XXV.

YONGE STREET, FROM YORKVILLE TO HOGG'S HOLLOW.

Of long standing is the group of buildings on the right after passing the Davenport Road. It is the Brewery and malting-house of Mr. Severn, settled here since 1835. The main building over-looks a ravine which, as seen by the passer-by on Yonge Street, retains to this day in its eastern recess a great deal of natural beauty, although the stream below attracted manufacturers at an early period to its borders at numerous points. There is a picturesque irregularity about the outlines of Mr. Severn's brewery. The projecting galleries round the domestic portion of the building pleasantly indicate that the adjacent scenery is not unappreciated: nay, possibly enjoyed on many a tranquil autumn evening.

Further on, a block-house of two storeys, both of them rectangular, but the upper turned half round on the lower, built in consequence of the troubles of 1837, and supposed to command the great highway from the north, overhung a high bank on the right. (Another of the like build was placed at the eastern extremity of the First Concession Road. It was curious to observe how rapidly these two relics acquired the character and even the look, gray and dilapidated, of age. With many, they dated at least from the war of 1812.)

A considerable stretch of striking landscape here skirts our route on the right. Rosedale-house, the old extra-mural home, still existent and conspicuous, of Mr. Stephen Jarvis, Registrar of the Province in the olden time, afterwards of his son the Sheriff, of both of whom we have had occasion to speak repeatedly, was always noticeable for the romantic character of its situation; on the crest of a precipitous bank overlooking deep winding ravines. Set down here while yet the forest was but little encroached on, access to it was of course for a long time, difficult and laborious.

The memorable fancy-ball given here at a comparatively late period, but during the Sheriff's lifetime, recurs as we go by. On that occasion, in the dusk of evening, and again probably in the gray dawn of morning, an irregular procession thronged the highway of Yonge Street and toiled up and down the steep approaches to Rosedale-house--a procession consisting of the simulated shapes and forms that usually revisit the glimpses of the moon at masquerades,--knights, crusaders, Plantagenet, Tudor and Stuart princes, queens and heroines; all mixed up with an incongruous ancient and modern canaille, a Tom of Bedlam, a Nicholas Bottom "with amiable cheeks and fair large ears," an Ariel, a Paul Pry, a Pickwick, &c., &c., not pacing on with some veri-similitude on foot or respectably mounted on horse, ass, or mule, but borne along most prosaically on wheels or in sleighs.

This pageant, though only a momentary social relaxation, a transient but still not unutilitarian freak of fashion, accomplished well and cleverly in the midst of a scene literally a savage wild only a few years previously, may be noted as one of the many outcomes of precocity characterizing society in the colonies of England.

In a burlesque drama to be seen in the columns of a contemporary paper (the _Colonist_, of 1839) we have an allusion to this memorable entertainment. The news is supposed to have just arrived of the union of the Canadas, to the dismay, as it is pretended, of the official party, among whom there will henceforth be no more cakes and ale. A messenger, Thomas, speaks:

List, oh, list--the Queen hath sent A message to her Lords and trusty Commons-- All--What message sent she? Thomas.--Oh the dreadful news! That both the Canadas in one be joined.--(_faints._)

Sheriff William then speaks:

Farewell ye masquerades, ye sparkling routs: Now routed out, no more shall routs be ours; No gilded chariots now shall roll along; No sleighs that sweep across our icy path,-- Sleighs! no: this news that slays our warmest hopes, Ends pageantry, and pride and masquerades.

The characters in the dramatic _jeu d'esprit_, from which these lines are taken, are the principal personages of the defeated party, under thinly disguised names, Mr. Justice Clearhead, Mr. John Scott, William Welland, Judge Brock, Christopher, Samuel, Sheriff William, as above, and Thomas, &c. Rosedale is a name of pleasant sound. We are reminded thereby of another of the same genus, but of more recent application in these parts--Hazeldean--the pretty title given by Chief Justice Draper to his rural cottage, which overhangs and looks down upon the same ravine as Rosedale, but on the opposite side. (A residence of the Earl of Shaftesbury in Kew-foot Lane near Richmond, on the Thames is called Rosedale House, and is associated with the memory of the poet Thomson, who is said to have written his _Castle of Indolence_ there.)

The perils and horrors encountered every spring and autumn by travellers and others in their ascent and descent of the precipitous sides of the Rosedale ravine, at the point where the primitive Yonge Street crossed it, were a local proverb and by-word: perils and horrors ranking for enormity with those associated with the passage of the Rouge, the Credit, the Sixteen, and a long list of other deeply ploughed watercourses intersected of necessity by the two great highways of Upper Canada.

The ascent and descent of the gorge were here spoken of collectively as the "Blue Hill." Certain strata of a bluish clay had been remarked at the summit on both sides. The waggon-track passed down and up by two long wearisome and difficult slopes cut in the soil of the steep sides of the lofty banks. After the autumnal rains and during the thaws at the close of winter, the condition of the route here was indescribably bad. At the period referred to, however, the same thing, for many a year, was to be said of every rood of Yonge Street throughout its thirty miles of length.

Nor was Yonge Street singular in this respect. All our roads were equally bad at certain seasons every year. We fear we conveyed an impression unfavourable to emigration many years ago, when walking with two or three young English friends across some flat clayey fields between Cambridge and the Gogmagogs. It chanced that the driftways for the farmers' carts--the holls as they are locally called, if we remember rightly--at the sides of the ploughed land were mire from end to end. Under the impulse of the moment, pleased in fact with a reminder of home far-distant, we exclaimed, "Here are Canadian roads!" The comparison was altogether too graphic; and our companions could never afterwards be got to entertain satisfactory notions of Canadian civilization.

But English roads were not much better a century ago. We made a note once of John Moody's account of Lady Townley's journey with her coach-and-four and large household to London, from the veritable old-country York, in Sir John Vanbrugh's comedy of the Provoked Husband, so perfect a parallel did it furnish to the traveller's experience here on Yonge Street on his way from the Canadian York to the Landing in stage-coach or farmer's waggon in the olden time.

"Some impish trick or other," said John Moody, "plagued us all the day long. Crack goes one thing: bounce goes another: Woa, says Roger--then sowse! we are all set fast in a slough. Whaw, cries Miss: scream go the maids: and bawl just as tho' they were stuck: and so, mercy on us! this was the trade from morning to night."

The mode of extricating a vehicle from a slough or mudhole when once in, may be gathered from a passage in McTaggart's "Three Years in Canada," ii., 205. The time referred to is 1829: "There are few roads," McTaggart says, "and these are generally excessively bad, and full of mudholes in which if a carriage fall, there is great trouble to get it out again. The mail coaches or waggons are often in this predicament, when the passengers instantly jump off, and having stripped rails off the fence, they lift it up by sheer force. Coming up brows they sometimes get in; the horses are then taken out, and yoked to the stern instead of the front; and it is drawn out backwards."

The country between York and Lake Huron was, as we have already seen, first explored by Governor Simcoe in person, in 1793. It was also immediately surveyed, and in some measure occupied; and so early as 1794, we read in a _Gazette_ the following notice: "Surveyor-General's Office, Upper Canada, 15th July, 1794. Notice is hereby given that all persons who have obtained assignments for land on Dundas Street, leading from the head of Burlington Bay to the upper forks of the River Thames, and on Yonge Street leading from York to Lake Simcoe, that unless a dwelling-house shall be built on every lot under certificate of location, and the same occupied within one year from the date of their respective assignments, such lots will be forfeited on the said Roads. D. W. Smith, Acting Surveyor General."

All the conditions required to be fulfilled by the first settlers were these: "They must within the term of two years, clear fit for cultivation and fence, ten acres of the lot obtained; build a house 16 by 20 feet of logs or frame, with a shingle roof; also cut down all the timber in front of and the whole width of the lot (which is 20 chains, 133 feet wide), 33 feet of which must be cleared smooth and left for half of the public road." To issue injunctions for the performance of such work was easy. To do such work, or to get such work effectually done, was, under the circumstances of the times, difficult. Hence Yonge Street continued for some years after 1794 to be little more than a rambling forest wheel-track through the woods.

In 1794, as we have before heard, Mr. William Berczy, brought over from the Pulteney Settlement, on the south side of Lake Ontario, sixty German families, and conducted them to the township of Markham, north-east of York, where lands had been assigned them. In effecting this first lodgement of a considerable body of colonists in a region entirely new, Mr. Berczy necessarily cut out by the aid of his party, and such other help as he could obtain, some kind of track through the forest, along the line of Yonge Street. He had already once before successfully accomplished a similar work. He had, we are told, hewn out a waggon road for emigrants through trackless woods all the way from Philadelphia to the Genesee country, where the Pulteney Settlement was.

