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Rh and Salisbury were. Before this, an earlier Henry, then Duke of Hereford, and the Duke of Norfolk met here "in angry parlance," to decide a quarrel by the old wager of battle. Mary Queen of Scots passed some of her prison months here in 1566. Coventry sided with Parliament in the conflict with Charles I, and would have done it even if the people of the town had already commenced making ribbons for the Court. They were chastised, like Birmingham, for this preference and participation by Charles II, who destroyed the walls of the city, which had stood since the time of Edward II. The pageants and mystery plays exhibited here have from time to time attracted sight-seers from a distance, and frequently royal spectators. The Godiva procession was instituted in 1677, and has always rivalled the London Lord Mayor's Show as an elaborate and gorgeous fantasy, and even exceeded that unique exhibition in having a female divinity as aerial looking as possible, instead of the solid corporeity of a London alderman new-blown into the blushing honours of civic dignity.

The manufactures which most distinguish Coventry are ribbon weaving, and watch and clock making. It is perhaps more especially known for the first, than for any other business. Still, the manufacture of ribbons is comparatively of recent introduction, dating back only to 1730. This trade