But occasionally the announcement is almost as terse as one of Mr. Stanton's entries. Thus in the Constellation of Dec. 28, 1799, Mr. Hatt's marriage to Miss Cooly appears with great brevity: "Married at Ancaster, Mr. Richard Hatt to Miss Polly Cooly."

A magistrate officiates sometimes, and his name is given accordingly. In the Gazette and Oracle of March 2, 1799, we have: "Married on Tuesday last, by William Willcocks, Esq., Sergeant Mealy, of the Queen's Rangers, to Miss M. Wright, of this town."

(Somewhat in the strain of the complimentary marriage notices are the following: "We announce with much pleasure an acquisition to society in this place by the arrival of Prideaux Selby, Esq., and Miss Selby.—Gazette, Dec. 9, 1807. The York Assembly which commenced on Thursday the 17th instant, was honoured by the attendance of His Excellency and Mrs. Gore. It was not numerous. We understand that Mrs. Firth, the amiable Lady of the Attorney General, lately arrived, was a distinguished figure."—Gazette, Dec. 23, 1807.)

The family of Mr. Stanton, senior, was large. It was augmented by twins on five several occasions. Not far from Mr. Stanton's house, a lesser edifice of brick of comparatively late date on the north side of Richmond Street, immediately opposite the premises associated just now with the memory of President Smith, may be noted as having been built and occupied by the distinguished Admiral Vansittart, and the first example in this region of a cottage furnished with light, tasteful verandahs in the modern style.

We now return from our digression into Richmond and Adelaide Streets, and again proceed on our way westward.

The grantee of the park-lot which followed Solicitor-General Gray's, was the famous Hon. Peter Russell, of whom we have had occasion again and again to speak. A portion of the property was brought under cultivation at an early period, and a substantial farm-house put up thereon—a building which in 1872 was still in existence. The name attached to this house and clearing was Petersfield.

Human depredators prowled about a solitary place like this. At their hands in 1803, Mr. Russell suffered a serious loss, as we learn from an advertisement which about midsummer in that year appeared in several successive numbers of the Oracle. It ran as follows: "Five Guineas Reward. Stolen on the 12th or 13th instant from Mr. Russell's farm, near this town, a Turkey Hen, with her brood of six half-grown young ones. Whoever will give such information and evidence as may lead to the discovery of the Thieves shall receive from the subscriber the above reward upon conviction of any of the delinquents. Peter Russell, York, Aug. 15th, 1803." Another advertisement has been mentioned to us, issuing from the same sufferer, announcing the theft of a Plough from the same farm.

Similar larcenies were elsewhere committed. In the Gazette of June 12, 1802, we read: "Forty dollars reward.—Mr. Justice Allcock offers a reward of forty dollars to any one who will give information of the person or persons who stole and carried away from his farm near the Garrison a number of iron teeth from two harrows. The same reward will also be given to any one who will give such information as will convict any person or persons of having bought such iron teeth, or any part of them, knowing the same to be stolen. If more than one was concerned, the same reward will be given to any accomplice upon his giving such information as will convict the other party or parties concerned with him, and every endeavour used to obtain a pardon. Note. It has been ascertained that two blacksmiths in the town did, about the time these teeth were stolen, purchase harrow-teeth from a soldier, since deserted, and that another soldier was in company when such teeth were offered for sale. 28th May, 1802."

Again, in the same paper we have:—"Twenty dollars reward will be paid by the subscriber to any person who will discover the man who is so depraved and lost to every sense of social duty, as to cut with an axe or knife, the withes which bound some of the fence round the late Chief Justice's Farm on Yonge Street, and to throw down the said Fence. Independent of the above inducement, it is the duty of every good member of society to endeavour to find out who the character is that can be guilty of such an infamous act, in order that he may be brought to justice. Robert J. D. Gray, York, June 28th, 1803."

Occasionally notices of a reverse order appear. A homely article picked up on the Common was judged to be of sufficient importance to its owner to induce the finder to advertise as follows in the Oracle of Saturday, Aug. 14th, 1802:—"Found lately near the Garrison, a Cow-bell. Whoever has lost the same, may have it again by applying to the Printer hereof, on paying the expense of this advertisement, and proving property. York, Aug. 7, 1802."

Again, in the Oracle of Feb. 25, 1804:—"Found on Saturday last, the 11th instant, a Bar of Iron. The owner may have it again, by applying to the Printer hereof. York, Feb. 8th." And again: "Found on Friday, the 5th instant, two silk handkerchiefs. The owner can have them again by applying to the Printer, and paying the expense of this advertisement. York, Oct. 12th, 1804." In October, 1806, an iron pot was picked up: "Found, on Sunday last, the 12th instant, on the beach opposite Messrs. Ashbridge's, an Iron Pot capable of containing about two pails full. Whoever may own the above-mentioned Pot, may have it again by proving property, and paying charges, on application to Samuel Lewis or to the Printer hereof. York, Oct. 16th, 1806."

A barrel of flour was found on the beach near the Garrison in 1802, and was thus advertised: "The Public are hereby informed that there has been a barrel of flour left on the beach near the Garrison by persons unknown. Whoever will produce a just claim to the same may have it, by applying to the Garrison Sergeant-Major, and paying the expense of the present advertisement. J. Petto, G. S. Major, York, March 22, 1802."

Once more: in the Gazette of Dec. 3, 1803: "On the 26th ult. the subscriber found one-half of a fat Hog on the Humber Plains, which he supposes to be fraudulently killed, and the other half taken away. The part which he found he carried home and dressed, and requests the owner to call, pay expenses, and take it away. John Clark, Humber Mills, Dec. 2, 1803."

Peter Russell's name became locally a household synonym for a helluo agrorum, and not without some show of reason, as the following list in successive numbers of the Gazette and Oracle of 1803 would seem to indicate. Of the lands enumerated he styles himself, at the close of the advertisement, the proprietor. We have no desire, however, to perpetuate the popular impression, that all the said properties had been patented by himself to himself. This, of course, could not have been done. He simply chose, as he was at liberty to do, after acquiring what he and his family were entitled to legally, in the shape of grants, to invest his means in lands, which in every direction were to be had for a mere song.

The document spoken of reads thus: "To be sold.—The Front Town Lot, with an excellent dwelling-house and a kitchen recently built thereon, in which Mr. John Denison now lives, in the Town of York, with a very commodious water-lot adjoining, and possession given to the purchaser immediately. The Lots Nos. 5, 6, and 7 in the 2nd, and lots No. 6 and 7 in the 3d concession of West Flamboro' township, containing 1,000 acres, on which there are some very good mill seats; the lots No. 4 and 5, in the 1st concession of East Flamboro' with their broken fronts, containing, according to the Patent, 600 acres more or less; the lots No. 1, 3 and 4 in the 2nd, and lots No. 2 and 3 in the 3rd concession of Beverley, containing 1,000 acres; the lots No. 16 in the 2nd and 3rd concession of the township of York containing 400 acres; the lots 32 and 33 with their broken fronts, in the 1st, and lots No. 31 and 32 in the 2nd concession of Whitby, containing 800 acres; the lots 22 and 24 in the 11th, lot 23 in the 12th, and No. 24 in the 13th and 14th concessions of Townsend, containing a 1,000 acres; the lots No. 12, 13 and 14 in the 1st and 2nd concession of Charlotteville, immediately behind the Town plot, containing 1,200 acres; the lots Nos. 16 and 17 in the 1st concession of Delaware township, on the river Thames (La Tranche) containing 800 acres; the lots Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 10th; No. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 in the 11th, and Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 12th concession of Dereham, containing 3,000 acres, with mill-seats thereon; and also the lots Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26, and 28 in the 1st, Nos. 22, 23, 25, 27 and 28 in the 3rd, Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 in the 11th, and Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 in the 12th concession of Norwich, containing 600 acres, with mill-seats thereon. The terms are either cash, or good bills of exchange on London, Montreal and Quebec, for the whole of such purchase, in which case a proportionably less price will be expected, or the same for one moiety of each purchase, and bonds properly secured for principal and interest, until paid, for the other. The prices may be known by application to the proprietor at York. Peter Russell."

