Examples Of The Architecture Of The Victorian Age And Monthly Review Of The Worlds Architectural Progress PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1862 edition. Excerpt: ... any desire on the part of the great Piotector to deprive him of his liberty. It was this faithful Churchman who composed the form of prayer used on the 29th of May, in commemoration of the happy restoration of royalty to these realms. He is also remembered as having built the chapel of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, of which his nephew, Christopher, was the architect. Young Wren, the future architect of St. Paul's, was a delicate infant; his first education was therefore conducted at home. He was afterwards sent to Westminster School, then presided over by the celebrated Dr. Busby. From Westminster school he went to Wadham College, Oxford. This was in his fourteenth year; but long before he arrived at this age the extraordinary intellectual powers of Wren were the subject of remark and astonishment to all his acquaintances; in fact, the future architect of St. Paul's was a perfect prodigy of precocious mental ability. When little more than a mere child, Aubrey, the Wiltshire antiquary, described him as a "youth of prodigious inventive wit." When no more than thirteen years of age he invented an astronomical instrument, a pneumatic engine, and another very ingenious instrument for use in practical gnomics. At fourteen he was presented to the Elector Palatine, who then paid a visit to Oxford, as "a prodigy of science." These rich promises of Wren's boyhood were amply fulfilled by the performances of his manhood. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to assert that Sir Christopher Wren was one of the greatest geniuses, as a mathematician and mechanician, that ever lived. This is a bold statement, but one which is abundantly warranted by the facts of the case. The bare mention of a few of his mechanical and scientific inventions, when...