industry belongs to the past; but the manufacture of kid and other gloves is largely carried on. Yeovil, which lost 117 houses by fire in 1449, is a borough by prescription, since 1853 under the Municipal Act. Pop. (1861) 7957; (1891) 9648. Yesso. See YEZO.

Yetholm, a Border village of Roxburghshire, at the foot of the Cheviots, 7 miles SE. of Kelso. Bowmont Water divides it into Town-Yetholm and Kirk-Yetholm, the latter long the headquarters of the Scottish Gypsies, who seem to have settled here as early at least as the 17th century, and whose last queen,' Esther Faa Blythe (1797-1883), was visited here by Borrow and C. G. Leland. Pop. (1841) 944; (1891) 590. See works by Dr W. Baird (1862), Lucas (1882), and Brockie (1884).

Yew (Taxus), a genus of the natural order Taxaceae (generally regarded as a sub-order of Conifera), characterised by solitary and terminal fertile flowers, with a solitary ovule sessile in the centre of a fleshy disc, forming a sort of drupe when in fruit. The genus Taxus is distinguished by a solitary terminal seed, surrounded by a succu lent cup. The species are diffused over the whole northern parts of the world, and are large and beautiful evergreen trees, with narrow lanceolate or linear leaves. The Common Yew (T. baccata),

Branch of Yew (Taxus baccata).

a tree of 30 to 40 feet, and a trunk sometimes of great thickness, branching a few feet above the ground, and forming a large and dense head, is a native of the middle and south of Europe and of Siberia. Noble specimens of it are to be seen in many parts of Britain. It attains a great age, at least 300 or 400 years: for one in Darley Dale churchyard, Derbyshire, an age is claimed of 'as much as three thousand years,' this tree being 33 feet in girth; and an equal longevity is ascribed to the Fortingal Yew, near Aberfeldy, in Perthshire, which is now a mere wreck, but in Pennant's day (1772) girthed 56 feet. The wood has been much used from very early times for making bows, for which it is preferred to every other kind of wood. It is very hard, and reckoned almost equal to boxwood for fine work. Like the box, it occupies an important place in the old topiary' style of landscape gardening, being clipped into dragons, peacocks, and the like, and forming close, trim hedges. The heart-wood is of an orange-red or deep-brown colour. The fruit is red, and was long reputed poisonous, but the pulpy part is not so; the seed, however, is a dangerous poison. The leaves

are a powerful narcotic, and are sometimes given as a vermifuge. The Irish Yew (T. fastigiata of Lindley; T. hibernica of Hooker) is by many supposed to be a mere variety of the common species, with upright fastigiate habit, but it differs also in having the leaves scattered, whilst those of the common yew are in two rows. The North American Yew (T. canadensis) is of a humbler growth. The name Japan Yew is sometimes given to the nearly allied Podocarpus macrophyllus. Other species of Podocarpus are natives of the warmer parts of Asia, of Chili, Australia, &c. P. nucifer is a lofty tree of the northern provinces of Japan and mountains of Nepal, from the seed of which a culinary oil is extracted. To the order or suborder Taxaceæ belong also the genus Salisburia (see GINGKO), the genus Dacrydium (q.v.), and Phyllocladis, a genus in which the foliage, as in Salisburia, has a remarkable resemblance to the fronds of ferns.

Yezd, or YAZD, a city near the centre of Persia, on a comparatively small oasis, beyond which is salt and sandy desert bounded by mountains. It is on the route between Ispahan and Kerman, has trade in sugar, silks, opium, felt, copper, and arms. Pop. 40,000, of whom some 2000 or 3000 are Guebres or Parsees (q.v.) in faith, and are now said to be well treated both by the authorities and inhabitants.

miscellaneous manufactures and a considerable

Yezidis, a Kurdish people. See KURDISTAN.

