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from the lantern above, which did away with the necessity of making the small ugly windows in the dome, as at St. Peter's. The inside of the whole cupola is painted by Sir James Thornhill, in eight compartments. In the crown of the vault, as in the Pantheon, there is a circular opening, by which not only the lantern transmits light, but the inside ornaments of the painted and gilded cone display a new and agreeable scene. Instead, however, of painting the dome, Wren had proposed it should, like that of St. Peter's, be enriched with the more durable and appropriate ornament of Mosaic, and had procured artists from Italy for its execution; but the ignorance and the prejudice of the persons employed as commissioners, in this, as in other cases, thwarted his views. The ornaments at the East end he designed should only be temporary, till the materials for the completion of a magnificent altar which he had planned could be procured.

In scale* and beauty of internal ornament, as well as material, situation, and climate, the work of Wren cannot come in competition with its great rival; but in architectural excellence it has fair claims to be placed on an equality; surpassing it in some things, if in others it falls short. The portico in front of St. Peter's, both for its beauty of proportion and vast size, is admitted to be a feature of high excellence and without any match in St. Paul's; yet the whole flat front of St. Peter's, terminating in a straight line at the top, cannot be said to afford such a pleasing variety as is bestowed by the elevation of the pediment in the middle, and the beautiful campanile towers at each end of the front of St. Paul's. One of the happiest parts of the invention is in the intersection of the three vistos of the nave, the aisles, and the cross and transept, attained by the octangular arrangement of the piers, which is as beautiful as it is novel, giving four additional views to the usual arrangement, and with an effect remarkable for its boldness and lightness.

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is highly picturesque, the different returns and façades affording endless variety of views; no patching, no incongruous additions disfigure the unity of the composition, which, as a whole, for harmony of design and justness of proportion, has certainly never been surpassed.

With respect to the charge of plagiarism from the work of Michael Angelo, the two buildings are sufficiently different utterly to rebut this. The Romans adapted to their purposes the beauties of the architecture of Greece, combining them so as to suit their intentions; and Palladio, abandoning the barbarous taste of the middle ages, adapted the great remains both of Greek and Roman antiquity to the genius of the times, but did not repeat or copy them. Michael Angelo availed himself of the Pantheon in his cupola, and Wren, again, availed himself of the knowledge of M. Angelo; but there is nothing like servile copying, or unmeaning adaptation, in any one part of his work. To form a just idea of the relative sizes of the two buildings, we have added an outline, showing the comparative size of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, and the vacant spaces have been filled up with the outlines of some of the most remarkable buildings now existing, all on the same base and all drawn on the same scale, but unfortunately, owing to an error, the height of St. Paul's in the figure is a little less than it should have been. The buildings have principally been taken from the work of Mons. Durand, The Parallel of Architecture, by far the most important production of the kind which has yet been published, and affording great facility for the consideration of the general principles of architecture. It consists of ninety large folio plates, containing elevations and plans of the principal ancient and modern buildings and monuments, all drawn on the same scale. It is a matter of regret, that it is defective, inasmuch as, (either from jealousy or ignorance,) among the ninety plates, neither Westminster Abbey, York Cathedral, Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, our bridges, nor even our docks, (the largest in the world,) are inserted; and amongst the plans of English theatres, the only one given is that in the Haymarket.

In addition to the total want of the rich ornaments and the costly materials which adorn the interior of the church

