased to find , ; that from the same sources the lecturer , had arrived at very much the
same opinions . To enter into a criticism of the merits of all the buildings of AVren , would , as Mr . Kerr had said , occupy too m-acb . time . In fact , such , a disquisition would fill volumes . He might , however , be permitted to call the attention of tho meeting to a very valuable collection of drawings of this great man , preserved in the library of All Souls' College , Oxford . These had been exhibited to him
by the kindness of Professor Max Miilier , and were carefully cherished among the gems of that library . Thoy consisted of original sketches of designs for various buildings , and seem to have been first got out in block , then to further scale , theii often set up in perspective , but all of which evinced an extraordinary genius for invention , and that based on the soundest principles of construction . Mr .
Ashpitel , however , ventured not exactly to differ from Mr . Kerr as to what he had said on Gothic architecture ; for there was no doubt , in his early career , Sir Christopher Wren had proposed to classsicisc the nave of Old St . Paul ' s . But it must be remembered that it was not long after he steadfully refused to do so with the west front of Westminster Abbey . AVren was not in the position we now are , with a perfect knowledge of Mediaeval detail , and with , workmen ready to carry out our wishes in the most careful way . All old traditions had been worn out : new fashions had come in :
new contours had been regognised as tho only correct type for mouldings , and other detail ; and Wren was much in the same situation as AVyatt and the other architects who endeavoured to revive Mediaeval art some fifty years ago . But when he ( Mr . Ashpitel ) looked at the general composition , the general masses of tho west front of the Abbey , and still more so , the noble tower of St . Michael ' s Cornhill , the
curious and able spire of St . Dunstan ' s in the East , the front at Christ's Church , Oxford , and many other works in the same style , which it would be impossible to detail at length ; he believed that , had Sir Christopher Wren lived in the present time , with "the appliances and means to boot" which we have , he would havebeen not only the greatest classic , but the greatest Gothic architect of tho day . He would