YORKTOWN, a small town in Virginia, U.S., on the York River, where Lord Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in 1781.

YOSEMITE VALLEY, the most remarkable gorge in the world, in the centre of California, 140 m.  E. of San Francisco, 6 m. long and from 1/2 to 24 m. broad, girt by perpendicular walls thousands of feet deep and traversed by the river Merced in a succession of falls of great height, the whole presenting a scene of mingled grandeur and beauty; it was discovered in 1851, and steps are being taken by Congress to preserve it as a place of public resort and recreation.

YOUGHAL, a seaport in co.  Cork, on the estuary of Blackwater, 27 m.  E. of Cork; has some structures of interest, and exports chiefly agricultural produce.

YOUNG, ARTHUR, writer on agriculture, born at Whitehall; was trained to mercantile life, which he abandoned in disgust, and took to farming, which he studied at home and abroad and practised on scientific lines, and became Secretary of the Board of Agriculture on its establishment in 1793; he elevated agriculture to the rank of a science and imparted dignity to the pursuit of it (1741-1820).

YOUNG, BRIGHAM, Mormon polygamist chief, born at Whittingham, Vermont, U.S., son of a small farmer; had no schooling, wrought as carpenter, fell in with Joe Smith’s brother, and embraced Mormonism in 1832; became one of the apostles of the Church and a preacher, and finally the head in 1851 after the settlement of the body at Utah; with all his fanaticism he was a worldly-wise man and a wise manager of secular affairs; died rich, leaving his fortune to 17 wives and 56 children (1810-1877).

YOUNG, CHARLES MAYNE, tragedian, born in London, made his debut in 1798; married in 1805 a gifted young actress, Julia Anne Grimani, with whom he had often played in lover’s parts, and whom, after a brilliant partnership of 16 months on the stage together, he the year after lost in giving birth to a son; he survived her 50 years, but the love with which he loved her never faded from his heart; appeared in the Haymarket, London, in 1807 in the character of Hamlet; played afterwards other Shakespearian characters, such as Iago, Macbeth, and Falstaff in Covent Garden and Drury Lane, and took leave of the stage in 1832 in the same character in which he first appeared on it in London, and died at Brighton (1777-1856).

YOUNG, EDWARD, poet, born in Hampshire, educated at Westminster School; studied at Corpus Christi, Oxford, and obtained a Fellowship at All-Souls’ College; wrote plays and satires, but is best known to fame as the author of “Night Thoughts,” which has been pronounced “his best work and his last good work,” a poem which was once in high repute, and is less, if at all, in favour to-day, being written in a mood which is a strain upon the reader; it is “a little too declamatory,” says Professor Saintsbury, “a little too suggestive of soliloquies in an inky cloak, with footlights in front”;