Sir Christopher Wren Part 15

'The clerk of the works shall be required to dispose of and sell the stone, chalk, timber and free stone for, and towards, the rebuilding of the parochial churches and to _no other use whatsoever_, as he shall be directed, at merchantable rates to the masons and carpenters that build the said churches by order of Sir Leoline Jenkins (judge of the Admiralty Court), Dr. Sancroft, and Dr. Wren, or any two of them.'

The money thus collected was put aside for the fabric of the Cathedral.

[_USE OF GUNPOWDER._]

Though much of the old material was removed in this manner, and yet not diverted from its proper purpose, the ground was by no means clear.

Wren, appointed under the Great Seal, architect of S. Paul's, and one of the commissioners in the new commission for its rebuilding, had to take down by degrees what portions of the old building were still standing.

Warped and cracked as they were, the walls, eighty feet high and five thick, were yet strong enough to make the process of pulling down both difficult and tedious. Wren determined to avail himself of the knowledge he had acquired in the Royal Society's recent experiments in raising weights by means of gunpowder. Houses, it is true, had been blown up in several places during the Fire in order to protect the Tower of London and Whitehall, but the use of gunpowder to raise a definite weight, and throw it a fixed distance and no farther, was a novel experiment. When the labourers reached at last the old central tower, the walls of which were two hundred feet high, they were afraid to go up to the top, as they had done elsewhere, and work with their pickaxes, while those below shovelled away the stones and mortar that they threw down into separate heaps.

This was the time for Wren's experiment.

With great precautions, and the use of eighteen pounds of gunpowder only, he blew up the north-western angle of the tower, so contriving it that, while he raised more than three thousand tons weight, it was not scattered and no damage was done, though the shock made the neighbours imagine it to be an earthquake.

Encouraged by this success, Wren had another mine prepared, but unluckily was obliged to go out of town himself and to leave it in the charge of his next officer.

The man, thinking to improve upon his master, increased the quant.i.ty of powder, caused an explosion which shot stones far and wide, and though no lives were lost, terrified the City, all the more that an old superst.i.tion declared that the tower of S. Paul's and the City of London would fall together.

Forbidden, owing to the panic thus caused, the use of this modern method, Wren betook himself to ancient times, and devised a gigantic battering ram, with a great spike at one end. Thirty men, fifteen on each side, worked the ram against one place in the wall, Wren watching and encouraging them when, disheartened by a day's work without visible result, they were ready to give up in despair. On the second day the wall fell.

Wren made great use of this machine and 'pleased himself that he had recovered so notable and ancient an engine.'

FOOTNOTES:

[112] 'Lex Ignea, or the School of Righteousness.'--_Life of Sancroft_, vol. ii. p. 355. Doyley.

[113] _Life of Sancroft_, vol. i. p. 141. Doyley.

[114] i.e. by word of mouth.

[115] Probably a misprint for 'Argo-navis,' referring to the frequent repairs of the Argo.

[116] In 1672 a bridge, with a beautiful arch resembling those that cross the ca.n.a.ls at Venice, was built over 'the Ditch,'

opposite Bridewell Hospital. One or two other bridges were built, and the stream made navigable, but apparently not 'cleansed,' which in time rendered it a nuisance. The bridges were taken down and the stream reduced to a drain in 1765.--_Ann. Reg._, 1765, p. 136.

[117] _Diary_, vol. iv. p. 8.

[118] The Coghills of Glen Barrahane, county Cork, are descended from the elder branch of this family. Captain Coghill, who died with Lieutenant Melville, having carried off the colours from the battle of Isandula, January 1879, was the eldest son of the present head of the family.

[119] Never before printed.

[120] Pepys' _Diary_, vol iv. p. 241.

[121] This building was destroyed by fire 1838, and rebuilt from designs by Mr. t.i.te 1844.

[122] _Spectator_, vol. i. No. 69.

[123] They were the best work of John Bushnell, an eccentric and half-crazy sculptor, who died in 1701.

[124] 'Soe Hoe' became a favourite residence. In November 1689, Evelyn came up 'with his family to winter at Soho in the Great Square.' Some handsome houses are still standing.

[125] _Diary_, Jan. 31, 1667-8.

[126] _Restoration of the Church of St. Sepulchre, London._ A.

Billing.

