d, armed,
clothed, and sent forth six hundred stout fellows to take part in the Wars of
the Roses; at Coventry the lists were pitched for Mary of Lancaster, and
Phillip Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, to decide in single combat their counter-
charges before the soon-to-be-dethroned Richard II.

At Coventry you will find the effigy of vile Peeping Tom, and can follow the
course through which the fair Godiva rode naked, veiled by her modesty and
flowing tresses, to save her townsmen from a grievous tax. To be sure, some
English Niebuhrs have undertaken to prove the whole story a legend; but, for
our parts, we are determined to believe in tradition and Alfred Tennyson's
sonnet.

There are three ancient churches in Coventry, of which St. Michael's, built
in the reign of Henry I., is the first; the spire rising 303 feet from the
ground, the lofty interior ornamented with a roof of oak, curiously carved,
and several windows of stained glass.

[COVENTRY: ill11.jpg]

St. Mary's Hall, a large building, now used for corporation council meetings,
and festivities, erected in the reign of Henry VI., is one of the richest and
most interesting vestiges of the ornamental architecture of England. The
principal room has a grotesquely-carved roof of oak, a gallery for minstrels,
an armoury, a chair of state, and a great painted window, which need only the
filling up of royal and noble personages, their attendants, and the rich
burgesses of Coventry, to recall the time when Richard II. held his Court in
this ancient city, and, with "old John of Gaunt," settled the sentence on
Harry of Hereford, and Philip of Norfolk.

In this chamber is to be seen a beautiful piece of tapestry, executed in
1450, measuring thirty feet by ten, and containing eighty figures.

In the free school, founded by John Moles, in the reign of Henry VIII., Sir
William Dugdale, the antiquarian and historian of Warwickshire, was educated.
The income is about 900 pounds a-year, and the scholars have open to
competition two fellowships of St. John's College, Oxon, one at Catherine's
Hall, Cambridge, and six exhibitions at either University. Previous to the
investigations of the Charity Commissioners, the fine school-room was locked
up, and the books of the library torn for waste paper to light fires. At
present, under the reformed system, the school is attended by a large number
of scholars.

There are more than a dozen educational and other charities for the benefit