often grows dim and cold on the altar of the living soul.
York is situated in a rich vale, of a peninsular form, between the rivers Ouse and Fosse, and equidistant from the capital cities of Scotland and England. It is fortified, and tradition says, that Agricola planned and labored upon its walls. However this may be, it was early distinguished by the Romans, during their dynasty in Britain. The Emperor Adrian made it his residence as early as the year 134, and it was the camp, the court, and the sepulchre of Severus. Here, about 272, Constantine the Great was born, and here in the imperial palace his son Constantius died. The footsteps of old Rome upon this spot are attested by altars, inscriptions, seals, and sepulchral vessels, which have been from age to age exhumed. Not more than thirty years since, some workmen, in digging the foun- dation of a house, struck about four feet below the surface on a vault of stone, strongly arched with Roman bricks. It contained a coffin, enclosing a slender human skeleton, with the teeth entire, supposed to be a female of rank, who had lain there at least one thousand four hundred years. Near her head was a small glass lachrymatory, and not far from her tomb was found an urn containing ashes and calcined bones of another body. Still more recently, the remains of a tesselated pavement, with other relics, have been found and presented to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. Our own antiquarian tastes were easily and simply
