He was sent
to Westminster School, and, under the famous Busby, became a good
scholar. Then he went to Wadham College, Oxford, the Master of which,
Wilkins, aftewards (sic) Bishop of Chester, was a great master of
science. Wren took advantage of his opportunities, and became so
well known for his acquirements in mathematics and his successful
experiments in natural science that he was elected to a Fellowship at
All Souls'. A few years later he was appointed to the Professorship of
Astronomy at Gresham College, and his brilliant reputation made his
rooms a meeting-place of the men who subsequently founded the Royal
Society. A fresh preferment, that to the Chair of Savilian Professor
of Astronomy at Oxford, did not hinder him from pursuing a fresh line.
His father, as we have said, taught him to draw, his mathematical
skill guided his judgment in construction, and these two acquirements
turned him more and more towards architecture, though even now he was
held second only to Newton as a philosopher. His first appearance
as an architect was his acceptance of the post of Surveyor of King
Charles II.
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