in Ecclesiastical History, denotes the contract or convention agreed to by the Scotch in the year 1638, for maintaining their religion against innovation. In 1581 the General Assembly of Scotland drew up a confession of faith, or national covenant, condemning episcopal government, under the name of hierarchy. This covenant was signed by James I. and enjoined on all his subjects. It was again subscribed in 1590 and 1596. The subscription was renewed in 1638, and the subscribers engaged by oath to maintain religion in the same state in which it existed in 1580, and to reject all innovations introduced since that time. This oath annexed to the confession of faith received the name of the Covenant; as those who subscribed it were called Covenanters.

Solemn League and Covenant was established in the year 1643, and formed a bond of union between Scotland and England for the united preservation of the reformed religion in the Church of Scotland, and the extirpation of popery and prelacy. It was sworn and subscribed by many in both nations, approved by the parliament and assembly at Westminster, and ratified by the General Assembly of Scotland in 1645. King Charles I. disapproved of it when he surrendered himself to the Scottish army in 1646; but in 1650 Charles II. by a solemn oath declared his approbation both of this and of the national covenant; and in August the same year he made a further declaration at Dunfermline to the same purpose, which was also renewed on the occasion of his coronation at Scone in 1651. In the same year also the covenant was ratified by parliament, and subscription to it required from every member; it being declared that without such subscription the constitution of the parliament was null and void. It was afterwards renounced by Charles, and declared illegal, 14th Car. II. cap. 4.

Covenant, in Theology, is used analogically to designate the gracious engagement on the part of God to communicate certain unmerited favours to men in connection with a particular constitution or system through means of which these favours are to be enjoyed. Thus the Covenant of Grace indicates God's engagement to confer salvation on all who truly believe, and the Covenant of Works his engagement to bestow eternal happiness on all who perfectly obey. The Covenant of Redemption has reference to the engagement between the Father and the Son, whereby the Father secured a certain number of redeemed, and the Son engaged to be their surety.

COVENANTERS. See Britain, vol. v., p. 428, et seq.

COVENTRY, an ancient city and municipal and parliamentary borough of England, county of Warwick, 18 miles E.S.E. of Birmingham. By charter of Henry VI. it was with certain adjacent villages constituted a separate county; but an act of parliament in 1842 incorporated it with the county of Warwick. It takes its name (Conventre, i.e. convent town) from a priory founded there in 1044 by Earl Leofric and his wife Lady Godiva. The city stands on a gentle eminence, and is watered by the Sherbourne and the brook Radford, which unite within the town. The old streets are generally narrow and darkened by high houses on either side, but the modern parts of the town and suburbs are better planned. The principal buildings are the churches, the spires of which from a distance have a most imposing effect. The chief of these is St Michael's church, one of the finest specimens of lighter Gothic in England, with a beautiful steeple 303 feet in height. The Holy Trinity church is a cruciform structure in the later English style, with a steeple 237 feet high, and containing the tomb of P. Holland, the translator of Camden's Britannia and other works. St John's church is a plain cruciform edifice founded in the reign of Edward III.; and attached to Christ church is the spire of an ancient monastery. St Mary's hall is a venerable building of the fifteenth century, the principal room of which is 63 feet by 30, coveredale, with a grotesquely carved roof, and a great painted window facing the street. It is ornamented with portraits, inscriptions, coats of arms, and a curious piece of tapestry made in 1450, and measuring 30 feet by 10. A fine market cross 57 feet in height, with eighteen niches filled with statues, erected in 1554, was taken down in 1771. Among the other buildings may be mentioned the county hall, "mayor parlour," drapers' hall, jail, cavalry barracks. There are also a theatre, dispensary, mechanics' institute, public library, savings-bank, free grammar-school with five exhibitions three fellowships and one scholarship, several other schools, hospitals, and charities. Pop. (1851) 36,812. It returns two members to parliament, and is governed by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and thirty-six councillors. Registered electors (1851-2) 4502. Coventry was early celebrated for its manufactures. About the commencement of the fifteenth century woollen cloths, caps, and bonnets were considerable articles of trade, and woollens, broad cloths, and caps were its staple manufactures till the destruction of the Turkey trade near the close of the seventeenth century. In the early part of the sixteenth century it became famous for the manufacture of blue thread, called "Coventry true blue;" and during a part of the last century the manufacture of tammies, camlets, shalloon, and calimancoes was flourishing, but it now no longer exists. Its staple manufactures at present are silk, ribbons, and watches. According to the census of 1851, 9761 males were twenty years of age and upwards, and of these 1104 were watchmakers, 1233 in the silk, and 1895 in the ribbon manufacture. Coventry was in former times defended by walls and towers, but these were destroyed by Charles II. on account of the active part taken by the citizens in the parliamentary cause. Three gates and part of the walls still remain. The procession of Lady Godiva, who is said to have obtained important privileges to the city from her husband, Earl Leofric, by riding naked through the town, still takes place annually on Trinity Friday. "Peeping Tom" is said to have been an inquisitive tailor who was struck blind for looking out at her ladyship as she passed; and his effigy is still to be seen protruded from an upper window in High Street. The phrase "to send to Coventry" seems to have originated with military men who at one time were kept at a distance by the inhabitants.

