*COVENTRY, (Warwickshire) almost in the middle of the Km. 74 cm. 90 mm. from London, join'd with Litchfield, is a Bpk. and had formerly the honour of being such itself. Here was a rich convent, destroyed by the Danes, in 1016, from whence the city is supposed to have its name. It was rebuilt by Leofric Earl of Mercia, who seems to have been the first Ld. of this city, as his lady was its best benefactor; for there is a tradition firmly believed here, that her husband having heavily taxed the citizens, for some offence they had given him, this good lady, viz. Godiva, the daughter of Thorold, a sheriff of Lincolnshire, earnestly importuned him to remit them, and to free the citizens from all servile tenures; but could not prevail on him, unless she would consent to ride naked through the most frequented part of the city, a condition which he was sure her modesty would never comply with; but, in compassion to the city, the tradition says, that, after having ordered all the doors and windows to be shut, upon pain of death, she rode thro' the streets on horseback, naked, with her loose hair about her, which was so long, that it covered all her body, but her legs. We read in Camden, that no body looked after her; yet 'tis said elsewhere, that a poor taylor would needs be peeping, and that thereupon he was struck blind. Be this as it will, his figure is put up in the same window, of the high-street, to this day; and there is a yearly procession thro' the T. on the F. after Trinity-Sunday, which is one of its Fairs, with the figure of a naked woman on horseback. In Edward the Confessor's time this city was in the possession of the Earls of Chester, who gave a great part of it to the monks. It was afterwards annexed to the Earldom of Cornwal. Edw. III. granted it a mayor and 2 bailiffs; and Hen. VI. having laid several Ts. and villages to it, granted, by his charter, that the city, with 191 adjacent villages, should be an entire Co. incorporated by itself, distinct from the Co. of Warwick; and that the bailiffs of the said city should be sheriffs of the city of the Co. for ever: and now the citizens began to flourish, and to inclose the city with walls. Edw. IV. for its disloyalty, took the sword from the mayor, and disfranchised the city; which redeemed its charters, on payment of 500 marks; and he was so well reconciled, that in 4 years after he kept St. George's feast here, and stood godfather to the mayor's child. K. Jimes I. granted it a charter by which 10 ald. were to preside over 10 wards. After the restoration of Cha. II. the walls, which were 3 m. in com. with 26 towers, were demolished, and only the gates left standing, which were 12, and are very noble and beautiful. The Prince of Wales has a large park and domain here, but very ill kept, the park being used for horse-races. A Pt. was held here in the R. of Hen. IV. called Parliamentum indoctorum, or the unlearned Parliament, because the lawyers were excluded; and another in the R. of Hen. VI. called Parliamentum Diabolicum, or the Devil's Parliament, from the attainders of the D. of York, of the Earls of Salisbury, Warwick, and March, and their adherents. In the R. of Hen. VIII. a stately cross was erected in the middle of its spacious Mt.-place, by a legacy of Sir Will. Hollis, lord-mayor of London, and one of the ancestors of the late D. of Newcastle, which is 60 feet high, and adorned with the statues of most of our Ks. as big as the life. The city, which had formerly many religious houses, is large, populous, and rich, but the buildings generally old. Though it has but 3 p. Chs. it has 4 steeples, there being at the S. end of the T. a tall spire by itself, the only remains of a Ch. that bel. to a mon. of grey-friars. St. Michael's has a stone spire, of excellent workmanship, 300 feet high, which, 'tis said, was more than 22 years building. There are 2 or 3 meeting-houses here of Protestant Dissenters. The windows of the town-house are of painted-glass, representing some of the old Ks. Earls, &c. who have been benefactors to the city. Besides the sheriffs and ald. here are a recorder, steward, coroner, 2 chamberlains, 2 wardens, and other officers. It had a considerable mf. of cloth and caps, which is much decayed; its chief mf. now being tammeys, and weaving the ordinary sort of ribbons, especially black. Here is a fr. sc. (with a good library) founded by John Hales, Esq; with the name of K. Hen. VIII's school, a ch. sc. and an hos. This city gave title of Earl, in the R. of K. Ja. I. to G. Villiers D. of Buckingham; whose son dying without issue, the title of Earl, together with that of Visf. Deerhurst, was conferred, by K. William, on Tho. Ld. Coventry of Alesbury, with limitations thereof to the Ld. William, the present Earl. The Mt. here is on W. and F. Fairs on April 1, Easter-Th. August 16, Corpus-Christi-day, Oct. 3 and 21, besides a fortnight from F. in Whitsun-Week. The water of the r. Sherburn, on which this city stands, is peculiar for its blue dye. The roads to the T. are kept well paved for a m. round.