In 1795, Mr. Augustus Jones, a Deputy Provincial Surveyor, who figures largely in the earliest annals of Upper Canada, was directed by the Lieutenant Governor to survey and open in a more effective manner the route which Mr. Berczy and his emigrants had travelled. A detachment of the Queen's Rangers was at the same time ordered to assist.

On the 24th December, 1795, Mr. Jones writes to D. W. Smith, Acting Surveyor General:--"His Excellency was pleased to direct me, previous to my surveying the township of York, to proceed on Yonge Street, to survey and open a cart-road from the harbour at York to Lake Simcoe, which I am now busy at (_i. e._ I am busily engaged in the preparations for this work.) Mr. Pearse is to be with me in a few days' time with a detachment of about thirty of the Queen's Rangers, who are to assist in opening the said road."

Then in his Note-book and Journal for the new year 1796, he records the commencement of the survey, thus:--"Monday, 4th (January, 1796). Survey of Yonge Street. Begun at a Post near the Lake, York Harbour, on Bank, between Nos. 20 and 21, the course being Mile No. 1, N. 16 degrees W., eighty chains, from Black Oak Tree to Maple Tree on the right side, along the said Yonge Street: at eighteen chains, fifty links, small creek; at twenty-eight chains, small creek; course the same at thirty-two eighty: here First Concession. At, N. 35 W. to 40-50, At 39-50 swamp and creek, 10 links across, runs to the right: then N. 2 E., to 43 chains in the line. At 60-25, small creek runs to right; swampy to 73; N. 29 W. to 77, swamp on right. Then N. to 80 on line. Timber chiefly white and black oak to 60, and in many places windfalls thereon: maple, elm, beech, and a few oaks, black ash; loose soil. Mile No. 2 do. 80 chains; rising Pine Ridge to 9 on top," &c., and so on day by day, until Tuesday, February 16th, when the party reached the Landing.

For Mile No. 33 we have the entry. "Course do. (N. 9 W.) 80 chains; descended; at 10 chains, small creek; cross aforesaid small creek; at 30, several cedars to 35-50; at 33, creek about 30 links across, runs to left; at 80 chains, hemlock tree on the right bank small creek; hemlock, pine, a few oak; broken soil. At Mile 34, do., 53 chains to Pine tree marked at Landing; timber, yellow and white Pines; sandy soil; slight winds from the north; cloudy, cold weather."

The survey and opening of the Street from York bay to the Landing thus occupied forty-three days (January 4, to February 16). Three days sufficed for the return of the party to the place of beginning. The memoranda of these three days, and the following one, when Mr. Jones presented himself before the Governor, in the Garrison at York, run thus: "Wednesday, 17th, returned back to a small Lake at the twenty-first mile tree; pleasant weather, light winds from the west. Thursday, 18th, came down to five mile tree from York; pleasant weather. Friday, 19th, came to the town of York; busy entering some of my field notes; weather as before. Saturday, 20th, went to Garrison, York, and waited on His Excellency the Governor, and informed him that Yonge Street is opened from York to the Pine Fort Landing, Lake Simcoe. As there is no provision to be had at the place," Mr. Jones proceeds, "His Excellency was pleased to say that I must return to Newark, and report to the Surveyor General, and return with him in April next, when the Executive will sit, and that my attendance would be wanted. Pleasant weather, light winds from the west."

The entry on the following Monday is this: "The hands busy at repairing (caulking) the boat to return to Burlington Bay, and thence to Newark; light winds from south, a few clouds. Tuesday, 23rd, high winds from the south-west hinder going on the Lake. Wednesday, 24th, high winds from the south drove a great quantity of ice into the harbour; obliged me to leave the boat and set out by land; went to the Etobicoke. Thursday, 25th, came along the Lake to the 16 mile creek; winds left from south, thaw. Friday, 26th, came down to my house, Long Beach; calm, thaw," &c.

Then on Tuesday, the 1st of March, 1796, the entry is: "Came down to 12-mile creek; lame in my feet; high winds from N. W., frosty night. Wednesday, 2nd, came down to Newark; some snow, calm, frosty weather. Thursday, 3rd, busy entering some field notes; some snow, calm weather. Friday, 4th, busy protracting Yonge Street; cold weather, high winds from N. W." Finally, on Monday, 7th March (1796), we have the entry: "Busy copying of Yonge Street; high winds from the north, cold, snow fell last night about six inches."

Some romance attaches to the history of Mr. Augustus Jones. We have his marriage mentioned in a _Gazette_ of 1798, in the following terms: "May 21, Married, at the Grand River, about three weeks since, A. Jones, Esq., Deputy Surveyor, to a young lady of that place, daughter of the noted Mohawk warrior, Terrihogah."--The famous Indian Wesleyan missionary, Peter Jones, called in the Indian tongue Kah-ke-wa-quo-na-by, Sacred Waving Feathers, was the issue of this marriage.

Peter Jones, in his published autobiography, thus speaks: "I was born at the heights of Burlington Bay, Canada West, on the first day of January, 1802. My father, Augustus Jones," he continues, "was of Welsh extraction. His grandfather emigrated to America previous to the American Revolution, and settled on the Hudson River, State of New York. My father, having finished his studies as a land surveyor in the City of New York, came with a recommendation from Mr. Colden, son of the Governor of that State, to General Simcoe, Governor of Upper Canada, and was immediately employed by him as the King's Deputy Provincial Surveyor, in laying out town plots, townships and roads in different parts of the Province. This necessarily brought him in contact with the Indian tribes, and he learned their language and employed many of them in his service. He became much interested in the Indian character--so much so that he resolved to take a wife from amongst them. Accordingly, he married my mother, Tuh-ben-ah-nee-quay, daughter of Wahbanosay, a chief of the Mississaga tribe of the Ojibway nation. I had one brother, older than myself, whose name was Tyenteneget (given to him by the famous Captain Joseph Brant), but better known by the name of John Jones. I had also three younger brothers and five sisters. My father being fully engaged in his work, my elder brother and myself were left entirely to the care and management of our mother, who, preferring the customs and habits of her nation, taught us the superstitions of her fathers--how to gain the approbation of the Munedoos (or gods,) and how to become successful hunters. I used to blacken my face with charcoal, and fast, in order to obtain the aid of personal gods or familiar spirits, and likewise attended their pagan feasts and dances. For more than fourteen years I lived and wandered about with the Indians in the woods, during which time I witnessed the woful effects of the firewater which had been introduced amongst us by the white people."

There is a discrepancy, it will be observed, between the _Gazette_ and the autobiography, in regard to the name and tribe of the father of Mr. Jones' Indian bride. The error, no doubt, is on the side of the _Gazette_.

It is pleasant to find, in 1826, the now aged surveyor writing in the following strain to his missionary son, in a letter accompanying the gift of a horse, dated Coldsprings, Grand River: "Please to give our true love to John and Christina," he says, "and all the rest of our friends at the Credit. We expect to meet you and them at the camp meeting. I think a good many of our Indians will come down at that time. I send you Jack, and hope the Lord will preserve both you and your beast. He is quiet and hardy: the only fault I know he stumbles sometimes; and if you find he does not suit you as a riding horse, you can change him for some other; but always tell your reasons. May the Lord bless you! Pray for your unworthy father, Augustus Jones."

Augustus Jones was, as has been already seen, concerned in the very earliest survey of York and the township attached. As we have at hand the instructions issued for this survey, we give them. It will be noticed that the Humber is therein spoken of as the Toronto River, and that the early settler or trader St. John is named, from whom the Humber was sometimes called St. John's River. The document likewise throws light on the mode of laying out townships by concessions. On general grounds, therefore, it will not be inappropriate in an account of the early settlement of Yonge Street.

"Surveyor-General's Office, Province of Upper Canada, 26th January, 1793.--Description of the Township of York (formerly Toronto), to be surveyed by Messrs. Aitken and Jones.--The front line of the front concession commences adjoining the township of Scarborough, (on No. 10), at a point known and marked by Mr. Jones, running S. 74 deg. W. from said front one chain, for a road; then five lots of twenty chains each, and one chain for a road; then five lots more of twenty chains each, and one chain for a road; and so on till the said line strikes the River Toronto, whereon St. John is settled. The concessions are one hundred chains deep, and one chain between each concession, to the extent of twelve miles."

