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YALDEN, Thomas, an English divine and poet, was born at Exeter in 1671, and was educated at Oxford. In 1707 lie became D.D., and in 1713 succeeded Dr. Atterbury as preacher of Bridewell hospital. He was arrested for complicity in Atterbury's plot, but nothing was discovered against him, and he was released. He was the author of several poems, amongst which his "Hymn to Darkness" and "Hymn to Light" are considered to be the best. He died, July 16, 1736.—F.
YARRELL, William, a distinguished English naturalist, was born on the 3rd of June, 1784, in Duke Street, St. James'. He was educated at Dr. Nicholas' school at Ealing. In 1802 he became a clerk in Herries, Farquhar, & Co.'s banking house, but soon left it to join a cousin in a newspaper agency business which had been carried on by their fathers, and which on the death of his cousin in 1850 became entirely his. Throughout a long life he combined a prudent attention to business with an enjoyment of field sports and the cultivation of science. His devotion to, and skill in the use of the gun and rod were doubtless the first link in the chain of circumstances which led to the publication of the "History of British Birds" and the "History of British Fishes," works which will live as long as zoology holds a place amongst the studies of Englishmen. For years he was employed in accumulating facts and observations on birds and fishes; but it was not until 1825 that he published in the second volume of the Zoological Journal his first paper on "The Occurrence of some rare British Birds." In the same year he obtained the fellowship of the Linnæan Society, and in 1827 communicated to them a paper on the "Tracheæ of Birds," and to the Royal Society one "On the change of Plumage in some hen Pheasants," which appears in the Philosophical Transactions. He undertook the editorship of the Zoological Journal, and he published numerous memoirs and papers in the Linnæan Transactions, Proceedings, and Journal; in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Zoological Society; in the Reports of the British Association; in the Zoological Journal; the Annals and Magazine of Natural History; in the Philosophical Magazine; in the Entomological Magazine; and in the Zoologist. He was one of the original members of the Zoological Society, of which he was at one time secretary, and several times vice-president. He was treasurer of the Entomological Society, and from the year 1849 treasurer and vice-president of the Linnæan Society. The "History of British Fishes" was completed in 1836, the "History of British Birds" in 1843. A second edition of the former was published in 1841, a third edition of the latter in 1856. The collections on which he founded these works were purchased after his death for the British Museum. The success of these two works was so great, that the author received from Mr. Van Voorst the publisher more than £4000 for them. He died in September, 1856, at Great Yarmouth, whither he had accompanied a friend on an excursion, and was buried at Bayford in Hertfordshire. A list of his various papers will be found in the Bibliographia Zoologiæ et Geologiæ of the Ray Society.—F. C. W.
YORCK VON WARTENBERG, Count, a Prussian general and field-marshal, was born at Königsberg in 1759, and in 1772 entered the Prussian army, which, on account of a duel, he was obliged to quit for the Dutch service. He returned from Java in 1784, and again obtained a commission under the king of Prussia. The wars with Napoleon gave him opportunities of distinction which he did not neglect. In 1807 he had risen to the rank of major-general. It was his painful duty in 1812 to command the contingent placed under the French Marshal Macdonald for the service of Napoleon, and on the 30th December in that year he agreed to a convention at Taurogen with Wittgenstein the Russian commander, and freed himself from the unnatural alliance. He was soon enabled to employ his talents against the French oppressors of his country, and was engaged in many of the battles of the memorable campaigns of 1813-14-15. The loss of his son at this time affected him so deeply that he went into retirement. He died at his estate in Silesia on the 4th of October, 1830.—R. H.
YORK, House of: The title of Duke of York has never been conferred except on a son, uncle, or brother of the reigning monarch. The first duke of York was Edward Plantagenet, surnamed De Langley, from the place of his birth, who was the fifth son of Edward II., and was created Earl of Cambridge by his father in 1362, and was afterwards, in 1385, made Duke of York by his nephew, Richard II. He was a nobleman of great abilities, and attained the highest reputation both in the cabinet and the field. He strove earnestly, but in vain, to sustain his weak and worthless nephew Richard upon the throne, and on the accession of Henry IV. retired to his seat at Langley, where he died in 1402. Shakspeare has put into the mouth of this duke his striking description of the entry into London of the discrowned King Richard and Bolingbroke. The duke married Isabel, daughter and co-heir of Peter, king of Castile and Leon, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward, second duke of York, who had been created Duke of Aumerle in 1397, but was deprived of this dukedom by the first parliament of Henry IV., though he was suffered to retain his earldom of Rutland (see Shakspeare's Richard II., Act v.) He too was an eminent warrior, and fell at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. As he left no issue, the dukedom of York devolved upon his nephew, Richard Plantagenet, earl of Cambridge, who became one of the most powerful subjects in the kingdom, and ultimately laid claim to the throne. His pretensions were founded on his descent through his mother from Lionel, duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III., whose granddaughter she was, while the reigning monarch, Henry VI., was descended from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward. The duke's claim to the crown, which gave rise to the devastating wars of the Roses, was first asserted about 1450, after the rebellion of Jack Cade. Hostilities between the adherents of the red and white roses began in 1455, and for many years deluged England with blood. The claims of the duke of York were supported by the earl of Warwick, the famous "king-maker," and by other powerful nobles; and the victories gained by them at St. Albans (May, 1455), and Northampton (July, 1459), put them in possession of the person of King Henry, and seemed to have secured the crown to the duke. But the tide speedily turned, and on the 30th December, 1460, the Yorkists were defeated by Queen Margaret in the bloody battle of Wakefield, and York himself was slain. His titles and estates were inherited by his eldest son, Edward, fourth duke, who ascended the throne as Edward IV. in March the following year. The title of duke of York, was next conferred upon Richard Plantagenet, the second son of that king, who was murdered in the Tower along with his elder brother, Edward V., in 1483. It was subsequently borne by Henry Tudor, second son of Henry VII., who was created Duke of York in 1491, and who on the death of his elder brother, Arthur, in 1503, became Prince of Wales, and ascended the throne as Henry VIII. in 1509; by Charles Stewart, second son of James I., upon whom it was conferred in 1604, and who became Duke of Cornwall on the death of his elder brother Henry in 1612, was created Prince of Wales in 1616, and succeeded to the crown as Charles I. in 1625; by James Stewart, second son of Charles I., upon whom it was conferred in 1643, and who ascended the throne as James II. In
