"superstitious pictures in
glass" and images were ordered to be broken, and the fonts were removed.
In 1648 twenty-four churches in the city were without incumbents.

After the Restoration the Corporation did everything in their power to
resist a return to the old order of things, and in 1663 there was a
small rebellion, as a result of which twenty-one persons were executed
at York. Discontent, however, continued, and in 1682 it became necessary
to appoint Sir John Reresby governor of York, with a garrison of 500
men. The governor said that York was one of the most factious towns in
the kingdom. About this time, also, the dean and chapter caused a riot
by issuing a proclamation forbidding the nave to be used as a promenade.
They succeeded, however, in finally putting an end to the practice.

In 1686 Lady Strafford, daughter-in-law of the great Strafford, was
buried in the minster. Party spirit still ran very high, and the mob
rushed at the hearse and endeavoured to tear the coats of arms from it.
The military was called out, and there was a sharp struggle in the
minster itself.

The Catholic designs of James II. were ill received in York. His
proclamation for liberty of conscience was read in hardly any of the
York churches, and an attempt to stock the Corporation with Roman
Catholics was resisted. At last there came a crisis. The king appointed
James Smith, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Callipolis, one of his four
vicars-apostolic, and in August 1688 he appeared at York. The
archbishopric had been vacant for two years, and it was rumoured that
the king intended to appoint Smith to the see.

York, therefore, was ripe for the revolution, and it broke out there on
November 22. Lamplough of Exeter, a discreet and timely supporter of
both James and William, was appointed archbishop, and Smith was attacked
by the mob as he was passing through the streets in procession. His
silver-gilt crozier, which had been given to him by Catharine of
Braganza, was torn from him and sent to the vestry of the minster, where
it still remains. It is seven feet in length. Smith fled to
Wycliffe-on-Tees, where he spent the rest of his life.

[Illustration: The Shambles.]

Since the reign of James II., and the last serious attempt to establish
the Roman Catholic religion in the country, the history of both the city
and the see of York has been uneventful. The city itself has declined in
importance, and is now hardly even one of the larger