Another paper of the same date was written ‘On the surface of the terrestrial Globe,’ but this does not appear to have been preserved. Many of Sir Christopher’s writing’s and many also of his inventions were lost by Mr. Oldenburg, the Royal Society’s secretary, of whom Wren frequently complained that he not only neglected to enter them on the Society’s Register, but conveyed them to France and Germany, where they appeared, attributed as inventions to those who had stolen them.
One cannot but admire the versatility of mind which enabled Wren, in the midst of great architectural works, and endless business details, to write papers such as these, and to digest and decide upon Flamsteed’s long letters on the Earth’s motion, his quarrels with Mr. Halley, and his measurement of the height of the Welsh hills.
LONDON AS IT WAS.
The progress of Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, the growth of his beautiful S. Paul’s, the repairs of the Abbey, were now the absorbing interests of Wren’s life. From the house in Whitehall which he occupied with his daughter he could easily reach the two former by water, or the latter on foot. Two most interesting pictures by Canaletto,[224] giving a general view of the city and of Westminster, enable us to realise what the whole effect must have been in an atmosphere far clearer than at present, before the river was cut by iron bridges, or the city robbed of steeple or tower. The death of King William and the accession of Queen Anne in the spring of 1702 made little difference to Wren, except to his advantage. He appears to have been on very good terms with her, and with her Danish husband. He is said to have built S. Anne’s, Soho,[225] and to have made it externally to resemble a Danish church as much as he could, out of compliment to Prince George. He also gave to the Town Hall of Windsor, a statue of Prince George, to correspond with that of Queen Anne. The Prince is dressed in a Roman costume, and the pedestal has the following inscription:
SERENISSIMO PRINCIPI
GEORGII PRINCIPI DANIAE
HEROI OMNI SAECULO VENERANDO
CHRISTOPHORUS WREN, ARM:
POSUIT MDCCXIII.
One marvels how ‘Est-il possible’ came to merit such an inscription as this!
THANKSGIVING AT S. PAUL’S.
In 1702 Sir Christopher suffered a grievous loss by the death of his only daughter, Jane, on the 29th of December. She was laid in the vault of S. Paul’s close to the graves of Dr. and Mrs. Holder,[226] and her father wrote the short Latin inscription which records her virtues, her skill in music, and implies how loving and how congenial a companion he had lost in her. She was but twenty-six when she died. The sculptor, Bird,[227] of whose power Wren had a good opinion, carved a monument in low relief, representing Jane Wren playing on an organ; a harp and a spinnet are beside her, and a group of angels in the clouds above, one of whom holds the music. It is but an ordinary piece of monumental sculpture, now much obscured by dust. Jane Wren’s death must have left a great blank in the life of the father whose interests and pursuits she had shared, and one wishes she could have lived long enough to see the top stone laid on the dome of S. Paul’s. The Duke of Marlborough’s brilliant victory at Blenheim, on Aug. 13, 1704, brought Queen Anne and all her court in their utmost splendour to a thanksgiving at S. Paul’s on the 7th of September.
‘The streets were scaffolded from Temple Bar, where the Lord Mayor presented her Majesty with the Sword, which she returned. Every Company was ranged under its banners, the Citty Militia without the rails, which were all hung with cloth suitable to the colour of the banner. The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs and Aldermen were in their scarlet robes, with caparisoned horses; the Knight Marshall on horseback, the Foot Guards; the Queen in a rich coach with eight horses, none with her but the Duchess of Marlborough in a very plain garment, the Queene full of jewells. Music and trumpets at every Citty Company. The great Officers of the Crown, Nobility and Bishops, all in coaches with six horses, besides innumerable servants, went to S. Paul’s where the Deane preached. After this the Queen went back in the same order to S. James’s. The Citty Companies feasted all the nobility and Bishops, and illuminated at night. Music for the Church and anthems by the best masters. The day before wet and stormy, but this was one of the most serene and calm days that had been all the year.’[228]
No doubt it was a splendid pageant, the grandest that had been seen since those which celebrated the Restoration, and S. Paul’s, despite the scaffolding still round the dome, must have looked magnificent. In 1705, Sir Christopher’s eldest son went abroad again, travelling this time to Holland, where in the excitement of Marlborough’s brilliant campaign he very nearly joined the army as a volunteer.