between the hand and the brain. They have studied to make it not only an enterprise of one season, or of some lucky opportunity; but a business of time, a steady, a lasting, a popular, an uninterrupted work. They have attempted to free it from the artifice and humour and passions of sects; to render it an instrument whereby mankind may obtain a dominion of things, and not only over one another's judgments. And, lastly, they have begun to establish these reformations in philosophy, not so much by any solemnity of laws, or ostentation of ceremonies, as by solid practice and examples; not a glorious pomp of words, but by the silent, effectual, and unanswerable arguments of real productions. As for what belongs to the members themselves that are to constitute the society, it is to be noted, that they have freely admitted men of different religions, countries, and professions of life. This they were obliged to do, or else they would come far short of the largeness of their own declarations. For they openly profess, not to lay the foundation of an English, Scotch, Irish, Popish, or Protestant philosophy, but a philosophy of mankind."

We have been thus minute in setting forth the origin of the Royal Society, as being one of the most important institutions of the country, founded on the purest and the best principles for the attainment of its great object.

It may be permitted here to remark, that this society (so long eminent in Europe) has, in a great measure, become more aristocratic than formerly in the selection of its members; for, in Charles's time, on an intelligent citizen of London being proposed at the recommendation of the king, he told them, if they found any more such tradesmen they should be sure to admit them all

Wren about this time discovered a method for the calculation of solar eclipses, which was published by Flamstead in his doctrine of the sphere, and which was followed for many years as the most concise and plain. The Annals of the Royal Society also bear the amplest testimony to his knowledge and industry, in his commentaries on almost every subject connected with the abstruse sciences and the arts of life; and, in conjunction with Boyle, Hooke, and Wilkins, he originated many of the most important experiments of the day.

Amongst his communications was a History of the Seasons, as to temperature, weather, productions, diseases. For illustrating this subject he devised many curious machines, several of which kept their cwn registers, tracing out the lines of variation so that a person might know what changes the weather had undergone during his absence; and these contrivances he applied to wind-gages, thermo.. meters, barometers, hygrometers.

He made great additions to the recent discoveries on pendulums; and referred to what has been since perfected, the making the pendulum à natural standard for measure.

He also originated many ways of making astronomical observations easy and accurate; and added much to the theory of dioptrics. He made constant observations on Saturn, and gave a true theory of that planet, before the printed discourse on the subject by Huygens appeared. He made maps of the Pleiades and other stars; and proposed methods to determine the great question as to the earth's motion or rest, by the small stars about the pole, to be seen in large telescopes. And he effected many improvements in the theory of navigation.*

Amongst his discoveries in the arts there appears great ground to suppose, tha tit was he and not Prince Rupert who first invented the art of engraving in Mezzotinto, though it was subsequently much advanced by the Prince; who did not, however, bear any illwil towards his rival; for it appears from the Parentalia, that Wren was enrolled in the list of his especial friends, to whom that distinguished personage sent a yearly present of his choicest wine, from his vineyard on the Rhine.

He also, from the years 1660 to 1720, employed himself in a series of papers on the longitude. To enter into a detail of all the studies and discoveries of Wren would, in fact, be to give the whole history of natural philosophy in his age. Many of his inventions are lost; for it will be observed, that he himself printed nothing: many were secretly sent abroad, and appropriated by others not unwilling to appear in borrowed feathers. Wren himself observes, in one of his letters, "I must confess I have often had the pusillanimity rather to neglect that right I ought

• Hutton, Mathemat. Dict, &c.

in justice to have vindicated, than, by challenging it too late, incur the jealousy of being a plagiary."

Whilst at Oxford he was employed by the king to make drawings of the animalcula seen by a microscope, as we have before noticed; and a model of the lunar globe as seen by the best telescope of the times, was constructed by him, representing the spots and various degrees of whiteness on the moon's surface, with the hills, eminences, and cavities, the whole contrived so that by turning it round to the light it showed all the lunar phases, with the various appearances that arise from the shadows of the mountains and valleys. This was afterwards placed in the king's

cabinet.

Nor were the Muses neglected by Wren; his pursuits in this kind are alluded to by his correspondent the Bishop of Rochester, who compliments him on some translations of Horace, observing: "You have admirably well hit his genius, your verse is harmonious, your philosophy very instructive for life, your liberty in translating enough to make it seem to be an English original, and yet not so much but that the mind of the author is still religiously observed." Not much faith is to be given to the encomiums of friends in literary confidences, but from this it may fairly be inferred, that Wren must have at least surpassed mediocrity.

In 1662 his Prelectiones Astronomica were published at the Oxford press. Dr. Isaac Barrow, who succeeded Rooke as professor of geometry at Gresham College, in his inaugural address, pronounces a very elegant encomium upon the merits of Wren, into which he enters largely; describing him as being one of the earliest promise, and the fullest performance, of any genius of

his time.

