offered him his liberty (once through his nephew Christopher), but Wren declined to acknowledge his favour or own his authority (Parentalia, p. 34). The order for his discharge was given on 15 March 1659–60. He was not allowed to return to his palace, but lived in lodgings till the Restoration.
His zeal ‘in purging his diocese from disaffected ministers’ carried him to great lengths. He resisted the rightful title of Richard Reynolds (father of Richard Reynolds, bishop of Lincoln [q. v.]) to the rectory of Leverington, trying to put in his own nominee, and when Charles II begged him ‘to give no further disturbance,’ he ‘bluntly said, “Sir, I know the way to the Tower”’ (Kennett; Parentalia, p. 30). As visitor of Peterhouse he appointed (21 April 1663) Joseph Beaumont (1616–1699) [q. v.] to the mastership ‘by a stretch of power’ setting aside the nominations of the fellows, one of the nominees being Isaac Barrow (1630–1677) [q. v.] He spent over 5,000l. in building the new chapel at Pembroke Hall (foundation laid 13 May 1663, finished 1666). His habits throughout life were those of a hardy scholar, up at five and seldom in bed till eleven.
He died at Ely House, Holborn, on 24 April 1667, and was buried in the chapel he had built at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, the funeral oration, in Latin, being delivered by John Pearson (1613–1686) [q. v.], then master of Trinity (printed in ‘Parentalia,’ p. 39). An early and fine portrait, engraved by Van der Gucht, is in ‘Parentalia;’ a crude woodcut, evidently a likeness, is on the title-page of ‘Wren's Petition,’ 1642; other contemporary woodcuts are mere caricatures. He wore a ruff. His wife Elizabeth (d. 8 Dec. 1646), whom he married on 17 Aug. 1628, was born at Ringshall, Suffolk, 17 Oct. 1604. She is believed to have been daughter of Thomas Cutler, and widow of Robert Brownrigg (Genealogist, 1890, vi. 170). He had nine children, of whom several died in infancy.
Wren published a sermon (1627) and a tract, ‘An Abandoning of the Scotish Covenant,’ 1662, 4to, written ‘in prison,’ and published to prepare his clergy for the renunciation of the covenant, in accordance with the Uniformity Act. From a large book of ‘critical meditations,’ composed in the Tower, his son Matthew edited a volume of polemical interpretations of Scripture, in answer to the Racovian catechism, entitled ‘Increpatio Barjesu,’ 1890, 4to; it is included in the ‘Critici Sacri,’ 1890, ix. fol.
His eldest child, Matthew Wren (1629–1672), born on 20 Aug. 1629, was educated at both universities (M.A. Oxford 9 Sept. 1661), was secretary to Clarendon (1660–7), M.P. for St. Michael (1661–72), and secretary to James, duke of York (1667–72); he was one of the council of the Royal Society named in Charles II's original charter, dated 15 July 1662 (Sprat, Hist. 1667, p. 55), and was a prominent member of the society. He died on 14 June 1672, being buried with his father at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. He wrote: 1. ‘Considerations on Mr. Harrington's … Oceana,’ 1657, 12mo (anon.). 2. ‘Monarchy Asserted … in Vindication of the Considerations,’ 1659, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1660, 8vo, to which Harrington replied in his ‘Politicaster,’ London, 1659, 8vo.
Other sons were Thomas Wren (1633–1679), M.D. and LL.D., an original F.R.S., archdeacon of Ely 1663; Charles Wren (d. 1681); and Sir William Wren (1639–1689), knighted 1685, M.P. for Cambridge 1685–7 (Genealogist, 1879, iii. 314, v. 330). The bishop's daughter, Susan, was second wife of Sir Robert Wright [q. v.]
[Stephen Wren's Parentalia, 1750, contains a life of Matthew Wren, with appendix of documents (at p. 133 is a valuable list of family dates to 1652 by the bishop). On this is founded the article in Biographia Britannica, 1763, vi. 4353. Wren's Anatomy (1641) is bitter but contains facts; The Wren's Nest Defiled (1641) and The Myter (1641) are lampoons; A Most Strange Letter (1642) is an evident forgery. See also Prynne's Canterburies Doome, 1646; Heylyn's Cyprianus Anglicus, 1668; Wharton's Troubles and Tryal of Laud, 1675; Lloyd's Memoires, 1668, p. 611; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 885; Parr's Life of Ussher, 1686, p. 393; Kennett's Register, 1728; Granger's Biogr. Hist. of England, 1779, ii. 157; Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, 1779, ii. 336; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), 1854; Gardiner's Hist. of England, 1884, viii. 224; Notes and Queries, 9th ser. vi. 165.]
WRENCH, BENJAMIN (1778–1843), actor, was born in 1778 in London, where his father occupied ‘a lucrative appointment in the exchequer.’ He seems to have been grandson of Sir Benjamin Wrench, M.D., of Norwich (d. 1747, aged 82) (see Notes and Queries, 5th ser. v. 48). His father died before he reached his seventh year, and having declined a proffered living and a commission in the army offered by General Tryon, a relative, Wrench adopted the stage as a profession, making his first appearance at Stamford. Whatever ability he had was slow in ripening, and he had to rehearse for fourteen days the part of Francis in the ‘Stranger’ before he could be allowed to essay it. Mrs.