of St. Peter, it also far surpasses the building of Wren in the nature of the materials with which it is constructed. It has been a matter of regret that the quality of the stone used in the public buildings of this country has been hitherto but little attended to. Many of the public edifices of London, Edinburgh, Bath, and Oxford, furnish melancholy instances of the want of judgment in this choice of materials. It is obvious that the stone which is most porous, will, when exposed to the weather, be least durable: water lodges in its pores and penetrates the crevices, and by the mere change of temperature does mischief; but during frost the expansion is so great, that in a single winter the sharp parts often entirely crumble away. The fitness of the different species of sandstone for the purpose of building, may in a great measure be judged of by immersing the specimens in water, each being previously weighed, and all of one size; the excellence of the stone will be inversely to the quantity of water absorbed. The magnesian limestone, so abundant in England, is considered the best adapted for architectural purposes; it is far preferable to that termed the Oolite of Somersetshire and the Isle of Portland, of which the most important buildings have hitherto been constructed. Rain water always contains carbonic acid, which acts chemically on limestone, but less on those kinds which are fine grained and magnesian, than those which are coarse and free from magnesia; and although this often produces an external hardening, as in the Bath stone, it is only the forerunner of a more quick peeling off and destruction. It is obvious, that for durability, the granites, sienites, whinstones, and porphyries, are most to be preferred. The Strand Bridge is a magnificent example of the use of granite; the exterior being entirely constructed of two sorts, the coarse-grained granite of Devon and Cornwall, and the fine-grained and harder sort from Aberdeen, used for the balustrades, and stronger than that from Cornwall, as 22 to 14. The only means of proving the respective durability of them is from the effect of time; and the Cornish granite evidently appears to have suffered more decay than the harder stone of the North. Granite, however, independently of the great increase of expense incurred in the working it, is unfitted for all the finer parts of ornamental work ;

in that case it would be well to adopt the marble or dolomite of Scotland, or the magnesian limestones, so much to be preferred to the perishable sand and lime stones of the west of England.* But the subject has not yet received its due share of attention from those whose pursuits and knowledge best enable them to form an accurate judgment upon it.

Although Wren's new employments occupied much of his time, his zeal for the advancement of science never forsook him; but, as he employed himself in the practical parts of building, his communications to the Royal Society became more technical, and applied principally to his own art. A very interesting letter to Lord Brounker, the first president of the Royal Society, is given by Mr. Elmes: it is in answer to a request to provide some. thing for the suitable entertainment of his majesty, who had purposed visiting the Society. Upon this Wren observes, "The experiments for the establishment of natural philosophy are seldom pompous; it is upon billiard and tennis balls, upon the purling of sticks and tops, upon a vial of water, a wedge of glass, that the great Des Cartes has built the most refined and accurate theories that human wit ever reached to; and certainly nature, in the best of her works, is apparent enough in obvious things, were they but curiously observed; and the key that opens treasures is often plain and rusty, but unless it be gilt, the key alone will make no show at court.' It does not appear how the philosophers succeeded in entertaining their royal guest. Wren in 1673 resigned the Savillian professorship, which he had held so long with credit. He was twice in Parliament, though it does not appear that he took any active part in the debates. In 1680 he was elected President of the Royal Society, and before that period he had been knighted by Charles II.

The delight one can well conceive a person of Wren's genius to have enjoyed, in the contemplation of the rise of the vast edifice which his creative genius had called into existence, was not undisturbed or unalloyed. Many improper persons were joined with him in the commission; and they, having private interests to serve, and selfish

Brande's Journal, vol. iii, 381.

feelings to indulge, were thwarted by the inflexibility of Wren, who exposed at once their meanness, and their ignorance. This, it may be supposed, was neither forgotten nor forgiven; and they joined in a cabal, persecuting him with every species of bitter malevolence. It will scarcely be supposed that one of Wren's genius and talent, of his gentle bearing towards all, his high patriotic feeling, at once the judge and the patron of every thing that was useful either in the arts or sciences, should have been subjected to the petty cavilling of a few interested persons without greatly retarding the progress of the building. But this was not all; the party having procured a clause to be inserted in an act of parliament, suspending a moiety of his pittance (200l. a year) till the building was finished, Wren was kept out of his money long after it was due, under the pretence that the building was not complete, whereas the cavillers themselves, by their impediments, alone hindered its completion. He was in consequence obliged to petition Queen Anne; and in his memorial he states, that the arbitrary proceedings of some of the commissioners had alone obstructed his measures for the completion of the work. This was handed over to the commissioners themselves for their answer, who replied by mean and paltry excuses. Wren, however, was not to. be borne down by a low cabal: he next addressed the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, and the document itself affords ample testimony of the treatment he had received.

