Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-10-20
WAKEMAN'S WwANDERINGS
a PEEP At ANCIENT COVENTRY.

nacity with which a single fact, belief or
legend from bygone times finds Judgment
in the minds Of men aud eventually be
comes a bulwark of local pride and power.
as well as a subject Of universal interest,
is nowhere 10 Britain more strikingly IL
Illustrated than in this ancient city Of Gov
entry.
Every well known Old World place has
its greater or lesser shining beacon of
splendid fact or myth to which the tourist,
like a mariner. directs his often tempestu-
Gus way. blarney has its stone Bel
fast its spinning mills and historic places
of riot. Old St. Ives and Banbury are dear
in nursery rhyme memory. York and
Canterbury are rich in cathedrals and lore
Of pilgrims. Salisbury was the Old
Sarum OF Britain. Bristol had its Chatter
ton. Grasmere and Bydal Mount knew
Wordsworth. and Keswick was the home
Of Southey and Coleridge. When Gad's
Hill is mentioned we see Dickens and his
wondrous brood Of tender creations. Var
mouth is simply where the ~"Peggottys"
dwelt. Newstead only recalls Byron. Alb
bottsford, Melrose and Dryburgh tell,
more than of all else, of Sir Walter Scott.
Naseby and Cullodeu mean the dethrone-
ment Of one king and the utter Obscura-
ton Of AZ heroic prince and his glorious
house. Gloucester recalls the origin Of the
Sunday school. keuilw0rth reveals the
r~evelries OF Elizabeth. Rugby suggests
everything wholesome and good Go school
boy life. One sees Boo The mere words DUN
fries or Aver rhe radiant face of Bobby
Burns. The name Augur.m d-iscioses the
entire tragedy of the Irish nations over
throw Strltl1rd 70 the mind is but an
other word for Shakespeare. And Coveu-
try has for 500 years meant. and Will for
ever solely suggest, Lady Godiva and
Peepinc Tom.
Matthew. Of WesJminster. who d0urishel
about l30O-l0, first set down the episode as
sober history, but failed 20 make a place
for "Peeping Tom"
Every one has fingered with Infinite
charm upon the continued tale Of how
Then she rode forth clothed on with chastity;
And one low churl. compact Of thankless earth.
The fatal byvord OF an years % come,
Boring q little anger hole in fear,
P~eeped-but his eyes before they had their
viii,
Were shriverd into darkness in his head.
And dropt before him. 50 the Powers, who
wait
On noble deeds. cancel a sense misused.
How or when this zone low churl, compact
Of thaukless EARTH" was first made the
hateful antithesis Of Lady Godiva's noble
sacrifice, or why the honest vocation Of "a
tailor was called upon 70 supply a culprit,
no man can tell. But sure it is that
"Peeping Tom" whose pseudonym will
continue for all time as type Of eXecrable
and insuferable inquisitiveness, was none
other than a tailor, and hat all these ter
rible things happened 70 him in Coventry.
Worse fate than all other 70 Peeping Tom
were his appalling remaining efhgies. They
are countless here in Coventry-in stone,
in wood, in delft, in porcelain, in wax;
while the very ~schoolboys are eternally
testing new ~jackknives upon grOtesque
limitations Of the repulsive object. The
thing leers at you from inches above an
Gent buildings; seems TO crane its lecher-
Gus head from the c~ornices Of new and old
hotels. shows its horselike teeth from
among shop window trihes, aud haunts
and pursues you until you are startled 10
see its lineaments reproduced in the faces
Of tramps and beldames in shadowy quar-
ters Of the musty old town.
II this luckless wight has been merely a
popular embodiment Of evil as opposed 10
good, Lady Godiva certainly existed in the
flesh. She is a historic character Of au-
thentic certilcation. She was sister TO
ThoFold, Sheriff Of Lincolnshire, and wife
Of Leofric, Earlof Mercia, a prime ~favorite
Of Edward the COnfessor, in his time at
the head Of various state transactions.
Both history and tradition unite in honor
ing Lady Godiva with the possession Of
unusual piety, goodness and beauty. The
devout pair certainly founded here a great
monastery for Benedictine monks, which
attained enormous wealth aud splendor,
suffered strange vicissitudes, passed into
silence and decay, and massive vestiges Of
It's remains are still seen on the banks Of
the river here. Leofric died at Bromley,
5taffordshire, but was buried in one porch
Of the monastery at Coventry, while his
wife, who at her death gave "a rich chain
Of precious tones 70 be put around the
Eeck Of the blessed Virgins image, so that
those who came Of devotion hither would
say as many prayers as there were gems
within, - was given burial IN the other. II
is also ~incontesuibly true that the citizens
Of Coventry, when Leofric's vassals, did
receive, through Lady Godiva's efforts with
her grim warrior husband, some sort Of
manumission from servile tenure. as not
only ancient records prove, but rs was also
clearly evidenced by the memorial window
which stood in the south transept Of Trim
ity Church up to the Fifteenth century, and
contained a picture Of Lady Godiva and
Earl Leofric, the latter holding In his right
hand a charter bearing the following in
scription:
l. Lorich. for love Of thee
Doe make Coventer t~ol-free.
This muc for history and historical ira
dition. Literature and art, sometimes
more powerful and incisive than history,
have done the rest. Coventry is not a very
large city, containing barely 5000 inhabit-
ants, but some Of its quarters are very
ancient and picturesque. The wonderful
spires Of its churches, especially Of Trinity
and St. Michael's, the latter being 500 feet
IN height, have given the place q certain
lama Then In the old days Of the monas-
teries Coventry was noted for its pilgrim
ages from France. Later parliaments were
hsld within H. The pageants Of kings and
qusem 70 ths piow city have eqnaled the
mOet splendid professions a. ancient Gam
terbury- Great jonsts and tournaments
were held here The old city walls were
three miles long, nine feet thick and were
6urmOunted By ~thirtytwo lofty towers.
Thsold time Cross OF Coventry was former.
ly also very noted Mary Queen OF Scots
was for a long time imprisoned here In the
mayoress' parlor Of Guild or St. Mary's
Hall. still standing though nearly oO0years
- Al 49, ~ rmuralaaa mora rhfuua