Whereas the moderns obliterated practically all they came against, fortunately the earlier people were content to make no change beyond what was immediately necessary.  Hence the survival of material most valuable to the historian and archaeologist.  York, as it is to-day, is a city marvellously rich in survivals of past ages.  It is also, as a result especially of the nineteenth century, a city of destruction.  While we may regret but not repine at the disappearance of much of interest and value as the result of progress, yet wanton, ruthless destruction, such as has taken place within the last century, deserves the sternest denunciation.  In spite of its being, in consequence, a “city of destruction,” York is a store-house of original material for the history of England.  Its records are in earth, stone, brick, wood, plaster, bone, and coin-metal; on parchment, paper, and glass; above the ground and below it—­everywhere and in every form.  This wealth of historical material, connected with practically every period of our national history, is a priceless possession and one that is not yet exhausted.

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