o improbability in
supposing that she may have formed part of earlier processions; though
it may be that during the period of Puritan ascendency the show had been
neglected and the lady in particular had been discountenanced. If this
be so, however, it is difficult to account for the manner in which her
figure is referred to by the writer, unless there were some personal
reason connected with James Swinnerton, or his son, undiscoverable by us
at this distance of time.

But whatever doubt may exist as to Godiva's share in the early
processions, there appears no less as to the episode of Peeping Tom.
Looking out of an upper story of the King's Head, at the corner of
Smithford Street, is an oaken figure called by the name of the notorious
tailor. It is in reality a statue of a man in armour, dating no further
back than the reign of Henry the Seventh; and, as a local antiquary
notes, "to favour the posture of his leaning out of window, the arms
have been cut off at the elbows."[47] This statue, now generally
believed to have been intended for St. George, could not have been thus
appropriated and adapted to its present purpose until its original
design had been forgotten and the incongruity of its costume passed
unrecognized. This is said to have been in 1678, when a figure,
identified with the one in question, was put up in Grey Friars Lane by
Alderman Owen.

It must not be overlooked that there may have been from the first more
than one version of the legend, and that a version rejected by, or
perhaps unknown to, Roger of Wendover and the writers who followed him
may have always included the order to the inhabitants to keep within
doors, of which Peeping Tom would seem to be the necessary
accompaniment. Unfortunately, we have no evidence on this point. The
earliest record of such a version appears in one of the manuscript
volumes already alluded to. It has not been hitherto printed; and it is
so much at variance, alike with the legend preserved in the thirteenth
century, and the poem of the nineteenth century, that I quote it
entire:--"The Franchisment and Freedome of Coventry was purchased in
manner Following. Godiva the wife of Leofric Earle of Chester and Duke
of March requesting of her Lord freedome for this That Towne, obtained
the same upon condition that she should ride naked through the same; who
for the Love she bare to the Inhabitants thereof, and the perpetuall
remembrance of her Great Affection thereunto, per