BARCELONA.
A letter[229] to him from Sir Christopher is extant; the handwriting is not quite so steady as in the former letter, but still clear.
‘Whitehall, Oct. 11, 1705.
‘Dear Son,—I received at once three of yr letrs: one from Harlem, Sep. 26, another from Amsterdam of Sep. 28, O.S., a third of Oct. 13, N.S., by all which I rejoyced in your good Health & your recovery from your cold. I am very well satisfied you have layd aside your designe for the Army; which I think had not been safe or pertinent, at least not soe much as Bookes & Conversation with ye learned. Your Traffic for good Bookes I cannot disapprove. You tell me Gronovius[230] is 25 volumes, I am told they are 26, and that the last is the best & comonly sold by its selfe, you will have a care [231] though you have; though wee doe not doubt it and wagers are layd 6 to one: last night the seales were given to Mr. Cowper & changes are made of Lord Lieutenants. Give my Service to Mr. Roman & thanks for his Civilities to you. I am importuned to take a little journy to my cosin Munson’s to christen her 8th son. Wee are told here that my Ld D. of Marlborough goeth certainly to Vienna, & you resolve well to wait on him before he goes, & then I thinke you have little else to doe but to take the best opportunity to returne, which I am told may happen if you come with my Ld Woodstock[232] who will have convoy. Wee are all in good health at both Houses and wish you happinesse wch wee also contrive for you.
‘I am, dear Son, your affectionate Father,
‘Chr. Wren.’
I suppose the mention of ‘both houses,’ and the hint of happiness being contrived, refer to young Christopher’s marriage, which took place in the following year. He married Mary,[233] daughter of Mr. Philip Musard, jeweller to Queen Anne, by whom he had a son, a fourth Christopher Wren.
Wren lost a faithful and valued friend in Mr. Evelyn, who died in the February of 1706, at the age of eighty-five. If Evelyn’s diary, of which such frequent use has been made in these pages, is not the same entire revelation of the man himself as is the diary of his friend Pepys, it yet possesses a singular charm in its refinement of thought, and, when the veil is raised, shows us a gentleman and a Christian to be respected as well as loved. He had kept up a steady friendship with Sir Christopher since the day when they first met at Oxford, and had the highest opinion of his powers: ‘an excellent genius had this incomparable person,’ is his remark after a conversation with Wren. Evelyn was on the S. Paul’s Commission from the first, and Wren was destined, a few years later, sorely to miss the support of this constant friend.
The needful sum for covering in the dome of S. Paul’s was voted by Parliament in 1708. The question of using copper or lead was greatly discussed; lead was finally chosen; it does not clearly appear which way Sir Christopher’s judgment inclined. Probably to the lead, as he considered it susceptible of much ornament, and the lead covering of S. Paul’s dome is peculiarly beautiful. Bird in this year finished the statue of Queen Anne, which is in the fore court of the Cathedral, and is not without merit. He also carved the relief of the Conversion of S. Paul above the western portico: the height is too great for it to be possible to judge of the goodness of the sculpture.
FIFTY NEW CHURCHES.