COVENANTERS, a body of strict Presbyterians who held out against the breach of the Solemn League and Covenant.

COVENT GARDEN, properly Convent Garden, as originally the garden of Westminster Abbey, the great fruit, flower, and vegetable market of London; is one of the sights of London early on a summer morning.

COVENTRY (55), a town in Warwickshire, 181/2 m.  SE. of Birmingham; famous for the manufacture of ribbons and watches, and recently the chief seat of the manufacture of bicycles and tricycles; in the old streets are some quaint old houses; there are some very fine churches and a number of charitable institutions.

COVENTRY, SIR JOHN, a member of the Long Parliament; when, as a member of Parliament in Charles II.’s reign, he made reflections on the profligate conduct of the king, he was set upon by bullies, who slit his nose to the bone; a deed which led to the passing of the Coventry Act, which makes cutting and maiming a capital offence (1640-1682).

COVERDALE, MILES, translator of the English Bible, born in Yorkshire; his translation was the first issued under royal sanction, being dedicated to Henry VIII.; done at the instance of Thomas Cromwell, and brought out in 1535, and executed with a view to secure the favour of the authorities in Church and State, displaying a timid hesitancy unworthy of a manly faith in the truth; both he and his translation nevertheless were subjected to persecution, 2500 copies of the latter, printed in Paris, having been seized by the Inquisition and committed to the flames (1487-1568).

COVERLEY, SIR ROGER DE, member of the club under whose auspices the Spectator is professedly edited; represents an English squire of Queen Anne’s reign.

COWELL, JOHN, an English lawyer, author of “Institutes of the Laws of England” and of a law dictionary burnt by the common hangman for matter in it derogatory to the royal authority; d. 1611.

COWEN, FREDERICK HYMEN, a popular English composer, born in Kingston, Jamaica; his works consist of symphonies, cantatas, oratories, as well as songs, duets, &c.; is conductor of the Manchester Subscription Concerts in succession to Sir Charles Halle; b. 1852.

COWES, a watering-place in the N. of the Isle of Wight, separated by the estuary of Medina into E. and W.; engaged in yacht-building, and the head-quarters of the Royal Yacht Club.

COWLEY, ABRAHAM, poet and essayist, born in London; a contemporary of Milton, whom he at one time outshone, but has now fallen into neglect; he was an ardent royalist, and catered to the taste of the court, which, however, brought him no preferment at the Restoration; he was a master of prose, and specially excelled in letter-writing; he does not seem to have added much to the literature of England, except as an essayist, and in this capacity has been placed at the head of those who cultivated that clear, easy, and natural style which culminated in Addison (1618-1667).