"The design of the parliament (he states) in granting the coal duty for the said cathedral, being to have the building completed with all possible speed, they did, to encourage and oblige the surveyor's diligence in carrying on the work, suspend half his allowance till all should be done. Whereby, I humbly conceive, it may justly from thence be implied, that they thought the building, and every thing belonging to it, was wholly under my managemer and direction, and that it was in my power to hasten or protract it. How far it has been so your lordships know; as also how far I have been limited and restrained. However, it has pleased God so to bless my sincere endeavours, as that I have brought the building to a conclusion, so far as is in my power; and I think nothing can be said now to remain imperfected, but the iron fence

round the church, and painting the cupola, the directing of which is taken out of my hands, and therefore I hope that I am neither answerable for them, nor that the said suspending clause can, or ought to, affect me any further on that account. As for painting the cupola, your lordships know it has been long under consideration; that I have no power left me concerning it; and that it is not resolved in what manner to do it, or whether at all. And as for the iron fence, it is so remarkable and fresh in memory by whose influence and importunity it was wrested from me, and the doing it carried in a way that I may venture to say will ever be condemned. I have just this to observe further, that your lordships had no hand in it; and consequently ought not to share in the blame that may attend it.

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This, then, being the case, and nothing left that I think can keep the same clause of suspension any longer in force against me,

"I most humbly pray your lordships to grant your warrant for paying me what is due to me on that article, which was 1,3007. last Michaelmas. And if for the future my advice and assistance be required in any thing about the said cathedral, I will be ready to give the same, and to leave the consideration of it to your lordships."

This representation not succeeding, he applied at once to parliament, who rendered him that tardy justice, the long denial of which reflects so much disgrace on those who opposed his just claims.

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Whereupon that honourable and august assembly," says Sir Christopher,* so considered his case, and were so well satisfied with the justice and the reasonableness of it, as to declare the church to be finished so far as was required to be done and performed by him as surveyor-general. And it was accordingly enacted, that the suspended salary should be paid him on or before December the 25th, 1711, which he has the truest sense of, and has not, he hopes, been wanting in all due acknowledgments and returns for it. Neither is it possible that he, or his posterity should ever forget so signal and distinguishing a favour, while he can remember the unjust and vile treatment he had from some in the late commis

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sion for St. Paul's; which was such as gave him reason enough to think that they intended him none of the suspended salary, if it had been left in their power to defeat him of it."

By the death of Anne, Wren lost the last of his royal patrons; in the new reign, the king's partiality for his German subjects and their connections deprived him of the sunshine of royal favour. His talents, his uprightness, and his fame were all forgotten: the corruption of that period in the disposal after a severe struggle in the 86th year of patronage is well known. At last, surveyor-general, he was deprived of his of his age and the 49th of his office as patent in favour of one Benson, his German influence prevailing over one who would not condescend to truckle even to a court, and whose life, as Walpole observes, having enriched the reign of several princes, disgraced the last of them. The intrigue which deprived him of his office is noticed in who states that, the memoirs of John Ker of Kersland; fluence of Benson, (a favourite of the so great was the inGermans,) that Sir C. Wren, the faedifice of St. Paul's church, was turned mous architect who contrived the stately out of his employment to make way for in a note to the Dunciad says, "In fathis favourite of foreigners." Pope also Wren, who had been architect to the vour of this man, the famous Sir C. crown for above fifty years, who built most of the churches in London, laid finish it, was displaced from his emthe first stone of St. Paul's, and lived to ployment at the age of 90 years.”

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It may, indeed, be observed, that Wren's son was at this time member sition to the wishes of the court might for Windsor, and probably some oppofall. Benson himself, however, was soon have had an influence on the father's disgraced and removed on the discovery marked for public prosecution for his of his ignorance and incapacity, and dishonesty; but the same influence, which had caused his original elevation, at once stopped the prosecution and loaded him with disgraceful rewards out of the public purse,* in the shape

• Benson and Wren each had his due notice in the Dunciad.