COVERDALE, Miles, the celebrated translator of the Bible, was born in Yorkshire in 1487. He was educated at Cambridge in the House of the Augustine Friars, and after having been admitted into that order, was ordained priest at Norwich in 1514. On the promulgation of the reformed opinions at Cambridge, Coverdale was amongst the first to abandon his allegiance to the Church of Rome; and probably finding it unsafe to remain in England, he went abroad, and assisted Tyndale in translating the Bible. In 1535 he published his own translation, with a dedication to Henry VIII., who had now come to an irreparable breach with the Pope. This was the earliest translation of the whole Bible in the English language, and the Psalms in it are those which are now used in the Book of Common Prayer. (See Bible, vol. iv. 702.) With the sanction of the king, Coverdale went to Paris to superintend the publication of a new edition; but a decree of the inquisition broke up the printing-establishment, and consigned the volumes already finished to the flames. A few copies, however, having been sold as waste-paper, were preserved; and the presses, which were transported to England, were used in printing Cranmer's, or the Great Bible, under the superintendence of Coverdale. In 1551, Coverdale was appointed to the see of Exeter; and in consideration of his poverty the customary payment of first fruits was remitted to him. On the accession of Mary he was thrown into prison, and released only on condition of leaving his native country. Invited by his kinsman, the king's chaplain, he repaired for a time to the court of Denmark, but afterwards retired to Geneva, where he was associated with other English exiles in executing the *Geneva translation*. On his return to England after the death of Mary, he was not reinstated in his bishopric; and in 1563 he declined the see of Llandaff. He held for some time the rectory of St Magnus, London Bridge, but resigned it in 1566. The rest of his life was spent in translating from the works of the Continental reformers, and in the publication of tracts for the spread of the Reformation. The date of Coverdale's death is uncertain, but he was buried in the chancel of the church of St Bartholomew, Feb. 19, 1568. The third centenary of the publication of Coverdale's Bible was held Oct. 4, 1835.

**COVERIPAUK**, a town in the south of India, in the Carnatic, nine miles east of Arcot. At this place a victory was gained by the British over the French and their allies in 1752. E. Long. 79. 33.; N. Lat. 12. 64.

**COVERT**, in Law. *Femme Covert* or *Couverture* denotes a woman married, and so under the coverture or protection of her husband.

**Covert Way**, in *Fortification*, a space of five or six fathoms on the outer edge of the ditch, level with the adjacent country, and protected by a rising ground which has a gentle slope outwards, called the glacis. It is sometimes called the corridor.

**COVERTURE**, in Law. See **Covert**.

**COVIN**, a collusive or deceitful agreement between two or more to deceive or prejudice a third person. Thus, if a tenant for life conspire with another, that this other shall recover the land which the tenant holds in prejudice of him in reversion, this is covin. The word is probably derived from the Norman French *coven*, a secret place or meeting.

**COVING**, in *Building*, a term applied to an arch or arched projection, as when houses are built so as to project over the ground-plot, and the turned projection is arched with timber, lathed and plastered.

The covings of a fire-place are the vertical sides which connect the jambs with the breast.

**COVINUS**, a war-chariot used by the ancient Britons and Belgae, the spokes of which were armed with scythes. The Romans borrowed the word to designate a kind of close travelling carriage.