Yezo, or Ezo, less correctly YESSO, the most northerly of the four great islands of Japan, is in size about equal to Ireland, and is still only partially settled. Its official name is Hokkaido, or 'Circuit of the Northern Sea,' received in 1870, when it was brought under a special colonisation department. An agricultural mission from the United States assisted in founding model-farms, laying out roads, and building bridges. The capital was changed from Matsumae to Sapporo, which was provided with a railroad to Otam, its port, and to Poronai, the great coal district inland. An agricultural college, breweries, canning factories, beetroot sugar factories, &c. were established, but with inconsiderable results. The coal-mines are worked by convict labour. A system of military settlements has of late years been put into force, partly with the view of furnishing a militia against possible invasion from Russia, which is supposed to covet the fine harbours of Yezo. The exposed port of Otam will probably be soon abandoned for the more sheltered harbour of Mororan, on Volcano Bay, now a naval harbour, to which a railway from Poronai mines has been built. The principal products of Yezo are coal, seaweed, sulphur, fish, the catches of salmon on the river Ishikari being sometimes enormous. The fauna and flora of Yezo differ materially from those of the main island, the bear being a different species resembling the grizzly. There are no monkeys; a species of grouse is found. The deer, once very plentiful, are now comparatively scarce. The Yezo pony, originally from Nambu on the main island, is hardy, and foreign blood has been introduced, promising good results. The original inhabitants of Yezo were probably pit-dwellers, of whom distinct traces have been found at Sapporo, Nemuro, and elsewhere. After these came Ainos (q.v.) or Ainus, whose principal settlement is at Piratori, 50 miles east of Mororan. The bear-festival, in September, is the great event of their year. The Ainos number 15,000, a population either stationary or decreasing; they are harmless, lazy, and drunken. The southern corner of the island was wrested from them in the 16th century, and the castle of Matsumae, in the extreme southwest, became in the next century the headquarters of Japanese rule. At the restoration in 1868 the

YGGDRASIL

YORK

779

Yggdrasil. See SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY. According to Vigfusson and Powell (Corpus Poeticum Boreale, 1883), Yggdrasil is not a primitive Scandinavian idea, but originating after the contact with Christianity, and so a corruption of the

cross.

Yiddish. See HEBREW, SLANG (p. 496). Yilgarn. See WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Yoga, a system of Hindu philosophy (see SANSKRIT, Vol. IX. p. 153). Yogin is a follower of that system, but in popular acceptation a term generally denoting a Hindu ascetic or devotee.

The

Yokohama (pop. 130,000) is the chief port of entry in Japan, and the headquarters of foreign shipping companies, banks, consulates, and commerce generally. Until the opening of the country in 1854 it was an insignificant fishing village, contiguous to the important town of Kanagawa, originally granted as a treaty__settlement. obstructions offered by the Japanese and the impatience of foreign merchants led to the practical abandonment of Kanagawa, which, however, still remained nominally the seat of the various consulates. Yokohama is a poorly laid-out town with narrow winding streets. The Bluff, however, conceded for residence in 1867, is a beautiful spot, commanding fine views of Fuji-san and of Yoko hama Bay. The bay is very beautiful, and, though only an open roadstead, affords a good and commodious anchorage, not only to extensive mercantile shipping, but also to the naval squadrons of Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and other powers. Work on a large harbour was begun in 1889, the main object of which is to prevent the gradual silting up of the anchorage; it will be enclosed by two breakwaters 1 mile long, and an iron pier, 1900 feet long, will be connected with the railway to the capital, 17 miles off. Yokohama is a centre for tourists visiting Japan. The foreign community here is the largest in the country. After the Chinese, British residents, chiefly merchants and brokers, bulk most largely. There is a vigorous export trade in silk, tea, rice, and curios. The entire foreign trade of Yokohama aggregated £12,163,000 in 1890, and £13,087,000 in 1891-exports £8,257,000, and imports £4,830,000. Silk represents three-fifths of the exports, the rest being other tissues, tea, copper, &c.; the imports are cottons and woollens, raw sugar, oils, metals, chemicals, arms and ammunition, watches, &c.