We subjoin a further early notice of Mr. Augustus Jones, which we observe in a letter addressed to him by John Collins, Deputy Surveyor-General, dated "Quebec, Surveyor-General's Office, January 23rd, 1792." Mr. Collins mentions that he has recommended Mr. Jones to the notice of Governor Simcoe, who was at the time in Quebec, _en route_ for his new Province in the west.--"Colonel Simcoe, the Governor of your Province," Mr. Collins says, "is now with us. I have taken the liberty to recommend you to him in the manner I think you merit, and I cannot doubt but that you will be continued in your salary."

Another early surveyor of note, connected with the primitive history of Yonge Street, was John Stegmann, a German, who had been an officer in a Hessian regiment. He was directed in 1801, by the Surveyor-General, D. W. Smith, to examine and report upon the condition of Yonge Street. The result was a document occupying many sheets. We will give some extracts from it. They will furnish a view of the great thoroughfare which we are beginning to perambulate, as it appeared a few years after Jones' expedition. Though somewhat dryly imparted, the information will probably not be without interest.

(The No. 1 referred to is the first lot after crossing the Third Concession Road from the Lake Shore.) "Agreeable to your instructions," Mr. Stegmann says to Mr. Smith, "bearing date June the 10th, [1801], for the examination of Yonge Street, I have the honor to report thereon as follows: That from the town of York to the three mile post on the Poplar Plains the road is cut, and that as yet the greater part of the said distance is not passable for any carriage whatever, on account of logs which lie in the street. From thence to Lot No. 1 on Yonge Street the road is very difficult to pass, at any time, agreeable to the present situation in which the said part of the street is. The situation of the street from No. 1 to Lot 95 on Yonge Street will appear as per margin."

We have then a detail of his notes as to the condition of the road opposite every lot all the way to the northern limit of the townships of King and Whitchurch. Of No. 1 in the township of York, on the west side of Yonge Street, it is reported that the "requisition of Government" is "complied with, except a few logs in the street not burnt." Of Lot 1 on the east side also, that it is complied with, except a "few logs not burnt."--No. 2, west side, complied with; the street cut but not burnt. East side, complied with; some logs in the street not burnt; and in some places narrow. No. 3, west side, complied with, except a few logs not burnt; east side, complied with; the clearing not fenced; no house; some logs in the street not burnt. No. 5, west side, complied with; east side, non-compliance. No. 8, west side, complied with; the street cut, but not burnt. East side, complied with; the street cut, but logs not burnt; here the street, it is noted, goes to the eastward of the line on account of the hilly ground. No. 3, west side, complied with in the clearing; the street bad and narrow. East side, non-compliance; street bad and narrow, and to the east of the road. No. 16, west side, nothing done to the road; about 5 acres cut; not fenced and no house thereon. East side, complied with. No. 17, west side, complied with; the underbrush in the street cut but not burnt.--East side, complied with, except logs in the street not burnt. No. 18, west side, well complied with. East side, well complied with. No. 25, west side, complied with. East side, complied with;--nothing done to the street, and a school-house erected in the centre of the street. This is the end of the township of York.

Then on No. 33, west side, Vaughan, clearing is complied with; no house, and nothing done to the street. East side, Markham, clearing is complied with; south part of the street cut but not burnt; and north part of the street nothing done. No. 37, Vaughan, clearing complied with, but some large trees and some logs left in the street. Markham, some trees and logs left in the streets; some acres cut, but not burnt; no fence, and a small log house. No. 55, Vaughan, clearing complied with; the street cut and logs not burnt. Markham, clearing complied with; the street cut and logs not burnt; a very bad place for the road and may be laid out better. No. 63, west side, King, non-compliance. East side, Whitchurch, non-compliance; and similarly on to No. 88, on which, in King, the clearing is complied with; not fenced; the street good; in Whitchurch clearing is complied with, and nothing done to the street. No. 93, King, four acres cut, and nothing done to the street. Whitchurch, six acres clear land, and nothing done to the street. Here King and Whitchurch and the Report end.

Mr. Stegmann then perorates thus: "Sir,--This was the real situation of Yonge Street when examined by me; and I am sorry to be under the necessity to add at the conclusion of this report, that the most ancient inhabitants of Yonge Street have been the most neglectful in clearing the street; and I have reason to believe that some trifle with the requisition of Government in respect of clearing the street."

Mr. Berczy brought over his sixty-four families in 1794. The most ancient inhabitants were thus of about seven years' standing. If we men of the second generation regarded Yonge Street as a route difficult to travel, what must the first immigrants from the Genesee country and Pennsylvania have found it to be? They brought with them vehicles and horses and families and some household stuff. "The body of their waggons," we are told in an account of such new-comers in the _Gazetteer_ of 1799, "is made of close boards, and the most clever have the ingenuity to caulk the seams, and so by shifting off the body from the carriage, it serves to transport the wheels and the family." Old settlers round Newmarket used to narrate how in their first journey from York to the Landing they lowered their waggons down the steeps by ropes passed round the stems of saplings, and then hauled them up the ascent on the opposite side in a similar way.

We meet with Mr. Stegmann, the author of the above quoted report, in numerous documents relating to surveys and other professional business done for the Surveyor-General. His clear, bold handwriting is always recognizable. His mode of expressing himself is vigorous and to the point, but slightly affected by his imperfect mastery of the English language. He gives the following account of himself in his first application to the Surveyor-General, asking for employment. "My name is John Stegmann," he says, "late lieutenant in the Hessian Regiment of Lossberg, commanded by Major-General de Loos, and served during the whole war in America till the reduction took place in the month of August, 1783, and by the favour and indulgence of His Excellency, Lord Dorchester, I obtained land in this new settlement and township of Osnabruck, and an appointment as Surveyor in the Province; I have a wife and small family to provide for."--Descendants of his are still to be found in the neighbourhood of Pine Grove in Vaughan. Their name is now Anglicised by the omission of one of the final _n_'s. The rivulet at the Blue Hill was spoken of, in 1799, as "Castle Frank Creek." It is the stream which runs through the Castle Frank lot. Mr. Stegmann was concerned in the building of the first bridge at this point. We have a letter of his to the Acting Surveyor-General, D. W. Smith, referring to timber, which he has provided for the structure. In the same he also takes occasion to mention that the fatigue party of soldiers who were assisting Mr. Jones in the opening of Yonge Street, had as yet received no compensation.

He says: "Sir,--You were pleased to order me to inform you what time I should want a team for to get the timber for the bridge at Castle Frank Creek, for which I am ready, whenever you please to send the same." He then adds: "The party of Rangers now on this road begged of me to inform you that they have not received any pay for the work since they have been out with Mr. Jones." This note is dated, "Castle Frank Creek, Feb. 27, 1799." On the 4th of the following March, he dates a note to Mr. D. W. Smith in the same way, "Castle Frank Creek," and asks to have a "bush-sextant" supplied to him. He says: "Sir,--I beg you will have the goodness to send me by the bearer a Bush-sextant, and am, sir, your most obedient and very humble servant, John Stegmann, Deputy-Surveyor." (According to some, the Blue Hill had its name from the circumstance that the bridge at its foot was painted blue).

The names of other early surveyors may be learned from the following notice, taken from a _Gazette_: "Surveyor-General's Office, York, 25th April, 1805. That it may be known who are authorized to survey lands on the part of the Crown within this Province, the following list is communicated to the public of such persons as are duly licensed for that purpose, to be surveyors therein, viz., William Chewett, York; Thomas Smith, Sandwich; Abraham Iredell, Thomas Welch, Augustus Jones, William Fortune, Lewis Grant, Richard Cockrell, Henry Smith, John Rider, Aaron Greeley, Thomas Fraser, Reuben Sherwood, Joseph Fortune, Solomon Stevens, Samuel S. Wilmot, Samuel Ryckman, Mahlon Burwell, Adrian Marlet, Samuel Ridout, George Lawe. (Signed), C. B. Wyatt, Surveyor-General."

Of Mr. Berczy, above spoken of, we shall soon have to give further

## particulars. We must now push on.

Just beyond the Blue Hill ravine, on the west side, stood for a long while a lonely unfinished frame building, with gable towards the street, and windows boarded up. The inquiring stage-passenger would be told, good-humouredly, by the driver, that it was Rowland Burr's Folly. It was, we believe, to have been a Carding or Fulling Mill, worked by peculiar machinery driven by the stream in the valley below; but either the impracticability of this from the position of the building, or the as yet insignificant quantity of wool produced in the country made the enterprise abortive.