Clearly, an idea of the prospective value of property in Canada had dawned upon the mind of Mr. Russell in the year 1803; and he aimed to create for himself speedily a handsome fortune. His plans, however, in the long run, came to little, as in another connexion, we have heard already.

Survivors of the primitive era in Upper Canada have been heard sometimes to express, (like Lord Clive, after his dealings with the rajahs,) their surprise that they did not provide for themselves more largely than they did, when the broad acres of their adopted country were to be had to any extent, almost for the asking. But this reflection should console them; in few instances are the descendants of the early very large land-holders much better off at the present hour than probably they would have been, had their fathers continued landless.

Mr. Russell died at York on the 30th of September, 1808. His obituary appears in the Gazette and Oracle of the following day. "Departed this life on Friday, the 30th ultimo, the Hon. Peter Russell, Esquire, formerly President of the Government of the Province, late Receiver General, and Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils: a gentleman who whilst living was honoured, and sincerely esteemed; and of whose regular and amiable conduct, the Public will long retain a favoured and grateful remembrance."

Of the funeral, which took place on the 4th of October, we have a brief account in the paper of Oct. 8, 1808. It says: "The remains of the late Hon. Peter Russell were interred on Wednesday the 4th instant with the greatest decorum and respect. The obsequies of this accomplished gentleman were followed to the grave by His Excellency the Lieut. Governor (Gore) as Chief Mourner; with the principal gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood; and they were feelingly accompanied by all ranks, evincing a reverential awe for the Divine dispensation. An appropriate funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Okill Stuart. The Garrison, commanded by Major Fuller, performed with becoming dignity the military honours of this respected veteran, who was a Captain in the Army on half-pay." The editor then adds: "deeply impressed with an ardent esteem for his manly character, and the irreparable loss occasioned by his death, we were not among those who felt the least at this last tribute of respect to his memory and remains." (The Major Fuller, above named, was the father of the Rev. Thomas Brock Fuller, in 1873 Archdeacon of Niagara.)

As we have elsewhere said, Mr. Russell's estate passed to his unmarried sister, Miss Elizabeth Russell, who, at her own decease, devised the whole of it to Dr. W. W. Baldwin and his family. The Irish family to which Mr. Russell belonged was originally a transplanted branch of the Aston-Abbotts subdivision of the great English family of the same name; and a connexion, through intermarriages, had long subsisted between these Russells and the Baldwins of the County of Cork. Russell Hill in the neighbourhood of Toronto, is so called from a Russell Hill in Ireland, which has its name from the Russells of the County of Cork.—During the Revolutionary war, Mr. Russell had been Secretary to Sir Henry Clinton, Commander-in-chief of the Army in North America from 1778 to 1782.

At the beginning of Peter Russell's advertisement of properties, it will have been observed that he offered for sale "an excellent dwelling-house in the town of York," described as being in the occupation of Mr. John Denison. The building referred to, situate, as it is further mentioned, on a "front town lot, with a very convenient water-lot adjoining," was the "ornamental cottage" noted in our journey along Front Street, as having been once inhabited by Major Hillier, of the 74th. On its site was afterwards built Dr. Baldwin's town residence, which subsequently became first a Military Hospital, and then the head office of the Toronto and Nipissing Railroad.

But Petersfield was also associated with the history of Mr. Denison, who was the progenitor of the now numerous Canadian family of that name. Through an intimacy with Mr. Russell, springing out of several years' campaigning together in the American Revolutionary war, Mr. Denison was induced by that gentleman, when about to leave England in an official capacity in company with General Simcoe, to emigrate with his family to Upper Canada in 1792. He first settled at Kingston, but, in 1796, removed to York, where, by the authority of Mr. Russell, he temporarily occupied Castle Frank on the Don. He then, as we have seen, occupied "the excellent dwelling-house" put up "on a front lot" in the town of York by Mr. Russell himself; and afterwards, he was again accommodated by his friend with quarters in the newly-erected homestead of Petersfield.

We have evidence that in 1805 a portion of Petersfield was under cultivation, and that under Mr. Denison's care it produced fine crops of a valuable vegetable. Under date of York, 20th December, 1805, in a contemporary Oracle, we have the following advertisement: "Potatoes: To be sold at Mr. Russell's Farm at Petersfield, by Mr. John Denison, in any quantities not less than ten bushels, at Four Shillings, York Currency, the bushel, if delivered at the purchaser's house, or Three Shillings the bushel, if taken by them from the Farm."

And again, in the Gazette of March 4, 1807: "Blue Nose Potatoes. To be sold at Mr. Russell's Farm near York. The price three shillings, York currency, the bushel, if taken away by the purchasers, or they will be delivered anywhere within the precincts of the Town, at Four Shillings, in any quantity not less than ten bushels. Application to be made to Mr. John Denison, on the premises, to whom the above prices are to be paid on delivery. Feb. 14, 1807."

Our own personal recollection of Mr. Denison is associated with Petersfield, the homely cosiness of whose interior, often seen during its occupancy by him, lighted up by a rousing hospitable fire of great logs, piled high in one of the usual capacious and lofty fire-places of the time, made an indelible impression on the boyish fancy. The venerable Mrs. Sophia Denison, too, Mr. Denison's better half, was in like manner associated in our memory with the cheery interior of the ancient Petersfield farm-house—a fine old English matron and mother, of the antique, strongly-marked, vigorous, sterling type. She was one of the Taylors, of Essex; among whom, at home and abroad, ability and talent, and traits of a higher and more sacred character, are curiously hereditary. We shall have occasion, further on, to speak of the immediate descendants of these early occupants of Petersfield.

On the south side of the expansion of Queen Street, in front of Petersfield, and a little beyond Peter Street (which, as we have previously noticed, had its name from Peter Russell) was the abode of Mr. Dunn, long Receiver-General of Upper Canada. It was (and is) a retired family house, almost hidden from the general view by a grove of ornamental trees. A quiet-looking gate led into a straight drive up to the house, out of Queen Street. Of Mr. Dunn we have already discoursed, and of Mrs. Dunn, one of the graceful lady-chiefs in the high life of York in the olden time. In the house at which we now pause was born their famous son, Alexander Roberts Dunn, in 1833; who not only had the honour of sharing in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1856, now so renowned in history and song, but who, of all the six hundred there, won the highest meed of glory.

