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that the new church should be at least 60 feet broad, and90 feet long, besides a chancel at one end, and the belfry andportico at the other. The proportions may be varied ; butto build more room than that every person may convenientlyhear and see, is to create noise and confusion. A churchshould not be so filled with pews, but that the poor may haveroom enough to stand and sit in the alleys, for to them equallyis the gospel preached.
“ 9. I cannot pass over mentioning the difficulties thatmay be found in obtaining the ground proper for the sites ofthe churches among the buildings, and the cemeteries in theborders without the town ; and therefore I shall recite themethod that was taken for purchasing in ground at the northside of St. Paul’s cathedral , where, in some places, the houseswere but 11 feet distant from the fabric, exposing it to thecontinual danger of fires. The houses were 17, and con-tiguous, all in leasehold of the dean, or bishop, or the pettycanons, with divers under-tenants. First, we treated withthe superior landlords, who, being perpetual bodies, were tobe recompensed in kind, with rents of the like value for themand their successors ; but the tenants in possession, for avaluable consideration, which, to find what it amounted to,we learned, by diligent inquiry, what the inheritance ofhouses in that quarter were usually held at. This we foundwas fifteen years’ purchase at the most, and proportionally tothis the value of each lease was easily determined in a schemereferring to a map. These rates, which we resolved not tostir from, were offered to each ; and to cut off much debate,they were assured that we went by one uniform method,which could not be receded from. The whole at last wascleared, and all concerned were satisfied, and their writingsgiven up. The greatest debate was about their charges forfitting up their new houses to their particular trades ; forthis we allowed one year’s purchase, and gave leave toremove all their wainscot, reserving the materials of thefabric only. This was happily finished without a judicatory,or jury,
In the year 1685, Sir Christopher Wren was elected andreturned a burgess for the borough of Plympton, in thecounty of Devon , and served in that parliament which beganat Westminster on the 29th of May, 1685, in the first yearof James II . In the parliament which met at Westminsteron the 22nd of June, 1689, he was returned a burgess for theborough of New Windsor, in the county of Berks. In theyear 1700, he was returned a burgess for the borough of
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XENODOCHIUM, a room in a monastery of a religioushouse, for the reception and entertainment of strangers.
XYSTOS, or Xystus, (from £aw, to make smooth,) amongthe ancient Greeks, a portico of unusual length, open orcovered, where the athletse practised wrestling and running.The word is derived from the custom of the athletse ofanointing their bodies with oil before the encounter, to
Weymouth and Melcomb Regis, in the county of Dorset ,served in that parliament which began at Westminster on t10th of February, in the 12th year of William III . .
In 1718, Sir Christopher Wren ’s patent for the officesurveyor of the royal works was superseded, in the hmscore-and-sixth year of his age, and after more than nyears spent in a continued, active, and laborious servicethe crown and public, at which time his merit and labowere not remembered by some. He then betook himselta country retirement at Hampton Court ; where, free trworldly affairs, he passed the greatest part of the five follo^ing and last years of his life in contemplation and stu y>principally of the Holy Scriptures ; though he parti* )turned his thoughts to the discovery of the longitude at sea>and a review of his former tracts on astronomy and mat ^matics. Time had now greatly enfeebled his limbs, b*ff 'had little impaired the vigour of his mind, which continu iwith a vivacity rarely found at his age, till within a fe' v “ fof his dissolution, which happened on the 25th of Febru®1723, in the ninety-first year of his age. He was buriedthe vault under St. Paul’s cathedral , a privilege accordedhim and his family exclusively. A plain stone coversgrave, bearing the appropriate inscription, Si Monunienquceris, circumspice: “ If thou seekest my monument, 1°around thee.” . n
As an architect, his learning was great, and his m ven .fertile : his discoveries in mathematics and natural philosop /were numerous, and are only eclipsed by his performsin his master-science. He contrived an instrument for ®suring the quantity of rain that falls on any space of l an . ca |
a year : he invented many ways of making astronom 1observations more accurately and easily ; and was the auof the anatomical experiment of injecting liquors into ^veins of animals. He translated into Latin Mr. OughtrHorologiographia Geometrica ; and wrote a Survey °JCathedral Church of Salisbury, and other places. y ], e dprinted any of his works, though some have been P u °f ore ,by his friends. This excellent artist does not, there gderive his glory from his publications, but from the nume j 1 ; c [iedifices which adorn the British metropolis, and whourly attract the regard even of the most inattentive.
His private character was extremely amiable, conti __to the last an example of benevolence, free from allness in behaviour or aspect. He left a son, name oJJhimself, who published in 1708, an elaborate treatmancient medals, intitled Numismatum Antiquorum 'lland died in 1747, aged seventy-two.
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from
render them smooth, so as to prevent their antagm' 1 ^ th 0
taking hold of them : hence they were called xyst tcl >
place of their exercise xyslos. a long
The Romans also had their xystos, which vV . a oP e "’
- ’ —.times r allJ
aisle, or portico, sometimes roofed over, and sornetwith trees on each side, forming an agreeable sha
to
under.
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