Benson, sole judge of architecture, sit,
And namby pamby be preferred to wit;
While Wren with sorrow to the grave descends
Gay dies unpension'd with a hundred friends.

of reversionary grants and crown leases.

The following curious paper of Wren's is given by Mr. Elmes: it is in answer to the commissioners, who insisted on a balustrade to St. Paul's, none having been originally designed; and it is one of the long series of attacks which were made on him by his enemies.

“I have considered the resolution of the honourable the commissioners for adorning St. Paul's Cathedral, dated October 15, 1717, and brought to me on the 21st, importing that a balustrade of stone be set up on the top of the church, unless Sir Christopher Wren, in writing under his hand, set forth, that it is contrary to the principles of architecture, and give his opinion in a fortnight's time; and if he doth not, then the resolution of a balustrade is to be proceeded with.

"In observation of this resolution, I take leave, first, to declare I never designed a balustrade. Persons of little skill in architecture did expect, I believe, to see something they had been used to in Gothic structures; and ladies think nothing well without an edging. I should gladly have complied with the vulgar taste, but I suspended for reasons following:

"A balustrade is supposed a sort of plinth over the upper colonnade, which may be divided into balusters over open parts or voids, but kept solid over solid parts, such as pilasters; for a continued range of halusters cannot be proposed to stand alone against high winds: they would be liable to be lopped down in a row, if there were not solid parts at due distances intermixed, which solid parts are in the form of pedestals, and may be in length as long as the frieze below where pilasters are double, as in our case; for double pilasters may have one united pedestal, as they have one entablature and one frieze extended over both. But, now, in the inward angles, where the pilasters cannot be doubled, as before they were, the two voids or more open parts would be in the angle with one small pilaster between them, and create a very disagreeable mixture. I am further to observe, that there is already over the entablature a proper plinth, which regularly terminates the building; and as no provision was originally made in my plan for a balustrade, the setting up one in such a confused manner over the plinth must apparently break into the harmony of

the whole machine, and, in this particular case, be contrary to the principles of architecture.

"The like objections as to some other ornaments, suppose of vases, for they will be double upon the solids; but in the inward angles there will be scarce room for one, though each of them be about two feet nine inches at bottom, and nine feet high: yet these will appear contemptible below, and bigger we cannot make them unless we fall into the crime of false bearing, which artisans of the lowest rank will have sense enough to condemn.

"My opinion, therefore, is to have statues erected on the four pediments only, which will be a most proper, noble, and sufficient ornament to the whole fabric, and was never omitted in the best ancient Greek and Roman architecture; the principles of which, throughout all my schemes of this colossal structure, I have religiously endeavoured to follow; and if I glory, it is in the singular mercy of God, who has enabled me to begin and finish my great work so conformable to the ancient model.

"The pedestals for the statues I have already laid in the building, which now stand naked for want of their acroteria. "CHRISTOPHER WREN,"

These details respecting the erection of a building which (if we except St. Peter's) is unrivalled in the world, will not, it is hoped, appear either trifling or tedious, but give an additional interest to the contemplation of that splendid monument of Wren's genius.

The character and fate of Michael Angelo and Wren were in many respects akin: remarkable alike for the universality of genius, each the builder of the greatest work of architecture of his time, each untainted by any vice, and regardless of private interests, (for Michael Angelo received no remuneration on account of St. Peter's,) they were both persecuted by the envious, and each had his works altered by the ignorant. Michael Angelo's severe honesty, in compelling those who received pay to give their labour in return, conjured up a whole host of enemies; and sickened with these obstacles he sought to free himself by the resignation of his charge. "I entreat your eminence," he writes to Cardinal Carpi, "to liberate me from this vexatious employment, which, by the command of the popes, I undertook seventeen years ago, during which pe

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