532 



COVENTRY 



COW-BIRD 



Sherbourne, and trev being ' town. ' It is certainly 

 a place of high antiquity. In 1043 Earl Leofric 

 and his wife, Lady Godiva, founded here a mag- 

 nificent Benedictine monastery. In memory of the 

 noble deed of Godiva (q.v. ), curious and splendid 

 processions were formerly held in Coventry. In 

 the 15th century religious mysteries or plays 

 were often acted here by the Grey Friars before 

 kings. Henry VIII. demolished the beautiful 

 cathedral of Coventry. Here occurred the famous 

 meeting for the intended trial by battle between 

 the Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford, immortalised 

 in Shakespeare's Richard II. Two memorable 

 parliaments were also held in the monastery of 

 Coventry in the loth century. The one contained 

 no lawyers, while the other passed attainders against 

 the Duke of York and others. In the loth, 16th, 

 and 17th centuries, Coventry was famous for 

 woollens, broadcloths, caps, and blue thread 

 bonnets. 'George Eliot' lived in Foleshill Road 

 during 1841-42. See local histories by T. Sharp 

 (Birm. 1871 ) and M. D. Harris ( 1898). 



Coventry, SIR JOHN, a staunch cavalier who 

 had sat in the Long Parliament (1640), and who 

 at the coronation of Charles II. was made a Knight 

 of the Bath. Elected for Wey mouth in 1667, he 

 asked, during a debate on playhouses (October 

 1670), a question which reflected on the king's 

 amours. Charles and his minions were furious, 

 and one December night Coventry was pulled 

 from his coach by Sir T. Sandys and other ruffians, 

 and his nose slit to the bone. Parliament took 

 notice of this atrocious outrage, and by its 'Coven- 

 try Act ' made cutting and maiming a capital 

 offence ; but they had not the courage to bring 

 the king's bravoes to trial. Coventry died in 1682. 



Coverdale. MILES, translator of the. Bible, was 

 born in Yorkshire in 1488. He made his studies 

 at Cambridge, was admitted priest at Norwich in 

 1514, when he joined the Austin Friars at Cam- 

 bridge, and probably imbibed his liking for the 

 new doctrines from Robert Barnes, who became 

 prior about 1523, and whose Protestantism led 

 to his being tried and ultimately burned in 1540. 

 Before long Coverdale went abroad. According 

 to Foxe he was at Hamburg with Tyndale in 

 1529. His own translation of the Bible appeared 

 in 1535, with a dedication by himself to Henry 

 VIII., and secured the royal license in the quarto 

 and folio editions of 1537. The Psalms or this 

 translation still form the psalter in the Book of 

 Common Prayer, and many of the finest phrases in 

 our authorised version of 1611 are directly due to 

 Coverdale. The original issue of the book is a 

 folio volume, ' faithfully and truly translated out 

 of Douche and Latyn into Englishe,' printed in 

 German black letter, in double columns, with 

 woodcuts and initials, and containing the Apocry- 

 pha. Its place of publication is very uncertain, 

 and attempts have even been made to degrade 

 Coverdale from its translator to a mere proof- 

 reader. In the prologue to his own second edition 

 (1550) he states that the translation was his own 

 work, although not at his own cost, and that it 

 was made ' out of five sundry interpreters,' most 

 likely the Vulgate, Luther's version, the Zurich or 

 German-Swiss Bible of 1531, and Tyndale's Penta- 

 teuch and New Testament. In 1538 Coverdale 

 was sent by Cromwell to Paris to superintend in 

 Regnault's press another English edition of the 

 Scriptures. Francis I. had granted a license, but 

 in spite of this, before the printing was finished, 

 an edict was issued prohibiting the work. Many 

 of the sheets were ourned, but the presses and 

 types were saved and hastily carried over to 

 London, whither also some of the workmen soon 

 came. Grafton and Whitchurch, the noted printers 



of that day, were thus enabled to bring out in 

 1539, under Coverdale's superintendence, the 'Great 

 Bible,' which was presented to Henry VIII. by 

 Cromwell. The second ' Great Bible,' known also 

 as ' Cranmer's Bible' (1540), was also edited by 

 Coverdale, who found it expedient to leave Eng- 

 land on the fall of his patron Cromwell. While 

 abroad he married, received the degree of D. D 

 from Tubingen, and acted as Lutheran pastor for 

 some years at Bergzabern, in Rhenish Bavaria. 