In 1675, the Bishop of Rochester dedicated to Wren his observations on Mons. de Sorbiere's Voyage to England; and Hooke, in the preface to his Micrographia, states, that although he was at first induced to undertake the work at the suggestion of Bishop Wilkins, yet he commenced it with reluctance, because he had to follow the footsteps of so eminent a person as Dr. Wren, who was the first that attempted any thing of this nature, and whose original draughts make one of the ornaments of the great collection of rarities in the king's closet;

adding, "I must affirm of him, that since the time of Archimedes there scarce ever met in one man so great a perfection, such a mechanical head, and so philosophical a mind."-He is also noticed with great honour by Newton in his Principia, in conjunction with Wallis and Huygens, as among the first mathematicians of the age.

Perhaps the whole history of literary and scientific men does not afford an example of one held in more high and general estimation than this highly gifted individual. His contemporaries appear willing and eager to testify both their admiration of his genius, and their esteem for that unreservedness and candour which prevailed throughout his intercourse with his associates. The history of his career is stained by none of those bickerings, those paltry struggles for priority or fame, so frequent in the lives of others of his time, who were as conspicuous for the weakness of their feelings as for the greatness of their minds. None of their bad passions appear ever to have darkened Wren's thoughts, or disturbed the even tenour of his course, directed as it was to the advancement of his favourite art, and the attainment of all that was useful in science. Neither could he be said to be afflicted with the credulity or vain pretensions which marked many of those who lived in the same age.

In 1665 he went to Paris, for the purpose of studying all the principal buildings, and the various inventions in the different branches of mechanics. From thence he intended to pass on into Italy, for the purpose of studying Vitruvius amidst the great remains of antiquity. While at Paris the Louvre was in progress, 1000 hands being daily employedon the works: some in laying its mighty foundations; some in raising the different columns and entablatures, composed of vast stones, by great and useful engines; others in carving, inlaying marbles, plastering, painting, gilding, which altogether formed, in the opinion of Wren, a school of architecture the best at that day in Europe. It was here he saw those great masters of the art, Bernini and Mansard. His few observations on the buildings of France have a peculiar relish_and interest. "Fontainbleau (he remarks in one of his letters) has a stately wildness, and vastness, suitable to the desert in which it stands; the antique mass of the

Castle of St. Germain's, and the hanging gardens are delightfully surprising, (I mean to any man of judgment,) for the pleasures below vanish away in the breath that is spent in ascending.-The Palace, or if you please to call it, the Cabinet of Versailles, called me twice to see it; the mixture of brick and stone, blue tile and gold, make it look like a rich livery. Not an inch within but is crowded with little curiosities of ornament. The women, as they make here the language and the fashions, and meddle with politics and philosophy, so they sway also in architecture; works of filigree, and little trinkets, are in great vogue, but building ought certainly to have the attribute of eternal, and therefore to be the only thing incapable of new fashions."*

After enumerating many other buildings, he adds, all of which I have surveyed, and that I might not lose the impression of them I shall bring you almost all France on paper, which I have found by some or other ready designed, and on which I have spent both labour and some money. Bernini's design of the Louvre I would have given my skin for; but the old reserved Italian gave me but a few minutes' view. It was a fine little draught on five pieces of paper, for which he had received as many thousand pistoles. I had only time to copy it out by fancy and memory, and I shall be able, by discourse and a crayon, to give you a tolerable account of it." In one of his letters he notices having on the anvil, "Observations on the present state of architecture, arts, and manufactures in France," which, however, unfortunately were never completed.

Wren returned in the beginning of 1666, and it does not appear that he carried into execution his project of visiting Italy.

Soon after the restoration, Charles II. contemplated the repair of the Cathedral of St. Paul's, which had become

life.

Never, perhaps, was so complete a failure as the mass of incongruities at Versailles, and never such a profuse squandering of treasure and even of Dulaure, in his "History of Paris," states the expenses (including the moving of hills, and the various other projects) at the incredible sum of fortyeight millions sterling; from twenty-two to thirtysix thousand labourers were constantly employed on the works. A camp was formed for the workmen near the spot, the limits of which were strictly guarded; and it was criminal even to notice the vast waste of life in the soldiers employed, 10,000 of whom are said to have fallen victims to excess of fatigue, and to an epidemic disease caused by the exhalations from the swampy ground.

dilapidated during the commonwealth; its revenues having been confiscated, and the choir converted into horse barracks by Cromwell. In 1660 a commission was issued (in which Wren was named) to superintend the restoration. He was long employed in considering the best mode of effecting this. The cathedral had been partly repaired by Inigo Jones, by the addition of a beautiful Corinthian portico at the west end, not however in character with the style of the building. Wren proposed to rebuild the steeple with a cupola; a form of Church building, Evelyn observes, not then known in England, but which was of wonderful grace. This project was at once defeated by the desolating fire of 1666, which, destroying the greater part of the city, so injured the cathedral as to make its restoration impossible; and to this the scaffolding, which had been put up for the repairs, mainly contributed.