Six feet three inches in stature, a most powerful and most skilful swordsman, and a stranger to fear, Lieut. Dunn, instead of consulting his own safety in the midst of that frightful and untoward mêlée, deliberately interposed for the protection of his comrades in arms. Old troopers of the Eleventh Hussars long told with kindling eyes how the young lieutenant seeing Sergeant Bentley of his own regiment attacked from behind by two or three Russian lancers, rushed upon them single-handed, and cut them down; how he saved the life of Sergeant Bond; how Private Levett owed his safety to the same friendly arm, when assailed by Russian Hussars. Kinglake, the historian of the Crimean war, records that the Victoria Cross placed at the disposal of the Eleventh Hussars was unanimously awarded by them to Lieut. Dunn; the only cavalry officer who obtained the distinction.

To the enthusiasm inspired by his brilliant reputation was mainly due the speedy formation in Canada of the Hundredth Regiment, the Prince of Wales' Royal Canadian Regiment, in 1857. Of this regiment, chiefly raised through his instrumentality, Mr. Dunn was gazetted the first major; and on the retirement of the Baron de Rottenburg from its command, he succeeded as its Lieutenant Colonel.

In 1864 he was gazetted full Colonel: at the time he had barely completed his twenty-seventh year. Impatient of inactivity, he caused himself to be transferred to a command in India, where he speedily attracted the notice of General Napier, afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala; and he accompanied that officer in the expedition against King Theodore of Abyssinia. While halting at Senafé in that country, he was accidently killed by the sudden explosion of his rifle while out shooting deer. The sequel can best be given, as well as an impression of the feelings of his immediate associates on the deplorable occasion, by quoting the touching words of a letter addressed at the time to a near relative of Colonel Dunn, by a brother officer:

"In no regiment," says this friend, "was ever a commanding officer so missed as the one we have just so unhappily lost: such a courteous, thorough gentleman in word and deed, so thoughtful for others, so perfect a soldier, so confidence-inspiring a leader. Every soldier in the regiment misses Colonel Dunn; he was a friend, and felt to be such, to every one of them. The regiment will never have so universally esteemed a commander again. We all feel that. For myself I feel that I have lost a brother who can never be replaced. I can scarcely yet realize that the dear fellow is really dead, and as I pass his tent every morning I involuntarily turn my head, expecting to hear his usual kind salutation, and to see the dear, handsome face that has never looked at me but with kindness. I breakfasted with him on the morning of the 25th, and he looked so well as he started off with our surgeon for a day's shooting. Little did I think that I had looked on his dear old face for the last time in life. . . . I cannot describe to you what a shock the sad news was to every one, both in my regiment and indeed in every one in the camp. Our dear Colonel was so well known, and so universally liked and respected.

"Next day, Sunday, the 26th of January, he was buried about 4 o'clock p.m.. I went to look at the dear old fellow, before his coffin was closed, and his poor face, though looking so cold, was yet so handsome, and the expression of it, so peaceful and happy. I cut off some of his hair, which lately he wore very short, a lock of which I now send you, keeping one for myself, as the most valuable souvenir I could have of one I loved very dearly. And I knelt down to give his cold forehead a long farewell kiss. He was buried in uniform, as he had often expressed a wish to me to that effect. Every officer in the camp attended his funeral, and, of course, the whole of his own regiment, in which there was not a single dry eye, as all stood round the grave of their lost commander. He has been buried in a piece of ground near where our camp now stands, at the foot of a small hill covered with shrubbery and many wild flowers. We have had railings put round the grave, and a stone is to be placed there with the inscription: In memory of A. R. Dunn, V.C., Col. 33rd Regiment, who died at Senafé on 25th January, 1868, aged 34 years and 7 months."

Thus in remote Abyssinia rest the mortal remains of one who in the happy unconsciousness of childhood, sported here in grounds and groves which we are now passing on Queen Street. In numerous other regions of the earth, once seemingly as unlikely to be their respective final resting-places, repose the remains of Canadian youth, who have died in the public service of England. We are sharing in the fortune and history of the mother country, and like her, or rather like the ubiquitous Roman citizen of old, we may even already ask "Quæ caret ora cruore nostro?"—sadly as individuals, perhaps, but proudly as a people.

The occupant of Mr. Dunn's house at a later period was Chief Justice McLean, who died here in 1865. He was born at St. Andrews, near Cornwall, in 1791. At the battle of Queenston, he served as Lieutenant in Capt. Cameron's No. 1 Flank Company of York Militia, and received a severe wound in the early part of the engagement. He was afterwards for some time Speaker of the House. An admirable full-length painting of Chief Justice McLean exists at Osgoode Hall.

XXIII.

The suggestion of a capitulation was listened to by Colonel Boerstler as a dictate of humanity. The truth was, Major DeHaren, of the Canadian force, to whom, in the neighbourhood of what is now St. Catharines, a message had been sent, was momentarily expected, with 200 men. To gain time, Fitzgibbon made it a matter of importance that the terms of the surrender should be reduced to writing. Scarcely was the document completed when DeHaren arrived. Had there been the least further delay on his part, how to dispose of the prisoners would have been a perplexing question.

Lieutenant Fitzgibbon was now soon Captain Fitzgibbon. He had previously been a private in the 19th and 61st Regiments, having enlisted in Ireland at the age of seventeen. On the day of his enrolment, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant; and a very few years later he was a sergeant-major. He saw active service in Holland and Denmark. His title of Colonel was derived from his rank in our Canadian Militia.

His tall muscular figure, ever in buoyant motion; his grey, good-humoured vivacious eye, beaming out from underneath a bushy, light-coloured eyebrow; the cheery ring of his voice, and its animated utterances, were familiar to everyone. In the midst of a gathering of the young, whether in the school-room or on the play-ground, his presence was always warmly hailed. They at once recognized in him a genuine sympathizer with themselves in their ways and wants; and he had ever ready for them words of hope and encouragement.

Our own last personal recollection of Colonel Fitzgibbon is connected with a visit which we chanced to pay him at his quarters in Windsor Castle, where, in his old age, through the interest of Lord Seaton, he had been appointed one of the Military Knights. Though most romantically ensconced and very comfortably lodged, within the walls of the noblest of all the royal residences of Europe, his heart, we found, was far away, ever recurring to the scenes of old activities. Where the light streamed in through what seemed properly an embrasure for cannon, pierced through a wall several yards in thickness, we saw a pile of Canadian newspapers. To pore over these was his favourite occupation.

After chatting with him in his room, we went with him to attend Divine Service in the magnificent Chapel of St. George, close by. We then strolled together round the ramparts of the Castle, enjoying the incomparable views. Since the time of William IV. the habit of the Military Knights is that of an officer of high rank in full dress, cocked hat and feather included. As our venerable friend passed the several sentries placed at intervals about the Castle, arms were duly presented; an attention which each time elicited from the Colonel the words, rapidly interposed in the midst of a stream of earnest talk, and accompanied by deprecatory gestures of the hand, "Never mind me, boy! never mind me!"

Colonel Fitzgibbon took the fancy of Mrs. Jameson when in Canada. She devotes several pages of her "Winter Studies" to the story of his life. She gives some account of his marriage. The moment he received his captaincy, she tells us, "he surprised General Sheaffe, his commanding officer, by asking for a leave of absence, although the war was still at its height. In explanation, he said he wished to have his nuptials celebrated, so that if a fatal disaster happened to himself, his bride might enjoy the pension of a captain's widow. The desired leave was granted, and after riding some 150 miles and accomplishing his purpose, he was back in an incredibly short space of time at head-quarters again. No fatal disaster occurred, and he lived," Mrs. Jameson adds "to be the father of four brave sons and one gentle daughter."

