Morning journal and courier., 1891-10-17

tournaments were held here. The old cit,
 walls were three miles long, nine feel
 thick, and were surrounded by thirty-twc
 lofty towers. The old-time Cross of Co.
 ventry gave the place a certain fame,
 Mary Queen of Scotts was for long time
 imprisoned here in the mayoress' parlor of
 St. Aary's Hall, still standing, though
 more than five hundred years old. All
 these, and countless more, things of ex-
 ceedlng interest develop and charm all
 pilgrims here, though the central figures
 which originally attract them all are radi-
 ant Godiva and rascally Peeping Tom.
 Ones first impressions of Coventry are
 disappointing From score of miles
 away Its beautiful spires are visible and
 are enchantingly 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 out
 lining the rather Lonesome and hedgeless
 adjacent highways. Entering the city
 from any direction, modern streets bor-
 dered with modern houses hint of a
 sponging out of all the old hooks and
 nests, and give foreboding sense of gain
 less quest. But once well into High street,
 to the right and left, in every direction
 and in interminable maze are narrow
 thoroughfares winding and interlacing in
 quaint and charming confusion. Godivas
 and Peeping Toms begin to smile and
 giower upon you from every niche, and
 window
 ] Up there to the right runs A narrow
 street. Your impulse leads you thither.
 Not an hundred yards more and down to
 your left opens one of the most character
 tul thoroughfares in Europe. It is Butch
 CTS 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 fringing ! a shadowy close, into which are huddled
 the churches of St. Michael's and Trinity. All about them is almost unrecorded age | in architecture. Half-timbered houses two, three, four and five centuries old.
 crowd around the place in all manner of angles and fantastic facades. At the cor
 ner Of Hay lane and Barley lane, just | where the fine old picture is mellowest as you look back upon the half yerdure coy-
 cred masses of angles and carvings, stands
 a three hundred year old inn, restored in
 its zigZag pattern of oak and mortar, black | and lavender paint and overhanging sto-
 ries, that the visitor may know how the old town looked when its builders had left thelr work spick-and-span in the glory of first completion.
 A little beyond its low, wide front. a
 mass of crumbling carving, stands one of the most interesting structures of former age in England. This is St. Mary's Hall. The other, to me, most fascinating spot in Coventry is Ford's hospital in Gray Friar's
 lane, an almshouse for old, old women.
 There are many, many other structures most rare and curious here; among them St. Michaers church, over which even A Hawthorne could be warmed into exclaim- ing: "So old, yet enduring; so hugs. so huge, so rich; with such intricate minute ness in its finish that, look as long as you
 will at it, you can always discover some thing new directly before your eyes: and that, of all English things I have seen. methinks the churches disappoint me least;" Trinity church with its pulpit ac- counted "the very finest in the kingdom" and Bonds hospital, a remarkable struc- ture, founded nearly four hundred years ago as home for aged men. But these two places are so perfect in their linking of an olden with the present day: pre- serve in themselves such striking pictures of remote and mellow past: and withal | present so fully and at & glance the very rime and mold of that which has held ail | English speaking lands to the pleasant pages from the golden age of English lite | rature; that one comes to them in their hale and sturdy age we turn with heart thrill and delight 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 HOO and 1425, IL is therefore nearly six hundred years old The an clent guilds of Coventry were famous for | their wealth and sumptuous hospitality. and this hall was the gathering place of | the united guilds. It stands entire just as | it was built. It is also remarkable as be ing one of the few places of public interest | to which strangers are admitted in Eng land where fee is not demanded or ex- pected. That alone makes one fond of the | splendid antique. Its entrance is opposite | St. Michaefs church The carvings. though crumbled badly, were originally | almost as rich ss those of Melrose Abbey. This arched way leads through a sumptu- ously decorated court over an open gallery | directly to the great hall of entertain | ment. In the other buildings upon which the coust opens are seen the arrangement | of ages in which the whole business of | festival 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 | octangular columns. 4 tremendous arch | vaults the coppers; and at each side is an | angel holding shield. The four chimneys are the largest of this kind now extant. | and have communicating arches. Adjoin- | ing the kitchen are the vaults in which | were stored records, treasure, wines and | ales. It is said that the kitchen and cellar or no King or potentate surpassed these in their day. They are in every particular now as they were used in the time of their early and splendid wassailry.
 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 six hundred years has found expression here; and more ex- traordinary than all else, each object or | design stands in its respective place just | as it left some masters hand Coventry | folk themselves have no adequate compre- | nension Of the mine of art wealth these | rotting walls contain I have the word of | famous London connoisseur that he had | out of personal curiosity, attempted a | careful valuation, but had given up in dis | coursgement after he had but fairly begun | and had reached the sum of two hundred | thousand pounds, or about one million | dollsrsi |
 Only a little way from St. Mary's Hall. down 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 | century. The entire front is covered with | the richest of wood carving. Three huge | and canopied gables project from the sec | ond 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 ses with count | less tiny panes. Thirty old women are in | the charity. Sixteen are housed here in | its sixteen quaintest rooms to be found in | the British Isles. The entire structure | stands precisely as it wAs built three hun dred and sixty-four years ago, and is Ah- | solutely untouched by innovation. The | sixteen housed hospitallers receive each per week four shillings, free washing and | physician's attendance, and annually two | tons of coal. They cook their own food, | and come and go at will. Those living | outside receive the allowance. and all are | given six shillings and eightpence per an nun for snuff. Potted flowers, loud tick ing clocks and purring cats are noticed in each room. The garden wall behind is part of the old city wall and is pierced for cannon Each hospitaller is allotted a separate bit of ground ten feet wide and | twenty feet long for garden" I was shown one upon which aged Mrs Noon was bestowing the night of her dim old life. It was a marvel of neatness and lux urisnce; filled with candy tuft, field corn flowers, a few rose-bushes, some mint and mignonette, several varieties of ferns and a wealth of AAron's rods with their gaudy yellow blooms.
 "Ah. yes P said Mrs R.fnboxv ths i,-sslr |