Mr. Burr was an emigrant to these parts from Pennsylvania in 1803, and from early manhood was strongly marked by many of the traits which are held to be characteristic of the speculative and energetic American. Unfortunately in some respects for himself, he was in advance of his neighbours in a clear perception of the capabilities of things as seen in the rough, and in a strong desire to initiate works of public utility, broaching schemes occasionally beyond the natural powers of a community in its veriest infancy. A canal to connect Lake Ontario with the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, _via_ Lake Simcoe and the valley of the Humber, was pressed by him as an immediate necessity, years ago; and at his own expense he minutely examined the route and published thereon a report which has furnished to later theorizers on the same subject much valuable information.

Mr. Burr was a born engineer and mechanician, and at a more auspicious time, with proper opportunities for training and culture, he would probably have become famed as a local George Stephenson. He built on his own account, or for others, a number of mills and factories, providing and getting into working order the complicated mechanism required for each; and this at a time when such undertakings were not easy to accomplish, from the unimproved condition of the country and the few facilities that existed for importing and transporting inland, heavy machinery. The mills and factories at Burwick in Vaughan originated with him, and from him that place takes its name.

The early tramway on Yonge Street of which we have already spoken was suggested by Mr. Burr; and when the cutting down of the Blue Hill was decided on, he undertook and effected the work.

It is now some forty years since the peculiar clay of the Blue Hill began to be turned to useful account. In or near the brick-fields, which at the present time are still to be seen on the left, Messrs. James and William Townsley burnt kilns of white brick, a manufacture afterwards carried on here by Mr. Nightingale, a family connection of the Messrs. Townsley. Mr. Worthington also for a time engaged on the same spot in the manufacture of pressed brick and drain tiles. The Rossin House Hotel, in Toronto, and the Yorkville Town Hall were built of pressed brick made here.

Chestnut Park, which we pass on the right, the residence now of Mr. McPherson, is a comparatively modern erection, put up by Mr. Mathers, an early merchant of York, who, before building here, lived on Queen Street, near the Meadows, the residence of Mr. J. Hillyard Cameron. Oaklands, Mr. John McDonald's residence, of which a short distance back we obtained a passing glimpse far to the west, and Rathnally, Mr. McMaster's palatial abode, beyond, are both modern structures, put up by their respective occupants. Woodlawn, still on the left, the present residence of Mr. Justice Morrison, was previously the home of Mr. Chancellor Blake, and was built by him.

Summer Hill, seen on the high land far to the right, and commanding a noble view of the wide plain below, including Toronto with its spires and the lake view along the horizon, was originally built by Mr. Charles Thomson, whose name is associated with the former travel and postal service of the whole length of Yonge Street and the Upper Lakes. In Mr. Thompson's time, however, Summer Hill was by no means the extensive and handsome place into which it has developed since becoming the property and the abode of Mr. Larratt Smith.

The primitive waggon track of Yonge Street ascended the hill at which we now arrive, a little to the west of the present line of road. It passed up through a narrow excavated notch. Across this depression or trench a forest tree fell without being broken, and there long remained. Teams, in their way to and from town, had to pass underneath it like captured armies of old under the yoke. To some among the country folk it suggested the beam of the gallows-tree. Hence sprang an ill-omened name long attached to this particular spot.

Near here, at the top of the hill, were formerly to be seen, as we have understood, the remains of a rude windlass or capstan, used in the hauling up of the North-West Company's boats at this point of the long portage from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron.

So early as 1799 we have it announced that the North-West Company intended to make use of this route. In the Niagara _Constellation_, of August, 3, 1799, we read: "We are informed on good authority that the North-West Company have it seriously in contemplation to establish a communication with the Upper Lakes by way of York, through Yonge Street to Lake Simcoe, a distance of about 33 miles only." The _Constellation_ embraces the occasion to say also, "That the government has actually begun to open that street for several miles, which example will undoubtedly be no small inducement to persons who possess property on that street and its vicinity to exert themselves in opening and completing what may be justly considered one of the primary objects of attention in a new country, a good road."

The _Gazette_ of March 9, in this year (1799) had contained an announcement that "The North-West Company has given twelve thousand pounds towards making Yonge Street a good road, and that the North-West commerce will be communicated through this place (York): an event which must inevitably benefit this country materially, as it will not only tend to augment the population, but will also enhance the present value of landed property."

Bouchette, writing in 1815, speaks of improvements on Yonge Street, "of late effected by the North-West Company." "This route," he says in his Topographical description, "being of much more importance, has of late been greatly improved by the North-West Company for the double purpose of shortening the distance to the Upper Lakes, and avoiding any contact with the American frontiers."

As stated already in another connection, we have conversed with those who had seen the cavalcade of the North-West Company's boats, mounted on wheels, on their way up Yonge Street. It used to be supposed by some that the tree across the notch through which the road passed had been purposely felled in that position as a part of the apparatus for helping the boats up the hill.

The table-land now attained was long known as the Poplar Plains. Stegmann uses the expression in his Report. A pretty rural by-road that ascends this same rise near Rathnally, Mr. McMaster's house, is still known as the Poplar Plains road.

A house, rather noticeable, to the left but lying slightly back, and somewhat obscured by fine ornamental trees that overshadow it, was the home for many years of Mr. J. S. Howard, sometime Postmaster of York, and afterwards Treasurer of the counties of York and Peel: an estimable man, and an active promoter of all local works of benevolence. He died in Toronto in 1866, aged 68.

This house used to be known as Olive Grove; and was originally built by Mr. Campbell, proprietor and manager of the Ontario House Hotel, in York, once before referred to; eminent in the Masonic body, and father of Mr. Stedman Campbell, a local barrister of note, who died early.

Mashquoteh to the left, situated a short distance in, on the north side of the road which enters Yonge Street here, is a colony transplanted from the neighbouring Spadina, being the home of Mr. W. Warren Baldwin, son of Dr. W. W. Baldwin, the builder of Spadina. "Mashquoteh" is the Ochipway for "meadow." We hear the same sounds in Longfellow's "Mushkoda-sa," which is, by interpretation, "prairie-fowl."

Deer Park, to the north of the road that enters here, but skirting Yonge Street as well, had that name given it when the property of Mrs. Heath, widow of Col. Heath of the H. E. I. Company's Service. On a part of this property was the house built by Colonel Carthew, once before referred to, and now the abode of Mr. Fisken. Colonel Carthew, a half-pay officer of Cornish origin, also made large improvements on property in the vicinity of Newmarket.

Just after Deer Park, to avoid a long ravine which lay in the line of the direct route northward, the road swerved to the left and then descended, passing over an embankment, which was the dam of an adjacent sawmill, a fine view of the interior of which, with the saw usually in

## active motion, was obtained by the traveller as he fared on. This was

Michael Whitmore's sawmill.

Of late years the apex of the long triangle of Noman's land that for a great while lay desolate between the original and subsequent lines of Yonge Street, has been happily utilized by the erection thereon of a Church, Christ Church, an object well seen in the ascent and descent of the street. Anciently, very near the site of Christ Church, a solitary longish wooden building, fronting southward, was conspicuous; the abode of Mr. Hudson, a provincial land surveyor of mark. Looking back southward from near the front of this house, a fine distant glimpse of the waters of Lake Ontario used to be obtained, closing the vista made in the forest by Yonge Street.

Before reaching Whitmore's sawmill, while passing along the brow of the hill overlooking the ravine, which was avoided by the street as it ran in the first instance, there was to be seen at a little distance to the right, on some rough undulating ground, a house which always attracted the eye by its affectation of "Gothic" in the outline of its windows. On the side towards the public road it showed several obtuse-headed lancet lights. This peculiarity gave the building, otherwise ordinary enough, a slightly romantic air; it had the effect, in fact, at a later period, of creating for this habitation, when standing for a considerable while tenantless, the reputation of being haunted.

This house and the surrounding grounds constituted Springfield Park, the original Upper Canadian home of Mr. John Mills Jackson, an English gentleman, formerly of Downton in Wiltshire, who emigrated hither prior to 1806; but finding public affairs managed in a way which he deemed not satisfactory, he returned to England, where he published a pamphlet addressed to the King, Lords and Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, entitled, "A View of the Political Situation of the Province," a brochure that made a stir in Upper Canada, if not in England, the local House of Assembly voting it a libel.

Our Upper Canadian Parliament partially acquired the habit of decreeing reflections on the local government to be libels. Society in its infancy is apt to resent criticism, even when legitimate. Witness the United States and Mrs. Trollope. At the same time critics of infant society should be themselves sufficiently large-minded not to expect in infant society the perfection of society well developed, and to word their strictures accordingly.

