Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/818

790 YORKE YORKSHIRE common a duel with Col. Lennox, afterward duke of Richmond, who challenged him be- cause he refused to retract or explain words uttered in the house ; the bullet of Col. Len- nox grazed his hair, and he then fired in the air. In 1791 he went to Prussia, and on Dec. 29 married Frederica, eldest daughter of Frederick William II., from whom he separa- ted a few years afterward. In 1793 he was appointed to command a British corps in the Netherlands, and took part in the siege of Va- lenciennes, but was defeated several times, and returned to England in April, 1795, where in February he had been made field marshal. On April 5, 1798, he became commander-in-chief of the British army. In 1799 he commanded an expedition in Holland. On Sept. 19 he was defeated by Brune near Bergen, and on Oct. 6 near Alkmaar, where on Oct. 18 he signed a convention, by which the British agreed to surrender 8,000 prisoners of war and evacuate the territories of the republic. On Jan. 27, 1809, in consequence of disclosures by his mis- tress, he was arraigned in the house of com- mons for corrupt disposal of military commis- sions. (See CLARKE, MABY ANNE.) He was acquitted by 278 votes against 196, but so great was the scandal of the investigation that he resigned his office of commander-in-chief ; to which, however, he was restored by the prince regent, May 15, 1811. By the death of the princess Charlotte, Nov. 6, 1817, he became heir presumptive to the throne. In 1819 he was appointed keeper of the person of his insane father. His last speech in the house of lords was delivered in 1825 against Catholic emancipation. YORKE, Charles, an English lawyer, brother of Philip Yorke, second earl of Hardwicke, born Dec. 30, 1722, died Jan. 20, 1770. He was called to the bar in 1747, and represented Reigate in parliament from 1747 to 1768, when he was elected for Cambridge university. He was appointed solicitor general in 1756, and he was attorney general in 1762-'3 and 1765-'70. He was appointed lord high chancel- lor Jan. 17, 1770, but died suddenly three days afterward, it is supposed by suicide, while his patent for the peerage, under the title of Baron Morden, was being executed. He published " Some Considerations on the Law of Forfeit- ure for High Treason," &c., reviewing the act of parliament making it treason to correspond with the pretender's sons or any of their agents (8vo, London, 1745; 5th ed., 1795), and wrote the letters signed C. in the "Athe- nian Letters" (1741-'3), of which he was joint author with his brother and others. (See HARDWIOKE, EARLS OF.) YORK RIVER, a river of E. Virginia, formed by the union of the Mattapony and Pamunkey at West Point, at the S. E. extremity of King William co. It flows S. E. 40 m., and falls into Chesapeake bay about 15 m. N. of the mouth of the James river. It is so broad from West Point downward as to present almost the ap- pearance of a bay. At its mouth it is about 3 m. across, and in some places it is still wider. It is navigable to its head. YORKSHIRE, the largest county of England, bordering on Durham, the North sea, the estu- ary of the Humber, and the counties of Lin- coln, Nottingham, Derby, Chester, Lancaster, and Westmoreland; area, 6,066 sq. m. It is di- vided into the North, East, and West Ridings (Anglo-Saxon, trithing or thriding, & third), each with its own government and officers; and there was formerly another small division called the " ainsty " of York, near the centre of the shire, which has been incorporated with the West Riding; pop. in 1871, of the North Riding, 291,589; East Riding, 269,505; West Riding, 1,831,223 ; city of York, 43,796 ; total, 2,436,113. With the exception of the part lying between Bridlington bay and Spurn head, the coast is high and bold, rising generally be- tween 70 and 800 ft., and in one spot reaching 893 ft. Besides the harbors afforded by the rivers Tees and Humber and their estuaries, the most important are those of Scarborough and Whitby. The greater part of the drainage of the county flows into the Humber by the river Ouse ; and of the remainder a small por- tion flows by the Ribble to the Irish sea, and by the Tees and other streams to the North sea. An extensive valley extends from the N. part of the county to the Humber at the south, and is enclosed on the E. and W. sides by moor- lauds, which on the E. side are from 20 to 30 m. broad, and in some places reach the height of 1,200 or 1,400 ft., while on the west the country gradually increases in elevation, the loftiest point, Bow Fell in the Pennine chain, being 2,911 ft. above the sea. In the S. part of the E. side the moors, here called wolds, gradually become lower, and do not extend to the coast, but between them and the sea there is a large alluvial tract called Holderness. The central valley, as it descends from the north, becomes gradually wider, and at length flat and swampy as it approaches the Humber. The vale of York, the districts of Holderness and Cleveland, and several other extensive tracts ? are exceedingly fertile ; but a large part of the wolds is barren, or yields but scanty crops. Coal, iron, copper, lead, freestone, limestone, and alum are all found. Great attention is paid to the breeding of horses, horned cattle, and sheep. The iron works at Low Moor, Rother- ham, and Bowling are on a very large scale ; and the manufacture of hardware, cutlery, and plated ware is carried on most extensively, more particularly at Sheffield. The manufac- tures are almost wholly confined to a district of about 40 by 20 m. in the West 'Riding, and include cotton, woollens, linen, and silk. Nu- merous railway lines intersect the county. The capital is York, and the other important towns are Sheffield, Leeds, Huddersfield, Barnsley, Hull, Whitby, Bradford, Scarborough, Halifax, Doncaster, Pontefract, Great Preston, Ripon, Tadcaster, Wakefield, and Thirsk.