romantic dale to which it gives name (Swaledale) and passing Richmond and Catterick, it enters the Vale of York, where it receives the small river Wiske, and continues its course till it joins the Ure at Myton, a few miles below Boroughbridge. The Swale is navigable only for a very few miles. Lambard, Bede, and other early writers tell us, that Paulinus, the first Archbishop of York, baptised 10,000 persons in this river in one day,-"by cause at that tyme theare weare no churches or oratories yet buylt." The river is supposed to have been called Suale from the Saxon word Swalew, "by reason of the swift course of the same."

The Ure or Yore, which is one and the same river with the Ouse, directs its course eastward from its source on the elevated moorland between Yorkshire and Westmorland, and below Askrigg it forms a remarkably fine waterfall called Aysgarth Force. The whole waters fall over a rugged limestone rock into a narrow channel, and form a succession of picturesque waterfalls. After passing through Middleham, Masham, Ripon, Boroughbridge, and Aldborough, it joins the Swale at Myton, and the united waters then continue their course to about six miles below Boroughbridge, where they take the name of the Ouse, from an insignificant rivulet with which they there form a junction.

The Ouse, or the Northern Ouse as it is sometimes called, to distinguish it from the river of the same name in Buckinghamshire, is formed, as we have just shown, by the union of the Swale and Ure, and it runs southward receiving the waters of the Nidd, at Nun-Monkton; thence it flows gently to York, where it is joined by the Foss, and afterwards bounds the East and West Ridings. At Nun-Appleton it is increased by the waters of the Wharfe; and after passing Selby to its successive junctions with the Derwent, the Aire, and the Don, it falls into the Humber, at its confluence also with the Trent. This fine river is navigable throughout its whole course, and is the great drain of all Yorkshire.

The Humber. This noble river-the Thames of the midland and northern counties of England-divides the East Riding of Yorkshire from Lincolnshire during the whole of its course. It is formed, as we have just observed, by the junction of the Ouse and Trent. At Bromfleet it receives the little river Foulness, and rolling its vast collection of waters eastward, in a stream enlarged to between two and three miles in breadth, washes the town of Hull, where it receives the river of the same name. Opposite to Hedon and Paull, which are a few miles below Hull, the Humber widens into a vast estuary, six or seven miles in breadth, and then directs its course past Great Grimsby, to the German Ocean, which it enters at Spurn Head. No

other river system collects waters from so many points, and connects so many important towns, as this noble stream. "The Humber," says a recent writer, "resembling the trunk of a vast tree spreading its branches in every direction, commands, by the numerous rivers which it receives, the navigation and trade of a very extensive and commercial part of England."

The Humber is navigable up to Hull for ships of the largest burthen; the Humber and the Ouse, up to the port of Goole, for vessels drawing not more than 16 feet of water; and to York for those of 140 tons burthen. The distance from Hull to York by water is about 80 miles. Above the city of York the Ouse is navigable as far as Boroughbridge, a distance of 20 miles, for barges of 30 tons. The whole course of the Ure, Ouse, and Humber, is about 160 miles.

The spring tides rise at Hull more than twenty feet, and at York from two to two and a half feet, but they formerly rose at that place four feet. In 1643, it is recorded that a spring tide at Ouse bridge rose to the height of five feet. Some of the "land floods" have risen here to a very great height. In 1732, the Ouse at York rose in one night nearly nine feet, and filled the streets in the lower parts of the city; and in December, 1763, the water rose at the same place twenty inches higher, and was seventy-five feet above the low water mark of dry seasons.

Of the river Humber-the Abus of Ptolemy-that quaint old author, Lambard, writes thus:-"Humber is not the name of any one water within Inglande, but is a name that is gyven to the metinge of many waters, and therfore Lelande contendeth reasonablye that it should be called Aber, which in the Bryttishe is the same that the Saxons and we nowe calle the mouthe of a ryver; for it hathe not the name of Humber till it approche neare Kingston-on-Hull, before which tyme it hathe receyved Ouse, Ure, Done, Trent, Hull water, and some other smal brokes, and so openeth into the sea; and therfore Humber hathe not as a ryver of itselfe anye begginninge, (as Polydor and others describe) but may wel inoughe be said to begynne withe the head of any of those ryvers which it receyveth. It should seme that Ptolemy ment this ryver when he speaketh of Abus, so callinge the same that the Bryttons called Aber. Geffrey of Monmouthe, the leader of our Inglishe Chroniclers, sayeth that it was called Humber by occasion that Locrine, the eldest son of Brutus, chased Humber, the Kinge of the Hunnes (that arryved in his country) into this water, wheare he was drowned.

Dum fugit obstat ei flumen, submergitur illic,
Deque suo tribuit nomine nomen aquæ.

After that the Saxons weare come in great nomber into this ile, they fel at variance among themselves, in so much that Ethelbert, Kinge of Kent, (which receyved Augustine) warringe upon the rest, enlarged his dominion to this water; herof began the people beyonde the same to be called Northumbers, and their Kingdome Northumberland. This ryver, and the Thamis, (as Polydor observeth) do not so comonly overflowe their banks, as other waters within the realme, which he imputeth probablye to the qualitie of the ground underneathe, which being gravel soketh muche; but the cause of the groweth no lesse, by reason that theise twoe waters be not neighboured with so many hilles, as Severn and others be, from which every sodeine rayne descendinge into the ryvers, causeth theim to swell sodenlye also."