Yonge, CHARLOTTE MARY, a popular novelist, and an author of considerable range and versatility, the only daughter of W. C. Yonge, of Otterbourne, Hants, was born in 1823. She gained a large constituency of readers by her Heir of Redclyffe (1853) and its successors, and her industry may be judged from the fact that within forty-four years (1848-92) she had published at least 112 volumes, or almost three annually, besides works translated and edited, and the editorship of the Monthly Packet. Her novels are natural, show dramatic skill and literary grace, and inculcate a healthy morality; many of them are made the vehicle of High Church

Yonkers, a city of New York, on the Hudson River, opposite the Palisades, and 15 miles by rail N. by E. of the Grand Central Depôt of New York. It manufactures silk, hats, machinery, mowers, elevators, &c., and, with its numerous villas, is rapidly becoming a suburb of the metropolis, whose northern boundary touches it. Pop. (1880) 18,892; (1890) 32,033.

Yonne, a department in the north-east of France surrounded by the departments of Seine-etMarne, Aube, Côte-d'Or, Nièvre, and Loiret. Area, 2868 sq. m.; pop. (1886) 355,364; (1891) 344,688. The department is watered by the river Yonne, which flows across it in a north-east direction. The surface is hilly, many of the hills being covered with fruitful vineyards, the intervening valleys being beautiful and fertile. There are some fine forests in the department. The vineyards yield large quantities of wine, the best being those of Chablis, Auxerre, and Tonnerre. The chief mineral products are red granite, marble, limestone, and ochre; and there are some miscellaneous manufactures. Its arrondissements are Auxerre, Avallon, Joigny, Sens, Tonnerre; the capital is Auxerre.

York, the county town of Yorkshire, is situated at the confluence of the river Foss with the Ouse, 188 miles N. of London by rail. It is the seat of an archbishopric, the centre of the northern military district, and returns two members to parlia ment. The population of the municipal borough in 1881 was 61,789, and in 1891 (now a county borough') 66,984. The city, together with the surrounding district called the Ainsty, is under the jurisdiction of a lord mayor, twelve aldermen, and thirty-six councillors. York was known as Eboracum under the Romans, of whom many relics still remain, chief among them being the building known as the multangular tower. The numerous sepulchral monuments, pavements, and other relics now preserved in the museum were mainly found in the extensive Roman cemetery discovered in digging the foundations of the railway station. From the time of Henry II. for five hundred years parliaments occasionally sat at York, as the name of Parliament Street still bears witness, while under Henry III. the courts of King's Bench and Exchequer were held here.

The Minster is among the most magnificent of English cathedrals, and is of especial architectural interest owing to the fact of the fabric-rolls having been preserved, so that we know the precise dates at which the various portions were erected. Early in the 7th century Edwin, the first Christian king of Northumbria, founded, on the site of the present Minster, a church which perished by fire in 741. The church was rebuilt, but, during the conflagration of the city at the time of the Norman invasion, was again destroyed, with the exception of the central wall of the existing crypt, which also contains portions of the Norman church erected by Archbishop Roger (1154-81). Early in the following century the beautiful Early English transepts were added by Archbishop Gray. The present nave was built between 1291 and 1345; the graceful

Decorated Chapter-house (q.v.) between 1300 and 1330; and the Norman choir was replaced by a Perpendicular one, 1373-1400. The central lantern tower belongs to the beginning of the 15th century, and the two western towers were added between 1430 and 1470. In 1829 the roof and carved choirstalls perished in an incendiary fire, and in 1840 another fire destroyed the roof of the nave and the splendid peal of bells, reducing the south-western tower to a mere shell. Especially worthy of notice is the Decorated stained glass, the great east window being almost unrivalled. The extreme

York Minster.

length of the Minster is 524 feet, of the transepts 250, and the breadth of the nave is 140 feet, the height of the central tower is 216, and of the western ones 201 feet.

The Benedictine Abbey of St Mary possessed great wealth and importance. It was founded in the reign of Rufus, but was largely rebuilt towards the end of the 13th century. In 1132 a small body of the monks, wishing to adopt the stricter Cistercian rule, seceded in spite of violent opposition, and finally founded the great Abbey of Fountains (q.v.). The existing ruins are principally those of the beautiful abbey church, while the old Guesthouse has now been appropriated as a storehouse for Roman and other antiquities. At the Reformation York contained forty-one parish churches, of which twenty-two now remain, several new ones having been added. There is a fine Roman Catholic pro-cathedral (1864). The present walls, 2 miles in circuit, are mainly of the time of Edward III., though in many parts they follow the line of the Roman earthwork. They are pierced by picturesque gates, locally called Bars, of which Bootham Bar and Micklegate Bar are especially well preserved. The castle, with its picturesque Clifford's Tower, is situated close to the river, and is believed to date from the time of Edward I., though older portions may be included in the structure, which suffered severely during the siege of 1644. The Assize Courts are now held in a portion of the

building. The fine Gothic structure of the Guildhall belongs to the 15th century.

