YORKSHIRE, a maritime county on the east coast of England, is bounded on the east by the German ocean, on the north by the counties of Durham and Westmoreland, on the west by a small part of the latter county and by Lancashire, and on the south by the Humber, separating it from Linconshire, and by the counties of Notting ham and Derby. Its extreme length from east to west is 96 miles, its utmost breadth from north to south 86, and its circumference above 380. Its surface has been calculated to extend to 6000 square miles, which is equal to 3,840.000 statute acres, more than double the extent of any other county, and two-thirds of the size of the principality of Wales. During the existence of the property tax, according to the official returns, the annual rent, including tithes, which land in this county brought, was sixteen shillings and ten pence per acre.
Before we proceed to give a separate account of the three districts (West, East, and North Riding) into which Yorkshire is divided, it seems proper to take a general view of the whole county. The population is the first object that claims our atten tion. In 1821, the date of the last census, it amounted to 1,173,187, of whom 580,456 were males, and 592,731 females. In 1811, it was 1,019,200, while in 1801, it did not exceed 887,000, making the increase during twenty ycars to be 286,187, or a little more than the fourth of the whole population. The number of families in 1821 were 240,696, of whom more than the half, or 137,011 were employed in trade, manufactures, or handicraft. The West Riding, it may here be mentioned, exceeds, by 51,697, the population of the other two divisions. The poor rates levied from the whole county are as follows: which sum, when compared with the population, shows that the rates are not so high in Yorkshire, the greatest manufacturing county in the kingdom, as the average of England and \\Tales united. The select vestries of the county amount to 638; the as sistant overseers to 220.
The political circumstances of this county may be stated in a few words. The freeholders of the Ridings vote together, as if no such division existed. Till the year 1824, this large province returned only two members to the British Parliament; but in that year, owing to the disfranchisement of the burgh of Grampound in Cornwall, the elective franchise was transferred to the countyunder review, which now, of course, can boast of four representa tives, while no other shire returns more than two.
Yorkshire, including the city of York, and the burghs, sends 32 members to Parliament, as under: It may here also be mentioned, that of tiles of peers connected with this county, there are two of dukes, namely, those of Richmond and Leeds, (the title of Duke of York till lately formed a third); one of marquis, that of Cleveland; six of earls, Doncaster (Duke of Buccleuch as a Scottish peer); Scarborough, Pomfret, Beverly, Craven, Mulgrave, and Harewood; four of barons, Hawke, Bolton, Ribblesdale, and Prondhoe. These peers derive their titles from this county; and the list of noble men connected with it by residence is also con siderable: Earls—Carlisle, Egremont, Fitzwilliam and Aleaborough; Lords--Dundas, Effingham, Grantham, Middleton, and Rendlesham.
The rivers of this county are numerous, and many of them being navigable, are very subservient to the prosperity of the province. All these rivers discharge their waters into the German ocean, ex cept the Ribble and Wenning, which enter Lan cashire, and fall into the Irish sea. The Humber, which separates Yorkshire from Lincolnshire, is formed by the junction of the Ouse and the Trent; at the place where the latter river falls into it, it is more than a mile in breadth; its channel gradu ally widens till it empties itself into the German ocean, between the promontories of Spurnhead and Saltfleet, in a vast estuary, six or seven miles wide. The Trent and Ouse, which form the Humber, themselves receive the waters of many tributary streams. The Trent, however, is not a Yorkshire river, but rising in Staffordshire, flows north till it loses itself in the estuary referred to. The Ouse receives the waters of the Swale, Ure, Nidd, Wharfe, Dement, Eyre, and Don. It is navigable to the city of York, which it washes; almost all its tribu taries are navigable, making the internal commu nication of the county extremely ample. The Tees, which separates Yorkshire from Durham, on the north, is a considerable river, but it belongs more to the latter county than the former. There are various canals which connect the inland towns and coal mines with the navigable rivers: the most im portant canal is that which unites Leeds, which is situated on the Eyre, a navigable stream, and Liverpool, thus communicating with the German and Irish seas.