[1] _Pepysiana_, by H. B. Wheatley (1903), 154.
[2] Foxcroft, _Life of Sir G. Savile_, i. 54.
[3] _Savile Correspondence_ (Camden Soc.), 295.
[4] Foxcroft's _Life of Sir G. Savile_, i. 36.
COVENTRY, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Warwickshire,
England; 94 m. N.W. from London by the London & North Western railway.
Pop. (1901) 69,978. The Coventry canal communicates with the Trent and
Mersey and Birmingham canals, and the midland system generally. Coventry
stands on a gentle eminence, with higher ground lying to the west, and
is watered by the Sherbourne and the Radford Brook, feeders of the Avon,
which unite within the town. Of its ancient fortifications two gates and
some portions of the wall are still extant, and several of the older
streets are picturesque from the number of half-timbered houses
projecting over the footways.
The most remarkable buildings are the churches; of these the oldest are
St Michael's, one of the finest specimens of Perpendicular architecture
in England, with a beautiful steeple rising to a height of 303 ft.; Holy
Trinity church, a cruciform structure with a lofty steeple at the
intersection; and St John's, or Bablake church, which is nearly a
parallelogram on the ground plan, but cruciform in the clerestory with a
central tower. Christ church dates only from 1832, but it is attached to
the ancient spire of the Grey Friars' church. Of secular buildings the
most interesting is St Mary's hall, erected by the united gilds in the
early part of the 15th century. The principal chamber, situated above a
fine crypt, is 76 ft. long, 30 ft. wide and 34 ft. high; its roof is of
carved oak, and in the north end there is a large window of old stained
glass, with a curious piece of tapestry beneath nearly as old as the
building. In the treasury is preserved a valuable collection of ancient
muniments. A statue of Sir Thomas White, lord mayor of London
(1532-1533), founder of St John's College, Oxford, was erected in 1883.
The cemetery, laid out by Sir Joseph Paxton, the architect and landscape
gardener, and enlarged in 1887, is particularly beautiful. The
educational institutions include a well-endowed free grammar school,
founded in the reign of Elizabeth, in modern buildings (1885), a
technical school, school of art, endowed charity schools, and a county
reformatory for girls; and among the charitable foundations, which are
numerous and valuable, Bond's hospital for old men and Ford's hospital
for old women are remarkable as fine specimens of ancient timber work.
Swanswell and Spenser Parks were opened in 1883, and a recreation ground
in 1880.
Coventry was formerly noted for its woollens, and subsequently acquired
such a reputation for its dyeing that the expression "as true as
Coventry blue" became proverbial. Existing industries are the making of
motor cars, cycles and their accessories, for which Coventry is one of
the chief centres in Great Britain; sewing machines are also produced;
and carpet-weaving and dyeing, art metal working and watch making are
carried on. An ancient fair is held in Whit-week. A county of itself
till 1843, the town became a county borough in 1888. The corporation
consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen and 30 councillors. The parliamentary
borough returns one member. In 1894 a suffragan bishopric of Coventry
was established under the see of Worcester, but no longer exists. Area,
4149 acres.
The village which afterwards became important as Coventry (_Coventreu_,
_Coventre_) owed its existence to the foundation of a Benedictine
monastery by Earl Leofric and his wife Godgyfu, the famous Lady Godiva
(q.v.), in 1043. The manor, which in 1066 belonged to the latter,
descended to the earls of Chester and to Robert de Montalt, and from him
passed to Isabella queen of Edward II. and the crown. Ranulf, earl of
Chester, granted the earliest extant charter to the town in 1153, by
which his burgesses were to hold of him in free burgage as they held of
his father, and to have their portmote. This, with further privileges,
was confirmed by Henry II. in 1177, and by nearly every succeeding
sovereign until the 17th century. In 1345 Edward III. gave Coventry a
corporation, mayor and bailiffs empowered to hold pleas and keep the
town prison. Edward the Black Prince granted the mayor and bailiffs the
right to hold the town in fee farm of L50 and to build a wall. In 1452
Henry VI. formed the city and surrounding hamlets into a county, and
James I. incorporated Coventry in 1622. It first sent two
representatives to parliament in 1295, but the returns were irregular.
