Sir Christopher Wren Part 2

there were in 1636 but thirty excommunicated or suspended, some for contumacy, some for obstinately refusing to publish the King's declaration, some 'for contemning all the Orders and Rites of the Church and intruding themselves, without licence from the Ordinary, for many years together.' His returns to the Archbishop show how very thoroughly and diligently he, to use a modern phrase, 'worked his diocese,' visiting parish after parish, causing the fabrics to be repaired,[19] the clergy to reside, to hold the appointed services and to catechise the children. Here and there a lecturer who promised conformity was allowed to remain, but generally they were checked and discouraged. Great Yarmouth must have gladdened the Bishop's heart, as, two years before Bishop Wren came to the Diocese, the lecturer had gone to New England, 'since which time,' the Bishop says, 'there hath been no lecture and very much peace in the town and all ecclesiastical orders well observed.' It was in truth a great undertaking to bring the Diocese of Norwich into order; but Wren did not shrink from the task, and had all the support which the King and the Archbishop could give, a support afterwards imputed as a crime both to those who gave and to him who received it.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] _Warwickshire Worthies_, p. 845. Article by C. Wren Hoskyns, Esq., M.P.

[3] S. Margaret's, standing close to Pudding Lane, where the Fire of London began in 1666, was the first church consumed. Its site is now occupied by the Monument, and the parish incorporated with that of S. Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge.

[4] Laid under the stone, For the worms alone, All mortal pride Is laid aside. (G. A. D.)

[5] Bishop Andrewes was so well pleased that he 'sent the moderator (Dr. Meade), the answerer (Mr. M. Wren), the varier, and one of the repliers that were all of his house (i.e. Pembroke), twenty angels apiece.' _Life of Bishop Andrewes_, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. xxi.

[6] _Life of Bishop Andrewes_, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p.

xvii.

[7] _Cypr. Ang._, p. 100. Heylin.

[8] Edmund Waller, born March 3, 1605. He was connected by his marriage with Cromwell, and wrote one of his best poems as a panegyric on the Protector, but was supposed to be a Cavalier at heart and rejoiced at the Restoration; died 1687.

[9] 'A transcript of a certain narrative written by the late Bishop of Ely (Dr. Matthew Wren) with his own hand, of that remarkable conference, which after his return from Spain with Prince Charles, 1636, he had with Dr. Neile, then Bishop of Durham, Dr.

Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, and Dr. Laud, Bishop of S.

David's, touching the said Prince, whereat something prophetical was then said by that Reverend Bishop of Winchester.' Printed from a MS. in the Ashmolean Museum. _Life of Bishop Andrewes_, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. lvii.

[10] _Life of Bishop Andrewes_, Lib. Anglo-Catholic Theology, p. x.

[11] _Cypr. Ang._, p. 59. Heylin.

[12] Evelyn, who visited Cambridge in 1655, says of Peterhouse, 'a pretty neate college having a delicate chappell.'

The chapel, especially the west front, of S. Peter's College, is one of the best specimens of the Renaissance Art at Cambridge.--_Hist. of Modern Architecture_, p. 275. Fergusson.

[13] _Beauties of England and Wales_ (Cambridgeshire).

[14] _Life of Archbishop Juxon_, p. 27. Rev. W. H. Marah.

[15] _Annals of England_, p. 407.

[16] _Eccles. Hist._, vol. ix. p. 388, ed. 1841, Collier, where the office may be found entire.

[17] _Cypr. Ang._, introduction, p. 9. Heylin.

[18] 'On August 29, 1636 (the plague then raging in London), King Charles, the Queen, and the Court arrived at Oxford. The Chancellor (Archbishop Laud), the Vice-Chancellor, and numerous doctors and masters went out to meet the royal retinue. The Chancellor, accompanied by the Lord Treasurer (Bishop Juxon), the Bishop of Winchester (Dr. Curle), the Bishop of Norwich (Dr.

M. Wren), and the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Bancroft), rode in a coach.' The Court was entertained with very brilliant festivities, and a series of masks and interludes arranged by Inigo Jones.--_Oxfordshire Annals_, p. 25, by J. M. Davenport.

[19] The state of the diocese is vividly shown in Bishop Corbet's charge of 1634 (for the repairs of old S. Paul's Cathedral).

'Some pet.i.tions,' he says, 'I have had since my coming to this diocese, for the pulling downe of such an isle [aisle] or for changing lead to thatch, soe far from reparations that our sute is to demolish.... Since Christmas I was sued to and I have it yett under their hands, the hand of the minister and the hand of the whole parish, that I would give way to their adorning their church within and out, to build a stone wall round the churchyard which now had but a hedg. _I took it for a flout at first_, but it proved a very sute; they durst not without leave mend a fault forty yeares ould.' The spire of Norwich Cathedral where Bishop Corbet was preaching had fallen in, and during three years but two yards had been rebuilt. See _Doc.u.ments relating to S. Paul's_ by Dr. Sparrow Simpson, p. 137. Camden Society.

CHAPTER II.

1630-1640.

DR. C. WREN--BIRTH OF HIS SON CHRISTOPHER--EAST KNOYLE--ORDER OF THE GARTER--HOW A MURDERER WAS DETECTED--CHRISTOPHER AT WESTMINSTER--A LATIN LETTER--DIOCESE OF ELY--IMPEACHMENT OF LORD STRAFFORD--OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD--ARTICLES AGAINST BISHOP WREN--RESIGNS THE DEANERY OF THE CHAPELS ROYAL.