In the preface to his pamphlet, which is a well-written production, Mr. Jackson gives the following account of his first connection with Canada and his early experience there:--"Having by right of inheritance," he says, "a claim to a large and very valuable tract of land in the Province of Quebec, I was induced to visit Lower Canada for the purpose of investigating my title; and being desirous to view the immense lakes and falls in Upper Canada, where I had purchased some lands previous to my leaving England, I extended my travels to that country, with which I was so much pleased, that I resolved to settle on one of my estates, and expended a considerable sum on its improvement (the allusion is probably to Springfield Park); but considering neither my person nor property secure under the system pursued there, I have been obliged to relinquish the hope of its enjoyment."

The concluding sentences of his appeal will give an idea of the burden of his complaint. To his mind the colony was being governed exactly in the way that leads finally to revolt in colonies. The principles of the constitution guaranteed by the mother country were violated. One of his grievances was--not that a seventh of the public land had been set apart for an established Church, but--that "in seventeen years not one acre had been turned to any beneficial account; not a clergyman, except such as England pays or the Missionary Society sends (only five in number), without glebe, perquisite or parsonage house; and still fewer churches than ministers of the established religion."

He concludes thus: "I call upon you to examine the Journals of the House of Assembly and Legislative Council; to look at the distribution and use made of the Crown Lands; the despatches from the Lieutenant-Governor [Gore]; the memorials from the Provincial Secretary, Receiver-General and Surveyor-General; the remonstrances of the Six Nations of Indians; and the letters from Mr. Thorpe [Judge Thorpe], myself and others, on the state of the Colony, either to the Lords of the Treasury or to the Secretary of State. Summon and examine all the evidence that can be procured here (England), and, if more should appear necessary, send a commission to ascertain the real state of the Province. Then you will be confirmed in the truth of every representation I have made, and much more which, for the safety of individuals, I am constrained to withhold. Then you will be enabled to relieve England from a great burden, render the Colony truly valuable to the mother country, and save one of the most luxuriant ramifications of the Empire. You will perform the promise of the crown; you will establish the law and liberty directed by the (British) Parliament; and diffuse the Gospel of Christ to the utmost extremity of the West. You will do that which is honourable to the nation, beneficial to the most deserving subjects, and lovely in the sight of God."

This pamphlet is of interest as an early link (its date is 1809) in the catena of protests on the subject of Canadian affairs, from Whiggish and other quarters, culminating at last in Lord Durham's Report. Nevertheless, what the old French trader said of Africa--"Toujours en maudissant ce vilain pays, on y reviens toujours"--proved true in respect to Canada in the case of Mr. Jackson, as in the case likewise of several other severe critics of Canadian public affairs in later times. He returned and dwelt in the land after all, settling with his family on Lake Simcoe, where Jackson's Point and Jackson's Landing retain his name, and where descendants of his still remain.

Mr. Jackson had possessions likewise in the West Indies, and made frequent visits thither, as also to England, where at length he died in 1836. Up to about that date, we observe his name in the Commission of the Peace.

In the _Loyalist_ of May 24, 1828, a Biblical work by Mr. Jackson is advertised for sale at York. Thus runs the notice:--"Just received from England, and for sale at the book stores of Messrs. Meighan and Lesslie & Sons, York, a few volumes of 'The History from the Creation of the World to the death of Joshua, authenticated from the best authorities, with Notes, Critical, Philosophical, Moral and Explanatory: by John Mills Jackson, Esq., formerly Gentleman Commoner of Ball. Coll. in the University of Oxford.'" (Then follow laudatory notices of the work from private sources.)

Fifty years ago, in Canada, English families, whose habits and ideas were more in harmony with Bond Street than with the backwoods, had, in becoming morally acclimatised to the country, a tremendous ordeal to pass through: how they contrived to endure the pains and perils of the process is now matter of wonder.

One of Mr. Jackson's sons, Clifton, is locally remembered as an early example in these parts of the exquisite of the period--the era of the Prince Regent and Lord Byron. By extra-sacrificing to the Graces, at a time when _articles de cosmetique et de luxe_ generally were scarce and costly in Canada, he got himself into trouble.--In 1822 he had occasion to make his escape from "durance vile" in York, by opening a passage, one quiet Sunday morning, through the roof of the old jail. He was speedily pursued by Mr. Parker, the warden, and an associate, Mr. Garsides; overtaken at Albany, in the State of New York; apprehended under a feigned charge; and brought back to York. Among the inhabitants of some of the villages between Albany and Youngstown, a suspicion arose that a case of kidnapping was in progress, and Messrs. Parker and Garsides were exposed to risk of personal violence before they could reach the western bank of the Niagara river, with their prey. By a happy turn of affairs, a few years later, Mr. Clifton Jackson obtained a situation in the Home Colonial Office, with a good salary.

To distinguish Mr. Mills Jackson from another proprietor on Yonge Street, also called Jackson, the alliterative epithet, "Jacobin," was sometimes applied to him, in jocose allusion to his political principles, held by the official party to be revolutionary. In regard to the other Jackson, some such epithet as "Jacobin" would not have been inapplicable. On the invasion of Canada in 1812 by the United States, he openly avowed his sympathy with the invaders, and was obliged to fly the country. He was known and distinguished as "Hatter Jackson," from the business which he once followed. After the war he returned, and endeavoured, but in vain, to recover possession of the land on Yonge Street which he had temporarily occupied.

In the _Gazette_ of Nov. 11, 1807, we have Mr. Jackson's advertisement. Almost anticipating the modern "Hats that are Hats," it is headed "Warranted Hats," and then proceeds: "The subscriber, having established a hat manufactory in the vicinity of York on a respectable scale, solicits the patronage and support of the public. All orders will be punctually attended to, and a general assortment of warranted hats be continually kept at the store of Mr. Thomas Hamilton, in York. Samuel Jackson. Yonge Street, Nov. 10, 1807."

An earlier owner of the lot, at which we are now pausing, was Stillwell Wilson. In 1799, at the annual York Township meeting, held on the 4th March in that year at York, we find Stillwell Wilson elected one of the Overseers of Highways and Fence-viewers for the portion of Yonge Street from lot 26 to lot 40, in Markham and Vaughan. At the same meeting, Paul Wilcot is elected to the same office, "from Big Creek to No. 25, inclusive, and half Big Creek Bridge; and Daniel Dehart, from Big Creek to No. 1, inclusive, and half Big Creek Bridge." "The Big Creek" referred to was, as we suppose, the Don at Hogg's Hollow.

In 1821, Stillwell Wilson is landlord of the Waterloo House, in York, and is offering to let that stand; also to let or sell other valuable properties. In the _Gazette_ of March 25, 1820, we have his advertisement:--"For sale or to let, four improved farms on Yonge Street, composed of lots Nos. 20 and 30 on the west side, and 15 and 20 on the east side of the street, in the townships of York and Vaughan. These lands are so well known that they require no further encomiums than the virtues they possess. For title of which please apply to the subscriber at Waterloo House, York, the proprietor of said lands. P. S.--The noted stand known by the name of the Waterloo House, which the subscriber at present possesses, is also offered to be let on easy terms; as also an excellent Sawmill, in the third concession of the township of York, east of Yonge Street, only ten miles from town, on the west branch of the river Don. Stillwell Wilson."

In 1828, for moneys due apparently to Jairus Ashley, some of Stillwell's property has been seized. Under the editorial head of the _Loyalist_ of December 27th of that year, we find the following item:--"Sheriff's Sale.--At the Court House, in the Town of York, on Saturday, 31st January next, will be sold, Lot No. 30, in the first Concession of the Township of Vaughan, taken in execution as belonging to Stillwell Wilson, at the suit of Jairus Ashley. Sale to commence at 12 o'clock noon."

In our chapter on the Early Marine of York, we shall meet with Stillwell Wilson again. We shall then find him in command of a slip-keel schooner plying on the Lake between York and Niagara. The present owner of his lot, which, as we have seen, was also once Mr. Jackson's--Mr. Jacobin Jackson's, is Mr. Cawthra. (Note the tendency to distinguish between individuals bearing the name of Jackson by an epithet prefixed. A professional pugilist patronized by Lord Byron was commonly spoken of as "Gentleman Jackson.")

As we reach again the higher land, after crossing the dam of Whitmore's mill, and returning into the more direct line of the street, some rude pottery works met the eye. Here in the midst of woods, the passer-by usually saw on one side of the road, a one horse clay-grinding machine, laboriously in operation; and on the other, displayed in the open air on boards supported by wooden pins driven into the great logs composing the wall of the low windowless building, numerous articles of coarse brown ware, partially glazed, pans, crocks, jars, jugs, demijohns, and so forth; all which primitive products of the plastic art were ever pleasant to contemplate. These works were carried on by Mr. John Walmsley.