The prior's market on Fridays was probably of Saxon origin; a second
market was granted in 1348, while fairs, still held, were obtained in
1217 for the octave of Holy Trinity, and in 1348 and in 1442 for eight
days from the Friday after Corpus Christi. As early as 1216 Coventry was
important for its trade in wool, cloth and caps, its gilds later being
particularly numerous and wealthy. In 1568 Flemish weavers introduced
new methods, but the trade was destroyed in the wars of the 17th
century. During the middle of the 16th century there was a flourishing
manufacture of blue thread, but this decayed before 1581; in the 18th
century the manufacture of ribbon was introduced.
The popular phrase "to send to Coventry" (i.e. to refuse to associate
with a person) is of uncertain derivation. The _New English Dictionary_
selects the period of the Civil War of the 17th century as that in which
the origin of the phrase is probably to be found. Clarendon (_History of
the Great Rebellion_, 1647) states that the citizens of Birmingham rose
against certain small parties of the king's supporters, and sent the
prisoners they captured to Coventry, which was then strongly
parliamentarian.
See _Victoria County History, Warwick_; William Dugdale, _The
Antiquities of Coventre, illustrated from records_ (Coventry, 1765).
COVER (from the Fr. _couvert_, from _couvrir_, to cover, Lat.
_cooperire_), that which hides, shuts in or conceals, a lid to a box or
vessel, &c., the binding of a book or wrapper of a parcel; as a hunting
term, the wood or undergrowth which shelters game. As a commercial term,
the word means in its widest sense a security against loss, but is
employed more particularly in connexion with stock exchange transactions
to signify a "deposit made with a broker to secure him from being out of
pocket in the event of the stocks falling against his client and the
client not paying the difference" (_In re Cronmire_, 1898, 2 Q.B. 383).
It is a mode of speculation engaged in almost entirely by persons who
wish to limit their risk to a small amount, and, as a rule, the
transactions are largely carried out in England with "outside" brokers,
i.e. those dealers in securities who are not members of the Stock
Exchange. The deposit is so much per cent or per share, usually 1% on
the market value of the securities up to about twice the amount of the
turn of the market; the client being able to close the transaction at
any time during the currency of the cover, but the broker only when the
cover is exhausted or has "run off." Cover is not money deposited to
abide the event of a wager, but as security against a debt which may
arise from a gaming contract, and it may be recovered back, if
unappropriated.
COVERDALE, MILES (1488?-1569), English translator of the Bible and
bishop of Exeter, was born of Yorkshire parents about 1488, studied
philosophy and theology at Cambridge, was ordained priest at Norwich in
1514, and then entered the convent of Austin friars at Cambridge. Here
he came under the influence of the prior, Robert Barnes, made the
acquaintance of Sir Thomas More and of Thomas Cromwell, and began a
thorough study of the Scriptures. He was one of those who met at the
White Horse tavern to discuss theological questions, and when Barnes was
arrested on a charge of heresy, Coverdale went up to London to assist
him in drawing up his defence. Soon afterwards he left the convent,
assumed the habit of a secular priest, and began to preach against
confession and the worship of images. In 1531 he graduated bachelor of
canon law at Cambridge, but from 1528 to 1534 he prudently spent most of
his time abroad. No corroboration has, however, been found for Foxe's
statement that in 1529 he was at Hamburg assisting Tyndale in his
translation of the Pentateuch. In 1534 he published two translations of
his own, the first Dulichius's _Vom alten und newen Gott_, and the
second a _Paraphrase upon the Psalms_, and in 1535 he completed his
translation of the Bible. The venture seems to have been projected by
Jacob van Meteren, who apparently employed Coverdale to do the
translation, and Froschover of Zurich to do the printing. No perfect
copy is known to exist, and the five or six which alone have title-pages
give no name of publisher or place of publication. The volume is
dedicated to the king of England, where Convocation at Cranmer's
instance had, in December 1534, petitioned for an authorized English
version of the Scriptures. As a work of scholarship it does not rank
particularly high. Some of the title-pages state that it had been
translated out of "Douche" (i.e. German) "and Latyn": and Coverdale
mentions that he used five interpreters, which are supposed to have been
the Vulgate, the Latin version of Pagninus, Luther's translation, the
Zurich version, and Tyndale's Pentateuch and New Testament. There is no
definite mention of the original Greek and Hebrew texts; but it has
considerable literary merit, many of Coverdale's phrases are retained in
the authorized version, and it was the first complete Bible to be
printed in English. Two fresh editions were issued in 1537, but none of
them received official sanction. Coverdale was, however, employed by
Cromwell to assist in the production of the Great Bible of 1539, which
was ordered to be placed in all English churches. The work was done at
Paris until the French government stopped it, when Coverdale and his
colleagues returned to England early in 1539 to complete it. He was also
employed in the same year in assisting at the suppression of
superstitious usages, but the reaction of 1540 drove him once more
abroad. His Bible was prohibited by proclamation in 1542, while
Coverdale himself defied the Six Articles by marrying Elizabeth
Macheson, sister-in-law to Dr John MacAlpine.
