The chapel, which has a peculiar interest as Wren's first architectural work, is built in the classical style he was to make famous in England, and bears his mark in its beautiful proportions, the richness of its stucco ceiling and the pannelled wood-work. The plain glazing of the windows and a something of bareness about the whole, are probably to be accounted for by the necessity of limiting the expense to a fixed sum. Its first stone was laid May 13, 1663, by the Master, Dr. Frank, acting for Bishop Wren, who was not present.[96] [_A SAD RETURN._] It was probably at the same time that Wren executed some repairs in Ely Cathedral which had suffered, like every other grand church, from the fury of the Puritans. Bitter indeed must have been the regret with which the surviving clergy returned to find the fabrics of their churches plundered and laid waste, and their flocks scattered or corrupted. FOOTNOTES: [69] _Life of Dr. Barwick_, p. 201. [70] Afterwards Lord Clarendon. [71] _Life of Dr. Barwick_, p. 424. [72] Probably Bishop Juxon, more than once alluded to under this name in these letters. [73] _Life of Dr. Barwick_, p. 437. [74] _Life of Dr. Barwick_, p. 449. [75] _Life of Dr. Barwick_, p. 496. [76] _Diary_, May 29, 1660. [77] _Diary_, vol. i. p. 112, ed. 1828. [78] Ib., p. 114. [79] _Diary._ [80] _Repertorium_, vol. ii. p. 273. Newcourt. [81] In that year the last Lord Hatton died; the bishops resigned Ely House to the Crown, and received No. 37 Dover Street in exchange. The chapel, after years of neglect, has also been suffered to pass out of the hands of the Church into those of the Romanists. See _Walks in London_ by A. C. Hare, vol. ii. pp. 196-201. [82] _Fragmentary Illustrations of the History of the Book of Common Prayer_, edited by the Bishop of Chester, p. 47, _et seq._ [83] Bishop Kennet says, 'One particular will appear' (from Bishop Wren's _Register_), 'that there were but few of the parochial clergy deprived in this diocese (Ely) in 1662, for not submitting to the Act of Uniformity, though more of the old legal incumbents had been sequestered about 1644 than in proportion within any other diocese.'--Grey's Examination of Neale's _History of the Puritans_, vol. iv. p. 328. From the same authority it appears that most of the clerks deprived in 1662 had other callings, _e.g._ cobbling, gloving, skinning, bookselling, husbandry, and to these they generally returned. Some of his clergy had come to him in the Tower for institution, in the early part of his imprisonment, and that many were faithful to him is evident from the fact they were expelled their livings for 'following Bishop Wren's fancies,' no other crimes being pretended against them.--_Annals of England_, p. 392.