He obeyed her exactly, spent his last guinea on a block of pear-wood, and wrought with all his might to get it ready by the appointed day. Sir Christopher was showing the building to a party of friends, but as soon as he saw Wood with his carving hidden in an apron, he beckoned him forward. Wood produced his carving; Wren looked at it a moment in silence, and then said, 'I engage you, young man; attend at my office to-morrow forenoon.' Shortly afterwards he came to Wood again and said, 'Mr. Addison[198] wishes to keep your carving, and requests me to give you ten guineas for it;' then with his gentle courtesy, he added, 'Young man, I fear I did you some injustice, but a great national work is entrusted to me, and it is my solemn duty to mind that no part of the work falls into inefficient hands. Mind and attend me to-morrow.' Wood was employed for seven years in the Cathedral, and received considerable sums of money; and it is pleasant to know that he did marry Hannah Haybittle. Thus some of his work is in S. Paul's, and to him London streets were indeed paved with gold. Yet one cannot but think sadly, for one who thus succeeded, what numbers then and now come full of hope, to the great city, and without help or friends lose their all, and are left without even the means of returning. To the number of these the House of Charity, which occupies one corner of Wren's once handsome Soho Square, can bear but too true a testimony. FOOTNOTES: [183] He wrote _Primitive Christianity, Lives of the Fathers_, &c.; was a Canon of Windsor, where he died in 1713. [184] _Vide infra_, p. 310 [185] Newcourt says, 'A lofty spire was at first built, but the tower not proving strong enough, it was taken down, and another sort of spire built.' It is said to be by Willcox, a carpenter. [186] _Diary_, December 7, 1684. [187] It was private property and never consecrated, and has within the last few years been pulled down and the site used as a shop. [188] _Repertorium_, p. 367. Newcourt. Now used by the Welsh congregation. [189] _Diary_, January 9, 1684. [190] _Memorials of the See of Chichester_, p. 306. [191] The title of Newton's book is _Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica_. The MS. is in the possession of the Royal Society.