WREN. 
fo the lord of the manor. It is now, how- 
ever, held, that if proof can be made of the 
property of any of the yoods oi ladin" which 
come to shore, tliey shall, not be forfeited as 
wreck. 
By tlie 3 Edward, c. 4, the sheriff of the 
county shall be bound to keep the goods 
a year and a day ; that if any man can 
prove a property in them, either in his 
own right, or by righ.t of representation, 
they shall be restored to him without de- 
lay. 
By statnte 26 George II. c. 19, plunder- 
ing any vessel, either in distress or wrecked, 
and whether any living creature be on 
board or not, or preventing the escape of 
any person that endeavour^ to save bis- life, 
or putting out false lights to bring any ves- 
sel into danger, are all deolaretl to be capi- 
tal felonies ; and by this statute pilfering 
any goods cast ashore, is declared to be 
petty larceny. See Insurance salvage. 
WREN (Sir Christopher), in biogra- 
phy, a great philosopher and mathematician, 
and one of the most learned and eminent ar- 
chitects of his age, was the son of the Rev. 
Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor, and was 
born at Knoyle, in Wiltshire, in 1632. He 
studied at Wadham College, Oxford, where 
he took the degree of Master of Arts, in 
1653, and was chosen fellow of All Souls 
College there. Soon after he became one 
of that ingenious and learned society, who 
then met at Oxford for the improvement of 
natural and experimental philosophy, and 
which at length produced the Royal So.? 
ciety. 
When very young he discovered a sur- 
prising genius for the mathematics, in 
which science he made great advances be- 
fore he was sixteen years of age. In 1657 
he was made professor of astronomy in 
Gresham College, London ; and his lectures, 
which were much frequented, tended great- 
ly to the promotion of real knowledge. 
He proposed several methods by which to 
account for the shadows returning back- 
W'ard ten degrees on the dial of King Ahaz, 
by the laws of nature. One subject of his lec- 
tures was npop telescopes, to the imprpve- 
ment of which he had greatly contributed : 
another was on certain properties of the 
ajr, and the barometer, In the year 1658 
he read a description of the body and dif- 
ferent pliases of the planet Saturn; which 
siibject he proposed to investigate, while 
his colleague, Mr. Ropke, then professor of 
gpometry, was carrying on his observations 
ppon the satellites' of Jupiter. , Tiie same 
year he communicated some demonstrations 
concerning cycloids to Dr. Wallis, which 
were afterwards published by the Doctor 
at the end of his treatise upon that subject. 
About that time also, he resolved the pro- 
blem proposed by Pascal, under the feigned 
name of John de Montford, to all the Eng- 
lish mathematicians ; and returned anotiter 
to the mathematicians in France, formerly 
proposed by Kepler, and then resolved like- 
wise by himself, to which they never gave 
any solution. In 1660, he invented a me- 
thod for the construction of solar eclipses; 
and in the latter part of die same year, he, 
with ten other gentlemen, formed them- 
selves into a society, to meet weekly, for 
the improvement of natural and experimen- 
tal philosophy ; being the foundation of the 
Royal Society. In the beginning of 1661, 
he was chosen Savilian professor of astro- 
nomy at Oxford, in tlie room of Dr. Seth 
Ward; where he was the same year created 
Doctor of Laws. 
Among his other accomplishments, Dr. 
Wren had gained so considerable a skill in 
architecture, that he was sent for the same 
year from Oxford, by order of King Charles 
the Second, to assist Sir John Denham, 
surveyor-general of the works. In 1663 
he was chosen fellow of the Royal Society, 
being one of those who were first appointed 
by the council after the grant of their 
charter. Not long after, it being expected 
that the King would make the Society a 
visit, the Lord Brounker, then president, 
by a letter, requested the advice of Dr. 
"Wren, concerning the experiments which 
might be most proper on that occasion ; to 
vvhom the Doctor recommended principally 
the Torricellian experiment, and the wea- 
ther needle, as being not mere amuse- 
ments, but useful, and also neat in their 
operation. 
In 1665 he travelled into France, to exa- 
mine the most beautiful edifices and, curious 
mechanical works there, when he made 
many useful observations. Upon his re- 
turn home, he was appointed architect, 
and one of the commissioners for repairing 
St. Paul’s cathedral. Within a few days 
after the fire of London, 1666, he drew a 
plan for a new city, apd presented it to the 
King ; but it was not approved by the Par- 
liament, In this model the chief streets 
vvere to cross each other at right angles, 
with lesser streets between them; the 
churches, public buildings, &c. so disposed 
as not to interfere with the streets, and 
four piazzas placed at proper distances. 
