COVENTRY, THOMAS COVENTRY, 1ST BARON lord keeper of England, entered Balliol college, Ox ford, in 1592, and was admitted at the Inner Temple in 1594. He became recorder of London in 1616. Returned to parliament for Droitwich in 1621, he became attorney-general, and in 1625 lord keeper of the great seal. It thus fell to him to deliver to the Com mons the famous reprimand of March 29, 1626, in which the king declared that parliament had "liberty of counsel" but not "liberty of control." Coventry was raised to the peerage in 1628. At the opening of parliament in that year he threatened the use of the royal prerogative if the Commons withheld supplies. On the whole, however, he showed moderation in presenting the king's policy ; but he was better as a judge than as a statesman, and in the Star Chamber he prevented many illegal and tyrannical practices. He must be remembered, for instance, for having prevented the hang ing of men for resistance to the pressgangs, pointing out that the men were not under martial law until they were actually enlisted. Coventry died on Jan. 14, 1640.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-S. R. Gardiner, History of England 1603-1642, 10 Bibliography.-S. R. Gardiner, History of England 1603-1642, 10 vol. (1883-84) ; Earl of Clarendon, History of the Rebellion, vol. i. (6 vol. ed. W. Dunn Macray, 1888) .