Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

ANCIENT AND MODERN YORK.
" 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 recollec
tions ; pregnant, I may truly call you with useful lessons, with pathetic and
irresistible advice to the man who knows how to consult you.rt
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 ^Erieas, (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 history—
2000 years behind the events—has long since been ex
ploded,* 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 Caesar,
B.C. 55, it appears improbable that there was then a city
upon the site of York. All the evidence of which we are
* Encyclopedia Britannica.
t De Bello Gallico, lib. v. chap. 14.
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