Sir Christopher Wren and His Times

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Chapman & Hall, 1852 - Architects - 436 pages
 

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Page 67 - When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleasing ; all my mind was set Serious to learn and know, and thence to do What might be public good; myself I thought Born to that end, born to promote all truth, All righteous things...
Page 52 - Pembroke's mother. Death, ere thou hast slain another Fair and learn'd and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee.
Page 151 - The mention of my wife's arrival puts me in mind to desire you to put that compliment upon her, that her entrance into the town may be with more decency than the ways will now suffer it to be : and, to that purpose, I pray you would quickly pass such laws as are before you, in order to the mending those ways; and that she may not find Whitehall surrounded with water.
Page 201 - Up, and put on my coloured silk suit, very fine, and my new periwig, bought a good while since, but durst not wear, because the plague was in Westminster when I bought it; and it is a wonder what will be the fashion after the plague is done, as to periwigs, for nobody will dare to buy any hair, for fear of the infection, that it had been cut off the heads of people dead of the plague My Lord Brouncker, Sir J.
Page 84 - Those morning haunts are where they should be, at home ; not sleeping, or concocting the surfeits of an irregular feast, but up and stirring, in winter often ere the sound of any bell awake men to labour, or to devotion ; in summer as oft with the bird that first rouses, or not much tardier, to read good authors, or cause them to be read, till the attention be weary or memory have its full fraught : then with useful and generous labours preserving the body's health and hardiness...
Page 75 - Alike i' th' dust. Nor need we here to fear the frown Of Court or Crown: Where fortune bears no sway o'er things, There all are Kings. In this securer place we'll keep As...
Page 70 - UPON A CHILD THAT DIED. Here she lies, a pretty bud, Lately made of flesh and blood; Who as soon fell fast asleep As her little eyes did peep. Give her strewings, but not stir The earth that lightly covers her!
Page 403 - Athens was, by the treachery of its 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 rose according to his disposition, and all the monuments of the glories and distresses of that people were erected by that sole artist: nay, all their temples, as well as houses, were the effects of his study and labour; insomuch that it was said by an old sage, ' Sure, Nestor will now be famous,...
Page 86 - This great Prelate had the good humour of a Gentleman, the eloquence of an Orator, the fancy of a Poet, the acuteness of a Schoolman, the profoundness of a Philosopher, the wisdom of a Chancellor, the sagacity of a Prophet, the reason of an Angel, and the piety of a Saint.

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