Like many destined to eminence, the future architect was an exceedingly weak, small, and delicate child; and more than ordinary care was required in rearing him. From this cause he was for several years educated by a domestic tutor in his father’s house, which at this period received in its oak hall the Elector Palatine. Wren took care to recall to memory the pretty long visit, when he afterward addressed to that prince a rather high-flown epistle, calling attention to some of his youthful inventions, among which were the instrument for writing with two pens and the machine for sowing corn. The boy showed much fondness for classical learning, and was sent to Westminster School to pursue his studies for a while, under the auspices of Dr. Busby. There he exhibited his remarkable powers of mind, as well as a strong liking for the pursuits of mathematics and astronomy, rather than the useful art with which his name was afterward associated. But his father was a man of talent and ingenuity, and of such architectural taste as to have attracted the notice of Charles the First, to whom he was chaplain in ordinary. This circumstance, in all probability, gave Wren’s mind a bias toward the profession in which he achieved the triumphs on which his fame chiefly rests, and led to his raising up, in the face of the world, visible and enduring monuments of his greatness. Every step of his juvenile career, however, was marked by the vigor, prudence, and intelligence befitting one destined for European celebrity.