inconstancy of fortune, and now fell in the arms of victory, at the premature age of five-and-thirty. Few men have been more warmly admired, or more severely regretted; the public mind was deeply agitated upon the occasion, and though the news of victory was heard with delight, the intelligence of his death was received with bitter gloom. Time has softened the asperity of that sorrow, and other generals have enviably preserved the display of similar talents, and emulated the renown of his fall. The historian is therefore content with a feeling of melancholy pride, to record the name of General Wolfe in happy competition with the fame of the heroes of antiquity; and to point out his example for the encouragement of his own age, and the imitation of ages to come.

SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.

IMMEDIATELY under the organ in St. Paul's Cathedral, is an inscription, of which the following is a translation :—it is a fine commemoration transferred from the spot where reposes the great architect whose single genius raised up the beauties of the edifice.

* Beneath reposes Sir Christopher Wren, Knight,
The founder of this Church and City.
He lived upwards of ninety years, not for himself,
But the public good.
Reader!

Subdus. Conditur. Hujus. Ecclesiæ. Et. Urbis
Conditor. Christophorus. Wren. Qui. Vixit
Annos. Ultra. Nonaginta. Non. Sibi. Sed

Bono. Publico. Lector. Si. Monumentum Requiris.

If you desire his monument-
Look around!

He died on the 25th of February, in the 91st year of his age, And of our Lord the 1723d.

There are but few persons who can desire the petty incidents. of their private lives to be recorded: a great man will only wish to be known by his works; and inferior minds will generally have many reasons to fear that the particular detail of domestic habits must render their memories even less reputable and kind than otherwise they might chance to appear. This is the principal source of that barrenness for which biography has generally been so remarkable. A genius will always exclaim with Horace—“ I have carved my own monument; behold it in my deeds! I have written my own epitaph; go read it in my works." Nor is there any panegyric more easily understood than such a practical one as this. Whether inscribed by the sword of the warrior, the author's pen, or the painter's pencil; whether by the chisel of the statuary, or the trowel of the architect, it comes readily and agreeably home to the best feelings of the head and the heart. In this strict sense the task of the biographer would be a stern one; a very commendable resource has therefore been admitted for him, in which he may well follow the developement of the fertile mind, and illustrate the dignity of human actions, by detecting those traits of domestic character which chequer and relieve the elevation of severer principles. The facilities at command for the compilation of the present sketch, are in this latter respect, far from numerous or engaging; but an illustrious subject must ever recommend itself; and the task is thus sure of welcome.

Our architect, born in 1632, was the son of Dr. Christopher Wren, rector of East Knowle, in Wilts, and dean of Windsor. He was educated at Westminster School, and entered of Wadham College, Oxford, in 1646. At as early an age as thirteen he had given an extraordinary specimen of proficiency and talent, by the invention of an astronomical instrument, and a pneumatic

Circumspice

Obiit, XV. Feb. Etatis. XCI.

An. M.D.CCXXIII.

machine, the former of which he formally presented to his father with a copy of Latin verses On the rise of rivers.' Such promises of future eminence naturally attracted the notice of the principal heads of his University, and Wren continued the exercise of his ingenuity under the most encouraging circumstances. In 1647 he wrote a "Treatise on Spherical Trigonometry,” after a new method; in 1C50 took his degree of B.A.: in the year after composed an algebraical tract on the Julian period, and in 1653 took the degree of M. A. upon his election to a Fellowship in All Souls' College. The astronomical professorship of Gresham College being offered to him in 1657, he signalized himself so eminently in that chair by the solution of various difficult problems, an the discovery of many new modes of practice, that he was chosen Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, and created Doctor of Laws, in 1661.

Such were the distinctions to which Wren had attained in one pursuit of genius before he became a votary of those studies by which his name has been chiefly handed down to the admiration of posterity. His skill in architecture now recommended him to the notice of Charles the II.; and when Sir John Denham was appointed Surveyor-general of the Royal Works, Wren received an appointment to assist him. An offer was soon after made him, and upon very lucrative terms, to cross over into Africa, and superintend the fortifications ordered for the security of Tangiers; but he declined the journey on account of his health. Notwithstanding this, his desire of employment at home was favourably considered, and when the commission for repairing St. Paul's passed the great seal in 1665, he was appointed to execute the task. It was also in this year that, upon the constitution of the Royal Society, he was chosen a fellow, and made the drawings which illustrate Dr. Willis's Anatomy of the Brain. In 1665 he took a tour in France, for the purpose of improving himself in architecture; but, unfortunately, proceeded no farther on the rout towards all that is eminent in the art. His drawings for the repair of old St. Paul's were still under the consideration of Government, when, in 1666, the great fire broke out, and besides reducing fifty parochial churches, and the greatest portion of the city to ruins, did such serious damage to the Cathedral, that nothing less than a new building could be thought of.

