and furnished with
walls eleven feet thick, time having had little effect upon its noble
structure, one of the most perfect Norman keep-towers remaining in
England. There is a grand view from the battlements over the romantic
valley of the Swale. In the village is an old gray tower, the only
remains of a Franciscan monastery founded in the thirteenth century, and
the ruins of Easby Abbey, dating from the twelfth century, are not far
away; its granary is still in use. The valley of the Swale may be
pursued for a long distance, furnishing constant displays of romantic
scenery, or, if that is preferred, excellent trout-fishing.

YORK.

[Illustration: THE MULTANGULAR TOWER AND ST. MARY'S ABBEY.]

From the high hills in the neighborhood of Fountains Dale there is a
magnificent view over the plain of York, and we will now proceed down
the valley of the Ouse to the venerable city that the Romans called
Eboracum, and which is the capital of a county exceeding in extent many
kingdoms and principalities of Europe. This ancient British stronghold
has given its name to the metropolis of the New World, but the modern
Babylon on the Hudson has far outstripped the little city on the equally
diminutive Ouse. It was Ebrane, the king of the Brigantes, who is said
to have founded York, but so long ago that he is believed a myth.
Whatever its origin, a settlement was there before the Christian era,
but nothing certain is known of it beyond the fact that it existed when
the Romans invaded Britain and captured York, with other strongholds, in
the first century of the Christian era. Eboracum was made the
head-quarters of their fifth legion, and soon became the chief city of a
district now rich in the relics of the Roman occupation, their dead
being still found thickly buried around the town. Portions of the walls
of Eboracum remain, among them being that remarkable relic, the tower,
polygonal in plan, which is known as the Multangular Tower, and which
marks the south-western angle of the ancient Roman city. Not far away
are the dilapidated ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, once one of the
wealthiest and proudest religious houses in the North of England, but
with little now left but portions of the foundations, a gateway, and the
north and west walls of the nave. This abbey was founded in the eleventh
century, and it was from here that the exiled monks who built Fountains
Abbey were driven out. This ruin has been in its present condition for
ne