The name of Colonel Fitzgibbon recalls the recollection of his sister, Mrs. Washburne, remarkable of old, in York, for dash and spirit on horseback, spite of extra embonpoínt; for a distinguished dignity of bearing, combined with a marked Hibernian heartiness and gaiety of manner. As to the "four brave sons and one gentle daughter," all have now passed away: one of the former met with a painful death from the giving way of a crowded gallery at a political meeting in the Market Square, as previously narrated. All four lads were favourites with their associates, and partook of their father's temperament.

Of Spadina Avenue, which we crossed in our approach to Col. Fitzgibbon's old home, and of Spadina house, visible in the far distance at the head of the Avenue, we have already spoken in our Collections and Recollections, connected with Front Street.

In passing we make an addition to what was then narrated. The career of Dr. Baldwin, the projector of the Avenue, and the builder of Spadina, is now a part of Upper Canadian history. It presents a curious instance of that versatility which we have had occasion to notice in so many of the men who have been eminent in this country. A medical graduate of Edinburgh, and in that capacity, commencing life in Ireland—on settling in Canada, he began the study of Law and became a leading member of the Bar.

On his arrival at York, from the first Canadian home of his father on Baldwin's Creek in the township of Clarke, Dr. Baldwin's purpose was to turn to account for a time his own educational acquirements, by undertaking the office of a teacher of youth. In several successive numbers of the Gazette and Oracle of 1802-3 we read the following advertisement: "Dr. Baldwin understanding that some of the gentlemen of this Town have expressed some anxiety for the establishment of a Classical School, begs leave to inform them and the public that he intends on Monday the first day of January next, to open a School in which he will instruct Twelve Boys in Writing, Reading, and Classics and Arithmetic. The terms are, for each boy, eight guineas per annum, to be paid quarterly or half-yearly; one guinea entrance and one cord of wood to be supplied by each of the boys on opening the School. N.B.—Mr. Baldwin will meet his pupils at Mr. Willcocks' house on Duke Street. York, December 18th, 1802." Of the results of this enterprise we have not at hand any record.

The Russell bequest augmented in no slight degree the previous possessions of Dr. Baldwin. In the magnificent dimensions assigned to the thoroughfare opened up by him in the neighbourhood of Petersfield, we have probably a visible expression of the large-handed generosity which a pleasant windfall is apt to inspire. Spadina Avenue is 160 feet wide throughout its mile-and-a-half length; and the part of Queen Street that bounds the front of the Petersfield park-lot, is made suddenly to expand to the width of 90 feet. Maria Street also, a short street here, is of extra width. The portion of York, now Toronto, laid out by Dr. Baldwin on a fraction of the land opportunely inherited, will, when solidly built over, rival Washington or St. Petersburg in grandeur of ground-plan and design.

The career of Dr. Rolph, another of our early Upper Canadian notabilities, resembles in some respects, that of Dr. Baldwin. Before emigrating from Gloucestershire, he began life as a medical man. On arriving in Canada he transferred himself to the Bar. In this case, however, after the attainment of eminence in the newly adopted profession, there was a return to the original pursuit, with the acquisition in that also, of a splendid reputation. Both acquired the local style of Honourable: Dr. Rolph by having been a member of the Hincks-ministry from 1851 to 1854; Dr. Baldwin by being summoned, six months before his decease, to the Legislative Council of United Canada, while his son was Attorney-General.

Mr. William Willcocks, allied by marriage to Dr. Baldwin's family, selected the park-lot at which we arrive after crossing Spadina Avenue. A lake in the Oak Ridges (Lake Willcocks) has its name from the same early inhabitant. In 1802 he was Judge of the Home District Court. He is to be distinguished from the ultra-Reformer, Sheriff Willcocks, of Judge Thorpe's day, whose name was Joseph; and from Charles Willcocks, who in 1818 was proposing, through the columns of the Upper Canada Gazette, to publish, by subscription, a history of his own life. The advertisement was as follows (what finally came of it, we are not able to state):—"The subscriber proposes to publish, by subscription, a History of his Life. The subscription to be One Dollar, to be paid by each subscriber; one-half in advance; the other half on the delivery of the Book. The money to be paid to his agent, Mr. Thomas Deary, who will give receipts and deliver the Books. Charles Willcocks, late Lieutenant, City of Cork Militia. York, March, 17th, 1818."

This Mr. Charles Willcocks once fancied he had grounds for challenging his name-sake, Joseph, to mortal combat, according to the barbaric notions of the time. But at the hour named for the meeting, Joseph did not appear on the ground. Charles waited a reasonable time. He then chipped off a square inch or so of the bark of a neighbouring tree, and, stationing himself at duelling distance, discharged his pistol at the mark which he had made. As the ball buried itself in the spot at which aim had been taken, he loudly bewailed his old friend's reluctance to face him. "Oh, Joe, Joe!" he passionately cried, "if you had only been here!"

Although Joseph escaped this time, he was not so fortunate afterwards. He fell, as we have already noted in connexion with the Early Press, "foremost fighting" in the ranks of the invaders of Upper Canada in 1814. The incident is briefly mentioned in the Montreal Herald of the 15th of October, in that year, in the following terms: "It is officially announced by General Ripley (on the American side, that is), that the traitor Willcocks was killed in the sortie from Fort Erie on the 4th ult., greatly lamented by his general and the army." Undertaking with impetuosity a crusade against the governmental ideas which were locally in the ascendant, and encountering the resistance customary in such cases, he cut the knot of his discontent by joining the Republican force when it made its appearance.

The Willcocks park-lot, or a portion of it, was afterwards possessed by Mr. Billings, a well-remembered Commissariat officer, long stationed at York. He built the house subsequently known as Englefield, which, later, was the home of Colonel Loring, who, at the time of the taking of York, in 1813, had his horse killed under him; and here he died. Mr. Billings and Colonel Loring both had sons, of whom we make brief mention as having been in the olden times among our own school-boy associates, but who now, like so many more personal contemporaries, already noted, are, after brief careers, deceased. An announcement in the Montreal Herald of February 4th, 1815, admits us to a domestic scene in the household of Colonel, at the time Captain, Loring. (The Treaty of Peace with the United States was signed at Ghent, on the 24th of December, 1814. Its effect was being pleasantly realized in Canada, in January, 1815). "At Prescott," the Herald reports, "on Thursday, 26th January, the lady of Capt. Loring, Aide-de-Camp and Private Secretary to His Honor Lieut.-Gen. Drummond, was safely delivered of a daughter." The Herald then adds: "The happy father had returned from a state of captivity with the enemy, but a few hours previous to the joyful event." Capt. Loring had been taken prisoner in the battle of Lundy's Lane, in the preceding July.

The first occupant of the next lot (No. 16) westward, was Mr. Baby, of whom we have spoken in former sections. Opposite was the house of Bernard Turquand, an Englishman of note, for many years first clerk in the Receiver-General's department. He was an early promoter of amateur boating among us, a recreation with which possibly he had become familiar at Malta, where he was long a resident. Just beyond on the same side, was the dwelling-place of Major Winniett,—a long, low, one-storey bungalow, of a neutral tint in colour, its roof spreading out, verandah-wise, on both sides.