There are several endowed schools: St Peter's School, under the government of the Chapter, founded in 1557; Archbishop Holgate's Free School, dating from the time of Henry VIII.; the Blue-coat School for boys, the Grey-coat for girls, and the Yorkshire School for the Blind. Among other institutions may be enumerated the County Hospital, the Dispensary, and the Lunatic Asylum. York is an important railway centre, and its station (1873-77) is one of the

largest in England. The British Association was organised at York in 1831, and its jubilee meeting was appropriately held there in 1881. For other events in the history of the city, see YORKSHIRE.

York, the capital of York county, Pennsylvania, on Codorus Creek, 28 miles by rail SSE. of Harrisburg. It has a large granite court-house, a handsome collegiate institute, numerous churches, and several foundries, car-factories, railwayshops, planing-mills, and manufactories of shoes, condensed milk, &c. York, which is a pleasant town, dates from 1741, and was the seat of the Continental congress for a time in 1777. Pop. (1880) 13,940; (1890) 20,793.

York, a river of Virginia, formed by the union of the Pamunkey and Mattapony, flowing south-east to Chesapeake Bay, nearly opposite Cape Charles. It is 40 miles long, and from 1 to 3 miles wide.

York, THE DUKEDOM OF, has been frequently conferred by the king of England on his second son. Edward III. bestowed it on his fourth son Edmund, who founded that House of York which formed the one side during the Wars of the Roses (see ROSES, WARWICK, and Sir J. Ramsay's Lancaster and York, 1892), and which in the persons of Edward IV., Edward V., and Richard III. occupied the throne of England. Henry VIII. and Charles I. were dukes of York while their elder brothers were alive; James II. till his accession. The Old Pretender conferred the dignity on his son, afterwards Cardinal York (see STEWART, p. 726). George I. honoured with this title his brother Ernest Augustus, prince-bishop of the secularised see of Osnabrück (d. 1728); and in 1760 the rank fell to Edward Augustus (1739-67), George III.'s brother. George III. gave it to his second son, Frederick Augustus, prince-bishop of Osnabrück (1763-1827), who showed his military incapacity in command of an expedition to the Netherlands against the French in 1793, and again in 1799, having in 1795 been made commander-in-chief of the British army. He had to resign that post because of the shameful traffic in military appointments carried on by his mistress, Mrs Clarke, but was reinstated (1811). The title was next in abeyance till May 1892, when the dukedom was conferred on Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert, second son of the Prince of Wales, who by the death of his elder brother the Duke of Clarence and Avondale in January of the same year had become heir to the crown of England. Born at Marlborough House on 3d June 1865, Prince George was trained as a naval officer; and his brother's and his own diaries of their cruise on

YORK

H.M.S. Bacchante (1879-82) were published in 1885. He was appointed to the command of the Thrush in 1890, and in 1891 became a commander. York, CARDINAL. See STEWART, p. 726. Yorke, Philip, EARL OF HARDWICKE (16901764), rose through all the legal dignities till in 1737 he became Lord Chancellor. He supported Walpole, and held office under the Duke of New castle. His name is associated with the Marriage Act of 1754 which put an end to Fleet marriages (see FLEET PRISON).

