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ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL.

ANCIENT AND MODERN YORK.

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"Thus shall mem'ry oft in dreams sublime,
Catch a glimpse of the days that are o'er;
Thus sighing look thro' the waves of time,
To the long faded glories they cover."

'Solitary ruins, sacred tombs, ye mouldering and silent walls, all hail! while the vulgar shrink from your aspect with secret terror my heart finds in the contemplation a thousand delicious sentiments, a thousand admirable recollections; pregnant, I may truly call you with useful lessons, with pathetic and irresistible advice to the man who knows how to consult you."

YORK owed its origin as a city, it may be stated pretty nearly as a certainty, to the Romans. Some have asserted that the honour of founding it, is to be ascribed to Ebraucus, the great grandson of Æneas, (who was himself the offspring of the goddess Venus!) and have ventured to fix as the date of its foundation an era, 983 years before Christ—that is, a period above a century and a half anterior to the building of Rome. The only basis for this idle story is the narrative of Geoffrey of Monmouth, bishop of St. Asaph, who wrote A.D. 1138, and whose history2000 years behind the events-has long since been exploded,* as being destitute of authority and inconsistent with known facts. Drake, it is true, cites it; but it is evident that he places no dependence upon its statements. Indeed, if we consider the degree of civilization that obtained in Britain at the Roman invasion by Cæsar, B.C. 55, it appears improbable that there was then a city upon the site of York. All the evidence of which we are

* Encyclopædia Britannica.

+ De Bello Gallico, lib. v. chap. 14.

in possession, goes to negative the supposition that cities flourished in any part of Britain previously to the Roman invasion. Cæsar informs us, that the inhabitants were unacquainted with the arts and laws of civilized life,— despised the institution of marriage,*-painted their bodies,-clothed themselves in skins,-lived upon flesh and milk of animals, and neglected tillage. He adds, that the Britons knew nothing of building with stone; but called that a city which had a wood defended by a ditch and a bank around it. Tacitus, the most accurate and faithful of historians, whose father-in-law spent a great portion of his life in this country, and, as we have reason to believe, founded the city of York, describes the Britons as a fierce and savage people, running wild in woods; and expressly mentions that Agricolaf instructed the natives how to build dwelling-houses, temples, and courts of justice. It will be admitted, that the ancient Germans were superior to the Gauls and the Britons. Now it would be taking a great deal for granted, if we assumed that cities were built by the Britons at this early period, if we find that the Germans built none. Tacitus says,‡ "the Germans have no regular cities, nor do they allow a continuity of houses." What then becomes of the romance that York flourished as a city before the time of Claudius Cæsar? Some stress is laid by Drake upon the fact, that the Britons called the place where York now stands, Kaer. But in the Gaelic, Kaer means a seat, as well as a city; and the expression might, and no doubt did, denote a fortification. It will be sufficient to show, with how much caution we should interpret such expressions, to mention, that the places taken by Cæsar are described in the Saxon Chronicle, as the chief towns of Britain! We

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. xxii. chap. 2; Martial uses the expression, CϾruleis Britannis; and Ovid, Viridesque Britannos.

+ Life of Agricola.

Manners of the Germans.

Vide, Dr. Cooke Taylor's Natural History of Society.

cannot, for all these reasons, hesitate to ascribe the foundation of York to the Romans-the polished conquerors of the world; for that they did build the city in a style of magnificence admits of no question:

York city first by Roman hands was formed,
With lofty towers and high built walls adorned,
It gave their leaders a secure repose;
Honour to th' empire, terror to their foes.*

Julius Cæsar never was in Yorkshire. The discoverer, not the conqueror of Britain he did no more than show it to posterity. In the year A.D. 49, the emperor Claudius Cæsar subdued the greater part of Britain, and overran the country of the Brigantes, extending from the Humber to the Tweed. Two years afterwards we find the Roman army in Yorkshire, and the queen of the Brigantes, Cartismandua, delivering up to them Caractacus. The following year Ostorius routed the Britons in Yorkshire and fixed a camp on Hatfield forest. Of so much importance was the conquest of the Brigantes, whose seat of government was certainly in Yorkshire, esteemed, that Seneca in paying a tribute to the memory of Claudius, thus pointedly alludes to them:

O'er Britons he the Roman septre swayed,
Him the Brigantes azure-armed obeyed;
The trembling ocean bows before his throne,
And the new empire distant waters own.

Passing over a space of thirty years, we find Julius Agricola, governor of Britain, fixed in the north; and, although we have no direct record that he founded this city, we think it certain that he did build, and that on a scale of grandeur, the city of York. The hostilities of the Caledonians obliged him to fix his residence in the north. No situation could have been more favourable to his purposes than this, "the richest, pleasantest, and

• From a Latin poem by Alcuin, a native of York, in the eight century. + Tacitus.

Tacitus described the Brigantes as the most considerable state in the whole province.

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most extensive valley in Britain, if not all Europe ;"* communicating with the mighty estuary of the Humber, affording what was of the utmost consequence to the Romans, safe anchorage;-statio bene fida carinis. Tacitus tells us, that Agricola, as well by public assistance as by warm exhortations, encouraged the natives to build temples, courts of justice, and commodious dwellinghouses." Now taking in connection with this, the fact, that the emperor Hadrian, in the year A.D. 134, took up his residence in York, there can be no difficulty in inferring that York was one of the places alluded to. We find it, soon after, the capital of the country, the chosen residence of emperors, honoured with the title of civitas, the word applied to Rome itself, and distinguished by a temple of BELLONA, built no where but in Rome or in the principal cities of the empire. The Roman soldiers were accomplished masons, being trained to use the pick-axe, spade, and trowel, as well as military arms. Rome at this time possessed some of the grandest works ever constructed by the hands of man; for example, the pantheon, the colosseum, the circus maximus, and the capitol; we cannot, therefore, doubt that York was built after the models at Rome, in a manner suitable to the dignity of its imperial tenants; and with Roman architecture, were introduced into York, Roman laws,† habits, and customs. The Romans called York, EBORACUM and CIVITAS BRIGANTIUM. The origin of the present name of the city has

* Drake.

+ The cities of the Roman provinces enjoyed considerable privileges, and possessed a distinct political existence. The ruling body, termed the Curia, was composed of Senators or Decurions, but besides the main corporation, each city contained various colleges, companies, or guilds, of traders and artificers; and if I were a Freemason, which I am not, I should perhaps be able to ascertain whether the "Lodge of Antiquity" at York, is, as the members of the craft pretend, a real scion from the Roman stock, subsisting through so many changes.---Palgrave. The famous Roman lawyer, Papianus, the chief minister of justice, under Geta, had his tribunal at York.---Brady on Parliaments.

The following are ancient names of the city of York: Eboracum, Civitas Brigantium, Eboracvm, Kaër-Ebravc, Cair-Effroc, Evor-wie, Efer-wic, Ceaster, Isvrovicvm, Altera-Roma, Victoria, Sexta, Civitas-Eboracum, Yure-wic, Yorke.

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