formed the same as
Followeth. In the forenoone all householders were Commanded to keep in
their Families shutting their doores and windows close whilst the
Dutchess performed this good deed, which done she rode naked through the
midst of the Towne, without any other Coverture save only her hair. But
about the midst of the Citty her horse neighed, whereat one desirous to
see the strange Case lett downe a Window, and looked out, for which fact
or for that the Horse did neigh, as the cause thereof, Though all the
Towne were Franchised, yet horses were not toll-free to this day."[48]

The manuscript in which this passage occurs is copied from an older
manuscript which appears to have been compiled in the sixteenth
century. Unfortunately, however, the latter is imperfect, a leaf having
been torn out at this very point. We cannot, therefore, say with
certainty that the account of the famous ride was ever comprised in it.
But the expressions made use of imply that the windows were closed with
shutters rather than glass, and that they were opened by letting down
the shutters, which were either loose or affixed by a hinge to the
bottom sills. It is a question exactly at what period glass came into
general use for windows in the burgesses' houses at Coventry. Down
almost to the middle of the fifteenth century all glass was imported;
and consequently it was not so common in the midlands as near the coast,
especially the south-eastern coast. We shall probably be on the safe
side if we assume that in the early years of the sixteenth century, at
all events, the ordinary dwelling-house at Coventry was no longer
destitute of this luxury. It would seem, therefore, that the story, in
the form here given, cannot be later, and may be much earlier, than the
latter years of the fifteenth century.

Failing definite evidence to carry us back further, it becomes of
importance to inquire whether there are any traditions in other places
from which we may reason. In the "History of Gloucestershire," printed
by Samuel Rudder of Cirencester in 1779, we read that the parishioners
of St. Briavels, hard by the Forest of Dean, "have a custom of
distributing yearly upon Whitsunday, after divine service, pieces of
bread and cheese to the congregation at church, to defray the expenses
of which every householder in the parish pays a penny to the
churchwardens; and this is said to be for the privilege of cutting and
taking the wood in Hudnolls. The traditio