Yorkshire is by far the largest of the English counties. It is bounded on the E. by the sea, separated on the N. by the river Tees from the county palatine of Durham, divided mainly from Westmorland and Lancashire by the waterparting of the Pennine chain on the W., and bounded on the S. by Derbyshire and Notts, while the Humber separates it from Lincolnshire. The western boundaries of the county were not fixed till the erection of the Earldom of Lancaster in the reign of Henry III., in Domesday Book the northern part of Lancashire and portions of Westmorland and Cumberland being included in the West Riding. For administrative purposes Yorkshire is divided into three Ridings (thridings, or 'thirds), each of which has its own lordlieutenant, magistracy, and constabulary. There are eleven wapentakes in the North Riding, nine in the West Riding, and six in the East Riding. The wapentake of the Ainsty, or county of the city of York, is a peculiar, under a jurisdiction of its own, that of the lord mayor and aldermen of York; but it is included in each of the three Ridings for certain specific purposes. Sundry subdivisions of the county go by the name of shires, as Hallamshire, Richmondshire, Allertonshire, Howdenshire, Cravenshire or Craven, Holderness, and Cleveland. The county contains three cities, York, Ripon, and Wakefield, 19 municipal boroughs, 59 market-towns, and 1639 parishes and townships separately rated for the poor. The total area is 3,882,851 statute acres, or nearly 6067 sq. m., all, with the exception of the catchment basins of the Esk and parts of those of the Tees and Ribble, being drained by the Ouse and its great tributaries, the Swale, the Ure, the Nidd, the Wharfe, the Aire, the Don, and the Derwent. Since 1885 the county divisions have returned twenty-six members, and the cities and boroughs the same number. Pop. (1801) 859,133; (1841) 1,592,059; (1881) 2,886,564; (1891) 3,208,813, of whom 399,412 were in the East Riding, 368,237 in the North, and 2,441,164 in the West Riding.

In Yorkshire the older rocks lie mainly to the north-west, and the newer to the south-east. On the extreme western border of the county are found the most ancient strata-viz. the slates and flags of Hougill Fells and Ingleton. These are overlaid by the mountain-limestone and the millstone grits of the Pennine chain, which are intersected by the magnificent dislocation of the great Craven fault,' to which is due some of the most striking scenery in Yorkshire. The lift varies between 300 and 3000 feet, causing the precipitous cliffs of Gordale, Malham, Settle, and Ingleborough, which are honeycombed by extensive caves. The Pennine chain rises to its highest point in Mickle Fell, 2581 feet, while Ingleborough and Whernside touch respectively 2361 and 2384 feet. On the eastern side of the chain are the famous Yorkshire dales,' Wensleydale, Wharfedale, Swaledale, and others, in many of which are picturesque waterfalls, or forces, as they are locally called-such as Caldron Snout and High Force in Teesdale, or Aysgarth Force and Hardraw Force on the Ure, where the rapid mountain-streams leap

over ledges formed by the harder strata of the mountain-limestone. The Yorkshire coal-measures, on which are situated the manufacturing towns of Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Rotherham, Hudders

field, and Halifax, are confined to the southern portion of the county, and are continuous with the coalfields of Derbyshire and Notts. In the North Riding we have a great development of the Lias, in which are imbedded the ammonites well known to visitors at Whitby; while the Cleveland moors, which rise to heights of 1400 feet, are dissected by a great trap dyke running from west to east, which is extensively quarried at various points for roadmetal. The prosperity of Middlesborough is due to the celebrated hematite iron ores of Cleveland, which have been extensively worked of late years. In the East Riding the Oolitic beds are overlaid by the Kimmeridge Clay and by the Chalk, which forms the high tableland of the Wolds, while the greater part of Holderness is covered by a thick superficial stratum of glacial drift and alluvium. The rich level tract of the Vale of York also consists of glacial and alluvial deposits, thickly overlying and concealing the New Red Sandstone.

