The record-union., 1891-10-17

Trinity and st. Michael, the latter being
303 feet in hight, add much interest to
the old city. Then in the old days of
the monasteries Coventry was noted for
its pilgriInages from France. Later, Par
liaments were held within it. The page
ants of Kings and Queens TO the pious
city have equaled the most splendid pro-
cessions at ancient Canterbury. Great
jousts and tournaments were held here.
The old city walls were three miles long
and nine feet thick, and were surrounded
by thirty-two lofty towers. The old-time
Cross OF Coventry gave the place a GER
tain fame. Mary Queen of Scots was for
long time imprisoned here in the May
oress' parlor of st. Mary's Hall, still
standing, though more than SEQ years
old. All these, and countless more
things of exceeding interest develop and
charm all pilgrims here, though the CEN
tral figures which originally attract them
all are radiant Godiya and rascally Peep
ing Tom.
disappointing. From a score of miles
away its beautiful spires are visible and
are enehantingly suggestive of antiquity
and repoSe. Nearing the city it rises
from monotonous champaign country,
little wooded, and with an unpleasant red
Of the clayey soil checkering the fields
and outlining the rather lonesome and
llCb5SlGSS dltJdCGllO highways.
the city from any direction, modern
streets, bordered with modern houses,
hint of a sponging out OF all the old hooks
and nests, and give foreboding sense of
vainless quest. But, once well into High
street, to the right and left, in every d1-
rection and in interminable maze, are
narrow thoroughfareS winding and inter-
lacing in quaint and charming confusion.
Godivas and Peeping Toms begin to
GpDIla and CrlOurnr from
niche and window.
Up there to the right runs narrow
street. Your impulse leads you thither.
Not hundred yards more, and down to
your left, opens one Of the most character
ful thoroughtares in Europe. 1t is Butch
er's Row. You instantly step from the
nineteenth to the sixteenth century. A
days lettering would be amply rewarded
here. Just behind its ramshackle old
houses are, perhaps, primeval trees firing
ing Shadowy close, into which are hud-
died the churches of st. Michael's and
Trinity. All about them is almost unre-
corded age in architecture. Half-tim-
bered houses, two, three, four and five
centuries old, crowd around the place in
all manner Of angles and fantastic tacades.
At the corner of Hay Lane and Barley
Lane, just where the fine old picture is
mellowest as you look back upon the
alf-verdure-covered masses of angles
and carvings, stands a 300-year old inn,
restored in its zigzag pattern of oak and
mortar, black and lavender paint and
oyerhanging stories. that the visitor may
know how the old town looked when its
builders had left their work spick and
span in the glory of first completion.
A little beyond, its low, wide front
mass of crumbling carving, stands one of
the most interesting structures of for
mer age in England. This is st. Mary's
Hail. The other, to me most fascinating
spot in Coventry, is Ford's Hospital in
Gray F'riar's Lane, an almshouse for old.
old women. There are many, many other
structures most rare and curious here,
among them st. MichaePs Church, over
which even a Hawthorne could be
warmed into exclaiming: $50 old, vet
enduring; so huge, so rich; with such in
tricate minuteness in its finish, that look
as long as you will at it, you can always
discover something new directly before
your eyes," and that, ''of all English
things have seen methinks the churches
diSappoint me least" Trinity Church
with its pulpit, accounted "the very finest
in the kingdom; and Bonds Hospital.
remarkable structure, founded nearly 400
years ago as a home for aged men. But
these two places are so perfect In their
linking of an olden with the present day.
preserve in themselves such striking
pictures of remote and mellow past,
and, Wlthal, present SO fully and at a
glance the very rime and mold of that
which has held all English-speaking
lands to the pleasant pages from the
golden age of English literature, that one
comes to them in their hale and sturdy
age as we turn with heart thrill and de-
light to the beaming faces of dear old
friends.
As nearly as can be ascertained by an
tiquarians the date of st. Mary's Hall is
between 400 and 1925. 1t is therefore
nearly 600 years old. The ancient guilds
OF Coventry were famous for their wealth
and sumptuous hospitality, and this hall
was the gathering place Of the united
guilds. 1t stands entire lust as it was
built. 1t is also remarkable as being one
OF. the few places of public interest to
which strangers are admitted in England
where a fee is not demanded or expected,
That alone makes one fond of the splen-
did antique. Its entrance is opposite st.
MichaePs Church. The carvings, though
crumbled badly, were originally almost
as rich as those OF MelroSe Abbey. This
arched way leads through a sumptuously
decorated court over an open gallery di-
rectly 70 the great hall of entertainment.
In the other buildings upon which the
court opens are seen the arrangement of
ages in which the whole business of fes-
tiVal was conducted within the walls of
one establishment. The kitchen, entered
beneath the gallery, is one of the largest
and most antique now existing in Eng
land. Its lofty arches are supported by
octangnlar columns. y tremendous arch
vaults the copperS, and at each side is an
angel holding u shield. The four Chin
neys are the largest of this kind now ex-
tant, and have communicating arches.
Adjoining the kitchen are the vaults in
which were stored records, treasure.
IFlnnG DTFn aInq II ic Coi6 that 10 Ii f,I,,
ana cellar OF no king or potentate sur
passed these IN their day. They are in
every particular now as they Were used
IN the time of their early and splendid
The entire wall and ceiling of the inte-
rior of the great hall IS a solid mass of
sculpture, painting, tapestry and carving.
Almost every development of art in en-
blematic decoration for 600 years has
found expression here, and more extra
than all else, each object or de-
sign stands in its respective place lust as
II left some masters hand. Coventry folk
themselves have no adequate conlprehen-
sion of the mine of art wealth these rot
ting walls contain. | have the word of q
famous London connoisseur that he had,
out of personal curiosity, attempted a
careful valuation, but had given up in dis
after he had but fairly be-
gun and had reached the sum of GOO. .0OO
or about 81 100000!
only little way from St. Mary's Hall,
down'a narrow wynd called Gray Friar's
Lane, is found Ford's Hospital, an early
and unique specimen of architecture pre-
vailing in the early part OF the sixteenth
The entire front is covered
with the richest of wood carving. Three
huge and canopied gables project from
the second story. A wide, low carved
archway leads to long, narrow court,
open to the sky, whose sides are wholly
composed of carved supports and frames
set with countless tiny panes. Thirty old
women are in the charity. Sixteen are
housed here in thesixteen quaintest rooms
to be found in the British Isles The en-