of

In the following year the death of Sir John Denham made room for his appointment to be Surveyor-general; and he became not only the first architect in the country, but indeed almost the only one to whom the erection of any public works was entrusted. He had the honour of being required to plan a suitable design for rebuilding the whole city, which was laid before the King and Parliament, and sensible was the regret felt at that period, as well as ever since, that the many obstacles presented by the rights of private property prevented him from reducing that mighty scope his invention into practice. The resignation of his Savilian Professorship was a necessary consequence of the many public employments now heaped upon him. Above these, the re-edification of St. Paul's rises the most conspicuous, for which the models were at last approved, after many clerical difficulties and alterations, during this year. This magnificent pile and chief ornament of the metropolis was commenced with signal pomp and vigour, and completed by its matchless architect within the term of fifty-five years. But previous to the foundation of the first stone in 1675, Wren was created a Knight. Of all the religious monuments existing in the Grecian style, St. Paul's, of London, is generally estimated second only to St. Peter's at Rome, while there have been some who have preferred it to that most sumptuous temple of the Christian Church. St. Peter's rose out of the wealth of the Catholic world, occupied the time and talents of twelve different architects, and was 145 years in a course of completion. Wren alone, and unaided, finished St. Paul's in much less than a fifth part of that period. Concerning the many critical preferences which have been made of the parts and the whole of these two great edifices, it would require a volume to treat; the more evident and summary distinctions between them are, that the facade of St. Paul's is considered far more consistent and complete than that of St. Peter's; the same observation extends to the domes; ours of St. Paul's is simple, graceful, and unique; that of St. Peter's is heavy, broken by windows, and incongruous. In every variety of dimension, length, breadth, and elevation, St. Peter's excels; in valuable statuary, splendid mausoleums, and internal riches, in gems, pictures, bronze, and marble, the Roman Church puts all comparison with the Protestant at defiance. St. Peter's is the

chef-d'œuvre of the more ancient and more gorgeous church; St. Paul's the masterpiece of the reformed and less symbolical religion.

But the wondrous labours, inseparable from the building of St. Paul's, were far from the only occupations which at this memorable period were entrusted to the capacity of Sir Christopher Wren. He rebuilt almost all the parochial churches of London; of which, St. Stephen's, Walbrook, has been the most praised, and St. Bride's is the most harmonious performance. The compliment paid to the former church by the celebrated Earl of Burlington is truly signal. That nobleman himself, no mean judge of architecture, pronounced it the finest model of Wren's versatile ability; and held it to be at least equal, if not superior, to any thing extant even in classical Italy. The London Monument is another beautiful erection, in direct memory of the event which, fortunately for the architect, led to all these improvements. With this, no person of taste can find a fault, unless it be in the shameful falsehoods which disgrace the inscription upon it.

Nor were the immediate precincts of the city of London the only sphere of Wren's exertions: the Theatre at Oxford; the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge; a great part of the Hospital at Greenwich, and the whole of that at Chelsea; and the great belfry of Christ's Church, Oxford, are all the fruits of his industry. A just tribute was paid to his scientific excellence in 1680, when the Royal Society unanimously elected him their President. His professional trusts also continued to encrease; in 1683, he was appointed Architect and Commissioner of Chelsea Hospital; in 1684 he was made Comptroller of Windsor Castle; and in 1698 was chosen Surveyor-general, and Commissioner for the Repair of Westminster Abbey. But his reputation advanced still farther in situations of personal credit and public distinction; for he was successively elected Member of several Parliaments, for Plympton, Weymouth, and Melcombe Regis. The duties of this station he performed in an unexceptionable manner, until an act of the ministry, in the year 1718, disgraceful to themselves, and discreditable to the country, induced him to retire from public life. He was then summarily dismissed from his situation of Surveyor-general upon a mere matter of party, at the venerable age of 86 years. For five years longer, life was spared to him;