After the name of Mr. Baby, on the early plan of the park-lots, comes the name of Mr. Grant—"the Hon. Alexander Grant." During the interregnum between the death of Governor Hunter and the arrival of Governor Gore, Mr. Grant, as senior member of the Executive Council, was President of Upper Canada. The Parliament that sat during his brief administration, appropriated £800 to the purchase of instruments for illustrating the principles of Natural Philosophy, "to be deposited in the hands of a person employed in the Education of Youth;" from the débris of which collection, preserved in a mutilated condition in one of the rooms of the Home District School building, we ourselves, like others probably of our contemporaries, obtained our very earliest inkling of the existence and significance of scientific apparatus.

In his speech at the close of the session of 1806, President Grant alluded to this action of Parliament in the following terms: "The encouragement which you have given for procuring the means necessary for communicating useful and ornamental knowledge to the rising generation, meets with my approbation, and, I have no doubt, will produce the most salutary effects." Mr. Grant was also known as Commodore Grant, having had, at one time, command of the Naval Force on the Lakes.

After Mr. Grant's name appears that of "E. B. Littlehales." This is the Major Littlehales with whom those who familiarize themselves with the earliest records of Upper Canada become so well acquainted. He was the writer, for example, of the interesting journal of an Exploring Excursion from Niagara to Detroit in 1793, to be seen in print in the Canadian Literary Magazine of May, 1834; an expedition undertaken, as the document itself sets forth, by the Lieut.-Governor, accompanied by Captain Fitzgerald, Lieutenant Smith of the 5th Regiment, and Lieutenants Talbot, Grey and Givins, and Major Littlehales, starting from Niagara on the 4th of February, arriving at Detroit on the 18th, by a route which was 270 miles in length. The return began on the 23rd, and was completed on the 10th of the following month.

It was in this expedition that the site of London, on the Thames, was first examined, and judged to be "a situation eminently calculated for the metropolis of all Canada." "Among other essentials," says Major Littlehales, "it possesses the following advantages: command of territory—internal situation—central position, facility of water communication up and down the Thames into Lakes St. Clair, Erie, Huron, and Superior,—navigable for boats to near its source, and for small craft probably to the Moravian settlement,—to the southward by a small portage to the waters flowing into Lake Huron—to the south-east by a carrying-place into Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence; the soil luxuriantly fertile,—the land rich and capable of being easily cleared, and soon put into a state of agriculture,—a pinery upon an adjacent high knoll, and other timber on the heights, well calculated for the erection of public buildings,—a climate not inferior to any part of Canada."

The intention of the Governor, at one time, was that the future capital should be named Georgina, in compliment to George III. Had that intention been adhered to, posterity would have been saved some confusion. To this hour, the name of our Canadian London gives trouble in the post-office and elsewhere. Georgina was a name not inaptly conceived, suggested doubtless by the title "Augusta," borne by so many places of old, as, for example, by London itself, the Veritable, in honour of the Augustus, the Emperor of the day. We might perhaps have rather expected Georgiana, on the analogy of Aureliana (Orleans), from Aurelius, or Georgia, after Julia, a frequent local appellation from the imperial Julius.—Already, had Georgius, temp. Geo. II., yielded Georgia as the name of a province, and later, temp. Geo. III., the same royal name had been associated with the style and title of a new planet, the Georgium Sidus, suggested probably by the Julium Sidus of Horace. We presume, also, that the large subdivision of Lake Huron, known as the Georgian Bay, had for its name a like loyal origin. (The name Georgina, is preserved in that of a now flourishing township on Lake Simcoe.)

An incident not recorded in Major Littlehales' Journal was the order of a grand parade (of ten men), and a formal discharge of musketry, issued in jocose mood by the Governor to Lieut. Givins; which was duly executed as a ceremony of inauguration for the new capital.

The capture of a porcupine, however, somewhere near the site of the proposed metropolis is noted by the Major. In the narrative the name of Lieut. Givins comes up. "The young Indians who had chased a herd of deer in company with Lieut. Givins," he says, "returned unsuccessful, but brought with them a large porcupine: which was very seasonable," he remarks, "as our provisions were nearly exhausted. This animal," he observes, "afforded us a good repast, and tasted like a pig." The Newfoundland dog, he adds, attempted to bite the porcupine, but soon got his mouth filled with the barbed quills, which gave him exquisite pain. An Indian undertook to extract them, he then says, and with much perseverance plucked them out, one by one, and carefully applied a root or decoction, which speedily healed the wound.

From Major Littlehales' Journal it appears that it was the practice of the party to wind up each day's proceedings by singing "God save the King." Thus on the 28th Feb., before arriving at the site of London, we have it recorded: "At six we stopped at an old Mississagua hut, upon the south side of the Thames. After taking some refreshment of salt pork and venison, well-cooked by Lieutenant Smith, who superintended that department, we, as usual, sang God save the King, and went to rest."

The Duke de Liancourt, in his Travels in North America, speaks of Major Littlehales in the following pleasant terms: "Before I close the article of Niagara," he says, "I must make particular mention of the civility shewn us by Major Littlehales, adjutant and first secretary to the Governor, a well-bred, mild and amiable man, who has the charge of the whole correspondence of government, and acquits himself with peculiar ability and application. Major Littlehales," the Duke says, "appeared to possess the confidence of the country. This is not unfrequently the case with men in place and power; but his worth, politeness, prudence, and judgment, give this officer peculiar claims to the confidence and respect which he universally enjoys."

In the Oracle of Feb. 24, 1798, a report of the death of this officer is contradicted. "We have the pleasure of declaring the account received in December last of the death of Col. Littlehales premature. Letters have been recently received from him dated in England." He had probably returned home with Gen. Simcoe. In the same paper a flying rumour is noticed, to the effect "that His Excellency Governor Simcoe is appointed Governor General of the Canadas."

Major Littlehales afterwards attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was created a baronet in 1802. In 1801 he was appointed under-Secretary for Ireland; and he held this office for nineteen years.

Major Littlehales' park-lot became subsequently the property of Capt. John Denison, and from him descended to his heir Col. George Taylor Denison, from whom the street now passing from south to north has its name, Denison Avenue. This thoroughfare was, in the first instance, the drive up to the homestead of the estate, Bellevue, a large white cheery-looking abode, lying far back but pleasantly visible from Lot Street through a long vista of overhanging trees.—From the old Bellevue have spread populous colonies at Dovercourt, Rusholme and elsewhere, marked, like their progenitor, with vigour of character, and evincing in a succession of instances strong aptitude for military affairs. Col. Denison's grandson, G. T. Denison tertius, is the author of a work on "Modern Cavalry, its Organisation, Armament and Employment in War," which has taken a recognized place in English strategetical literature.

In accordance with an early Canadian practice, Capt. John Dennison set apart on his property a plot of ground as a receptacle for the mortal remains of himself and his descendants. He selected for this purpose a picturesque spot on land possessed by him on the Humber river, entailing at the same time the surrounding estate. In 1853,—although at that date an Act of Parliament had cancelled entails,—his heir, Col. G. T. Denison, primus, perpetually connected the land referred to, together with the burial plot, with his family and descendants, by converting it into an endowment for an ecclesiastical living, to be always in the gift of the legal representative of his name. This is the projected rectory of St. John's on the Humber. In 1857, a son of Col. Denison's, Robert Britton Denison, erected at his own cost, in immediate proximity to the old Bellevue homestead, the church of St. Stephen, and took steps to make it in perpetuity a recognized ecclesiastical benefice.

