The "three spires" which have so much to do with the fame of Lichfield
are reproduced in the less pretentious but equally famous town of
Coventry, not far away in Warwickshire, but they do not all belong to
the same church. The Coventry Cathedral was long ago swept away, but the
town still has three churches of much interest, and is rich in the old
brick-and-timbered architecture of two and three centuries ago. But the
boast of Coventry is Lady Godiva, wife of the Earl of Mercia, who died
in 1057. The townsfolk suffered under heavy taxes and services, and she
besought her lord to relieve them. After steady refusals he finally
consented, but under a condition which he was sure Lady Godiva would not
accept, which was none other than that she should ride naked from one
end of the town to the other. To his astonishment she consented, and, as
Dugdale informs us, "The noble lady upon an appointed day got on
horseback naked, with her hair loose, so that it covered all her body
but the legs, and then performing her journey, she returned with joy to
her husband, who thereupon granted the inhabitants a charter of
freedom." The inhabitants deserted the streets and barred all the
windows, so that no one could see her, but, as there are exceptions to
all rules, Tennyson writes that
"One low churl, composed of thankless earth,
The fatal byword of all years to come,
Boring a little auger-hole, in fear
Peeped; but his eyes, before they had their will,
Were shrivelled into darkness in his head,
And drop: before him. So the Powers who wait
On noble deeds cancelled a sense misused;
And she, that knew not, passed."
Thus has "Peeping Tom of Coventry" passed into a byword, and his statue
stands in a niche on the front of a house on the High Street, as if
leaning out of a window--an ancient and battered effigy for all the
world to see. Like all other things that come down to us by tradition,
this legend is doubted, but in Coventry there are sincere believers, and
"Lady Godiva's Procession" used to be an annual display, closing with a
fair: this ceremony was opened by religious services, after which the
procession started, the troops and city authorities, with music and
banners, escorting Lady Godiva, a woman made up for the occasion in
gauzy tights and riding a cream-colored horse; representatives of the
trades and civic societies followed her. This pageant has fallen into
disuse.
[Illustration: COVENTRY GATEWAY.]
In this ancient city of Coventry there are some interesting memorials of
the past--the venerable gateway, the old St. Mary's Hall, with its
protruding gable fronting on the street, coming down to us from the
fourteenth century, and many other quaint brick and half-timbered and
strongly-constructed houses that link the dim past with the active
present. Its three spires surmount St. Michael's, Trinity, and Christ
churches, and while all are fine, the first is the best, being regarded
as one of the most beautiful spires in England. The ancient stone pulpit
of Trinity Church, constructed in the form of a balcony of open
stone-work, is also much admired. St. Michael's Church, which dates from
the fourteenth century, is large enough to be a cathedral, and its
steeple is said to have been the first constructed. This beautiful and
remarkably slender spire rises three hundred and three feet, its lowest
stage being an octagonal lantern supported by flying buttresses. The
supporting tower has been elaborately decorated, but much of the
sculpture has fallen into decay, being made of the rich but friable red
sandstone of this part of the country; the interior of the church has
recently been restored. The Coventry workhouse is located in an old
monastery, where a part of the cloisters remain, with the dormitory
above; in it is an oriel window where Queen Elizabeth on visiting the
town is reputed to have stood and answered a reception address in rhyme
from the "Men of Coventrie" with some doggerel of equal merit, and
concluding with the words, "Good Lord, what fools ye be!" The good Queen
Bess, we are told, liked to visit Coventry to see bull-baiting. As we
have said, Coventry formerly had a cathedral and a castle, but both have
been swept away; it was an important stronghold after the Norman
Conquest, when the Earls of Chester were lords of the place. In the
fourteenth century it was fortified with walls of great height and
thickness, three miles in circuit and strengthened by thirty-two towers,
each of the twelve gates being defended by a portcullis. A parliament
was held at Coventry by Henry VI., and Henry VII. was heartily welcomed
there after Bosworth Field; while the town was also a favorite residence
of Edward the Black Prince. Among the many places of captivity for Mary
Queen of Scots Coventry also figures; the walls were mostly knocked down
during the Civil Wars, and now only some fragments, with one of the old
gates, remain. In later years it has been chiefly celebrated in the
peaceful arts in the manufacture of silks and ribbons and the dyeing of
broad-cloth in "Coventry true blue;" at present it is the "Coventry
bicycle" that makes Lady Godiva's ancient city famous, and provides
amusement for youth who are able to balance their bodies possibly at the
expense of their minds.
[Illustration: COVENTRY.]