The sepulchral barrows on the Wolds, and the caves of Craven and Kirkdale have yielded results of the highest importance, forming the basis of our knowledge of the prehistoric animals and races of Yorkshire. At the time of the Roman conquest the country was inhabited by the Celtic tribe of the Brigantes, or hillmen,' whose capital was at Boroughbridge (Isurium), where gigantic monoliths still bear witness to their rule. The country was invaded by the Romans about 50 A.D., more than a century after Caesar's landing in Kent, the conquest being completed in the reign of Vespasian, by Agricola, c. 79 A.D. York (Eboracum) is first mentioned as being the headquarters of the Sixth Legion, which came into Britain with Hadrian, and for 300 years remained stationed at York, which became the chief city of Northern Britain, the surrounding country being studded with camps and covered with a network of Roman roads. Several of the emperors visited York, and here in 211 died Severus, and in 306 Constantius Chlorus. And from York his son Constantine the Great, having been proclaimed by the soldiery, set forth to assume the purple. In 410, in consequence of the Vandal invasion of Gaul, the legions were withdrawn by Honorius, and for 150 years utter darkness closes in, and envelops the overthrow of the Brito-Roman civilisation, and the establishment of the Teutonic kingdoms. earthen ramparts, thrown up to hinder the march of the invaders, may still be traced. In 500 A.D. St Samson of Dol, we are told, was driven from his bishopric of York, and in the middle of the 6th century (547) we find that the heathen Angles had established their rule, although the little British kingdoms of Leeds (Loidis) and Elmet held out till 616, when they were conquered by King Edwin of Northumbria, the Yorkshire portion of whose realm was known as Deira. Edwin, who had been baptised by Paulinus on Easter Day, 627, was defeated and slain at Hatfield Chase near Doncaster in 633, by Penda, the heathen king of Mercia. Toward the end of the 8th century the Northmen began to appear in the Humber, ravaging and finally settling in the country; while York became the capital of a Danish kingdom.

The

In 1066, three weeks before the battle of Hastings, Harold and Earl Morkere issued from York to vanquish the Norwegian army at Stamford Bridge. It was not until 1068 that William marched into Northumbria, and on the suppression of the final struggle for independence in the following year a broad belt of country underwent that ruthless devastation of which we find notable

traces in Domesday Book. Henceforth Yorkshire is known by its modern name.

At the battle of the Standard, fought near Northallerton, David, king of Scotland, was repulsed in 1138 by the northern barons. During the Wars of the Roses, Richard, Duke of York, was defeated by Queen Margaret and slain at the battle of Wakefield, in 1460; and in the next year Edward IV. won the bloody victory of Towton over Henry VI. The year 1536 is signalised by the rebellion in defence of the old faith, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace; York, Pontefract, and Hull being captured by the insurgents. In 1569 Yorkshire was the scene of another rising on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots. During the Civil War the county was mainly royalist. Bradford, Hull, Pontefract, and Scarborough were besieged, and the attempt of the royalists to raise the siege of York was frustrated by their crushing defeat at Marston Moor (July 2, 1644).

No part of England is richer in the remains of monastic houses, of which there were at the dissolution fifty-three abbeys and priories and twenty-eight friaries. The beautiful buildings of Rievaulx, Jervaulx, Fountains, Kirkstall, and Bylands are unequalled among the Cistercian houses not only of England, but of Europe. The three great Benedictine houses were Whitby, Selby, and St Mary's, York, the two latter being ruled over by mitred abbots. The magnificent pile which goes by the name of Beverley Minster was the church of a college of secular canons, as also were York Minster and Ripon Cathedral. Newburgh, Nostel, Bridlington, Guisborough, Bolton, and Kirkham were all Augustinian priories. The Priory of Mount Grace was Carthusian, Easby Abbey was Premonstratensian, and Malton Priory Gilbertine. Lastingham, where there is an ancient Saxon crypt, possesses great interest as being the seat of the early Irish Christianity introduced into Yorkshire by St Chad; while in the ancient crosses and inscriptions at Kirkdale church we have some of the oldest ecclesiastical remains in England. Among the Yorkshire castles may be named those of Knaresborough and Pontefract, the old and interesting ruin of Conisborough, Richmond, with its fine Norman keep, Middleham, the resi dence of Warwick the king-maker, and Bolton, the prison of Mary Queen of Scots. Wressle Castle was once the seat of the Percies, and Gilling, which is still used as a residence, of the Fairfaxes.

