19] he had written to the
officiating minister, requiring him "to forbear altogether the choir
service, so unedifying and offensive, lest the soldiers should in any
tumultuary or disorderly way attempt the reformation of the cathedral
church." If the people of Ely had heard about the "reformation" of the
cathedral church at Peterborough, as carried out by the soldiers of the
Parliament in July of the preceding year, they were certainly well
advised in taking this hint. Bishop Wren--an eager opponent of the
Puritans--was at the time in prison, where he remained until the
Restoration.

The only account we have met with of disrepair in the seventeenth
century says: "A little part of the end of the North Part fell down
_March_ 28, _Anno_ 1699, but it was soon neatly rebuilt again at the
Charge of the Church, with some Assistance from a Brief."[20] This was
the north-west[21] corner of the north transept. The rebuilding was
carried out under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, nephew of the
bishop.

There is an account of the impression produced upon a visitor to Ely in
the reign of William and Mary, the quaintness of which may perhaps
justify the length of the quotation: "The Bishop does not care to stay
long in this place, not being good for his health; he is Lord of all the
island, has the command and ye jurisdiction.... There is a good palace
for the Bishop built, but it was unfurnished. There are two Churches.
Ely Minster is a curious pile of building all of stone, the outside full
of Carvings and great arches, and fine pillars in the front, and the
inside has the greatest variety and neatness in the works. There are two
Chappels, most exactly carv'd in stone, all sorts of figures, Cherubims
Gilt, and painted in some parts. Ye Roofe of one Chappell was One Entire
stone most delicately Carv'd and hung down in great poynts all about ye
Church. The pillars are Carv'd and painted with ye history of the bible,
especially the new testament and description of Christ's miracles. The
Lanthorn in ye quire are vastly high and delicately painted, and fine
Carv'd work all of wood. In it ye bells used to be hung (five); the
demention of ye biggest was so much that when they rung them it shooke
ye quire so, and ye Carv'd worke, that it was thought unsafe; therefore
they were taken down. There is one Chappel for Confession, with a Roome
and Chaire of State for ye priest to set to hear ye people on their
knees Confess into his Eare