YEW YORK. 



141 



YEW (taxus laccata) ; an ever-green tree, be- 

 longing to the family or the pines, which is com- 

 mon in many parts of the north of Europe. The 

 foliage somewhat resembles that of the hemlock 

 spruce, except that the leaves are larger ; the 

 fruit, however, is not a cone, but a small red 

 berry, in the hollow part of the extremity of which 

 a green seed appears. The yew was formerly 

 extensively cultivated in Great Britain, and on 

 account of its gloomy and funereal aspect, was 

 usually planted in church-yards. The wood, 

 which is peculiarly hard, smooth, and tough, 

 was manufactured into bows; but, since the in- 

 troduction of fire-arms, the tree is no longer plant- 

 ed except ..for ornament. In the formal style of 

 gardening which was once prevalent, few trees 

 were more the subject of admiration, from its bear- 

 ing to be clipped, without injury, into almost any 

 form. Yews were cut into the shape of men, qua- 

 drupeds, birds, ships, &c. The wood is hard, beau- 

 tifully veined, and susceptible of a very high polish ; 

 hence it is valuable for veneering and other cabinet 

 work, and is in frequent use. From its hardness 

 and durability, it may be made into cogs for mill- 

 wheels, axletrees, and flood-gates, which scarcely 

 ever decay. The leaves are extremely poisonous, 

 both to men and cattle. 



A species of yew (T. Canadensis) is found in 

 Canada and the extreme northern parts of the Unit- 

 ed States. It is a low, prostrate shrub, commonly 

 culled the ground hemlock, and, indeed, is not dis- 

 tinguished by many from that tree. 



YEZDEGIRD, ERA OF. See Epoch. 



YNCA. See Inca. 



YONNE; a department of France, about seventy 

 miles in length, and from thirty to forty in breadth. 

 See Department. 



YORK ; an ancient city of England, the capital 

 of Yorkshire, is situated in the East Riding, on the 

 banks of the Ouse, 196 miles north-north-west from 

 London. The Romans established a station or set- 

 tlement here, which probably derived its name from 

 the river on the banks of which it was placed, 

 now the Ouse or Oose, but anciently the Oure or 

 Oore, a sound which seems evidently to be present 

 in Eb-or-acum, the Latinized form used by the Ro- 

 mans. The orac of Eboracum again is no doubt 

 the origin of the modern York. The Roman em- 

 perors who visited this country for the most part 

 took up their residence at York. Here the emperor 

 Severus died in the year 211, after having made 

 York his head-quarters during the three or four pre- 

 ceding years which he spent in the island. Three 

 remarkable mounts, a little west from the city, still 

 beai; the name of the Hills of Severus : and many 

 other remains that have been discovered in later 

 ages attest the Roman domination. After the es- 

 tablishment of the Saxon Heptarchy, York became 

 the capital of the kingdom of Northumberland. 

 Although, on the arrival of the Normans, this dis- 

 trict, like the rest of the kingdom, quietly submit- 

 ted in the first instance to the invaders, it was the 

 scene on which, soon afterwards, a struggle was 

 made by a powerful confederacy of Saxon lords and 

 their retainers to regain their independence. This 

 insurrection, however, was soon crushed by the ac- 

 tivity and energy of the conqueror, who, laying 

 siege to York, starved it into a surrender in six 

 months, and then, after his usual fashion, erected 

 a fortress in the close neighbourhood of the town, 

 to keep it for the future in awe. This was the 

 orig;n of the present castle, situated at the southern 



extremity of the city, in the angle formed by the 

 confluence of the two rivers. At a little distance 

 is a ruin called Clifford's Tower, which was the 

 keep of the old castle, and took its name from the 

 Cliffords, whom William appointed the first gover- 

 nors of that stronghold. In early times parliaments 

 were frequently held at York ; and in 1299, Ed- 

 ward I. even removed the courts of law from Lon- 

 don to this city, where they continued to sit for 

 seven years. 



The city of York stands in the midst of an ex- 

 tensive plain, the largest in Great Britain. View- 

 ed from the immediate neighbourhood, the pecu- 

 liarity which most strikes the eye is the ancient 

 wall by which it is encompassed, supposed to 

 have been built by Edward I., about 1280, on the 

 line of the old Roman fortification. This wall, 

 which had fallen greatly into decay, never having 

 recovered from the damage it sustained when the 

 city was besieged by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Ge- 

 neral Lesley, in 1644, has been lately repaired, and 

 a walk is now formed along the top of part of it, 

 which is a favourite resort of the inhabitants. 



The ancient gates of York are four in number, 

 namely, Micklegate Bar to the south-west, over the 

 entry from London ; Walmgate Bar to the south- 

 east, Monk Bar to the north-east, and Bootham 

 Bar to the north-west, facing the great road from 

 Scotland. All these structures are at least as old 

 as the thirteenth century ; and the inner arch of 

 the Micklegate Bar, which is a portion of a circle, 

 has been supposed to be of the Roman times. Be- 

 sides the four principal gates, there were formerly 

 also five posterns, or smaller and more private en- 

 trances ; but two of them, the Skeldergate and 

 Castlegate posterns, have, within these few years, 

 been taken down. 



The entire circuit of the walls of York is about 

 three miles and three-quarters, being somewhat less 

 than that of the walls of the city of London. The 

 space within, however, is much less densely occu- 

 pied by streets and houses than it is in London. 

 The streets of York used formerly to be for the 

 most part extremely narrow many of the houses 

 being built of wood, and, according to the common 

 fashion of that style of architecture, often over- 

 hanging the road below with their upper stories. 

 Many of these ancient edifices, however, have been 

 taken down of late years, and the principal streets 

 widened and otherwise improved. 



Among the most important of the recent altera- 

 tions and repairs which have taken place in York, 

 are to be reckoned those connected with the two 

 livers on the banks of which it stands. The Foss 

 has been changed from little better than a stagnant 

 ditch, into a clear and ornamental stream ; and the 

 navigation of the Ouse, which had been long ne- 

 glected, has also been greatly improved since the 

 commencement of the present century. New 

 bridges have likewise been thrown over both ri- 

 vers ; that over the Foss being a single arch, and 

 that over the Ouse consisting of three elliptical 

 arches, of which the centre one is seventy-five, and 

 each of the others sixty-five feet in span. The old 

 bridge which crossed the Foss, was erected about 

 the beginning of the fifteenth century, that of the 

 Ouse is supposed to have been built at the expense 

 of the archbishop Walter Grey, about the year 

 1235. It consisted of five pointed arches, as it 

 may be seen depicted in " Drake's Antiquities of 

 the city of York." The centre arch was supposed 

 to be the largest in Europe, with the exception of 



