THE LADY GODIVA PROCESSION.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 60, 27 August 1877, Page 2

THE LADY GODIVA PROCESSION.

•. After the lapse of seven years the i Lady Godiva procession at Coventry wa,s ; revived on June 4th, and thp. streets were crowded with excursionists and others to the number of abou,t 1)3)000, The corporation, a,s formerly,, dijd np,t support the procession, but len,t pa.rt of the city armoury and banners. Describing the scene, the "European M ail"- says, .—On , the chief personage, as a matter of course, the chief interest fixe* itself ;. and on this opeasion, she was represented' by "-a lady from thp establishment of Messrs. Sanger, of Astley's Amphitheatre." Shortly after twelve the head of the cortege came into view, headed by two burly mounted constables.. Bphind them, came, two heralds ip tabards, with trumpets, with bannerets, attached, which, trumpets they did not play, bu,t perhaps it is : better to give the order cf the procession, and to follow it with such.remprks as.ijtsuggestec 7 , as panorama-like, it passed, After the heralds came the '-'city guard," ten men-at-arms, who looked as if thpy wp»ld not have deteriorated by a, month's, drill in, the local militia, disguised in iron with the helms of Cromwell's Ironsides, and; bearing altogether a very warlike- ap« pearance. Next came, an elephant with, impertinent trunk and great curiousshaped flop ears, followed by a,you,pg,one, who was toned down and did not cast his proboscis about ; and in the. wake of these zoological giants trotted 1 three camels harnessed; tandem toa huge oar carrying the.bandofEdmund's Managerie, which, was lately Womb-well's. St. George, armpdi cap-arpip, followed, the explanation of his. presence being that he spent hjs you,th, somewhere, in the fourth century, ip Coventry. After him came ".followers." Thp " followers" were, personated, by children, elegantly dressed, and so, frpsh, fair, pleased, apd, pretty did the look that if therefore apy lingering prejudice against the Godiva, pageapt they 6urely mup.t have r,empved, it. Banners in abudapce \y,ere. in.thp.lpng .cavalcade, banners so, mppy t^at pnp

could not follow tbem, but all wr.ro sumptuous, and somo so fresh in their colours that they must havo been pew. Behind St. George and his attendant, a knight in the white robe with red cross of the Templars, rode or walked the representatives ot the Licensed Victuallers' Protection Association, John Barleycorn, witb rubicund cheeks and flowing tresses, the Veluntapr Fire Brigade, many of them on horseback, and their engine bright and speckloss as Captain Shaw could demand, and an admirably got-up fire king standing over them, and behind, the Oddfellows, Druids, United Patriots, and Foresters. Tho Foresters wprp very imposing and there were representatives on horseback in exact attire of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Will Scarlet, little John, and Friar Tuck. The companies of the City followed, the Dyers conspicuous hy a section of " followers" in vivid verdigris green, glistening with gold. Thp yeomanry and volunteer bands , with a party of fireman in brass helmets and on horsebapk, surrounded Godiya— • the cynosure o,f every glance. Seated on i a cream-coloured horse, caparisoned with a spangled white cloth and bearing a scarlet and white plume oa her head, " the lady" bore herself gently and meekly as if she really might havp acted the great part that is handed down by tradition. Gopiva was succeeded by a train of per%i sonages, great in rank or intellect, such as the Black Prince, Richard IL, Henry IV., nnd the Muff monarch " Hal," with Elizabeth in h°r ruff, and Mary of Scots i in her coif, Will Shakespere (wha waa received with cheers), and plump, Jack Falslaff, and with many gaps and solutions of continuity, the wind»up of the cavalcade, arrived in the shape of a grand pastoral grouping on a car drswn by four horses, ridden by postillions in ; saffron tpifying the lifp and lahours of Arcadia. But that it was somewhat ' straggling, the procession was moat s creditable ; and, except for those who > will discover indelicacy in the statue of » Eve at the Fountain or of the Greek '' Slave, there was nothing that might be *■ considered improper by the most austere. ' I n»w« minim niiiiiiiiiiiii.il