ling into the Pompeii stage and dwindling into loneliness or
decay, one cannot wish such to be their fate. Few English towns that have
been of any importance centuries ago have gone back, though some have
stood still; and if they have lost their social prestige, the spirit of
the times has gradually made the loss of less consequence in proportion as
the importance of trade and manufactures has increased. The ribbon trade
is indeed a new one, hardly two centuries old, but Coventry was the centre
of the old national woollen industry long before. Twenty years ago, the
silk trade having languished, the queen revived the fashion of broad
ribbons, and Coventry wares became for a while the rage, just as Honiton
lace and Norwich silk shawls did at other times, chiefly through the same
example of court patronage of native industries. St. Michael's, Trinity
and Christ churches furnish the three noted spires, the first one of the
highest and most beautiful in England, and the third the remains of a Gray
Friars' convent, to which a new church has been attached. Of the ancient
cathedral (Lichfield and Coventry conjointly formed one see) only a few
ruins remain, and the same is the case with the old walls with their
thirty-two towers and twelve gates. The old hospitals and schools have
fared better--witness Bond's Hospital at Bablake (once an adjacent hamlet,
but now within the city limits), commonly called Bablake Hospital, founded
by the mayor of Coventry in the latter part of Henry VII.'s reign for the
use of forty-five old men, with a revenue of ten hundred and fifty pounds;
Ford's Hospital for thirty-five old women, a building so beautiful in its
details that John Carter the archaeologist declared that it "ought to be
kept in a case;" Hales' free school, where Dugdale, the famous antiquary
and the possessor of Merivale Hall, near Warwick, received the early part
of his education; and St. Mary's Hall, built by Henry VI. for the Trinity
guild on the site of an old hall now used as a public hall and for
town-council meetings. The buildings surround a courtyard, and are entered
by an arched gateway from the street; and, says Rimmer, it is hardly
possible in all the city architecture of England to find a more
interesting and fine apartment than the great hall. The private buildings
in the old part of the town are as noticeable in their way as the public
buildings; and as many owe their origin to the tradesmen of Coventry,
formerly a bod