The boundary of Major Littlehales' lot westward was near what is now Bathurst Street. In front of this lot, on the south side of Lot street, and stretching far to the west, was the Government Common, of which we have previously spoken, on which was traced out, at first ideally, and at length in reality, the arc of a circle of 1,000 yards radius, having the Garrison as its centre. Southward of the concave side of this arc no buildings were for a long time permitted to be erected. This gave rise to a curiously-shaped enclosure, northward of St. Andrew's Market-house, wide towards the east, but vanishing off to nothing on the west, at the point where Lot Street formed a tangent with the military circle.

Of Portland Street and Bathurst Street we have already spoken in our survey of Front Street. Immediately opposite Portland Street was the abode, at the latter period of his life, of Dr. Lee, to whom we have referred in our accounts of Front and George Streets. Glancing northward as we pass Bathurst Street, which, by the way, north of Lot Street, was long known as Crookshank's Lane, we are reminded again of Mr. Murchison, whom we have likewise briefly commemorated elsewhere. The substantial abode to which he retired after acquiring a good competency, and where in 1870 he died, is to be seen on the east side of Bathurst Street.

The names which appear in the early plans of York and its suburbs, as the first possessors of the park lots westward of Major Littlehales', are, in order of succession, respectively, Col. David Shank, Capt. Macdonell, Capt. S. Smith, Capt. Æ. Shaw, Capt. Bouchette. We then arrive at the line of the present Dundas road, where it passes at right angles north from the line of Queen Street. This thoroughfare is not laid down in the plans. Then follow the names of David Burns, William Chewitt and Alexander MacNab (conjointly), Thomas Ridout and William Allan (conjointly), and Angus Macdonell. We then reach a road duly marked, leading straight down to the French Fort, Fort Rouillé, commonly known as Fort Toronto. Across this road westward, only one lot is laid off, and on it is the name of Benjamin Hallowell.

Most of the names first enumerated are very familiar to those whose recollections embrace the period to which our attention is now being directed. Many of them have occurred again and again in these papers.

In regard to Col. David Shank, the first occupant of the park lot westward of Major Littlehales', we must content ourselves with some brief "Collections." In the Simcoe correspondence, preserved at Ottawa, there is an interesting mention of him, associated, as it appropriately happens, with his neighbour-locatees to the east and west here on Lot Street. In a private letter to the "Secretary at War," Sir George Yonge, from Governor Simcoe, dated Jan. 17th, 1792, announcing his arrival at Montreal, en route for his new Government, still far up "the most august of rivers," Capt. Shank is spoken of as being on his way to the same destination in command of a portion of the Queen's Rangers, in company with Capt. Smith.

There is noted in the same document, it will be observed, a gallant achievement of Capt. Shaw's, who, the Governor reports, had just successfully marched with his division of the same regiment all the way from New Brunswick to Montreal, in the depth of winter, on snow-shoes. "It is with infinite pleasure," writes Governor Simcoe to Sir George Yonge, "that I received your letter of the 1st of April by Capt. Littlehales. On the 13th of June," he continues, "that officer overtook me on the St. Lawrence, as I was on my passage in batteaux up the most august of rivers. It has given me great satisfaction," the Governor says, "that the Queen's Rangers have arrived so early. Capt. Shaw, who crossed in the depth of winter on snow-shoes from New Brunswick, is now at Kingston with the troops of the two first ships; and Captains Shank and Smith, with the remainder, are, I trust, at no great distance from this place,—as the wind has served for the last 36 hours, and I hope with sufficient force to enable them to pass the Rapids of the Richelieu, where they have been detained some days." Governor Simcoe himself, as we learn from this correspondence, had landed at Quebec on the 11th of November preceding (1791), in the "Triton," Capt. Murray, "after a blustering passage."

In addition to the lot immediately after Major Littlehales', Col. Shank also possessed another in this range, just beyond, viz., No. 21.

The Capt. Macdonell, whose name appears on the lot that follows Col. Shank's first lot, was the aide-de-camp of Gen. Brock, who fell, with that General, at Queenston Heights. Capt. Macdonell's lot was afterwards the property of Mr. Crookshank, from whom what is now Bathurst Street North had, as we have remarked, for a time the name of Crookshank's Lane.

Capt. S. Smith, whose name follows those of Capt. Macdonell and Col. Shank, was afterwards President Smith, of whom already. The park lot selected by him was subsequently the property of Mr. Duncan Cameron, a member of the Legislative Council, freshly remembered. At an early period, the whole was known by the graceful appellation of Gore Vale. Gore was in honour of the Governor of that name. Vale denoted the ravine which indented a portion of the lot through whose meadow-land meandered a pleasant little stream. The southern half of this lot now forms the site and grounds of the University of Trinity College. Its brooklet will hereafter be famous in scholastic song. It will be regarded as the Cephissus of a Canadian Academus, the Cherwell of an infant Christ Church. The elmy dale which gives such agreeable variety to the park of Trinity College, and which renders so charming the views from the Provost's Lodge, is irrigated by it. (The cupola and tower of the principal entrance to Trinity College will pleasantly, in however humble a degree, recall to the minds of Oxford-men, the Tom Gate of Christ Church.)—After the decease of Mr. Cameron, Gore Vale was long occupied by his excellent and benevolent sister, Miss Janet Cameron.

On the steep mound which overhangs the Gore Vale brook, on its eastern side, just where it is crossed by Queen Street, was, at an early period, a Blockhouse commanding the western approach to York. On the old plans this military work is shown, as also a path leading to it across the Common from the Garrison, trodden often probably by the relief party of the guard that would be stationed there in anxious times.

In the valley of this stream a little farther to the west, on the opposite side of Queen Street, was a Brewery of local repute: it was a long, low-lying dingy-looking building of hewn logs; on the side towards the street a railed gangway led from the road to a door in its upper storey. Conspicuous on the hill above the valley on the western side was the house, also of hewn logs, but cased over with clap-boards, of Mr. Farr, the proprietor of the brewery, a north-of-England man in aspect, as well as in staidness and shrewdness of character. His spare form and slightly crippled gait were everywhere familiarly recognized. Greatly respected, he was still surviving in 1872. His chief assistant in the old brewery bore the name of Bow-beer. (At Canterbury, we remember, many years ago, when the abbey of St. Augustine there, now a famous Missionary College, was a Brewery, on the beautiful turretted gateway, wherein were the coolers, the inscription "Beer, Brewer," was conspicuous; the name of the brewer in occupation of the grand monastic ruin being Beer, a common name, sometimes given as Bere; but which in reality is Bear.)

The stream which is here crossed by Queen Street is the same that afterwards flows below the easternmost bastion of the Fort. A portion of the broken ground between Farr's and the Garrison was once designated by the local Government—so far as an order in Council has force—and permanently set apart, as a site for a Museum and Institute of Natural History and Philosophy, with Botanical and Zoological Gardens attached. The project, originated by Dr. Dunlop, Dr. Rees and Mr. Fothergill, and patronized by successive Lieutenant-Governors, was probably too bold in its conception, and too advanced to be justly appreciated and earnestly taken up by a sufficient number of the contemporary public forty years ago. It consequently fell to the ground. It is to be regretted that, at all events, the land, for which an order in Council stands recorded, was not secured in perpetuity as a source of revenue for the promotion of science. In the Canadian Institute we have the kind of Association which was designed by Drs. Dunlop and Rees and Mr. Fothergill, but minus the revenue which the ground-rent of two or three building lots in a flourishing city would conveniently supply.