 In March 1548 he returned to England, was 

 well received through Cranmer's influence, and 

 in 1551 was made Bishop of Exeter, discharging 

 the duties with great diligence and zeal. On the 

 accession of Mary he was deprived of his see, 

 but was suffered to leave the country, at the 

 earnest intercession of the king of Denmark, 

 whose chaplain, Dr Macchabjeus ( MacAlpine ), was 

 Coverdale s brother-in-law. From Denmark he 

 passed to Wesel in Westphalia and to Geneva, 

 where he may have assisted in the preparation of 

 the famous Geneva version (1560), the favourite 

 Bible of the Puritans. Returning to England in 

 1559, he did not resume his bishopric, but was 

 made D.D. by Cambridge in 1563, and the follow- 

 ing year was collated by Grindal to the living of St 

 Magnus, near London Bridge, which he resigned 

 from growing Puritan scruples about the liturgy in 

 1566. He continued, however, to preach, but died 

 early in 1568, and was buried in St Bartholomew's 

 Church, and on its demolition in 1840 to make room 

 for the New Exchange, was reburied in the south 

 aisle of the church of St Magnus. The tercentenary 

 of his Bible the first complete English translation 

 of the Scriptures was celebrated October 4, 1835, 

 when medals were struck in honour of the vener- 

 able translator. Most of Coverdale's works, includ- 

 ing his letters, were edited for the Parker Society 

 by Rev. George Pearson (2 vols. 1844-46). See 

 Memorials of Myles Coverdale (1838), H. R. Tedder's 

 article in the Dictionary of National Biography 

 (vol. xii. 1887), and F. Fry's The Bible by Cover- 

 dale (1867). 



Covered-way is a space 1 1 yards wide in most 

 parts, outside the ditch of a fortress, between the 

 Counterscarp (q.v.) and the Glacis (q.v.). The 

 latter is arranged for musketry in the usual manner, 

 and gives cover to soldiers standing upon the 

 covered-way, which, being also protected from 

 enfilade fire by traverses, is convenient for sentries, 

 and for the passage of troops to the enlarged 

 portions, called places of arms, where they assemble 

 for making sorties. See FORTIFICATION. 



Covilhao, a town in the Portuguese province 

 of Beira, on an eastern spur of the Estrella Moun- 

 tains, with some manufactures of brown cloth, and 

 a pop. of 10,986. Pedro de Covilham (or Covilhao), 

 sent by the king of Portugal in 1486 to visit Prester 

 John's country, reached Calicut overland in 1487, 

 and Abyssinia in 1490. 



Covington, a city of Kentucky, U.S., on the 

 Ohio River, opposite Cincinnati, with which it 

 is connected by a fine suspension bridge. Many 

 of the inhabitants transact their business in Cin- 

 cinnati, but Covington is itself a thriving place, 

 with distilleries, as well as manufactures of glass- 

 ware, nails, and tobacco. Pop. (1830) 715; (1850) 

 9408; (1880) 29,720; (1890) 37,371; (1900)42,938. 



Cow. See CATTLE, DAIRY. 



Cowbane. See HEMLOCK. 



Cowberry. See WHORTLEBERRY. 



Cow-bird (Molothrus pecoris), also called Cow- 

 pen Bird, Cow Blackbird, &c., a native of North 

 America, nearly allied to the Troupials, remark- 

 able for its cuckoo-like habit of utilising the nests 

 of other birds for its own eggs. The latter are 



