" CIIRISTOPIIER WREN. " In the year Irt`A5, Sir Christopher Wren was elected and returned a Ifflrgess for• the borough of Plympton, in the county of Devon, and served in that parliament tt Idol] began at Westminster on the of Alay, 16;35 in the first year of James IL in parliament which inet at Westminster on the ':'2nd oldune, I61), was retuned a burgess the borough of New Windsor, in the county of Berks. In the year 1700, he was returned a burgess for the borough of Weymouth and IZetris, in the rounty of Dorset, and served in that parliament which began at Westminster in the 10th of February, in the 1`dth year of William In 1718, Sir Christopher Wren's patent for the offiee of surveyor of the royal works was superseded, in the font score-and-sixth year of his age, and after more than fifty years spent in a continued, active, and ittborions service to the crown and public, at which time his merit and labours were not remembered by sonic. Ile then betook to a country retirement at iiantpttffl ("win ; where, free from worldly allhirs, lie passed the greatest part of the live follow ing and last years of his life in contemplation and study, principally of the fitly Scriptures; though lie partially turned his thoughts to the discovery of the longitude at sea, and a review of his former tracts on astronomy and mathe matics. Time had now ttt•eatly enfeebled his limbs, but it had little impaired the vigour of his mind, which continued, with a vivacity rarely at his age, till within a few days or his dissolution. which happened on the ',25th of February, 17:23, in the ninety-first N ear of his age. f Ic was In the vault under St. Paul's eathedral. a privilege accorded to
him and Ids family exclusively. A plain covers his grave. bearing the appropriate inscription. Si „kiwi rimitir qweris, rirrumspice : If thou scckest my monument, look around thee." As an architect, his learning was great, and his invention fertile : his discoveries in mathematics and natural philosophy were numerous, and are only eclipsed by his pet tintinanees in his master-science.. Ile contrived all instrument for swing the quantity of rain that falls on any space of land for a year : lie invented many ways of making astronomical observations more accurately and cosily ; and was the anther of the anatomical experiment of injecting liquors. into the veins of animals. Ile translated into Latin N r. Onghtred's Horoloyioyruphia Geometrieu ; and wrote a Surrey of the Cothedral Church of Sulisbury. and other places, fie never printed any of his works. though some have been published by his friends. Tlds excellent artist does not, therefore, derive his glory front his publications, but from the n11111(.1.1)118 edifices which adorn the British metropolis, and which hourly attract the regard even of the int)st inattentive.
His private character was extremely continuing to the last an example of benevolence. free from all morose ness in behaviour or aspect. lie left a son, named after himself, who published in 170S, an elaborate treatise on ancient medals. intitled Aintzisna,ltvtt Antiquorum, Sylloye, and died in 1717, aged seventy-two.
XE'Nt WOFIIIIIM. a room in a monastery of religious houses, for the reception an I enser.a.ninent of strangers.