YORE TOWN, 
165 
tdde; he then thought it time to retire,, hut 
the house was still continually fired at* as if 
it had been head quarters. The walls and 
roof are pierced in innumerable places* and at 
one corner a large piece of the wall is torn 
away; in this state* however* it is still in¬ 
habited in one room by some person or other 
equally fanciful as the old secretary. There 
are trenches thrown up round it* and on every 
side are deep hollows made by the bombs 
that fell near it. Till within a year or two 
the broken shells themselves remained; but 
the New England men that traded to York 
finding they would sell well as old iron* dug 
them up* and carried them away in their ships. 
The banks of the river* where the town 
stands* are high and inaccessible* excepting in 
a few places ; the principal part of the town 
is built on the top of them * a few fishing 
huts -and storehouses merely stand at the bot¬ 
tom, A cave is shewn here in the banks* 
described by the people as having been the 
place of head-quarters during the siege* after 
the cannonade of the enemy became warm ; 
but in reality it was formed and hung with 
green baize for a lady* either the wife or ac¬ 
quaintance of an officer* who was terrified with 
the idea of remaining in the town* and died of 
fright after her removal down to the cave. 
Twelve miles from York* to the westward* 