Since the beginning of the 19th century the manufactures of Yorkshire have enormously developed. Leeds and Bradford are the centres of the woollen and worsted trades, while the cutlery of Sheffield is unrivalled. Of the numerous smelting and puddling furnaces the chief are those at Rotherham and Middlesborough. The agricultural portions of the county are well served by railways, while the manufacturing districts are covered with a network of lines; the chief towns being also connected by a system of canals, extending from sea to sea, and piercing the Pennine chain, at a height of 656 feet above the sea, by a tunnel three miles in length. Beyond the mining and manufacturing districts the population is agricultural, one of the principal industries being horse-breeding, for which Yorkshire is famous. Among the inland healthresorts Harrogate and Ilkley rank first, while the coast southward from Redcar and Saltburn is fringed with small watering-places, in addition to the larger towns of Whitby, Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington, Withernsea, and Hornsea.

Allen's History of Yorkshire and Baines's Yorkshire Past and Present are the only general histories, but are inadequate in scale and execution. Certain districts have been well treated, Poulson's Holderness and Hunter's Hallamshire and South Yorkshire deserving special com

mendation; Drake's Eboracum, Ormsby's Diocesan History, Lawton's Collections, Dixon's Fasti Eboracences, and Phillip's Geology of Yorkshire may be consulted, together with many less important works enumerated in Anderson's English Topography. See DIALECT; Rev. C. F. Morris, Yorkshire Folk-talk (1892), &c.

Yorkshire College. See LEEDS.

Yorktown, capital of York county, Virginia, on the York River, 10 miles from its mouth. Pop. 250. Here Lord Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in 1781; and here the Confederates, who had fortified the place, were besieged in 1862 by McClellan, and compelled to evacuate it.

York von Wartenburg, HANS DAVID LUDWIG (1759-1830), Prussian field-marshal and count, was the son of a Pomeranian, Captain von York (or Jarck), descended, according to the family tradition, from an English family that had settled during the Stewart troubles first in Sweden and then in Pomerania. Young York entered the army in 1772, was cashiered for insubordination, and served the Dutch in the East Indies, but returning to the Prussian service gained glory in the wars of 1794, 1806, and 1812. tinguished during the war of liberation and the He was especially disinvasion of France (1813-14). Ennobled in 1814, he was made a field-marshal in 1821.

Yoruba, or YARRIBA, a country of Guinea, West Africa, lying to the north-east of Dahomey, and between the British colony of Lagos and the Niger Company's territories. Its area is not perfectly definite; the population, some 2,000,000, are Soudanese Negroes, partly Mohammedanised.

Yosem'ité Valley is a cleft in the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, about the centre of California, and 140 miles E. of San Francisco. The name Yosemite is an Indian word which signifies large grizzly bear.' This celebrated valley, noted for the sublimity and beauty of its scenery, is about 6 miles long and from to nearly 2 miles in breadth, and is traversed by the Merced River. The visitor is awed and impressed by the massiveness of its mountain elevations, the nearly perpendicular granite walls, from 3000 to 6000 feet high, by which it is shut in throughout its entire length, and the grandeur of its waterfalls, which are in some respects the most remarkable in the world. At the lower end of the valley stands the striking cliff known as El Capitan, 3300 feet high, while from near its lower corner the Virgin's Tears Fall descends 1000 feet. But the eye turns from it to the remarkable fall opposite, happily named the Bridal Veil, which leaps from the brow of a cliff 900 feet high, and descends in a broad sheet of spray and finally mist, swaying in the wind and constantly changing its form of fleecy beauty. Farther up the valley are Cathedral Rock (2660 feet), the Three Brothers (3830), Sentinel Rock (3043), and directly opposite it the grand Yosemite Falls; here the stream, 25 feet wide at the crest, takes a first leap of 1500 feet, then rushes 626 feet down in a series of cascades, and finally plunges 400 feet to the bottom. Above the falls are the North Dome (3568) and the vast Half Dome, nearly a mile (4737) high, whose summit can now be reached by a long climb. Two miles above the great falls the stream enters the main valley in two arms, coming out of two cañons. In that of the south fork is the Illilouet Fall, some 600 feet high; in the main cañon are Vernal Fall (400) and Nevada Fall (600), the latter one of the finest in the world. It is only, however, during the season of rains and melting snows that the valley can be seen at its best; in August and September the Virgin's Tears Fall disappears, the Bridal Veil shrinks almost to nothing, and even the Yosemite is reduced to comparative insignifi