For a time Coverdale lived at Tubingen, where he was created D.D. In
1545 he was pastor and schoolmaster at Bergzabern in the duchy of
Pfalz-Zweibrucken. In March 1548 he was at Frankfort, when the new
English Order of Communion reached him; he at once translated it into
German and Latin and sent a copy to Calvin, whose wife had befriended
Coverdale at Strassburg. Calvin, however, does not seem to have approved
of it so highly as Coverdale.
Coverdale was already on his way back to England, and in October 1548 he
was staying at Windsor Castle, where Cranmer and some other divines,
inaccurately called the Windsor Commission, were preparing the First
Book of Common Prayer. His first appointment had been as almoner to
Queen Catherine Parr, then wife of Lord Seymour; and he preached her
funeral sermon in September 1548. He was also chaplain to the young king
and took an active part in the reforming measures of his reign. He was
one of the most effective preachers of the time. A sermon by him at St
Paul's on the second Sunday in Lent, 1549, was immediately followed by
the pulling down of "the sacrament at the high altar." A few weeks later
he preached at the penance of some Anabaptists, and in January 1550 he
was put on a commission to prosecute Anabaptists and all who infringed
the Book of Common Prayer. In 1549 he wrote a dedication to Edward for a
translation of the second volume of Erasmus's _Paraphrases_; and in 1550
he translated Otto Wermueller's _Precious Pearl_, for which Protector
Somerset, who had derived spiritual comfort from the book while in the
Tower, wrote a preface. He was much in request at funerals: he preached
at Sir James Wilford's in November 1550, and at Lord Wentworth's before
a great concourse in Westminster Abbey in March 1551.
Perhaps it was his gift of oratory which suggested his appointment as
bishop of the refractory men of Devon and Cornwall. He had already, in
August 1549, at some risk, gone down with Lord Russell to turn the
hearts of the rebels by preaching and persuasion, and two years later he
was appointed bishop of Exeter by letters patent, on the compulsory
retirement of his predecessor, Veysey, who had reached an almost
mythical age. He was an active prelate, and perhaps the vigorous
Protestantism of the West in Elizabeth's reign was partly due to his
persuasive powers. He sat on the commission for the reform of the canon
law, and was in constant attendance during the parliaments of 1552 and
1553. On Mary's accession he was at once deprived on the score of his
marriage, and Veysey in spite of his age was restored. Coverdale was
called before the privy council on the 1st of September, and required to
find sureties; but he was not further molested, and when Christian III.
of Denmark at the instance of Coverdale's brother-in-law, MacAlpine,
interceded in his favour, he was in February 1555 permitted to leave for
Denmark with two servants, and his baggage unsearched; one of these
"servants" is said to have been his wife. He declined Christian's offer
of a living in Denmark, and preferred to preach at Wesel to the numerous
English refugees there, until he was invited by Duke Wolfgang to resume
his labours at Bergzabern. He was at Geneva in December 1558, and is
said to have participated in the preparation of the Geneva version of
the Bible.
In 1559 Coverdale returned to England and resumed his preaching at St
Paul's and elsewhere. Clothed in a plain black gown, he assisted at
Parker's consecration, in spite of the facts that he had himself been
deprived, and did not resume his bishopric, and that his original
appointment had been by the uncanonical method of letters patent.
