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OF this Bishoprick may be observed, that which hapned (I think) to no other in all Queen Elizabeths raigne, that from the first yeere of her entrance (what time she made them all new) she never after gave this Bishoprick, but once, and
that was to Doctor William Overton, the one and twentieth yeer of her reigne, he being then of good yeeres; so as one may probably conjecture, that he honoured his parents well, because he had the blessing promised to such, viz. that his daies have been long in the Land. I can make no speciall relation concerning him, but the generall speech as I have heard travelling through the Countrey, which is not to be contemned; for, Vox populi, vox dei est. Two speciall things are commended in him, which very few few Bishops are praised for in this age: One, that he keepeth good hospitality for the poore; the other, that he keepeth his house in good reparation. Both which I have seldome heard a married Bishop commended for; and I will be bold to adde this further, that if they would doe both those, I think no man would take exceptions either for their marriage or bigamy. The Churches also are very well kept; and for those of Coventry, they are (of Parish Churches) the fairest I have seen, though (as I partly noted before) they have had sometimes another kind of superintendency, for the Bishops keepe most at Lichfield.
The pavement of Coventry Church is almost all Tombstones, and some very ancient; but there came in a zealous fel∣low with a counterfeit commission, that for avoyding of superstition, hath not left one penny-worth, nor one penny∣bredth of brasse upon the Tombes, of all the inscriptions, which had been many, and costly.
Further I note this, that whereas in Bishop Langtons time there were many Parks belonging to the Sea, in which the Prince committed some disorder in the time of Edward the first, now it is much altered, for he hath not past one, the rest being perhaps turned to pastures, and the Deere into tamer beasts.