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Introduction.                                      7
As with a crowd of men, so with a heterogeneous collection of buildings. In both there is a
dormant force, a potentiality which makes itself felt; but, to obtain a definite and satisfactory effect,
b    need order and system.  There is no cohesion in a crowd; though the units of which it is
composed form a compact mass and often have a general unity of purpose, they yet have separate ways
and different ideas both as to the exact end to be attained, and the best mode of attaining it. So, too, a
collection of buildings placed side by side, may yet be so diverse in form and character as to imply no
common purpose. Like the crowd, they require to be brought under organization and system, so as to
act, as it were, in unison. It is something of this which the ideal city should express. With order and
rank there is no need for machine-like regularity, nor for the dreary and monotonous uniformity so often
to be seen, where streets are formed to secure the largest frontage in the easiest and cheapest manner, or
where roads are laid out without any thought of beauty or vista of centralization,-in fact, without any
idea of combined action for the benefit of the community at large.
Some of these essential features and advantages of common action for the common good Sir
Christopher Wren would have bestowed on London after the Great Fire in I666, if only he had been
permitted to take advantage of the opportunity thus presented. The massing together of buildings, the
connecting together by colonnade, the forming of vistas, would have found an admirable exponent in the
hands of such a master as Wren, whose large and noble conceptions have never been surpassed.
It is impossible to attribute to any one architect the merit or responsibility of the development
achieved during the later Renaissance. Although, as we have already seen, Inigo Jones is responsible
for the introduction of the Italian form of plan and the adaptation of it to this climate, and also for the
pronounced and definite departure from the mixed Gothic and Italian of the Elizabethan era, yet to Sir
Christopher Wren, both by reason of the quantity and finished quality of his work, may be ascribed the
honour of establishing the Renaissance in its national form. Neither of these men, however, great as
their genius was, could have furthered his art as he did, had it not been for the support and patronage of
the reigning monarch.
Without attempting to deal with the works of the period historically, or even to mention all those of
importance, it may be helpful to place in chronological order those architects who played an important
part in that later development of Renaissance architecture which we have been considering.
Inigo Jones (1573-1653) is recognized as the first in whose hands this development became in any way
pronounced. His sojourn in Rome, his admiration of Palladio's works, and his study of Vitruvius,' equipped
him for his own work, which, begun in the reign of James I., was continued under the patronage of the ill-
fated Charles. He was about thirty-three years old when, in 16o5, he visited Oxford with King James,
and carried out work there at St. John's College. Having already visited Italy once, he was recommended
to the University authorities on the ground that, as a great traveller, he would have that knowledge of
foreign methods which was always so appreciated in this country. According to Leland, his work at
Oxford brought him the munificent sum of £50! He subsequently went to Denmark, on the invitation
of King Christian IV, but was soon summoned back again by Anne, James I.'s queen, who appointed
him her architect. The building known as the 'Banqueting Hall,' at Whitehall, formed part of that
great design for a royal palace, which has been already referred to. It was built during James I.'s reign,
in the years 16i9-i622. In the reign of Charles I. Inigo Jones's talents were in great request, especially
for the purpose of designing scenes and machinery for the 'masques,' then so much in fashion. This no
doubt influenced much of his subsequent work, for although the plans of his houses, such as Coleshill
' ' De Architectura,' first published in Latin in 1486.