Capt. Æneas Shaw, the original locatee of the park-lot next westward of Colonel Shank's second lot, was afterwards well known in Upper Canada as Major General Shaw. Like so many of our early men of note he was a Scotchman; a Shaw of Tordorach in Strathnairn. Possessed of great vigour and decision, his adopted country availed itself of his services in a civil as well as a military capacity, making him a member of the legislative and executive councils. The name by which his house and estate at this point were known, was Oakhill. The primitive domicile still exists and in 1871 was still occupied by one of his many descendants, Capt. Alex. Shaw.—It was at Oakhill that the Duke of Kent was lodged during his visit to York in his second tour in Upper Canada. The Duke arrived at Halifax on the 12th of September, 1799, after a passage from England of forty-three days, "on board of the Arethusa."

Of Col. Joseph Bouchette, whose name is read on the following allotment, we have had occasion already to speak. He was one of the many French Canadians of eminence who, in the early days, were distinguished for their chivalrous attachment to the cause and service of England. The successor of Col. Bouchette in the proprietorship of the park lot at which we have arrived, was Col. Givins.—He, as we have already seen, was one of the companions of Gov. Simcoe in the first exploration of Upper Canada. Before obtaining a commission in the army, he had been as a youth employed in the North-West, and had acquired a familiar acquaintance with the Otchibway and Huron dialects. This acquisition rendered his services of especial value to the Government in its dealings with the native tribes, among whom also the mettle and ardor and energy of his own natural character gave him a powerful influence. At the express desire of Governor Simcoe he studied and mastered the dialects of the Six Nations, as well as those of the Otchibways and their Mississaga allies.—We ourselves remember seeing a considerable body of Indian chiefs kept in order and good humour mainly through the tact exercised by Col. Givins. This was at a Council held in the garden at Government House some forty years since, and presided over by the then Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Colborne.

Col. Givins was Superintendent of Indian Affairs down to the year 1842. In 1828 his name was connected with an incident that locally made a noise for a time. A committee of the House of Assembly, desiring to have his evidence and that of Col. Coffin, Adjutant General of Militia, in relation to a trespass by one Forsyth on Government property at the Falls of Niagara, commanded their presence at a certain day and hour. On referring to Sir Peregrine Maitland, the Lieutenant-Governor at the time, and also Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, permission to obey the mandate of the House was refused. Col. Givins and Col. Coffin were then arrested by the Sergeant-at-arms, after forcible entry effected at their respective domiciles, and were kept confined in the common gaol until the close of the session.

The following is Col. Coffin's letter to Major Hillier, private secretary to the Governor, on the occasion: "York, March 22nd, 1828. Sir,—I beg leave to request that you will state to the Lieutenant Governor that in obedience to the communication I received through you, that His Excellency could not give me permission to attend a Committee of the House of Assembly for the reason therein stated, that I did not attend the said Committee, and that in consequence thereof, I have been committed this evening to the common gaol of the Home District, by order of the House of Assembly. I have therefore to pray that His Excellency will be pleased to direct that I may have the advice and assistance of the Crown Officers, to enable me take such steps as I may be instructed on the occasion. I have the honour, &c., N. Coffin, Adjt. Gen. of Militia."

No redress was to be had. The Executive Council reported in regard to this letter that upon mature consideration they could not advise that the Government should interfere to give any direction to the Crown Officers, as therein solicited. Sir Peregrine Maitland was removed from the Government in the same year. Sir George Murray, who in that year succeeded Mr. Huskisson as Colonial Secretary, severely censured him for the line of action adopted in relation to the Forsyth grievance.

Colonels Givins and Coffin afterwards brought an action against the Speaker of the House for false imprisonment, but they did not recover: for the legality of the imprisonment, that is the right of the House to convict for what they had adjudged a contempt, was confirmed by the Court of King's Bench, by a solemn judgment rendered in another cause then pending, which involved the same question.

Although its hundred-acre domain is being rapidly narrowed and circumscribed by the encroachments of modern improvement, the old family abode of Col. Givins still stands, wearing at this day a look of peculiar calm and tranquillity, screened from the outer world by a dark grove of second-growth pine, and overshadowed by a number of acacias of unusual height and girth.

Governor Gore and his lady, Mrs. Arabella Gore, were constant visitors at Pine Grove, as this house was named; and here to this day is preserved a very fine portrait, in oil, of that Governor. It will satisfy the ideal likely to be fashioned in the mind by the current traditions of this particular ruler of Upper Canada. In contour of countenance and in costume he is plainly of the type of the English country squire of a former day. He looks good humoured and shrewd; sturdy and self-willed; and fond of good cheer.

The cavalier style adopted by Gov. Gore towards the local parliament was one of the seeds of trouble at a later date in the history of Upper Canada. "He would dismiss the rascals at once." Such was his determination on their coming to a vote adverse to his notions; and, scarcely like a Cromwell, but rather like a Louis XIV., though still not, as in the case of that monarch, with a riding-whip in his hand, but nevertheless, in the undress of the moment, he proceeded to carry out his hasty resolve.

The entry of the incident in the Journals of the House is as follows: "On Monday, 7th April, at 11 o'clock a.m., before the minutes of the former day were read, and without any previous notice, the Commons, to the great surprise of all the members, were summoned to the bar of the Legislative Council, when his Excellency having assented, in his Majesty's name, to several bills, and reserved for his Majesty's pleasure the Bank bill, and another, to enable creditors to sue joint debtors separately, put an end to the session by the following speech:—'Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,—The session of the provincial legislature having been protracted by an unusual interruption of business at its commencement, your longer absence from your respective avocations must be too great a sacrifice for the objects which remain to occupy your attention. I have therefore come to close the session and permit you to return to your homes. In accepting, in the name of his Majesty, the supply for defraying the deficiency of the funds which have hitherto served to meet the charges of the administration of justice and support of the civil government of this province, I have great satisfaction in acknowledging the readiness manifested to meet this exigence.'"

Upper Canadian society was, indeed, in an infant state; but the growing intelligence of many of its constituents, especially in the non-official ranks, rendered it unwise in rulers to push the feudal or paternal theory of government too far. The names of the majority in the particular division of the Lower House which brought on the sudden prorogation just described are the following:—McDonell, McMartin, Cameron, Jones, Howard, Casey, Robinson, Nellis, Secord, Nichol, Burwell, McCormack, Cornwall. Of the minority: Van Koughnet, Crystler, Fraser, Cotter, McNab, Swayze, and Clench.

Six weeks after, Governor Gore was on his way to England, not recalled, as it would seem, but purposing to give an account of himself in his own person. He never returned. He is understood to have had a powerful friend at Court in the person of the Marquis of Camden.

One of the "districts" of Upper Canada was called after Governor Gore. It was set off, during his regime, from the Home and Niagara districts. But of late years county names have rendered the old district names unfamiliar. In 1837, "the men of Gore" was a phrase invested with stirring associations.

The town of Belleville received its name from Gov. Gore. In early newspapers and other documents the word appears as Bellville, without the central e, which gives it now such a fine French look. And this, it is said, is the true orthography. "Bell," we are told, was the Governor's familiar abbreviation of his wife's name, Arabella: and the compound was suggested by the Governor jocosely, as a name for the new village: but it was set down in earnest, and has continued, the sound at least, to this day. This off-hand assignment of a local name may remind some persons that Flos, Tay and Tiny, which are names of three now populous townships in the Penetanguishene region, are a commemoration of three of Lady Sarah Maitland's lap-dogs. Changes of names in such cases as these are not unjustifiable.

