My thanks are due to the Dean for his courtesy and trouble in rendering me all the assistance I asked for; to the Bishop of Oxford (like the Bishop of Bristol, a former residentiary) for providing me with a list of authorities at the commencement of my task; to the librarians of All Souls' College, Oxford, and their committee, and particularly to Mr. George Holden, assistant librarian, for permission to use their invaluable collection of Wren's designs and drawings; to the Archdeacon of Middlesex for information concerning the inscriptions on the stalls; to Canon Milford, successor to Wren's father as Rector of Bishop-Knoyle, for communicating to me the irregularity about the registration of Wren's baptism, and for the loan of Mrs. Lucy Phillimore's _Life and Times of Wren_, a work out of print and not to be procured at the London Library; to Mr. Peter Cazalet for kind assistance in drawing one of the arches and also in describing the monuments; and if last, certainly not least, to the ever courteous officials of the Cathedral, who have rendered me every facility in my study of Wren's building. ARTHUR DIMOCK. WETHERDEN RECTORY, HAUGHLEY, SUFFOLK, _January 3, 1900._ CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. Foundation and History to the Accession of Dean Colet (61-1505) 3 II. From the Accession of Dean Colet to the Great Fire (1505-1666) 19 III. Old St. Paul's. Exterior 36 Interior 40 Precincts 48 Dimensions 54 IV. From the Fire to the Completion of New St. Paul's (1666-1710) 55 V. New St. Paul's. Exterior 77 North and South Fronts 84 East End 86 West Front 86 The Dome 89 The Lantern 93