Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-31
Sir Christopher Wren.

A painter may paint what he will; a
sculptor may model what he will; %
musician may compose and a poet may
write whatever each sees to be best,
but an architect can 60 no further than
his clients will follow him. He may
make drawings, indeed, but the draw
ing of All uneXecuted building does not
even show that it wouldshave been pos
sible to execute it-much less that it
would have been satisfactory at all
points within and without. Just as a
painters work is a picture, and no: the
mere outline for Il picture; just as a
sculptor's work is a statue, and not the
mere sketch On paper for q statue; SO.
but even more thoroughly and emphat-
ically, an%.architcct's work is q build
ing. and not the mere plan or view of
a building, His productions, then. it
is always in the power Of others TO ln-
tluence to III extent beyond that to
which the productions of most other
artists can be influenced, and this fact
will have its weight in any criticism of
architecture that NEAR to be fair and
just. 1t is easy 10 illustrate this from
Wren's own practice. Nothing in his
parish churches, perhaps, impresscs
common observers more unpleas-
antly than the pewing. The wor-
shippers are boxed up in rooms within
a room; the height and hcavincss and
discomfort of the pcws are proverbial,
and for all these things Wren popular
ly gets the blame. Yet he is so far
from deserving it, that he records his
earnest wish to have had benches in
stead of pews; ''but." he says, ''thcre
is no stemming the tide Of profit, nor
the advantage of the pew keepers"
We see in Wren, then, q designer of
the modern period who was yet a true
artist; Il nan who mastered his style,
instead of being mastered by ito
whom it vas always q means and new
er an end. We have seen in him a
so-called classic:st whose deepest
Thoughts were all non-classic, whose
towers are full of Gothic spirit, and his
plans of Eastern inventivencss. We
have seen in him an architect deprived
of nearly all aids to architecture, yet
victorious, and q church builder to
whom precedent was nothing and nov
city nothing, but reasonableness, ex-
pre~ssiveness. and beauty every
thing. Such was his work;
what were his wages? Eng and
treated Wren much as She treated Mil
ton, and the price paid for st. Paul's is
only worthy to be named with that
for ''Paradise Lost" The pamph-
letters reviled him from their garrets /;
the great Sir Vistos of the period, who
had dabblcd in building and thought
themselves better architects than Wren
by at least $50, 900 a year, maligned
HIM when living and perhaps slandered
him when dead. The salary he received
would by itself hardly have kept him
alive to do his work, and half OF it was
stopped for years by act Of Parliament.
Thereby to encourage him." so tho
clause run, ito finish the same with
the utmost diligence and expedition"
1t is the sort of encouragement which
in this country artists OF all kinds have
frequently met with, but Wren's
achievements had been so great that it
was ultimately felt he deserved some
thing more. He was therefore turned
out of the Crown ~Surveyorship. after
more than fifty years service, without
pension or thanks, and his appoint
ment given to one Benson, who. is de-
servcdly immortalized in the '.IDun-
clad. Contemporary Renlem.