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Article REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS. ← Page 3 of 6 →
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Reviews Of New Books.
that miracle of a youth , Christopher Wren . ' He ranked high in his knotfledg of anatomical science ; he made the drawings for Dr . Wilkins ' s ' Treatise on the Brain ;¦ and he was the < originator of the physiological experiment of injecting various liquors into the veins of living animals . In 1653 , he was elected a Fellow of All Souls ; and by the time that he had attained his twentyfourth year , M had ^ one over Europe , and he was considered as one of
that band of eminent men whose discoveries were raising the fame of English science . In 1657 , he was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College ; three years later , Saviliah Professor at Oxford ; and received the degree of IXC . L . in 1661 . It was after delivering his lecture on astronomy at Gresham College , on jS " ovember 28 , 1660 , that the foundation of the Boyal Society was discussed ; and its archives bear the amplest testimony to his knowledge and industry , as exhibited in his commentaries on almost every subject connected with science and art . His inventions and discoveries alone are said to amount to fiftv-three .
" Wren ' s scientific reputation probably led to his being , in 1661 , appointed assistant to Sir John Denhara , the surveyor-general ; and , in 1663 , he was commissioned to survey and report upon St . Paul ' s Cathedral , with a view to its restoration , or rather , the rebuilding of the body of the fabric . The great fire decided the long-debated question whether there should be a new cathedral . He was the worst paid architect of wdiom we have any record : his salary as arcMtect of St . Paul's was only £ 200 a year ; his pay for rebuilding the churches in the city was only # 100 a year ; and it is related that on his completion of the beautiful church of St . Stephen Walbrook , the parishioners presented his wife with twenty guineas !
With all these architectural pursuits , Wren found time to preside at the Royal Society , and take part in experiments : many great men have shed lustre upon its chair ; few to a greater degree than Sir Christopher Wren . "
" ROBERT BURNS , < THE AYRSHIRE PLOUGHMAN . ' <( Bobert Burns , whom his countrymen delight to honour as the Shakspeare of Scotland , was born in 1759 , in the parish of Alio way , near Ayr . His father was a poor farmer , who gave his son what education he could afford . Burns tells us that' / though it cost the schoolmaster some thrashings / he made an excellent English scholar ; and by the time he was ten or eleven years of age , he was a critic in substantives , verbs , and particles . In bis infant and boyish days , too , he was much with an old woman who resided in the family , and was remarkable for her ignorance , credulity , and superstition . She had the largest collection in the
country of tales and songs concerning demons , ghosts , fairies , brownies , witches , kelpies , elf-candles , dead-lights , wraiths , apparitions , cantraips , giants , enchanted towers , dragons , and other trumpery . This cultivated the latent seeds of poetry , but had so strong an effect on Burns ' s imagination , that after he had grown to manhood , in his nocturnal rambles he sometimes kept a sharp look-out in suspicious places , and it often took an effort of philosophy to shake off these idle terrors . "He says : 'The earliest composition that J recollect taking pleasure in was , " The Vision of Mirza , " and a hymn of Addison ' s , beginning , " How are thy servants blest , O Lord ! " I particularly remember one stanza , which was music to my boyish ear : —
" For though on dreadful whirls we hung High on the broken wave . " I met with these pieces in Mason ' s " English Collection , " one of my school-books . The two first books I ever read in private , and which gave me more pleasure than any two books I ever read since , were " The Life of Hannibal , " and "The History of Sir William Wallace . " Hannibal gave my young ideas such a turn , that I used to strut in rapture up and down after the recruiting drum and bagpipe , and wish myself tall enough to be a soldier ; while the story of Wallace poured a Scottish prejudice into my veins , which will boil along there till the flood-gates of life shut in eternal rest . '
" While Burns lived on his father s little farm , he tells us that ho was > perhaps , the moat ungainly , awkward boy in tho parish . He continues ; ' What I knew of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews Of New Books.
that miracle of a youth , Christopher Wren . ' He ranked high in his knotfledg of anatomical science ; he made the drawings for Dr . Wilkins ' s ' Treatise on the Brain ;¦ and he was the < originator of the physiological experiment of injecting various liquors into the veins of living animals . In 1653 , he was elected a Fellow of All Souls ; and by the time that he had attained his twentyfourth year , M had ^ one over Europe , and he was considered as one of
that band of eminent men whose discoveries were raising the fame of English science . In 1657 , he was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College ; three years later , Saviliah Professor at Oxford ; and received the degree of IXC . L . in 1661 . It was after delivering his lecture on astronomy at Gresham College , on jS " ovember 28 , 1660 , that the foundation of the Boyal Society was discussed ; and its archives bear the amplest testimony to his knowledge and industry , as exhibited in his commentaries on almost every subject connected with science and art . His inventions and discoveries alone are said to amount to fiftv-three .
" Wren ' s scientific reputation probably led to his being , in 1661 , appointed assistant to Sir John Denhara , the surveyor-general ; and , in 1663 , he was commissioned to survey and report upon St . Paul ' s Cathedral , with a view to its restoration , or rather , the rebuilding of the body of the fabric . The great fire decided the long-debated question whether there should be a new cathedral . He was the worst paid architect of wdiom we have any record : his salary as arcMtect of St . Paul's was only £ 200 a year ; his pay for rebuilding the churches in the city was only # 100 a year ; and it is related that on his completion of the beautiful church of St . Stephen Walbrook , the parishioners presented his wife with twenty guineas !
With all these architectural pursuits , Wren found time to preside at the Royal Society , and take part in experiments : many great men have shed lustre upon its chair ; few to a greater degree than Sir Christopher Wren . "
" ROBERT BURNS , < THE AYRSHIRE PLOUGHMAN . ' <( Bobert Burns , whom his countrymen delight to honour as the Shakspeare of Scotland , was born in 1759 , in the parish of Alio way , near Ayr . His father was a poor farmer , who gave his son what education he could afford . Burns tells us that' / though it cost the schoolmaster some thrashings / he made an excellent English scholar ; and by the time he was ten or eleven years of age , he was a critic in substantives , verbs , and particles . In bis infant and boyish days , too , he was much with an old woman who resided in the family , and was remarkable for her ignorance , credulity , and superstition . She had the largest collection in the
country of tales and songs concerning demons , ghosts , fairies , brownies , witches , kelpies , elf-candles , dead-lights , wraiths , apparitions , cantraips , giants , enchanted towers , dragons , and other trumpery . This cultivated the latent seeds of poetry , but had so strong an effect on Burns ' s imagination , that after he had grown to manhood , in his nocturnal rambles he sometimes kept a sharp look-out in suspicious places , and it often took an effort of philosophy to shake off these idle terrors . "He says : 'The earliest composition that J recollect taking pleasure in was , " The Vision of Mirza , " and a hymn of Addison ' s , beginning , " How are thy servants blest , O Lord ! " I particularly remember one stanza , which was music to my boyish ear : —
" For though on dreadful whirls we hung High on the broken wave . " I met with these pieces in Mason ' s " English Collection , " one of my school-books . The two first books I ever read in private , and which gave me more pleasure than any two books I ever read since , were " The Life of Hannibal , " and "The History of Sir William Wallace . " Hannibal gave my young ideas such a turn , that I used to strut in rapture up and down after the recruiting drum and bagpipe , and wish myself tall enough to be a soldier ; while the story of Wallace poured a Scottish prejudice into my veins , which will boil along there till the flood-gates of life shut in eternal rest . '
" While Burns lived on his father s little farm , he tells us that ho was > perhaps , the moat ungainly , awkward boy in tho parish . He continues ; ' What I knew of