plans for the church, the little group of Cambridge gentlemen were very happy. For they chose Mr. Peter Harrison, then of Newport, Rhode Island, who, ten years before, had designed King's Chapel in Boston. Mr. Harrison had probably been induced to come to this country by Bishop Berkeley,1 whose story is bound up with old Trinity, Newport, and he had brought with him the best traditions of Sir Christopher Wren, who was, at this period, the leading architectural spirit of England. He is believed to have worked in the old country upon the palace of the Duke of Marlborough, at Woodstock, and upon other similarly imposing piles. His design for Christ Church has been pronounced a real advance over King's Chapel. From its first erection the edifice has been considered by connoisseurs in

1 See "Romance of Old New England Rooftrees."

architecture one of the best constructed churches in New England. In general appearance it is not greatly changed to-day from the original design, and its beauty of line and stateliness of aspect has inspired many a poet, not the least of them Oliver Wendell Holmes, who wrote:

"Our ancient church! its lofty tower,
Beneath the loftier spire,

Is shadowed when the sunset hour
Clothes the tall shaft in fire;
It sinks beyond the distant eye

Long ere the glittering vane,
High wheeling in the western sky,
Has faded o'er the plain."

On

The corner-stone of the church seems to have been laid rather more than a year after the subscription was begun. this occasion, a stately ceremony, doubtless, Sir Francis Bernard, Bart., the recently appointed governor of the province of Massachusetts Bay, was present. The

stone bore the following inscription, probably from the pen of the learned Mr. Apthorp:

"Deo. Eterno.

Patri. Filio. Spiritvi. S.

Hanc. Edem.

Sub. Avspiciis. Illustriss. Societatis.
Promovendo. Evangelio.

In. Partibus. Transmarinis.

Institutæ.

Consecrabant. Cantabrigiensis.
Ecclesiæ. Anglicanæ. Filii.
In.

Christianæ. Fidei. et. Charitatis.
Incrementvm

A. D. MDCCLX.

Provinciam. Procurante.

V. Cl.

Francisco. Bernardo." 1

1 Under the guidance of the most venerable Society founded for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the inhabitants of Cambridge, members of the Church of England, dedicated this house of worship to the Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the increase of Christian faith and charity, in the year of our Lord 1760, the Honourable Francis Bernard being governor of the province.