XVII. more justly those who appointed a man so incompetent to CHAP. such an office, rather than the man himself for his incompetency. But Benson had influence enough to obtain a grant of Whitehall Wharf, worth 1,500l. per annum, the assignment of a crown debt in Ireland, and the reversion. of another lucrative place.' Pope also wrote the sad line: While Wren with sorrow to his grave But Wren had consolation in his sorrows. descends. He retired to a house at Hampton Court, within view of another of his works. He then betook himself (so he writes) to a country ' retirement, saying only, with the stoic, "Nunc me jubet 'fortuna expeditius philosophari." He resumed his philosophical studies with as great delight as ever. The author of the Parentalia' goes on to say: Free from worldly cares, he passed the greatest part of the five last following years of his life (he lived to ninety-two), in contem'plation and studies, and principally in the consolation of 'the Holy Scriptures, cheerful in solitude, and well pleased 'to die in the shade as in the light.' Heroic souls a nobler lustre find Even from those griefs which break a vulgar mind. Horace Walpole writes: 'The beginning and completion ' of S. Paul's by Wren, are a fabric and an event which, 'we cannot wonder, left such an impression of content ' on the mind of the good old man, that, being carried to see it once a year, it seemed to recall a memory which was almost deadened to every other use.' There is something, it may be almost said, sublimely pathetic in the old man, ninety or approaching to ninety 'Chalmers' Dictionary, 'Benson.' XVII. CHAP. years of age, seated under the dome of S. Paul's, contemplating his own work, which however, in some degree marred, was yet his own exclusively, entirely his own. As Walpole truly said, it has rarely if ever fallen to the lot of one man to design and to achieve a fabric of that magnitude, magnificence, and perfection. The great cathedrals, English and Continental, were the work of many generations. It has been before observed, how many popes, how many great architects, passed away, before Carlo Maderno completed and marred the great design of S. Peter's, and Bernini enclosed it with its noble porticos. It was in truth part of the sacerdotal policy to leave something unfinished, as a perpetual appeal to the munificence of the faithful, or from higher motives, that the successors of the Bishop or Abbot might have some share in works so meritorious before God, the Saviour, and the Saints. We trust that the dignitaries of the Church of S. Paul looked with respectful reverence on the old man, and some of them with compunction, who, doubtless from conscientious motives, but with sad misconception of their own position and power of judgement, had vexed that noble spirit. We say not, that they had aided in bringing his grey hairs in sorrow to the grave; yet certainly, instead of unhesitating and acclaiming gratitude for his inappreciable services, and homage to his matchless gifts, they had at least countenanced the scanty and invidious acknowledgment of his fame, and at length his degradation by a blind misjudging government. Wren, besides the interference with his designs for the interior embellishment of the Cathedral, might look with some disappointment on the incompleteness of his work, the temporary windows, mean and incongruous, which remained, and in many parts still remain in our own day; the cold, unadorned east end, for which he had designed INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL. 447 a splendid Baldachin, and in general the nakedness of the walls, which he had intended to relieve, perhaps with marbles, certainly with rich mosaics. But even in the interior there was some consolation, some pride in the partial fulfilment of his designs. The exquisite carvings of Grinling Gibbons were not merely in themselves admirable, but in perfect harmony with the character of the architecture. They rivalled, if they did not surpass, all medieval works of their class, in grace, variety, richness; they kept up an inimitable unison of the lines of the building and the decoration. In the words, again, of Walpole, there is no instance of a man before Gibbons, who gave to wood the loose and airy light'ness of flowers, and chained together the various productions of the elements with a fine disorder natural to each 'species.' Grinling Gibbons was discovered by the enlightened Evelyn (it is doubtful whether he was of Dutch or English birth), in a poor solitary thatched house near Sayes Court, carving a Crucifixion from a large cartoon, the design of Tintoretto, which Evelyn himself had brought from Venice. In this piece were more than a hundred figures, there being nothing in nature so tender and delicate as the flowers and festoons about it, and yet the work was very strong. He asked Evelyn 100l. for the whole. The frame, says Evelyn, was worth as much. Evelyn took him by the hand, introduced the incomparable young man' to the King and to Sir Christopher Wren. His fortune was made. He worked on the theatre at Dorset Gardens. But his greatest works were at S. Paul's, at Windsor, at Chatsworth, and at Petworth. 2 Evelyn, Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 53. Malcolm has a curious account of the payments made to Gibbons for his work at S. Paul's. Total charge, 1,337. 78. 5d. Vol. iii. p. 105. CHAP. XVII. CHAP XVII. Sir Richard Steele in the 'Tatler,' a fair interpreter of his times, drew the aged Wren under the name of Nestor. Nestor in Athens was an unhappy instance of this truth, for he was not only in his profession the greatest man of our age, but had given more proofs of it than any other man ever did; yet from want of that natural freedom and audacity which is necessary in commerce with men, his personal modesty overthrew all his public actions. Nestor was in those days a skilful architect, and in a manner the inventor of the use of mechanic powers; which he brought to so great perfection, that he knew to an atom what foundation would bear such a superstructure; and they record of him, that he was so prodigiously exact that, for the experiment's sake, he built an edifice of great beauty and seeming strength; but contrived so as to bear only its own weight, and not to admit the addition of the least particle. This building was beheld with much admiration by the virtuosi of that time; but fell down with no other pressure but the settling of a wren upon the top of it (Where did Steele get this? from his own brain?). Yet Nestor's modesty was such that his art and skill were soon disregarded for want of that manner, with which men of the world support and assert the merit of their own performances. Soon after this instance of his art, Athens was, by the treachery of her enemies, burned to the ground. This gave Nestor the greatest occasion that ever builder had to render his name immortal and his person venerable; for all the new city arose according to his disposition, and all the monuments of the glories and distresses of that people were erected by that sole artist. Nay, all the temples, as well as their houses, were the effects of his study and labour; insomuch that it was said by an old sage,-'Sure Nestor will now be famous, for the habitations ' of gods as well as men are built by his contrivance.' But this bashful quality still put a damp upon his great knowledge, which has as fatal an effect upon men's reputations as poverty, for as it said, 'The poor man saved the city, and the poor man's labour was forgot,' so here we find, the modest man built the city, and the modest man's skill was unknown.3 The total sum expended on the Cathedral (dismissing Tatler, No. lii, from the account sums borrowed on the security of the coal duty, and repaid), and the expenditure on the repairs of the old Cathedral, was 736,7521. 2s. 34d. In one of the petitions of the Commissioners, that in which the Dean and Chapter properly took the lead, there were some wise and weighty words: We therefore desire 'the Honourable Committee would be pleased to take into their consideration the annual expense of repairing so great a building, and that a proportionable sum may 'be appointed for a perpetual growing fund, to be lodged in such hands as shall be named, to be applied solely 6 to this use.' This most reasonable petition remained unheard and unheeded. The sole provision left for the sustentation of the fabric was a residue from the coal duty. To this was subsequently added, by the will of a private benefactor, Dean Clark, part of the profits arising from the Estate of Tillingham in Essex, leased from the Dean and Chapter (the early gift of an old Saxon King), amounting to about 500l., more or less. The charge of the fabric was not left to the Dean and Chapter, but, by a special Act of Parliament, was vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Lord Mayor for the time being. With these trustees rests the appointment of the surveyor, the examination and audit of the accounts, and in general the charge and maintenance of the Cathedral. CHAP. G G |