Conscientious objections were probably responsible for his
non-restoration to the see of Exeter, and his refusal of that of
Llandaff in 1563. He objected to vestments, and in his living of St
Magnus close to London Bridge, which he received in 1563, he took other
liberties with the Act of Uniformity. His bishop, Grindal, was his
friend, and his vagaries were overlooked until 1566, when he resigned
his living rather than conform. He still preached occasionally, and
always drew large audiences. He died in February 1568, and was buried on
the 19th in St Bartholomew's behind the Exchange. When this church was
pulled down in 1840 to make room for the new Exchange, his remains were
removed to St Magnus.
Coverdale's works, most of them translations, number twenty-six in
all; nearly all, with his letters, were published in a collected
edition by the Parker Soc., 2 vols., 1846. An excellent account is
given in the _Dict. Nat. Biog._ of his life, with authorities, to
which may be added R. W. Dixon's _Church History_, Bishop and
Gasquet's _Edward VI. and the Book of Common Prayer_; Acts of the
Privy Council; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.; _Lit. Rem. of Edward
VI._ (Roxburghe Club); Whittingham's _Brief Discourse of Troubles at
Frankfort_; Pocock's _Troubles connected with the Prayer-Book_ (Camden
Soc.). (A. F. P.)
COVERTURE (a covering, an old French form of the modern _couverture_), a
term in English law applied to the condition of a woman during marriage,
when she is supposed to be under the cover, influence and protection of
her husband, and so immune in certain cases from punishment for crime
committed in the presence and on the presumed coercion of her husband.
(See further HUSBAND AND WIFE.)
COVILHA, a town of Portugal, in the district of Castello Branco,
formerly included in the province of Beira; on the eastern slope of the
Serra da Estrella, and on the Abrantes-Guarda railway. Pop. (1900)
15,469. Covilha, which has been often compared with a collection of
swallows' nests clinging to the rugged granitic mountain side, is shaped
like an amphitheatre of closely crowded houses, overlooking the river
Zezere and its wild valley from a height of 2180 ft. Over 4000
operatives are employed in the manufacture of _saragoca_, a coarse brown
cloth worn by the peasantry throughout Portugal. The village of Unhaes
da Serra (1507), 6 m. W.S.W., is noted for its sulphurous springs and
baths.
COVILHAM (COVILHAO, COVILHA), PERO or PEDRO DE Portuguese explorer and
diplomatist (fl. 1487-1525), was a native of Covilha in Beira. In early
life he had gone to Castile and entered the service of Alphonso, duke of
Seville; later, when war broke out between Castile and Portugal, he
returned to his own country, and attached himself, first as a "groom,"
then as a "squire," to King Alphonso V. and his successor John II. On
the 7th of May 1487, he was despatched, in company with Alphonso de
Payva, on a mission of exploration in the Levant and adjoining regions
of Asia and Africa, with the special object of learning where "cinnamon
and other spices could be found," as well as of discovering the land of
Prester John, by "overland" routes. Bartholomeu Diaz, at this very time,
went out to find the Prester's country, as well as the termination of
the African continent and the ocean route to India, by sea. Covilham and
Payva were provided with a "letter of credence for all the countries of
the world" and with a "map for navigating, taken from the map of the
world" and compiled by Bishop Calcadilha, and doctors Rodrigo and
Moyses. The first two of these were prominent members of the commission
which advised the Portuguese government to reject the proposals of
Columbus. The explorers started from Santarem and travelled by Barcelona
to Naples, where their bills of exchange were paid by the sons of Cosimo
de' Medici; thence they passed to Rhodes, where they lodged with two
other Portuguese, and so to Alexandria and Cairo, where they posed as
merchants. In company with certain Moors from Fez and Tlemcen they now
went by way of Tor to Suakin and Aden, where (as it was now monsoon
time) they parted, Covilham proceeding to India and Payva to
Ethiopia--the two companions agreeing to meet again in Cairo. Covilham
thus arrived at Cannanore and Calicut, whence he retraced his course to
Goa and Ormuz, the Red Sea and Cairo, making an excursion on his way
down the East African coast to Sofala, which he was probably the first
European to visit. At Cairo he heard of Payva's death, and met with two
Portuguese Jews--Rabbi Abraham of Beja, and Joseph, a shoe-maker of