Instead of kitchen-stuff, some cry A gospel-preaching ministry, And some for old suits, coats, or cloak, No surplices nor service-book.

A strange harmonious inclination Of all degrees to Reformation.

_Hudibras_, pt. i. canto 2.

Less is known of the early years of Christopher Wren than of his brother's more eventful life. Christopher went to Oxford, to S. John's College, was admitted to Holy Orders, and, like his brother, became chaplain to Bishop Andrewes, from whom in 1620 he received the living of Fonthill Bishops in Wiltshire.

It may be said in pa.s.sing, that to receive preferment from Lancelot Andrewes was in itself a proof of merit, for it was his especial care, in the three dioceses which he successively governed, only to promote able and good men to 'such livings and preferments as fell within his gift, and to give Church preferment to _none that asked for it_.' To this rule he rigidly adhered, and his disciple, Matthew Wren, followed the same plan when he became a Prelate of the Church.

Christopher did not hold this living more than three years, and then received, also from Bishop Andrewes, the neighbouring living of East (or Bishop's) Knoyle, very near Fonthill Abbey, afterwards a place famous for its beauty and its curiosities, then the property of a Mr. Robert c.o.x. This gentleman had an only child, Mary, who inherited his property; she became the wife of Christopher Wren, probably a few years after his appointment to East Knoyle, where their seven children were born--five girls, of only one of whom there is any subsequent record, and two sons.

A Christopher, baptized in the November of 1630, who probably died very young, as in the register the record stands, 'Christopher, first sonne of Doctor Wren,' 'first' is added above in another hand. The next baptism is, 'Christopher, 2nd (_sic_) sonne of Christopher Wren, Dr. in Divinitie and Rector now.' This is in the entries for 1631 (O.S.), followed by those for March, and is dated only '10th.'

This 'second Christopher' is the one who was to make the name afterwards so famous; but the date is very perplexing. Dr. Wren and his son both reckoned the latter's age from his birthday, October 20, 1632, as appears again and again in the 'Parentalia,' notably in Dr. Wren's own MS. note to a letter from his son.[20] The East Knoyle Register would, if the baptism is rightly put among the entries for _March_ 1631 (O.S.), make the birthday October 20, 1631; but it seems more likely that this is an error, and 1632 the correct date.

[CHANCEL AT EAST KNOYLE.]

At East Knoyle Dr. Wren appears to have pa.s.sed most of his time, leaving it occasionally, as he had done his previous living, to attend on Bishop Andrewes. He was a good scholar, if less deeply learned than his brother; a mathematician, a good musician, and had besides some knowledge of drawing and architecture. He employed himself in decorating East Knoyle chancel, and to him, in all probability, are owing the[21]

'flower borders, figures, and texts of Scripture in raised plasterwork'

which, though much defaced, still cover the chancel. The subjects are--'Jacob's Dream,' 'The Ladder with the Angels,' 'Jacob anointing the Pillar.' Over the chancel arch 'The Ascension of our Lord.' Round the capitals of the columns are quaint inscriptions:

Sic ae Am a pr sis. a. A Deo pta.[22]

ut o or o

'Unum necessarium.' The texts of holy Scripture, which are very well chosen, are all quoted from that earlier translation known as the 'Bishops' Bible,' to which the Psalms, Offertory sentences, and 'Comfortable Words' of the Prayer Book belong.

Besides this, Wren contrived a new roof for the church, as the old one was falling into decay. In the hall of the rectory he put up the following inscription:

'In quamcunque domum introeritis primum dicite: paX sIt hVIC DoMVI Tam solenni praecepto, tempestivo voto Subscripsi introiens C. W. RECTOR, Julii 28. Anno dicto.'[23]

The inscription is not a little characteristic of the gentle, peace-loving nature of Christopher Wren, and the quaint conceits in which the wits of the time delighted. This form of chronogram was one which he frequently used. His second daughter, Susan, was born in 1627, and as she and the 'second Christopher' clung closely together in after life, and the others are never mentioned, it seems likely that they two were the only survivors of the seven children. Christopher was a very delicate, weakly boy, who early gave promise of brilliant abilities. No records say when Mrs. Wren died, but various things seem to show that she died when her children were still very young.

Dr. Wren had been one of the King's chaplains in ordinary since 1628, and so well did he acquit himself that when his brother the Bishop resigned the deanery of Windsor and the registrarship of the Garter, the King appointed Christopher to the vacant post. It was an appointment which suited him well; he took up with equal energy his brother's work, of arranging the doc.u.ments and records, and continuing the history of the Order. Two autograph letters relating to this are preserved in the 'Parentalia,' one from the chancellor of the Garter, Sir Thomas Rowe:--

'Reverend Sir,--I had wayted on you before this tyme, but that I have been punished with Lamenes, both for my owne advantage to learne of y^u and to acquaint y^u with some orders I have received from his ma^{tie} and to give y^u ye summe of ye last chapiter as I conceived it.'

[GARTER RECORDS.]

Sundry particulars follow, and he promises a record of the members of the Garter from its foundation. The King, he says, is anxious that every 'chapiter of the Order' should be fully recorded. Sir Thomas asks for 'the papers of Sir John Fynnet' in order to send them to King Charles, 'who is very curious of them.' 'On all occasions,' the letter concludes, 'I shall be glad to give y^u ye testimonye of my desire to be esteemed and to be y^r affectionate friend to serve y^u,

'THO. ROWE.

'Cranford, 9 Jan. 1636 (O.S.)'

The Dean's answer comes promptly:--