100 Plympton in the Olden Time, by James Hine, F.R.I.B.A. 
father being dean, and Sir Christopher himself having only the 
year before been appointed comptroller of the works at Windsor, 
we may readily imagine that he came down to the independent 
electors of Plympton with a rather strong recommendation from 
the Dean and Chapter, who were, as they are still, the patrons of 
the living in this borough. And when he came (always supposing 
that he did come, and that he did not merely send his respects 
from London, like the late Premier to his kind friends at Tiverton), 
he was no doubt well entertained by the gentlemen of his party in 
the town, and lustily cheered by the agricultural non-electors, who 
always exhibited a great deal of enthusiasm under the stimulating 
influence of an election, and were never heard again to express 
their sentiments until the next parliament brought down a new 
member for the eyes of all Plympton — not to say " all Europe '* — 
to gaze upon. Many of the inhabitants, however, who were 
acquainted with Sir Christopher's fame, may be supposed to have 
regarded their representative with admiration and pride. Just 
nineteen years before, the terrible Fire had devastated the metro- 
polis, and now London was rising like a phcenix from the ashes by 
his magic wand. Exactly ten years ago he had himself laid the 
foundation stone of S. Paul s Cathedral, and now the first stage of 
that great work had been just completed, the choir and its side 
aisles, and critics, who remembered Old S, Paul's in its Gothic 
glory, and had seen Inigo Jones defacing and tinkering the vene- 
rable fane with his Palladian porticos and urns, were flocking 
to the churchyard. The new structure was already too grand and 
unique not to be commended ; but there was yet a quarter of a 
century's laborious and incessant work before the top stone could 
be raised, and the gilded cross could crown the noble dome. The 
same architect, the same master-builder, and the same bishop, who 
witnessed the beginning of the great work in 1675, saw its close 
in 1710. 
Sir Christopher Wren, the member for Plympton, was probably 
