W R E 



W R E 



mao-nificent edifice, fee the article Lomdon'. In 1680 fir 

 Chnltopher's fcientific merits caufed him to be elefted pre- 

 fident of the Royal Society. In 1683 he was appointed 

 architeft and commiffiouer for Chelfea college, and in the 

 following year comptroller of the works in the caftle ot 

 Windfor. In 1685 he was introduced into parliament as a 

 reprefentative of Plympton. To his other public trufts 

 were added, in i6q8, that of furveyor-general and commif- 

 fiouer for the repair of Weftminfter abbey ; in 1 699 that of 

 architeft of Greenwich hofpital ; and in 1708 that of one 

 of the commiflioners for the 50 new churches propofed to be 

 erefted in and near the city of London. Having fulfilled 

 all his duties to the 86th year of his age, the adminiftration 

 of 1718 incurred indelible difgrace, by fufFering political 

 confideration to have fuch influence as to deprive him of his 

 place of furveyor to the royal works. The remaining five 

 years of his life were fpent in honourable retirement, and 

 devoted to fcientific purfuits, and the reading of the Scrip- 

 tures. It u faid that he indulged a very pardonable vanity 

 by being carried once every year to furvey St. Paul's cathe- 

 dral. His life was prolonged to his 91ft year, and termi- 

 nated in confequence of a cold which he caught in coming 

 from Hampton-Court to London, in February 1723. His 

 remains were interred, with fuitable funeral honours, under 

 the choir of St. Paul's, and upon his tomb is a con- 

 cife but very appropriate and expreflive Latin infcription, 

 ending "Leftor, fi monumentum requiris, circumfpice." 

 Sir Chriftopher was twice married, and left one fon, a man 

 of learning and piety, and a good antiquary. The edifices 

 conftrufted by Wren were moftly public, including a royal 

 hunting-feat at Winchefter, and the modern part of the 

 palace at Hampton-Court. Some of the moft remarkable, 

 befides St. Paul's, are, the Monument, the theatre at 

 Oxford, the library of Trinity college, Cambridge, the 

 hofpitals of Chelfea and Greenwich, and of Chrillchursh, 

 London, the church of St. Stephen, Walbrook, thofe of 

 St. Mary-le-Bow, St. Michael, Cornhill, and St. Bride, 

 dift.ingui(hed by their fteeples, and the great campanile of 

 Chriftchurch, Oxford. Of the rank which he occupied as 

 a man of fcience, we may form fome judgment from the 

 fucceeding concife detail of his performances, and more par- 

 ticularly from the teftimony of fir Ifaac Newton, who, in 

 his " Principia," joins the names of Wren, Willis, and 

 Huygens, and charafterizes them as " hujus setatis Geome- 

 trarum facile principes." As to his moral character, it is 

 faid to have been worthy of his intelleftual eminence ; as 

 with great equanimity, he was pious, temperate, modeft, 

 and communicative of his knowledge ; and few men feem 

 to have been more generally efteemed by their contempo- 

 raries. With regard to his architeftural llcill and attain- 

 ments, a very competent judge, being himfelf of the profef- 

 fion, fays, that he poffeffed an inexhauftible fertility of 

 invention, combined with good natural tafle and pro- 

 found fcientific knowledge ; and that his talent was particu- 

 larly adapted to ecclefiaftical architefture, which afforded 

 domes and towers to his pifturefque fancy ; while, in his 

 palaces and private houfes, he has fometimes funk into a 

 heavy monotony, as at Hampton-Court and Wincheiler. 

 Among the rich variety of Wren's towers, fteeples, and 

 fpires, many are truly elegant. The church of St. Stephen's, 

 Walbrook, exhibits a deviation from common forms equally 

 ingenious and beautiful. The Monument is grand and 

 fimple. At Greenwich, his additions to the original work 

 of Inigo Jones are Angularly grand and beautiful. Upon 

 the whole, fir C. Wren's architefture is perhaps the per- 

 feftion of that modern ftyle which, with forms and modes 

 of conftruftion effentially Gothic, adopts for the decorative 



part the orders and ornaments of antiquity. Biog. Brit. 