A tract of rough country was now reached, difficult to clear and difficult to traverse with a vehicle. Here a genuine corduroy causeway was encountered, a long series of small saw-logs laid side by side, over which wheels jolted deliberately. In the wet season, portions of it, being afloat, would undulate under the weight of a passing load; and occasionally a horse's leg would be entrapped, and possibly snapped short by the sudden yielding or revolution of one of the cylinders below.

We happen to have a very vivid recollection of the scene presented along this particular section of Yonge Street, when the woods, heavy pine chiefly, after having been felled in a most confused manner, were being consumed by fire, or rather while the effort was being made to consume them. The whole space from near Mr. Walmsley's potteries to the rise beyond which Eglinton is situated, was, and continued long, a chaos of blackened timber, most dismaying to behold.

To the right of this tract was one of the Church glebes so curiously reserved in every township in the original laying out of Upper Canada--one lot of two hundred acres in every seven of the same area--in accordance with a public policy which at the present time seems sufficiently Utopian. Of the arrangement alluded to, now broken up, but expected when the Quebec Act passed in 1780 to be permanent, a relic remained down to a late date in the shape of a wayside inn, on the right near here, styled on its sign the "Glebe Inn"--a title and sign reminding one of the "Church Stiles" and "Church Gates" not uncommon as village ale-house designations in some parts of England.

Hitherto the general direction of Yonge Street has been north, sixteen degrees west. At the point where it passes the road marking the northern limit of the third concession from the bay, it swerves seven degrees to the eastward. In the first survey of this region there occurred here a jog or fault in the lines. The portion of the street proposed to be opened north failed, by a few rods, to connect in a continuous right line with the portion of it that led southward into York. The irregularity was afterwards corrected by slicing off a long narrow angular piece from three lots on the east side, and adding the like quantity of land to the opposite lot--it happening just here that the lots on the east side lie east and west, while those on the west side lie north and south. After the third concession, the lots along the street lie uniformly east and west.

With young persons in general perhaps, at York in the olden time, who ever gave the cardinal points a thought, the notion prevailed that Yonge Street was "north." We well remember our own slight perplexity when we first distinctly took notice that the polar star, the dipper, and the focus usually of the northern lights, all seemed to be east of Yonge Street. That an impression existed in the popular mind at a late period to the effect that Yonge Street was north, was shown when the pointers indicating east, west, north and south came to be affixed to the apex of a spire on Gould Street. On that occasion several compasses had to be successively taken up and tried before the workmen could be convinced that "north" was so far "east" as the needle of each instrument would persist in asserting.

The first possessor of the lot on the west side, slightly augmented in the manner just spoken of, was the Baron de Hoen, an officer in one of the German regiments disbanded after the United States Revolutionary War. His name is also inscribed in the early maps on the adjacent lot to the north, known as No. 1 in the township of York, west side.

At the time of the capture of York in 1813, Baron de Hoen's house, on lot No. 1, proved a temporary refuge to some ladies and others, as we learn from a manuscript narrative taken down from the lips of the late venerable Mrs. Breakenridge by her daughter, Mrs. Murney. That record well recalls the period and the scene. "The ladies settled to go out to Baron de Hoen's farm," the narrative says. "He was a great friend," it then explains, "of the Baldwin family, whose real name was Von Hoen; and he had come out about the same time as Mr. St. George, and had been in the British army. He had at this time a farm about four miles up Yonge Street, and on a lot called No. 1. Yonge Street was then a corduroy road immediately after leaving King Street, and passing through a dense forest. Miss Russell, (sister of the late President Russell) loaded her phaeton with all sorts of necessaries, so that the whole party had to walk. My poor old grandfather (Mr. Baldwin, the father of Mrs. Breakenridge) by long persuasion at length consented to give up fighting, and accompany the ladies. Aunt Baldwin (Mrs. Dr. Baldwin) and her four sons, Major Fuller, who was an invalid under Dr. Baldwin's care, Miss Russell, Miss Willcox, and the whole cavalcade sallied forth: the youngest boy St. George, a mere baby, my mother (Mrs. Breakenridge) carried on her back nearly the whole way.

"When they had reached about half way out," the narrative proceeds, "they heard a most frightful concussion, and all sat down on logs and stumps, frightened terribly. They learned afterwards that this terrific sound was occasioned by the blowing up of the magazine of York garrison, when five hundred Americans were killed, and at which time my uncle, Dr. Baldwin, was dressing a soldier's wounds; he was conscious of a strange sensation: it was too great to be called a sound, and he found a shower of stones falling all around him, but he was quite unhurt. The family at length reached Baron de Hoen's log house, consisting of two rooms, one above and one below. After three days Miss Russell and my mother walked into town, just in time to prevent Miss Russell's house from being ransacked by the soldiers.

"All now returned to their homes and occupations," the narrative goes on to say, "except Dr. Baldwin, who continued dressing wounds and acting as surgeon, until the arrival of Dr. Hackett, the surgeon of the 8th Regiment. Dr. Baldwin said it was most touching to see the joy of the poor wounded fellows when told that their own doctor was coming back to them." It is then added: "My mother (Mrs. Breakenridge) saw the poor 8th Grenadiers come into town on the Saturday, and in church on Sunday, with the handsome Captain McNeil at their head, and the next day they were cut to pieces to a man. My father (Mr. Breakenridge) was a student at law with Dr. Baldwin, who had been practising law after giving up medicine as a profession, and had been in his office about three months, when he went off like all the rest to the battle of York."

The narrative then gives the further particulars: "The Baldwin family all lived with Miss Russell after this, as she did not like being left alone. When the Americans made their second attack about a month after the first, the gentlemen all concealed themselves, fearing to be taken prisoners like those at Niagara. The ladies received the American officers: some of these were very agreeable men, and were entertained hospitably; two of them were at Miss Russell's; one of them was a Mr. Brookes, brother-in-law of Archdeacon Stuart, then of York, afterwards of Kingston. General Sheaffe had gone off some time before, taking every surgeon with him. On this account Dr. Baldwin was forced, out of humanity, to work at his old profession again, and take care of the wounded."

Lot No. 1 was afterwards the property of an English gentleman, Mr. Harvey Price, a member of our Provincial Government, as Commissioner of Crown Lands, whose conspicuous residence, castellated in character, and approached by a broad avenue of trees, was a little further on. In 1820, No. 1 was being offered for sale in the following terms, in the _Gazette_ of March 25th: "That well known farm No. 1, west side of Yonge Street, belonging to Captain de Hoen, about four or five miles from York, 210 acres. The land is of excellent quality, well-wooded, with about forty acres cleared, a never failing spring of excellent water, barn and farm house. Application to be made to the subscriber at York.--W. W. Baldwin."

Baron de Hoen was second to Mr. Attorney-General White, killed in the duel with Mr. Small in 1800 (January 3rd). In the contemporary account of that incident in the Niagara _Constellation_, the name is phonetically spelt _De Hayne_. In the above quoted MS. the name appears as de Haine.

In our progress northward we now traverse ground which, as having been the scene of a skirmish and some bloodshed during the troubles of 1837, has become locally historic. The events alluded to have been described from different points of view at sufficient length in books within reach of every one. We throw over them here the mantle of charity, simply glancing at them and passing on.

Upper Canada, in miniature and in the space of half a century, curiously passed through conditions and processes, physical and social, which old countries on a large scale, and in the course of long ages, passed through. Upper Canada had, in little, its primaeval and barbaric but heroic era, its mediaeval and high-prerogative era, and then, after a revolutionary period of a few weeks, its modern, defeudalized, democratic era. Without doubt the introduction here in 1792 of an "exact transcript" of the contemporary constitution of the mother country, as was the boast at the time, involved the introduction here also of some of the spirit which animated the official administrators of that constitution in the mother country itself at the period--the time of the Third George.

We certainly find from an early date, as we have already seen, a succession of intelligent, observant men, either casual visitors to the country, or else intending settlers, and actual settlers, openly expressing dissatisfaction at some of the things which they noted, experienced or learned, in respect of the management of Canadian public affairs. These persons for the most part were themselves perhaps only recently become alive to the changes which were inevitable in the governmental principles of the mother country; and so were peculiarly sensitive, and even, it may be, petulant in regard to such matters. But, however well-meaning and advanced in political wisdom they may have been, they nevertheless, as we have before intimated, exhibited narrowness of view themselves, and some ignorance of mankind, in expecting to find in a remote colonial out-station of the empire a state of things better than that which at the moment existed at the heart of the empire; and in imagining that strictures on their part, especially when acrimonious, would, under the circumstances, be amiably and submissively received by the local authorities.

