" A statue of Charles, fifteen feet high, on a pedestal of two
hundred, would have looked small and mean; the King resisted the
compliment. This work, begun in 1671, was not completed till 1677; stone
was scarce, and the restoration of London and its Cathedral swallowed up
the produce of the quarries. "It was at first used," says Elmes, "by the
members of the Royal Society, for astronomical experiments, but was
abandoned on account of its vibrations being too great for the nicety
required in their observations. This occasioned a report that it was
unsafe; but its scientific construction may bid defiance to the attacks
of all but earthquakes for centuries."
_Life of Wren.--Family Library._
[4] The original inscription, ascribing to the Roman Catholics the
fire which consumed the city, obliterated during the reign of
James II. and restored with much pomp on the coming of King
William, is now ordered, I hear, to be erased by the Common
Council. Fiction is truth and truth is fiction as party prevails.
* * * * *
G.
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