 Walpole's Anecd. Gen. Biog. 



Wren, or Jenny-Wren, in Ornithology, \\\e pqffer troglodytes 

 of Gefner, and the motactUa troglodytes of Linnaeus, has the 

 head and upper part of the body of a deep reddifh-brown ; 

 above each eye is a ftroke of white ; the back, and coverts 

 of the wings and tail, are marked with flender, tranfverfe, 

 black lines ; the quill-feathers with bars of black and red ; 

 the throat is of a yellowifh-white ; the belly and fide* 

 crofled with narrow dufky and pale reddifh-brown lines ; 

 and the tail is croffed with duflvy bars. Pennant. 



This bird, though very fmall, is of a very cheerful difpo- 

 fition, and has a very agreeable voice, which he throws out 

 with great cheerfulnefs and fprightlinefs, ufually cocking 

 up his tail all the time he is finging, and continues his fong 

 through the winter, except during the frofts. See Song of 

 Birds. 



The female breeds twice in the year, firft in the latter 

 end of April, and afterwards in the middle of June. The 

 neft is ufually placed among clufters of mofs and ivy, 

 in fuch a manner that it is very hard to difcover it. It is 

 made of dry mofs and leaves put together in a very arti- 

 ficial manner, being clofed all round except for 3 fmall 

 hole left to go in and out at. They lay a great number of 

 eggs, not lefs than eighteen ; and it has been often found 

 that they all hatch except one or two; and thus fixteeu 

 young ones have been found together in the neft. Thefe 

 are brought up fo well as to fhift for themfelves by the end 

 of May ; and then another brood is provided for by the 

 middle of the month following. The young ones may be 

 eafily raifed. They ftiould for this purpofe be taken out 

 of the neft at about fourteen days old, and fed with fheep's, 

 calf's, or ox's heart, cut fmall, with eggs minced among it. 

 When they are able to peck this meat for themfelves, they 

 may be put into cages ; but they muft llill be fed for fome 

 days, left they fiiould negleft themfelves, and die of hunger 

 after the greatcil part of the trouble is thus over. See 

 MoTAClLLA Troglodytes. 



When they are grown up, they may be fed with pafte, 

 and will need no more heart. Afterward it will be a 

 great feaft to them to give each a fpider or two at once in 

 two or three days ; and after they attain full age, they may 

 either be left to fing their own wild notes, which are very 

 agreeable, or if it be defired that they ihould whiftle tunes, 

 they will eafily be taught it. Ray and Pennant. 



Wren, CrfJled,OT Golden-Cre/led WnEii, regulus cri/latus, 

 or motacilla regulus of Linnaeus, the name of a very beauti- 

 ful little bird, the fmalleft of all the Britifli birds. Its 

 whole weight is not more than feventy-fix grains ; and the 

 crown of its head is adorned with a very beautiful fafFron- 

 coloured or orange-red fpot, which is called its creft, and 

 by fome its crown, and from this golden crown the bird 

 has obtained the name of the regulus, lyrannus, bafdeus, and 

 other appellations of royalty. This beautiful fcarlet mark 

 on the head is bounded on each fide by a fine yellow line. 

 The bill is dufliy ; the feathers of the forehead are green ; 

 from the bill to the eyes is a narrow white line ; the back 

 and hind part of the neck are of a dull green ; the coverts 

 of the wings duflcy, edged with green, and tipped wi^ 

 white ; the quill-feathers and tail duflcy, edged with j)ale 

 green ; the throat and lower part of the body white, tinged 

 with green ; the legs are of a dull yellow colour ; and the 

 claws are very long. 



This bird frequents woods, and is found principally in 

 oak-trees. It is common about the Peak in Derby/hire, 

 and is feen in autumn as far north as the Shetland iiles, but 

 quit* that country before winter. It lays fix or feven eggs, 



not 



