Sir Christopher Wren : scientist, scholar and architect / by Sir Lawrence Weaver.
- Lawrence Weaver
- Date:
- 1923
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Sir Christopher Wren : scientist, scholar and architect / by Sir Lawrence Weaver. Source: Wellcome Collection.
190/232 (page 140)
![descent, which, to women especially, is trouble¬ some, and dangerous to the hasty/’ James Wyatt, in the circular staircase of Devonshire House, erred in this way, with exactly the effect that Wren describes. One bears in mind in this connection that Wren him¬ self was of short stature. On p. 55 Wotton dis¬ courses of the advantage of luminous rooms: “ In¬ deed, I must confess that a frank light can misbecome no edifice whatsoever, temples only excepted, which were anciently dark, as they are likewise at this day in some proportion, devotion more requiring collected than defused spirits, ’ on which Wren makes the comment that Christ Church in London was practically nothing but window, and was fitter for a stage than for a church, “ although for the kind of building it is a thorough piece of work.” On gardens and their treatment with aqueducts, walks, etc., Wren makes the note, “ And for disposing the current of a river to a mighty length in a little space I invented the Serpentine, a form admirably convoying the current in circular and yet contrary motions upon one and the same level, with walks and retirements between to the advantage of all purposes, either of gardenings, plantings, or banquetings . . . far beyond the bungarly [!] invention at Hatfield so much liked for pleasure.” Up and down the book there are scattered all manner of other interesting notes. There is a practical thought in Wren’s reference to the very small chimneys in use in Spain, where charcoal was sold by weight. He has evidently](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29930911_0190.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