The early rulers of Canada, Upper and Lower, along with the members of their little courts, were not to be lightly censured.--They were but copying the example of their royal Chief and his circle at Kew, Windsor, or St. James'. Of the Third George Thackeray says: "He did his best; he worked according to his lights; what virtue he knew he tried to practice; what knowledge he could master he strove to acquire." And so did they. The same fixity of idea in regard to the inherent dignity and power of the Crown that characterized him characterized them, together with a like sterling uprightness which commanded respect even when a line of action was adopted that seemed to tend, and did in reality tend, to a popular outbreak.

All men, however, now acquiesce in the final issue. The social turmoil which for a series of years agitated Canada, from whatever cause arising; the explosion which at length took place, by whatever instrumentality brought on, cleared the political atmosphere of the country, and hastened the good time of general contentment and prosperity which Canadians of the present day are enjoying.--After all, the explosion was not a very tremendous one. Both sides, after the event, have been tempted to exaggerate the circumstances of it a little, for effect.

The recollections which come back to us as we proceed on our way, are for the most part of a date anterior to those associated with 1837; although some of the latter date will of course occasionally recur.

The great conspicuous way-side inn, usually called Montgomery's was, at the time of its destruction by the Government forces in 1837, in the occupation of a landlord named Lingfoot. The house of Montgomery, from whom the inn took its name, he having been a former occupant, was on a farm owned by himself, beautifully situated on rising ground to the left, subsequently the property and place of abode of Mr. James Lesslie, of whom already.

Mr. Montgomery had once had a hotel in York, named "The Bird in Hand," on Yonge Street, a little to the north of Elliott's. We have this inn named in an advertisement to be seen in the _Canadian Freeman_ of April 17, 1828, having reference to the "Farmer's Store Company." "A general meeting of the Farmer's Storehouse Company," says the advertisement, "will be held on the 22nd of March next, at 10 o'clock, a.m., at John Montgomery's tavern, on Yonge Street, 'The Bird in Hand.'--The farmers are hereby also informed that the storehouse is properly repaired for the accommodation of storage, and that every possible attention shall be paid to those who shall store produce therein. John Goessmann, clerk."

The Farmer's Store was at the foot of Nelson Street. Mr. Goessmann was a well-known Deputy Provincial Surveyor, of Hanoverian origin. In an address published in the _Weekly Register_ of July 15, 1824, on the occasion of his retiring from a contest for a seat in the House as representative for the counties of York and Simcoe, Mr. Goessmann alluded as follows to his nationality: "I may properly say," he observed, "that I was a born British subject before a great number of you did even draw breath; and have certainly borne more oppressions during the late French war than any child of this country, that never peeped beyond the boundary even of this continent, where only a small twig of that all-crushing war struck. Our sovereign has not always been powerful enough to defend all his dominions. We, the Hanoverians, have been left the greater part during that contest, to our own fate; we have been crushed to yield our privileges to the subjection of Bonaparte, his greatest antagonist," &c.

Eglinton, through which, at the present day, Yonge Street passes hereabout, is a curious stray memorial of the Tournament in Ayrshire, which made a noise in 1839. The passages of arms on the farther side of the Atlantic that occasionally suggest names for Canadian villages, are not always of so peaceful a character as that in the Earl of Eglinton's grounds in 1839; although it is a matter of some interest now to remember that even in that a Louis Napoleon figured, who at a later period was engaged in jousts of a rather serious kind, promoted by himself.

About Eglinton the name of Snider is notable as that of a United Empire Loyalist family seated here, of German descent. Mr. Martin Snider, father of Jacob and Elias Snider and other brothers and sisters, emigrated hither at an early period from Nova Scotia, where he first took up his abode for a time after the revolution.--Among the names of those who volunteered to accompany General Brock to Detroit in 1813, we observe that of Mr. Jacob Snider. In later years, a member of the same family is sheriff for the County of Grey, and repeatedly a representative in Parliament of the same county.

The Anglicised form of the German name Schneider, like the Anglicised form of a number of other non-English names occurring among us, illustrates and represents the working of our Canadian social system; the practical effect of our institutions, educational and municipal. Our mingled population, when permitted to develop itself fairly; when not crushed, or sought to be crushed into narrow alien moulds invented by non-Teutonic men in the pre-printing-press, feudal era, becomes gradually--if not English--at all events Anglo-Canadian, a people of a distinct type on this continent, acknowledged by the grand old mother of nations,--Alma Britannia herself, as eminently of kin.

We have specially in mind a group from the neighbourhood of Eglinton, genuine sons of our composite Canadian people, Sniders, Mitchells, Jackeses, who, now some years ago, were to be seen twice every day at all seasons, traversing the distance between Eglinton and Toronto, rising early and late taking rest, in order to be punctually present at, and carefully ready for, class-room or lecture room in town; and this process persevered in for the lengthened period required for a succession of curriculums; with results finally, in a conspicuous degree illustrative of the blending, Anglicising power of our institutions when cordially and loyally used. Similar happy effects springing from similar causes have we seen, in numerous other instances and batches of instances, among the youth of our Western Canada, drawn from widely severed portions of the country.

Beyond Eglinton, in the descent to a rough irregular ravine, the home of Mr. Jonathan Hale was passed on the east side of the street; one of the Hales, who, as we have seen, were forward to undertake works of public utility at a time when appliances for the execution of such works were few. Mr. Hale's lot became afterwards a part of the estate of Jesse Ketchum of whom we have spoken.

In 1808, the _Gazette_ (October 22) informs us, the sheriff, Miles Macdonell, is about to sell "at Barrett's Inn, in the Town of York," the goods and chattels of Henry Hale, at the suit of Elijah Ketchum. Likewise, at the same time, the goods and chattels of Stillwell Wilson, at the suit of James McCormack and others.

On the west side, opposite Mr. Ketchum's land, was a farm that had been modernized and beautified by two families in succession, who migrated hither from the West Indies, the Murrays and the Nantons. In particular, a long avenue of evergreen trees, planted by them and leading up to the house, was noticeable. While these families were the owners and occupants of this property, it was named by them Pilgrims' Farm. Subsequently Pilgrims' Farm passed into the hands of Mr. James Beaty, one of the representatives of Toronto in the House of Commons in Canada, who made it an occasional summer retreat, and called it Glen Grove.

It had been at one period known as the MacDougall farm, Mr. John MacDougall, of York, having been its owner from 1801 to 1820. Mr. MacDougall was the proprietor of the principal hotel of York. Among the names of those elected to various local offices at the annual Town-meeting held in 1799 at "the city of York," as the report in the _Gazette and Oracle_ ambitiously speaks, that of Mr. MacDougall appears under the head of "Overseers of Highways and Roads and Fence-viewers." He and Mr. Clark were elected to act in this capacity for "the district of the city of York." That they did good service we learn from the applause which attended their labours. The leading editorial of the _Gazette and Oracle_ of June 29, 1799, thus opens: "The public are much indebted to Mr. John MacDougall, who was appointed one of the pathmasters at the last Town-meeting, for his great assiduity and care in getting the streets cleared of the many and dangerous (especially at night) obstructions thereon; and we hope," the writer says, "by the same good conduct in his successors in the like office, to see the streets of this infant town vie with those of a maturer age, in cleanliness and safety."

In the number of the same paper for July 20 (1799), Mr. MacDougall's colleague is eulogized, and thanked in the following terms: "The inhabitants of the west end of this Town return their most cordial thanks to Mr. Clark, pathmaster, for his uncommon exertions and assiduity in removing out of their street its many obstacles, so highly dangerous to the weary traveller." Mr. MacDougall was the first grantee of the farm immediately to the south of Glen Grove (lot number three).

On high land to the right, some way off the road, an English-looking mansion of brick with circular ends, was another early innovation. A young plantation of trees so placed as to shelter it from the north-east winds, added to its English aspect. This was Kingsland, the home of Mr. Huson, likewise an immigrant from the West Indies. It was afterwards the abode of Mr. Vance, an Alderman of Toronto.