[127] It is said that in the children's game of 'Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of S. Clement's, &c.' the best peals of bells in London are enumerated. I do not know the date of the game.

[128] _Repertorium_, vol. i. p. 437-440. Newcourt.

[129] _Hist. of Modern Architecture._ Fergusson, pp. 306-307.

[130] _Hist. of the Honourable Artillery Company._ Captain Raikes, vol. i. p. 194.

CHAPTER VIII.

1672-1677.

BIRTH OF HIS ELDEST SON--S. STEPHEN'S, WALBROOK--S. BENNET FINK--PLANS FOR S. PAUL'S--THE EXCAVATIONS--SON CHRISTOPHER BORN--DEATH OF FAITH, LADY WREN--SECOND MARRIAGE--CITY CHURCHES--THE MONUMENT--TOMB OF CHARLES I.--REMAINS OF THE LITTLE PRINCES IN THE TOWER.

_K. Rich._ But didst thou see them dead?

_Tyr._ I did, my lord.

_K. Rich._ And buried, gentle Tyrrel?

_Tyr._ The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them, But where, to say the truth, I do not know.

_Richard III._, Act 4, scene 3.

Early in October, 1672, Christopher Wren's eldest son was born, and baptized by the name of Gilbert, at S. Martin's-in-the-Fields, a very different-looking building from the present S. Martin's with its stately portico. Wren and his wife lived in the house in Scotland Yard, and, avoiding the uneven, difficult streets, could daily go by water, then the favourite way of transit for a Londoner, to examine and superintend his works in the city. Later on Wren built himself a little house of red bricks in the yard of the Falcon Inn at Southwark, and watched from its window the progress of S. Paul's and of his other buildings in the city.

Besides the churches already begun, three new ones were taken in hand that year. S. Mary-at-Hill[131] was only partially destroyed by the fire. Upon it Wren first tried his plan of a domed roof, and succeeded in making it, at any rate within, a beautiful little church. S.

Michael's, Cornhill, of which only the tower was left standing, was rebuilt that year; its situation threw a great difficulty in the architect's way, as it could only be lit from one side; this difficulty Wren overcame and produced an interior[132] equally light and good. The tower was taken down in 1722, and rebuilt from designs of Wren's. These designs were taken from the tower of Magdalen College at Oxford, and instance Wren's power of producing a bold, rich effect in a style of architecture altogether foreign to his taste.

Perhaps the most beautiful of all Wren's churches is S. Stephen's, Walbrook, begun at this same time, and finished seven years later. The outside, cramped by its situation, and overshadowed by tall houses, is not handsome, but within, the church is as original as it is graceful and beautiful:--

'The circular dome, placed on an octagonal base supported by eight pillars, was an early, and long a favourite, mode of roofing in the East.... Wren, however, is the only European architect who availed himself of it ... he certainly has produced the most pleasing interior of any Renaissance church which has yet been erected.'[133]

So great was the fame, and such the charm of the building that when the great sculptor Canova[134] visited England, and was asked should he ever wish to return to the country? he answered, 'Yes, that I might again see S. Paul's Cathedral, Somerset House, and S. Stephen's, Walbrook.'

[_SIR ISAAC NEWTON._]

In the midst of so much work it is not wonderful that, for the moment, Wren's diligent attendance at the Royal Society slackened somewhat, though at the end of 1672 his name occurs among those of the Society who cordially welcomed Isaac Newton to their fellows.h.i.+p. Wren bestowed especial praise on Newton's invention of a refracting telescope. Friends they appear always to have remained, and their dispositions were not unlike, though the travels and varied experiences of Wren's early years had quickened his faculties, and prevented that entire absorption in one idea which is evident from many stories about Isaac Newton. As, for instance, when one of Newton's philosophical friends abroad--

'Sent him a curious prism, at that time a rarity in England, it was taken to the Custom House and Newton claimed it. The officers asked him to set some value upon it that they might regulate the duty.

Newton, rating the prism by his own idea of its use and excellence, replied, "The value is so great I cannot ascertain it." They pressed him again to set some estimate on it, but he still replied, "I cannot say what it is worth, for the value is inestimable." The honest Custom House officers took him at his word, and made him pay an exorbitant duty for the prism, which he might have taken away upon only paying a rate according to the weight of the gla.s.s!'[135]