[Illustration: FOUNTAIN COURT HAMPTON COURT PALACE] For the last five years of his life Wren resided much at his house in Hampton Court, which he held on a lease from the crown. Once a year it was his habit to be driven to London and to sit for a while under the dome of his own Cathedral; on one of these journeys he caught a cold, and soon afterwards, on February 25, 1723, his servant, thinking Sir Christopher slept longer after dinner than was his wont, came into the room, and found his master dead in his chair. He was ninety-one years old. On the fifth of March he was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, under the south aisle of the choir, and in his honor an inscription was placed at the entrance to the choir ending with the words, "Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." Sir Christopher's personal appearance is only known to us through pictures: it appears that he was mild yet dignified of countenance, and "thin and low of stature." "Though he did fail sometimes," writes Mr. Fergusson, "it cannot be denied that Wren was a giant in architecture, and, considering the difficulties he had to contend with, not only from the age in which he lived, but from the people he had to deal with, and the small modicum of taste or knowledge that prevailed anywhere, we may well be astonished at what he did accomplish that was good, rather than wonder at his occasional failures. His greatest praise, however, is, that though he showed the way and smoothed the path, none of his successors have surpassed--if, indeed, any have equalled--him in what he did, though more than a century has now elapsed since his death, and numberless opportunities have been offered in every department of architectural art." Brochure Series Competition "P." Competition "P." the details of which are printed on an advertising page of this issue, closes on Dec. 15, 1900. The prize awards will be announced in January. [Illustration: PLATE XC GARDEN FAÇADE: HAMPTON COURT PALACE] Transcriber's Note: Small capitals have been rendered in full capitals. A number of minor spelling errors have been corrected without note. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, vol. 06, No. 11, November 1900, by Various