In the streets old timber and plaster dwellings, with their overhanging stories and high-peaked red-tiled gables, are here and there hemmed in by modern buildings. Timber houses, however, are becoming scarcer, and quite recently a number of such dwellings have been demolished. A few carved brackets which carry overhanging stories remain in Stonegate and Fossgate, and two from Davygate have been re-erected in Trinity Lane. The Shambles, of which a view is given, is the only street that preserves its narrow mediaeval character. From the uppermost of its overhanging stories you might shake hands with your neighbour across the street. This and Little Shambles are the delight of artists. The end of one house has been shorn of the lath and plaster work and shows how such timber houses were constructed. The antiquity of the houses in High Petergate, and the mediaeval narrowness of the street, enable one looking towards Bootham Bar to realize the former appearance of the approach to a gatehouse from within the city. The approaches to the other Bars have been widened and their aspect changed. A characteristic of York is the frequent occurrence at street corners of an ancient church surrounded by its burial-ground. “Each in its little plot of holy ground, How beautiful they stand, These old grey churches of our native land.” The business of the city was in the hands of its freemen. Their privileges were great. Only a freeman could trade in the city, and his sons might become free on attaining their majority. He had also the right of voting for the city’s representatives in Parliament. The freedom of the city was granted to outsiders who served an apprenticeship of seven years to a freeman, or by purchase or gift. No one was admitted to the freedom without taking an oath [Illustration: THE SHAMBLES]