In fact, the Executive Council itself, at the period of which we are speaking, had occasionally found it proper to change local names which had been frivolously given. In the Upper Canada Gazette of March 11th, 1822, we have several such alterations. It would seem that some one having access to the map or plan of a newly surveyed region, had inscribed across the parallelograms betokening townships, a fragment of a well-known Latin sentence, "jus et norma," placing each separate word in a separate compartment. In this way Upper Canada had for a time a township of "Jus," and more wonderful still, a township of "Et." In the number of the Gazette of the date given above these names are formally changed to Barrie and Palmerston respectively. In the same advertisement, "Norma," which might have passed, is made "Clarendon."

Other impertinent appellations are also at the same time changed. The township of "Yea" is ordered to be hereafter the township of "Burleigh," with a humorous allusion to the famous nod, probably. The township of "No" is to be the township of Grimsthorpe; and the township of "Aye," the township of Anglesea.—The name "Et" may recall the street known as "Of" alley, on the south side of the Strand, in London, which "Of" is a portion of the name and title "George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham," distributed severally among a cluster of streets in that locality.

Gov. Gore was so fortunate as to be away from his Province during the whole of the war in 1812-13-14. He obtained leave of absence to visit England in 1811, and returned to his post in 1815, the Presidents, Isaac Brock, Roger Hale Sheaffe, and Gordon Drummond, Esquires, reigning in the interim.

Under date of York U. C., Sept., 30, 1815, we read the following particulars in the Gazette of the day:—"Arrived on Monday last the 25th instant, His Excellency Francis Gore, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, to reassume the reins of government. His Excellency was received with a cordial welcome and the honours due to his rank; and was saluted by his M. S. Montreal, and Garrison."

We are also informed that "On Wednesday the 27th instant, he was waited on by a deputation, and presented with the following address: To His Excellency, Francis Gore, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, &c., &c., &c. We, the Judges, Magistrates and principal Inhabitants of the Town of York, in approaching your Excellency to express our great satisfaction at beholding you once more among us, feel that we have still greater reason to congratulate ourselves on this happy event. Our experience of your past firm and liberal administration, by which the prosperity of the Province has been so essentially promoted, teaches us to anticipate the greater benefit from its resumption; and this pleasing anticipation is confirmed by our knowledge of that paternal solicitude which induced you while in England to bring, upon all proper occasions, the interests of the Colony under the favourable attention of His Majesty's Government; a solicitude which calls forth in our hearts the most grateful emotions. We rejoice that the blessings of peace are to be dispensed by one who is so well acquainted with the wants and feelings of the Colony; and we flatter ourselves that York, recovering from a state of war, (during which she has been twice in the power of the enemy), will not only forget her disasters, but rise to greater prosperity under your Excellency's auspicious administration. York, September 27th, 1815. Thos. Scott, C.J., W. Dummer Powell, John Strachan, D.D., John McGill, John Beikie, M.P., Grant Powell J.P., W. Chewett, J.P., J. G. Chewett, W. Lee, Sam. Smith, W. Claus, Benjamin Gale, D. Cameron, D. Boulton, jun., George Ridout, And. Mercer, Thomas Ridout, J.P., W. Jarvis, Sec. and Reg., S. Jarvis, J.P., John Small, J.P., W. Allan, J.P., J. Givins, E. MacMahon, J. Scarlett, S. Heward, Thos. Hamilton, C. Baynes, John Dennis, P. K. Hartney, Jno. Cameron, E. W. McBride, Jordan Post, jun., Levi Bigelow, John Hays, T. R. Johnson, Lardner Bostwick, John Burke, John Jordan, W. Smith, sen., W. Smith, jun., J. Cawthra, John Smith, Alex. Legge, Jordan Post, sen., Andrew O'Keefe, S. A. Lumsden, John Murchison, Thomas Deary, Ezek. Benson, A. NcNabb, Edward Wright, John Evans, W. Lawrence, Thos. Duggan, George Duggan, Benjamin Cozens, Philip Klinger, and Sheriff Ridout. To which His Excellency was pleased to make the following answer: Gentlemen: After so long an absence from this place it is particularly gratifying to find the same sentiments of cordiality to me, and of approbation of my conduct, which I experienced during my former residence in this Province. It is but doing me justice to say that, while in Europe, I paid every attention in my power to promote your prosperity; and such, you may be assured, shall be my future endeavour when residing amongst you; earnestly hoping that, under the fostering care of our Parent State, and under that security which Peace alone can bestow, this Colony will speedily become a valuable, though distant part of the British Empire. York, 27th September, 1815."

On the 7th of the following month, it is announced that "His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent acting in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, has been pleased to appoint Thomas Fraser, Esquire, of Prescott, Neil McLean, Esquire, of Cornwall, Thomas Clark, Esquire, of Queenston, and William Dickson, Esquire, of Niagara, to be members of the Legislative Council; Samuel Smith, Esquire, of Etobicoke, to be a member of the Executive Council, and Doctor John Strachan, to be an Honorary Member of the same Council."

By one of the acts passed during the administration of Gov. Gore, the foundation was laid of a parliamentary library, to replace the one destroyed or dispersed during the occupation of York in 1813. In the session of 1816, the sum of £800 was voted for the purchase of books for the use of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly.

The sum of £800 for such a purpose contrasts poorly, however, with the £3,000 recommended in the same session, to be granted to Gov. Gore himself, for the purchase of "Plate." The joint address of both Houses to the Prince Regent, on this subject, was couched in the following terms: "To his Royal Highness, George, Prince of Wales, Prince Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c., &c., &c.: May it please your Royal Highness: We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada, in Provincial Parliament assembled, impressed with a lively sense of the firm, upright, and liberal administration of Francis Gore, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of this Province, as well as of his unceasing attention to the individual and general interests of the Colony during his absence, have unanimously passed a bill to appropriate the sum of three thousand pounds, to enable him to purchase a service of plate, commemorative of our gratitude. Apprized that this spontaneous gift cannot receive the sanction of our beloved Sovereign in the ordinary mode, by the acceptance of the Lieutenant-Governor in his name and behalf; we, the Legislative Council and Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada, humbly beg leave to approach your Royal Highness with an earnest prayer that you will approve this demonstration of our gratitude, and graciously be pleased to sanction, in His Majesty's name, the grant of the Legislature, in behalf of the inhabitants of Upper Canada. Wm. Dummer Powell, Speaker, Legislative Council Chambers, 26th March, 1816. Allan Maclean, Speaker, Commons House of Assembly, 25th March, 1816."

To which, as we are next informed, his Excellency replied: "Gentlemen: I shall transmit your address to His Majesty's Ministers, in order that their expression of your approbation of my past administration may be laid at the feet of His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent. Government House, York, 26th March, 1816." The Bill which suggested this allowance was popularly spoken of as the "Spoon-bill." The House that passed the measure was the same that, a few weeks later, was so abruptly dismissed.

The name on the allotment following that occupied successively by Col. Bouchette and Col. Givins, is "David Burns." Mr. Burns, who had been a Navy surgeon, was the first Clerk of the Crown for Upper Canada, and one of the "Masters in Chancery." He died in 1806. In the Gazette and Oracle of Saturday, Feb. 15th, in that year, we have verses to the memory of the late David Burns, Esq. We make the following extract, which is suggestive:—