Bro. Sir Christopher Wren.

All Soul's College , Oxford ; at twenty-five Professor of Astronomy in Gresham College , London ; at twenty-six he solved the problem proposed by Pascal as a challenge to the scientific men of England , ancl proposed another in return which has never been answered ; at twenty-eight he was Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford , elected a few clays before the restoration of Charles II . ; and when in his twenty-ninth year King Charles sent to Oxford for himand appointed him Deputy to Sir John DenmanSurveyor General of

, , His Majesty ' s Works . Now , Denham was a poet—the farthest remove from an architect , and Wren , who knew everything , architecture included , was the best man in the kingdom who could have been selected as Deputy . Both were appointed by way of a reward for their loyalty to the Crown . As architect , the first works committed to Wren were the restoration of old St . Paul's and the

reparation of Windsor Castle . In 1665 , at the age of thirty-three , Wren Avent to France , ancl studied the principal edifices of Paris . He wrote home : " I am so careful not to lose the impression of the structures I survey that I shall bring away all France upon paper . " Just after this , in 1666 , the Great Fire occurred in London , reducing ten thousand hnildings to ashes , and destroying one-seventh of the city . Here was Wren ' s golden opportunitywhich he was richly competent to seize . But ,

, alas , the authorities would not sustain him . He proposed to lay out the city on a new ancl regular plan , build granite quays along the river front , and have numerous public squares , but lack of enterprise , or of pecuniary means , one or both , defeated his just and magnificent plans . The year 1674 was a notable one to Wren . In this year Charles II . knighted him , at the age of forty-two , and henceforth , in all public documents he is

styled Sir Christopher Wren . Before this he had been Dr . Wren from his Oxford and Cambridge degrees of D . C . L . In this year he was appointed by the king architect of St . Paul's Cathedral , and directed to design a model for it . This was the great work of his life , upon which his fame securely rests . He now resigned his Professorship of Astronomy at Oxford , which he had held for fourteen yearsancl in this year he was married to Faithdaughter of Six

, , John Coghill , by Avhom he had one son , Christopher , an antiquarian numismatist , M . P ., aud F . R . S ., and his father ' s biographer . After the death of his first wife , Wren married a daughter of Lord Fitzwilliam Baron , by whom he had several children . In 1689 he added to his other honours that of a Member

of Parliament . Sir Christopher Wren on June 21 , 1675 , laid the corner-stone of St . Paul ' s Cathedral , the largest and finest Protestant Cathedral in the world , ancl , after St . Peter ' s Rome , the most splendid church erected since the revival of classical architecture in Europe . There was no solemn ceremonial , it seems , neither king , bishop , nor lord mayor being present , but only Thomas Strong , the Master Mason under Wrenancl a man of decided talentand Mr .

Long-, , land his assistant , with the great architect , himself . ( It seems , therefore , that the engraved mallet is in error in stating that King Charles laid the cornerstone ) . In 1710 , after the lapse of a period of thirty-five years , and the expenditure of nearly four million dollars ( £ 736 , 752 ) , the magnificent edifice was completed when ( as Dean Milman tells us in his " Annals of St . Paul ' s " ) " Sir Christopher Wren , by the hands of his son , attended by Mr . Strong , the

Master Mason who had executed the whole work , and the body of Freemasons , of which Sir Christopher was an active member , laid the last and highest stone of the lantern of the cupola , with humble prayers for the Divine blessing on his work . " From the age of thirteen to that of eighty-six years Wren was perpetually active , constantly engaged in perfecting himself in all branches of knowledge . " He knew more about masonry than any of his masons and more of carpentry than any of his carpenters . " At first selected by King Charles II . to design aucl superitend the erection of St . Paul ' s , Queen Anne continued Wren ' s appointment , but King George I .,