es were by no means simply religious emblems:
though their presence aimed at reminding worldlings of religion and
investing common acts of life with a religious significance, their
purposes were mainly practical. Proclamations were read from the steps and
tolls collected from the market-people: again, they served for open-air
pulpits, and often as distributing-places for some "dole" or charity
bequeathed to the poor of the town. A fountain was sometimes attached to
them, and the covered market-crosses, of which a few remain (Beverly,
Malmesbury and Salisbury), were merely covered spaces, surmounted with a
cross, for country people to rest in in the heat or the rain, and were
generally the property of some religious house in the neighborhood. They
were usually octagonal and richly groined, and if small when considered as
a shelter, were yet generally sufficient for their purpose, as most of the
market-squares were full of covered stalls, with tents, awnings or
umbrellas, as they are to this day. The crosses were sometimes only an
eight-sided shaft ornamented with niches and surmounted by a crucifix, and
very often, of whatever shape they were, they were built _in memoriam_ to
a dead relative by some rich merchant or landlord. As objects of beauty
they were unrivalled, and improved the look of a village-green as much as
that of a busy market.

[Illustration: STREET IN COVENTRY.]

But Coventry, as I have said before, is a growing as well as an ancient
city; and when places grow they must rival their neighbors in pleasure as
well as in business, which accounts for the yearly races, now established
nearly forty years, and each year growing more popular and successful. No
doubt the share of gentlemen's houses which falls to the lot of every
county-town in England has something to do with the brilliancy of these
local gatherings: every one in the neighborhood makes it a point to
patronize the local gayeties, to belong to the local military, to enter
horses, to give prizes, to attend balls; and if politics are never quite
forgotten, especially since the suffrage has been extended and the number
of voters to be conciliated so suddenly increased, this only adds to the
outer bustle and success of these social "field-days." Coventry has a
pretty flourishing watchmaking trade, besides its staple one of
ribbon-weaving; and indeed the whole county, villages included, is given
up to manufacture: the places round Warwick and Coventry to