And here we make a slight digression for the purpose of glancing at a subject which may not be considered altogether irrelevant, viz:-"The Dialects North and South of the Humber compared." At the meeting of the British Association held in Hull in 1853, Charles Beckett, Esq., M.R.C.S., read an interesting paper on this subject. He commenced by observing that the boundaries of English counties were various, and often arbitrary-the most natural being rivers. The river Humber, from its width and length, had always formed a most distinct boundary, not only between two different counties, but also between two classes of peasantry, differing much in many respects-in origin, physiognomy, manners, conformation, and also in dialect. Large evidences exist of Danish origin in the names of towns and villages in both counties; no less than 212 places terminating in by in Lincolnshire; whilst in the North and East Riding of Yorkshire 135 of the same were found. This termination always pointed out a Danish origin. Several other Danish names of places, persons, and other things, were also found to exist. The distinction between the peasantry north and south of the Humber could not escape the attentive observer. The Lincolnshire peasant was somewhat more phlegmatic, his physiognomy less marked and acute, and the face more oval in form than the Yorkshire one. His manner is more amicable and polite, but less decisive and acute. This harmonizes not only with his own appearance, but, singularly, also with the general mildness of the aspect of the landscape around him. These inquiries were the more interesting, because the progress of civilization increased travelling facilities, and the lapse of time tends rapidly to efface these ethnological distinctions. The successive irruptions of the Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman people into this country were analogous to the warping of low land by successive tides; the existing language being a rich alluvium left by them all. Yorkshire had probably several dialects; Lincolnshire two, according to Halliwell—the

north and the south. Both agreed in the broad pronunciations of many syllables, as, for instance, changing one into two; as sea, se-ah; seat, se-at; beast, bee-ast. Both use many archaic words—each county, however, having its own. The intonations and inflexions of the voice vary also in the two counties. But the chief difference lay in the relative value of the two vowels i and o being rendered ei in Yorkshire, and double or long i in Lincolnshire, as wife, weife, wiife; life, leife, liife, respectively. These apparently trivial differences were in fact sufficient to change the whole character of the vernacular speech. The o, also, had similar varieties; thus in Yorkshire we have now, noo; and thou, thoo. In Lincolnshire these would be thaou, naou. Some other characteristics were also mentioned. On the whole, the Lincolnshire dialect was more soft and agreeable, contained fewer obsolete words and accents, and approached more nearly to pure speech. The paper closed by enquiring how far climate and the social history and progress of the two counties might have operated along with some differences of origin, in leading to these interesting and probably transient ethnological distinctions.

At the same meeting, Sir Charles Anderson, Bart., read a paper on "The influence of the invasion of the Danes and Scandinavians, in early times, on certain localities in England." The talented lecturer said, that having lately visited Denmark and the northern parts of Europe, he had been much struck with the similarity pervading the Danish and English languages. This similarity he ascribed to the influence which the Danes possessed when they made a conquest of this island, and planted themselves as settlers in it, and he gave several examples in support of his assertion, which fully identified the two languages.

The river Hull rises in the Eastern Wolds, near Driffield, and pursues a southern course to the eastward of the town of Beverley, with which it is united by a canal; and it falls into the Humber at Kingston-upon-Hull, where it forms a secure but contracted haven. This river serves to drain the whole country between the Wolds and the sea; and historians tell us that the portion of this river between the Humber and "Sculcotes gote" was originally cut by Sayer de Sutton, to drain the marshes within his lordship of Sutton. In a charter of Richard II, this part of the river is said to have previously been named Sayer Creek. Mr. Frost thinks that the drain called Sayer Creek was cut by Sayer de Sutton so early as the reign of King John. The river Hull is navigable to Frodingham Bridge, several miles above Beverley; and thence to Great Driffield by means of a canal. Another canal extends eastward from the river Hull to Leven, a length of about three miles.

All the local historians, except Mr. Frost, assert that the river Hull in former times discharged itself into the Humber to the eastward of the present river; but that gentleman found abundant evidence in the registers and histories of the Abbey of Meaux, to show that its ancient course lay to the westward of the present channel; and he thinks that the frequent notice of Old Hull as one of the boundaries of lands without the walls to the westward of the town, would of itself be amply sufficient to establish the fact, without the corroborative proof afforded by the registries of Meaux, which are conclusive on the subject.* That very diligent author informs us, that in the Book of Meux, the ancient river is described as having divided the wapentakes of Holderness and Harthill, and that New Hull, which had formerly been called Sayer Creek, and had become a great river, in consequence of the channel of Old Hull having warped up, was afterwards the dividing boundary of the districts of Holderness and Harthill; and that a part of the village of Wyke or Hull, which had previously been within the limits of Holderness, being then separated by the river, became a member of the wapentake of Harthill.

The Wharfe rises at the foot of the Craven Hills, winds its course through the district of Wharfdale, and passing Tadcaster, joins the Ouse at NunAppleton. It is navigable as far as Tadcaster.

The Derwent has its head in the Eastern Moorlands, in the North Riding, within about four miles of the sea. After running in a line almost parallel with the coast to the foot of the Wolds, it takes a westerly direction till it receives the Rye, from Helmsley; thence by Malton, Gate-Helmsley, and Stamford Bridge, to the Ouse, near Barmby, from which it is navigable for vessels of twenty-five tons burthen, to Malton, and above which town the navigation has been continued to Yedingham Bridge, a further distance of about nine miles. From its junction with the small river Hertford, near its source, the Derwent divides the North and East Ridings till it approaches near Stamford Bridge, where it enters the East Riding.

The Aire, one of the most considerable rivers in Yorkshire, takes its rise in some wild moors near Malham, in the north west quarter of the West Riding, and runs past Skipton and Bingley to Leeds. Twelve miles below the latter town, near Castleford, it receives the Calder, and passing Snaith, it joins the Ouse three miles south west of Howden, a little below Armin. The Aire becomes navigable at Leeds, where it forms a junction with the Leeds and Liverpool canal. Camden says, the course of the Aire is so

Frost's Historic Notices of Kingston-upon-Hull, p. 28, 32.