Lamego--who had been sent by King John with letters for Covilham and
Payva. By Joseph of Lamego Covilham replied with an account of his
Indian and African journeys, and of his observations on the cinnamon,
pepper and clove trade at Calicut, together with advice as to the ocean
way to India. This he truly represented as quite practicable: "to this
they (of Portugal) could navigate by their coast and the seas of
Guinea." The first objective in the eastern ocean, he added, was Sofala
or the Island of the Moon, our Madagascar--"from each of these lands
one can fetch the coast of Calicut." With this information Joseph
returned to Portugal, while Covilham, with Abraham of Beja, again
visited Aden and Ormuz. At the latter he left the rabbi; and himself
came back to Jidda, the port of the Arabian holy land, and penetrated
(as he told Alvarez many years later) even to Mecca and Medina. Finally,
by Mount Sinai, Tor and the Red Sea, he reached Zeila, whence he struck
inland to the court of Prester John (i.e. Abyssinia). Here he was
honourably received; lands and lordships were bestowed upon him; but he
was not permitted to leave. When the Portuguese embassy under Rodrigo de
Lima, including Father Francisco Alvarez, entered Abyssinia in 1520,
Covilham wept with joy at the sight of his fellow-countrymen. It was
then forty years since he had left Portugal, and over thirty since he
had been a prisoner of state in "Ethiopia." Alvarez, who professed to
know him well, and to have heard the story of his life, both "in
confession and out of it," praises his power of vivid description "as if
things were present before him," and his extraordinary knowledge of "all
spoken languages of Christians, Moors and Gentiles." His services as an
interpreter were valuable to Rodrigo de Lima's embassy; but he never
succeeded in escaping from Abyssinia.
See Francisco Alvarez, _Verdadera Informacam das terras do Preste
Joam_, esp. chs. 73, 89, 98, 102-103, 105 (pp. 177, 224, 254, 264,
265-270, 275, of the Hakluyt Society's English edition, _The
Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia ... 1520-1727_, London, 1881); an
abstract of this, with some inaccuracies, is given in Major's _Prince
Henry the Navigator_ (London, 1868), pp. 339-340.
COVIN (from the Fr. _covine_, or _couvine_, from Lat. _convenire_, to
come together), an association of persons, so used in the Statute of
Labourers of 1360, which, _inter alia_, declared void "all alliances and
covins of masons and carpenters." The more common use of the term in
English law was for a secret agreement between persons to cheat and
defraud, but the word is now obsolete, and has been superseded by
"collusion" or "conspiracy to cheat and defraud."
COVINGTON, a city and one of the two county-seats of Kenton county,
Kentucky, U.S.A., on the Ohio river opposite Cincinnati, with which it
is connected by bridges; and at the mouth of the Licking river (also
spanned by bridges), opposite Newport, Ky. Pop. (1890) 37,371; (1900)
42,938, of whom 5223 were foreign-born and 2478 were negroes; (1910)
53,270. In 1900 it ranked second in population among the cities of
Kentucky. The city is served by the Chesapeake & Ohio, and the
Louisville & Nashville railways, by interurban electric railways, and by
steamboat lines to the Ohio river ports. It is built on a plain
commanding good views and partly shut in by neighbouring hills. Its
streets, mostly named from eminent Kentuckians, are paved chiefly with
asphalt, macadam and brick. There are numerous fine residences and
several attractive public buildings, including that of the United States
government--modern Gothic in style--the court-house and city hall
combined, and the public library. Covington is the seat of a Roman
Catholic bishopric, and its cathedral, in the flamboyant Gothic style,
is one of the finest church buildings in the state. In the city are the
Academy of Notre Dame and St Joseph's high school for boys, both Roman
Catholic. The principal charitable institutions are the hospital of
Saint Elizabeth, a German orphan asylum, a Protestant children's home, a
home for aged women and a Wayfarers' Rest. Covington is the trade centre
of an extensive district engaged in agriculture and stock raising, and
as a manufacturing centre it ranked second in the state in 1905 (value
of factory products $6,099,715), its products including tobacco, cotton
goods, structural iron and steel, foundry and machine shop products,
liquors and cordage. A settlement was established here in 1812, and
three years later a town was laid out and named in honour of Gen.