One or two old farm houses of an antique New Jersey style, of two storeys, with steepish roofs and small windows, were then passed on the left. Some way further on, but still in the low land of the irregular ravine, another primitive rustic manufactory of that article of prime necessity, leather, was reached. This was "Lawrence's Tannery." A bridge over the stream here, which is a feeder to the Don, was sometimes spoken of as Hawke's bridge, from the name of its builder. In the hollow on the left, close to the Tannery, and overlooked from the road, was a cream-coloured respectable frame-house, the domicile of Mr. Lawrence himself. In his yard or garden, some hives of bees, when such things were rarities, used always to be looked at with curiosity in passing.

The original patentees of lots six, seven, eight and nine, on the west side of the street just here, were four brothers, Joseph, Duke, Hiram and John, Kendrick, respectively. They all had nautical proclivities; or, as one who knew them said, they were, all or them, "water-dogs;" and we shall hear of them again in our chapter on the Early Marine of York harbour.

In 1799, Duke Kendrick was about to establish a pot-ashery on number seven. His advertisement appears in the _Gazette_, of December, 21, 1799. It is headed "Ashes! Ashes! Ashes!" The announcement then follows: "The subscriber begs leave to inform the public that he is about to erect a Pot-ashery upon lot No. 7, west side of Yonge Street, where he will give a generous price for ashes; for house-ashes, ninepence per bushel; for field-ashes, sixpence, delivered at the Pot-ash." It is then added: "He conceives it his duty to inform those who may have ashes to dispose of, that it will not be in his power to pay cash, but merchandize at cash price. Duke W. Kendrick. York, Dec. 7, 1799." In the year following, Mr. Allan advertises for ashes to be delivered at pot-ash works in York. In the _Gazette_ for November 29, 1800, we have: "Ashes wanted. Sevenpence Halifax currency per bushel for house-ashes will be given, delivered at the Pot-ash works, opposite the Gaol; and fivepence same currency, if taken from the houses; also, eightpence, New York currency for field-ashes delivered at the works. W. Allan. York, 21st November, [1800]."

We now speedily arrived at the commencement of the difficult descent into the valley of the great west branch of the Don. Yonge Street here made a grand detour to the east, and failed to regain the direct northerly course for some time. As usual, wherever long inclined planes were cut in the steep sides of lofty clay banks, the condition of the roadway hereabout was, after rain, indescribably bad. After reaching the stream and crossing it on a rough timber bridge, known anciently sometimes as Big Creek bridge and sometimes as Heron's bridge, the track ascended the further bank, at first by means of a narrow hogsback, which conveniently sloped down to the vale; afterwards it made a sweep to the northward along the brow of some broken hills, and then finally turned westward until the direct northern route of the street was again touched.

The banks of the Don are here on every side very bold, divided in some places into two stages by an intervening plateau. On a secondary flat thus formed, in the midst of a grass-grown clearing, to the left, as the traveller journeyed from York, there was erected at an early date the shell of a place of worship appertaining to the old Scottish Kirk, put up here through the zeal of Mr. James Hogg, a member of that communion, and the owner, for a time at least, of the flour mills in the valley, near the bridge. From him this locality was popularly known as Hogg's Hollow, despite the postal name of the place, York Mills.

Mr. Hogg was of Scottish descent and a man of spirit. He sent a cartel in due form in 1832 to Mr. Gurnett, editor of the _Courier_. An article in that paper had spoken in offensive terms of supposed attempts on the part of a committee in York to swell the bulk of a local public meeting, by inviting into town persons from the rural parts. "Every wheel of their well-organized political machine was set in motion," the _Courier_ asserted, "to transmute country farmers into citizens of York. Accordingly about nine in the morning, groups of tall, broad-shouldered, hulking fellows were seen arriving from Whitby, Pickering and Scarborough, some crowded in waggons, and others on horseback; and Hogg, the miller, headed a herd of the swine of Yonge Street, who made just as good votes at the meeting as the best shopkeepers in York." No hostile encounter, however, took place, although a burlesque account of an "affair of honour" was published, in which it was pretended that Mr. Hogg was saved from a mortal wound by a fortunate accumulation, under the lappel of his coat, of flour, in which his antagonist's bullet buried itself.

Mr. Hogg died in 1839. Here is an extract from the sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Leach on the occasion of his funeral: "He was faithful to his word and promise," the preacher said,--"and when surrounded with danger and strongly instigated, and tempted to a departure from public faith by the enemies of his country his determination expressed in his own words, was 'I will die a Briton.' Few men had all the veins of nature more clearly and strongly developed; and few men had a better sense of what is due to God."

The circuit of the hills overhanging the mills below was always tedious; but several good bits of scenery were caught sight of. On the upland, after escaping the chief difficulties, on the left hand a long low wooden building was seen, with gable and door towards the road. This was an early place of worship of the Church of England, an out-post of the mission at York. The long line of its roof was slightly curved downwards by the weight of a short chimney built at its middle point for the accommodation of an iron stove within. Just before arriving at the gate of the burying-ground attached to this building, there were interesting glimpses to the left down into deep woody glens, all of them converging southward on the Don. In some of them were little patches of pleasant grass land. But along here, for the most part, the forest long remained undisturbed.

The church or chapel referred to was often served by divinity students sent out from town; and frequently, no doubt, had its walls echoed with prentice-attempts at pulpit oratory. Gourlay says that this chapel and the Friends' Meeting House near Newmarket were the only two places of public worship on Yonge Street in 1817, "a distance of nearly forty miles." A notice of it is inserted in "A visit to the Province of Upper Canada in 1819, by James Strachan," (the Bishop's brother)--a work published at Aberdeen in 1820.

"My brother," Mr. Strachan says, p. 141, "had, by his exertions and encouragement among the people, caused a chapel to be built about eight miles from York, where he officiates once a month, one of the young students under his care reading the service and a sermon on the intermediate Sundays. On his day of doing duty," Mr. S. continues, "I went with him and was highly gratified. The chapel is built in a thick wood. . . . . . . . . . . The dimensions are 60 by 30 feet; the pews are very decent, and what was much better, they were filled with an attentive congregation. As you see very few inhabitants on your way out, I could not conceive where all the people came from." A public baptism of five adults is then described.

Some six and twenty years later (in 1843), the foundation stone of a durable brick church was laid near the site of the old frame chapel. On that occasion Dr. Strachan, now Bishop Strachan, named as especial promoters of the original place of worship, Mr. Seneca Ketchum and Mr. Joseph Sheppard, "the former devoting much time and money in the furtherance of the work, and the latter giving three acres of land as a site, together with a handsome donation in cash." A silver medal which had been deposited under the old building was now transferred to a cavity in the foundation stone of its proposed successor. It bore on the obverse, "Francis Gore, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, 1816," and on the reverse--"Fifty-sixth of George Third." To it were now added a couple of other medals of silver: one bore on the obverse, "John Strachan, D.D., Bishop of Toronto; Alexander Sanson, Minister, 1843;" and on the reverse, "Sixth of Victoria." The other had inscribed on it the name of the architect, Mr. J. G. Howard, with a list of other churches erected in Upper Canada under his direction.

Among the persons present during the ceremony were Chief-Justice Robinson, Vice-Chancellor Jameson, the Hon. and Rev. A. Cavendish, and the Rev. G. Mortimer, of Thornhill. Prior to the out-door proceedings a remarkable scene had been witnessed within the walls of the old building. Four gentlemen received the rite of confirmation at the hands of the Bishop, all of them up to a recent date, non-conformists; three of them non-conformist ministers of mark, Mr Townley, Mr. Leach (whom we heard just now pronouncing an eulogy on Mr. Hogg,) and Mr. Ritchie; the fourth, Mr. Sanson, not previously a minister, but now in Holy Orders of the Church of England, and the minister appointed to officiate in the new church.

At the present day Yonge Street crosses Hogg's Hollow in a direct line on a raised embankment which the ancient Roman road-makers would have deemed respectable--a work accomplished about the year 1835, before the aid of steam power was procurable in these parts for such purposes. Mr. Lynn was the engineer in charge here, at that time. The picturesque character of the valley has been considerably interfered with. Nevertheless a winding road over the hills to the right leading up to the church (St. John's) has still some sylvan surroundings. In truth, were a building or two of the chalet type visible, the passer-by might fancy himself for a moment in an upland of the High Alps, so Swiss-like is the general aspect.

It may be added that the destruction of the beautiful hereabout has to some extent a set-off in the fine geological studies displayed to the eye in the sides of the deep cuts at both ends of the great causeway. Lake Ontario's ancient floor here lifted up high and dry in the air, exhibits, stratum super stratum, the deposits of successive periods long ago. (The action of the weather, however, has at the present time greatly blurred the interesting pictures of the past formerly displayed on the surface of the artificial escarpments at Hogg's Hollow.)

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