Evelyn alludes to the attempt to repair St. Paul's, in his dedication to Wren of his Account of Architects and Architecture." I have named St. Paul's, and truly not without admiration as oft as I recall to mind, as I frequently do, the sad and deplorable condition it was in: when, after it had been made a stable for horses, and a den of thieves, you, with other gentlemen and myself were by the late King Charles named to survey the dilapidations, and made report to His Majesty in order to a speedy reparation; you will not, as I am sure, forget the struggle we had with some who were for patching it up any how, so the steeple might stand instead of new building; when, to put an end to the contest, five days after, that dreadful conflagration happened, out of whose ashes this phoenix is arisen, and was by providence designed for you."

That which produced so much individual misery, afforded (as Sir Richard Steele observes) the greatest occasion that ever builder had to render his name immortal, and his person venerable. A whole city at once laid waste was an opportunity for the display of inventive genius, which had never before been given to any architect; but the selfishness of individuals, their disputes, and intrigues, and conflicting interests, prevented Wren from carrying his great design for the restoration of the metropolis into effect. And though many of the narrow lanes and confined spaces of

the old city were removed, still none of his views were adopted. As soon as the fire was subdued, whilst the ashes were yet alive, he was on the ground, considering his plan for the restoration of the city. He proposed one main street from Aldgate to Temple Bar, in the middle of which was to have been a large square capable of containing the new church of St. Paul, with a proper distance for the view all round; the parish churches were to be rebuilt so as to be seen at the end of every vista of houses, and dispersed at sufficient distances from each other; four piazzas were designed at proper distances; and lastly, the houses were to be uniform, surrounded by arcades, like those in Covent Garden; while by the waterside a large quay was to run, along which were to be ranged the halls belonging to the several companies, with warehouses and other appropriate mercantile buildings. If such a plan (modified in some degree) had been effected, London, it must be confessed, would have far exceeded every capital in the world. It may, however, be doubted, whether the climate of this country is suited to covered arcades; and with respect to the complete regularity and uniformity of the streets, although in theory this is captivating, in execution its effect is dull and disappointing. The total want of interest and variety in those towns where it has been adopted, such as Carlsrhue, Darmstadt, and Manheim, to which we may add the New Town of Edinburgh, affords sufficient evidence in support of this position.

London experienced an unexampled series of calamities. First harassed by the civil war; next desolated by the plague; after this oppressed by the exactions of the unsuccessful war of Charles; and last ravaged by the dreadful fire, which laid the whole city in ashes. But with all this, the courage and the spirit of the people were not borne down; and with one heart and one mind, in the very reeking ruins, the restoration of the city, with increased grandeur, was undertaken. It is difficult to refrain from entering at length into the details of this dreadful calamity, particularly when there are such materials as the lively pen of Evelyn (an eye-witness) affords; but it is impossible not to note the magnanimity of the people, as described by the Bishop of Rochester, a writer

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far too courtly to attribute any very exaggerated merit to the humbler classes of society. He describes them as enduring this, the second calamity, with undaunted firmness of mind; their example," he says, "may incline us to believe that not only the best natural, but the best moral philosophy too, may be learned from the shops of mechanics. It was indeed admirable to behold with what constancy the meanest artificers saw all the labour of their lives, and the support of their families, devoured in an instant. They beheld the ashes of their houses, and gates, and temples, without the least expression of pusillanimity. If philosophers had done this, it had well become their profession of wisdom; if gentlemen, the nobleness of their breeding and blood would have required it; but that such greatness of heart should be found amongst the poor artisans and the obscure multitude is, no doubt, one of the most honourable events which ever happened." -The Bishop's habits and prejudices led him to be surprised at finding greatness and forbearance amongst the lower orders of a free and independent people. If he had not learnt better from history, the subsequent struggles of those very persons, under the still greater calamities induced by the oppression of the Stuarts, would have afforded him new ground for admiration.

Charles, during his residence abroad, had imbibed a taste for the arts, particularly for architecture, and amidst his sensualities and misgovernment was not unmindful of their advancement. Upon his deciding to repair St. Paul's, to reinstate Windsor Castle, and to build a new palace at Greenwich, Wren (who to his other attainments added a considerable knowledge of architecture) was sent for from Oxford in 1661, to assist Sir John Denham, the new surveyor general. In the same year he took the degree of doctor of laws.

Denham was a partisan of the court in the troublesome times of Charles I., and was rewarded by his master with a grant in reversion of the place of Surveyor General of the Board of Works, to take effect on the death of Inigo Jones. As a poet and as a loyalist his merits are admitted; but his reward might have been more judiciously selected, for he was entirely ignorant of architecture. "It would have been ungrateful in the