Leonard Covington (1768-1813), who was mortally wounded at Chrystler's
Field during the War of 1812. In 1834 Covington was chartered as a city;
and in 1908 it annexed Central Covington (pop. in 1900, 2155).
COWARD, a term of contempt for one who, before danger, pain or trouble,
shows fear, whether physical or moral. The derivation of the word has
been obscured by a connexion in sense with the verb "cow," to instil
fear into, which is derived from old Norse _kuga_, a word of similar
meaning, and with the verb "cower," to crouch, which is also
Scandinavian in origin.[1] The true derivation is from the French _coe_,
an old form of _queue_, a tail, from Lat. _cauda_, hence _couart_ or
_couard_. The reference to "tail" is either to the expression "turn
tail" in flight, or to the habit of animals dropping the tail between
the legs when frightened; in heraldry, a lion in this position is a
"lion coward." In the fable of _Reynard the Fox_ the name of the hare is
Coart, Kywart, Cuwaert or other variants.
COWBRIDGE, a market town and a municipal and contributory parliamentary
borough of Glamorganshire, Wales, with a station on the Taff Vale
railway branch from Llantrisant to Aberthaw on the coast, distant by
rail 162-1/2 m. from London, 12 m. W. of Cardiff, 7 m. S.E. of Bridgend,
and 6 m. S. of Llantrisant station. The population in 1901 was 1202, a
decrease of over 12% since 1891. Less than one-third of the number was
Welsh-speaking. The town mainly consists of one long street running east
and west, and is in a wide valley through which runs the river Thaw
(Welsh, _Ddawan_), here crossed by a stone bridge.
Cowbridge is probably situated on the Roman road from Cardiff westwards,
which seems to have kept nearly the course of the present main road.
Roman coins have been discovered here. It has in fact been suggested,
mainly on etymological grounds, that the town occupies the site of the
Roman _Bovium_: the modern Welsh name, y Bontfaen ("stone bridge") is
probably a corruption of the medieval, Pont y fon, the precise
equivalent of "Cowbridge," which is first found in documents of the
second half of the 13th century as Covbruge and Cubrigg. Others place
Bovium on a vicinal road, at Boverton near Llantwit Major, about 6 m. to
the south near the coast, though the most likely site is near Ewenny, 5
m. to the west of Cowbridge. After the Norman conquest of Glamorgan, the
town grew up as an appanage of the castle of St Quentin, which occupies
a commanding position half a mile south-west of the town. It was walled
round before the 13th century. A tower is mentioned in 1487 when it was
granted away by the burgesses. Leland in his itinerary (c. 1535)
describes the town wall as three-quarters of a mile round and as having
three gates. There was even then a considerable suburb on the west bank
of the river and outside the walls. The south wall and gateway are still
standing.
The town was a borough by prescription until 1682, when it received a
charter of incorporation from Charles II. confirming its previous
privileges. Under the Unreformed Corporations Act of 1883 the
corporation was dissolved, but on the petition of the inhabitants a new
charter was granted in March 1887. During the Tudor and Stuart periods
Cowbridge was almost if not quite the chief town of Glamorgan, its
importance being largely due to its central and accessible position in a
rich agricultural district where a large number of the county gentry
lived. The great sessions were held here alternately with Cardiff and
Swansea from 1542 till their abolition in 1830, and the quarter sessions
were held here once a year down to 1850. From 1536 to 1832 it was one of
the eight contributory boroughs within the county which returned a
member to parliament, but since 1832 it has been contributory with
Cardiff and Llantrisant in returning a member. It has a separate
commission of the peace. Sir Edward Stradling (1529-1609) established a
grammar school here, but died before endowing it; it was refounded in
1685 by Sir Leoline Jenkins, who provided that it should be administered
by Jesus College, Oxford, which body erected the present buildings in
1847. It has throughout its existence been one of the leading schools in
Wales. An intermediate school for girls was established here by the
county in 1896. The church of St Mary (formerly chapelry to
Llanblethian) is of early English style and has a fine embattled tower,
of the same military type as the towers of Llamblethian and Ewenny.
There are three Nonconformist chapels. There are a town hall and market
place. The town is now wholly dependent on agriculture, and has good
markets and cattle fairs, that on the 4th of May being a charter fair.