Miscellaneous

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 175, 22 July 1909, Page 3

Miscellaneous

A GREAT ARCHITECT. Sir Christopher Wren's Career. It is bare justice to say at the outset that, in her work on the great English architect. Miss Miiman has not merely treated a worthy subject worthily, presented a clear-cut outline of Wren's career, an ordered record of his achievements simply and intelligently set forth, a comprehending appreciation of bis lofty rank in the archectural hierachy.a sympathetic perception of the man's personality, bat has

rr.a if; a valuable contribution to English letters. ' Her introduction strikes the keynote, 1 for it is a model of conciseness and comprehension. Moreover, the read- ' er, unacquainted with any other production of her pen, must perforce realise with thrills of pleasure that, while estimating as if it had been one of her hero's plans drawn to scale, the - compass of the work she purposed, she ' thas absorbed an adapted a style which ' has all the essential components of . great architecture itself, dignity, pro- ] portion, restraint in ornament, purpose- , fulness. 1 Few probably are aware that Wren's ! first love was astronomy, and that he j held a chair as professorof that science I at Gresham Colletre, London, and sub- ! sequently at OxforJ. Further, that, ! owing to improvements effected by I him upon Torricelli's invention, he was i for a time credited with the discovery \ of the barometer, and that his claims I as inventor of mezzotint engraving con- ; tested with those of Prince Rupert in j the popular estimation, ignorant that ;' both alike were indebted to a foreign ; professor. j His actual embarkment on the career \ of architect seem 3 to have come about I through the influence upon Charles 11. : of John Evelyn. In the same year dur- ' ing which Wren was appointed to the j Assistant-Surveyorship-General, he is ' entered on the Chapter of the Royal : Society as "Christopher Wren, Doctor ' of Medicine, Saville Professor of As- ! tronomy in our University of Oxford." \ And even after undertaking his new ; duties we find him supplying the .engraved plates to Dr Willis' "Anatomy of the Brain." The versatility of the ' great men of that d3y was as remarkable as the manys:dedness> of a Leonardo or a Michael Angelo. It was the inspiration proceeding from knowledge and the quest of knowledge. The ro- *■ manticist may despise facts in com- - parison with ideas, but forgets that i ideas are ever the fruit of facts, and that to demand ideas in place of facts is equivalent to clamouring for harvest I while neglecting to plough and to sow. So, upon his firm foundation of ] science Wren built up his imperishable ' dreams, and delighted the more, when ', his ingenuity was hard put to,to devise • a means of introducing beauty into un- ] toward surroundings, and making the desert to blossom as the rose. ] It is melancholy to think of the man. after yeais of patient work, subjected to the indignity of the suspension of a ", part of his meagre salary. Still, more i melancholy to behold him superseded in • his office by an incompetent upstart 1 whose tinkerings at this maser-build- ; er's masterpiece were not finally extirpated until 1873. ! The Mayor and Corporation of Wind- ' sor, where he had erected a new town • hall, objected that the supports of the upper storey were inadequate. He acceped their remonstrance, and inserted ! two additional pillars. But between ] their capitals and the ceilings he left I a space which space remains to this ! day. | Miss Milman's book will appeal both I to the professional reader.admiring the i vigorous grasp of her subject, and to the general reader, for whom, thanks ; to her lucidity, the technicalities will 1 present no terrors. The volume is furi nished with a number of admirable . photographs.