Those of the greatest size are bred in the eastern part of the Riding. The horses are generally stout, of the light or bay kind, and are equal if not superior, particularly those upon the wolds, and eastern divisions, to any other in Yorkshire. Great attention is paid in breeding them, particularly to the stallion. Although a con siderable portion of the racing blood is introduced into this breed, yet both the largest coach, and smallest saddle horses are produced in this riding. No horses are better calculated for the plough than this breed; their activity and quick walking give them a superiority over the slow black kind, excellent however for drawing heavy waggons. Fold, yard, and stable dung are the principal manures used. A great quantity of dung comes from Hull, by water, to many parts of the riding, which lie convenient to the rivers and canals. Ploughs and Carriages. The plough commonly called the Rotherham, or Dutch plough (their constructions being nearly the same), is generally used, and is allowed to be the best plough in use for all land; for though it is of the most simple construction, yet it effectually performs its work. Proud's trenching or double plough is used by some, and answers well. The first share pares up the sod, and the other turns over the mould upon it. This plough is likely to be very serviceable if used with judgment. The depth and quality of the soil forms the criterion of using it. This plough may be set to different depths. It is requisite to plough up fresh earth, but the skill of the ploughman depends on his not ploughing too deep. drill is very little used, nor does that use increase. Proud's drill is the most in use for sowing turnips; it delivers the seed regularly, and may be fixed to any plough. Almost every sort of harrow or roller is to T 2 The be, be found here, the lighter ones generally on the wolds. The waggons in the greatest part of the district are drawn by two or four horses. They are generally heavy, with low fore wheels that lock under the body. The breast spade, used in draining, is found very useful; it is driven forward by a man in the same manner as the paring spade, and is not much unlike a common hay spade, turned up on both sides; it takes out an entire sod, and is very useful in cleaning out furrows, and cutting small grips or top drains in flat lands. A considerable number of oxen are used, mostly in yokes, and for carriages, in the farms; very few for the plough, as they are deemed too slow for that purpose, and in warm weather cannot stand, with sufficient ease to themselves, that continued labour for so long a time which the plough requires. MINERALS. The North and East Ridings of Yorkshire abound in various sorts of stone for building, and lime-stone is found in great plenty. In the North Riding there is coal and allum; the first of but ordinary quality, and thin in seam; the last of great thickness and inexhaustible in quality. The preparation of alum consists in rendering the ores aluminous in the first place, and next in dissolving and purifying the salt. Most of the alum ores contain clay and sulphur, which last requires to be converted into vitriolic acid before it can form the aluminous combination. For this purpose exposure to the air and occasional watering is effectual, and is in many places used; but it is less expeditious than the conversion of the sulphur into vitriolic acid by actual combustion. The chief difficulty of the process is, that the sulphur must be gradually and sufficiently burned without expelling it by too great a heat, which would be likewise attended with a fu sion of the earthy parts that would render them capable of resisting the subsequent action of the water. After the ore has been, partly by calcination, and partly by spontaneous efforesence, reduced to such a state as that it can be made into a paste by the hand, it is fit for boiling, which is usually performed in large leaden caldrons. In many manufactories a cold elixation is performed, until the saline solution is saturated; after which it is boiled until it be sufficiently strong for crystallization. This should not be too much loaded, because otherwise it would begin to deposit crystals by cooling before its earthy impurities had subsided. Some take the floating of a newly laid egg as a token of the boiling being finished; a rough method indeed, as well because the part above the liquor may be very different, and likewise because the specific gravity of eggs soon changes. The specific gravity of a fluid which just prevents a newly laid egg from sinking is about 1,081. The lixivium, sufficiently concentrated by evavoration, is conveyed through channels into coolers, where, in about an hour, it is freed, by deposition, from the grosser heterogeneous particles; it is then put into stone or wooden receptacles. In eight or ten days the lixivium, commonly called magistral water, flows into another vessel, leaving behind a number of crystals, generally small and impure, which incrust the bottom and sides of the vessel. These are collected, and washed from the impurities which adhere externally with cold water; the impurities remaining in the reservoir after washing are kept by themselves. The washed crystals are then put into the boiler used for purifying them, and are dissolved in a quantity of water so small as barely to suspend the salt when boiling hot. The alum liquor is then poured into large strong wooden casks, whose staves and hoops are all numbered that they may be more readily put together. In these the T 3 alum alum gradually shoots into large crystals about the sides; the liquor in the middle is then let out by a cock in the bottom, and the vessel turned upside down for the more effectual draining of the remaining fluid. Lastly, the crystals are dried in a stove, and packed up in casks for sale. Upon the Western Moorlands, which are a part of a long range of mountains which extend northward from Staffordshire through Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, into Scotland, there are many lead mines, some of which have been, and others still are very valuable. CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS. The North Riding is divided into 12 wapentakes, or hundreds; the East into four. All the Ridings are in the Province, and, except a small part which belongs to the Bishopric of Chester, in the Diocese of York. TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE NORTH AND EAST RIDINGS -OF YORKSHIRE. Journey from York to Guisborough; through Thirsk and North Allerton. EBORACUM or York, the metropolis of Eborasciria or Yorkshire, situate near the centre of the island of Great Britain, in a rich and extensive valley, on the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss, derives its origin from very early ages. The great difficulties attending the etymology of the name, are themselves a proof of its very high antiquity. Ebraucus, the son of Mempucious, the third king from Brute, built a city north of Humber, which, from his own name, he called Caer-Ebrauc; that is, the city of Ebraucus. This is stated to have been 1223 years before Christ.-The first accounts we have that can be relied on, is about the year 208, when the Emperor Severus, attended by his two sons Caracalla and Geta, arrived in Britain, He made York his chief place of residence, and died there.-Constantine the Great, who is believed to have been born in York, about 272, divided Britain into three parts,or principalities, of one of which, Maxima or Flavia Cæsariensis, the capital city most certainly was York. In 521 the British prince Arthur gained a most decisive victory over the Saxons on Badon-Hills, (said to be now Black-a-moor), where 90,000 of the enemy were slain, and the city of York delivered up to him as soon as he approached it. In this year that great monarch, with his clergy, all his nobility, and soldiers, kept here the first festival of the kind ever held in Britain. During the Saxon Heptarchy, the division of the kingdom of the Northumbers, whose capital was York, contained all that part of the island from the Humber mouth to St. Johnston in Scotland. This country was again divided by Octa, the son of Hengist, into two parts, Deira and Bernicia, and York became the capital of the former. In the year 1070 William the Conqueror besieged the city of York, when, after a gallant defence of about six months, it surrendered. Enraged at its holding out so long against him, William immediately ordered the city to be razed to the ground, and put to death many of the principal inhabitants. One of the first parliaments mentioned in history by that name, was held in York, about the year 1160, in the reign of Henry II. In the succeeding reign of Richard I. anno 1189, and at his coronation an accident happened, forming a remarkable circumstance in the history of this city, and attended with such consequences as history can scarce parallel. The Jews, from their first introduction into England, growing immensely rich by traffic, never failed to become the object of envy and hatred, both to prince and people, and the slightest pretences were always eagerly laid hold of, to plunder them, so that, |