TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 139 



the brown burly breed of the West Riding, is more Norwegian in character. He 

 probably selects the Swedes as the purest or most typical of the Scandinavian 

 nations. For my own part, I am disposed to treat the first as Norwegian more 

 than ^Vnglian, the second as Anglian rather than Norse, and Norse rather than 

 British. The tall fair type engrosses most of the beauty of the north, having 

 often an oval face, with a fine straight profile nearly appro.aching the Greek, as 

 Knox and Barnard Davis, two close observers, have both remarked. And it is 

 markworthy that it reappears in force almost everywhere in Britain where Norse 

 blood abounds, e.g. in Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, in the upper class of the 

 Hebrideans, in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lonsdale, about Lincoln (where 

 Professor Phillips also noted it) .and the Vale of Trent, and about the towns of 

 Waterford and Wexford. The second type, on the other hand, much resembles a 

 prevailing form in Staftbrdshire, a very Anglian county. A notable point about it 

 is the frequency of eyes of a neutral undecided tint, between light and darlc, green, 

 brown, and grey, the hair being comparatively light. The third is of more doubtful 

 and of more manifold origin. Iberian, Britokeltic, Roman, Breton, Frenchman, 

 may all or any of them have contributed to its prevalence. I am inclined to think, 

 though on rather slender grounds, that it is common in some of the districts de- 

 populated by the Conqueror. Professor Phillips speaks of its smaller proportions ; 

 but it includes many robust men. It is probably far from well representing the 

 Brigantian type, which seems to me to have influenced the other types, but rarely 

 to crop out at all purely. 



The breadth of the head is on the average somewhat greater in Yorkshire iJian 

 in other parts of Britain ; so we are informed by the hatters. In this the natives 

 of Yorkshire agree with those of Denmark and Norway, who have rather broader 

 heads than those of Sweden and Friesland. 



I have already spoken of the colours of the eyes and hair. The latter is on the 

 whole lighter in Yorkshire than in most parts of England ; but dull rather than 

 bright shades prevail. In the east, at Whitby, Bridlington, and Beverley, in Tees- 

 dale and Middle Airedale, light hair is particularly abundant ; in Craven, as might 

 have been expected, it is less so : other parts of the county are not so well known 

 to me ; and in this matter I have to trust to my own observation. 



As to the stature and bulk of the people, however, I have much and accurate 

 information, through the kindness of numerous obser\'ers, some of them of repute 

 as naturalists. These are Mr. Atkinson of Danby, Mr. Tudor of Kirkdale, Dr. 

 Wright of Melton, Dr. Christy of the North Riding Asylum, Drs. Kelburne King 

 and Casson of Hull, Mr. Ellerton of Middlesborough, Mr. Wood of Richmond, Mr. 

 Kaye of Beutham, Mr. Edy of Grassington, Dr. Paley of Ripon, Dr. Ingham of 

 Haworth, Messrs. Armitage of Famley, Dr. Wood of Kirkby Overblow, Dr. Aveling 

 and Mr. Short of Sheffield, Mr. M ilner, late of Wakefield Prison, and a clergyman 

 on the Wolds, whom the prejudices or fears of his parishioners will not allow me 

 to name. "A Yorkshireman," complained this last gentleman, " is a difficult animal 

 to catch and weigh and measiu:e ;" but a very large niunber of them have been 

 subjected to these processes by my obliging con-espondents. The general result is 

 that in the rural districts they are remarkably tall and stalwart, though not, except 

 in parts of the west, so heavy as their apparent size would indicate — but that in the 

 towns, and especially in Sheffield, they are rapidly degenerating ; and I conclude 

 from the Haworth report that the same is the case in the manufacturing villages. 

 In many of the rural districts the average ranges between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 9 inches, 

 and about Richmond and on the Bentham Fells is considerably higher ; while at 

 Sheffield, and even at Haworth, it may hardly reach 5 feet inches. The causes 

 of this great degeneration are manifold : some of them may easily be traced ; but 

 either the will or the power to remedy the evil is wanting. 



Of the moral and intellectual endowments of Yorkshiremeu, it may perhaps 

 appear presumptuous or invidious to speak ; but the subject is too interesting to be 

 passed by in silence, and I will endeavour to treat it without either " extenuating, 

 or setting down aught in malice." In few parts of Britain does there exist a more 

 clearly marked moral type. To that of the Irish it has hardly anv affinity ; but 

 the Scotchman and the Southern Englishman alike recognize the difl'erences which 

 distinguish the Yorkshire character from their own, but are not so apt to appre- 



