"If You Would See his Monument, Look Around."

There is an inscription, in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, to the memory of Sir Christopher Wren, ending with "four words which comprehend his merit and his fame": "Si monumentum requiris circumspice." ("If you would see his monument, look around.") In other words, this grand Cathedral is itself a monument to the greatest of English architects. Sir Christopher Wren was the son of Dr. Wren, Dean of Windsor and Chaplain to Charles I. He was born in 1632, and died in 1723. He won many titles of honor; was knighted in 1673 by Charles II., elected President of the Royal Society of London 1680, and elected Parliament,--but he won his fame chiefly as architect of St. Paul's, a Cathedral which is noted for being the largest and most magnificent Protestant church in the world, and second only to St. Peter's, at Rome, among the religious structures of modern times. A Christian church dedicated to St. Paul occupied this same site in 610; it was destroyed by fire in 1083. A second church was also burned to the ground, and "Old St. Paul's," the immediate predecessor of the present Cathedral, was laid in ruins by the great London fire of 1666. Sir Christopher Wren was employed as architect of the new building, and based his general plan upon that of St. Peter's, at Rome. The first stone was laid June 21st, 1675, and the first service held there, Dec. 2d, 1697, was a thanksgiving for the peace of Ryswick, which recognized William III. as the lawful sovereign of England; in 1710 the last stone was set in place by the son of Sir Christopher. It was therefore thirty-five years in building, and yet this whole grand structure rose and was completed under one architect, one master mason, Thomas Strong, and one bishop, Dr. Henry Compton. It cost $3,500,000. St. Paul's is the burial-place of many men whom England has delighted to honor. Their tombs are in the crypt, and their monuments adorn the interior of the Cathedral; Sir Christopher Wren was granted the honor of a public funeral in St. Paul's. The last two public processions to St. Paul's were connected with the Duke of Wellington,--one on the day of thanksgiving for peace, July 7th, 1815, when he carried the sword of State before the Prince Regent (afterward George IV.), and the other in 1852, when the great Duke was himself carried to his last resting-place.