ti-day; which occasioning very great confluence of people
thither from far and near, was of no small benefit thereto; which
Pageants being acted with mighty State and Reverence by the
Friars of this House, had Theatres for the several scenes, very
large and high, placed upon wheels and drawn to all the eminent
parts of the City for the better advantage of spectators; and
contained the story of the Old and New Testament, composed in the
old English Rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. intituled,
_Ludus Corporis Christi_, or _Ludus Coventriae_.

Along with a number that were performed by the city companies they are
still to be seen in the British Museum. We know that the Friars
presented them as late as 1492, when Henry VII was present with his
Queen to see the plays "acted by the Grey Friars."

No remains exist of the domestic buildings of the Friary. The
well-known Ford's Hospital hard by is often called Grey Friars'
Hospital, but this arises merely from the situation. It was founded in
1529 by Mr. William Ford of Coventry, Merchant of the Staple, for five
men and one woman, but is now inhabited by women only. It is an
exceptionally beautiful example of Tudor timber construction in
perfect condition.

THE WHITE FRIARS

The Carmelite or White Friars were, says Dugdale, fixed in Coventry in
1343 by Sir John Poultney who had been four times Lord Mayor of
London. Although their buildings were ornate and extensive, their
revenue apart from oblations amounted to only _L3 6s. 8d._ per annum
and the whole came to less than L8. At the Dissolution the house and
its revenues came eventually to John Hales, Clerk of the Hanaper to
Henry VIII. Having amassed a great estate in monastery and chantry
lands, Hales founded the Free School in Coventry, the Church of the
White Friars being at first used for the purpose. Later, he made of
the Friary a dwelling and removed the school to St. John's Hospital,
granted to him by the king in 1545. Part of the church of the Hospital
still exists at the foot of Bishop Street, but the school has been
removed to new buildings in the Warwick Road.

Of the buildings of the White Friars there are considerable remains
incorporated with the Union Workhouse at the top of Much Park Street.
The east walk of the cloister, 150 feet in length, has a fine groined
roof of the fifteenth century. A range of vaulted apartments runs
alongside the cloister on the east side, divid