XXVI.

YONGE STREET, FROM HOGG'S HOLLOW TO BOND'S LAKE.

Beyond the hollow, Mr. Humberstone's was passed on the west side, another manufacturer of useful pottery ware. A curious incident used to be narrated as having occurred in this house. The barrel of an old Indian fowling-piece turned up by the plough in one of the fields, and made to do duty in the management of unwieldy back logs in the great fire-place, suddenly proved itself to have been charged all the while, by exploding one day in the hands of Mr. Humberstone's daughter while being put to its customary use, and killing her on the spot. Somewhat similarly, at Fort Erie, we have been told, in the fire which destroyed the wharf at the landing, a condemned cannon which had long been planted in the pier as a post, went off, happily straight upwards, without doing any damage.

Mr. Humberstone saw active service as a lieutenant in the incorporated militia in 1812. He was put in charge of some of the prisoners captured by Colonel Fitzgibbon, at the Beaver Dams, and when now nearing his destination, Kingston, with his prisoners in a large batteau, he, like the famous Dragoon who caught the Tartar, was made a prisoner of himself by the men whom he had in custody, and was adroitly rowed over by them to the United States shore, where being landed he was swiftly locked up in jail, and thence only delivered when peace was restored.

The next memorable object, also on the left, was Shephard's inn, a noted resting-place for wayfarers and their animals, flanked on the north by large driving sheds, on the south by stables and barns: over the porch, at an early period, was the effigy of a lion gardant, attempted in wood on the premises. Constructiveness was one of the predominant faculties in the first landlord of the Golden Lion. He was noted also for skilful execution on several instruments of music: on the bassoon for one. In the rear of the hotel, a little to the south, on a fine eminence, he put up for himself after the lapse of some years, a private residence, remarkable for the originality of its design, the outline of its many projecting roofs presenting a multitude of concave curves in the Chinese pagoda style.

In several buildings in this neighbourhood an effort was at one time made, chiefly, we believe, through the influence of Mr. Shephard, to reproduce what in the west of England are called cob-walls; but either from an error in compounding the material, or from the peculiar character of the local climate, they proved unsatisfactory.--The Sheppards, early proprietors of land a little farther on, were a different family, and spelt their name differently. It was some members of this family that were momentarily concerned in the movement of 1837.

In Willowdale, a hamlet just beyond Shephard's, was the residence of Mr. David Gibson, destroyed in 1837 by the Government forces. We observe in the _Gazette_ of January 6th, 1826, the announcement, "Government House, York, 29th December, 1825. His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor has been pleased to appoint David Gibson, gentleman, to be a surveyor of land in the Province." In the practice of the profession indicated he was prosperous, and also as a practical farmer. He likewise represented North York in the Provincial Parliament. When the calm came after the tumult of 1837, he was appointed one of the Superintendents of Colonization Roads. He died at Quebec in 1864.

A road turning off at right angles to the eastward out of Willowdale led to a celebrated camp-meeting ground, on the property of Mr. Jacob Cummer, one of the early German settlers. It was in a grand maple forest--a fine specimen of such trysting places. It was here that we were for the first time present at one of the peculiar assemblies referred to, which, over the whole of this northern continent, in a primitive condition of society at its several points, have fulfilled, and still fulfil, an important, and we doubt not, beneficent function.

This, as we suppose, was the scene of the camp-meeting described in Peter Jones' Autobiography. "About noon," he writes on Tuesday, the 10th of June, 1828, "started for the camp ground. When we arrived we found about three hundred Indians collected from Lake Simcoe and Scugog Lake. Most of those from Lake Simcoe have just come in from the back lakes to join with their converted brethren in the service of the Almighty God. They came in company with brother Law, and all seemed very glad to see us, giving us a hearty shake of the hand. The camp ground enclosed about two acres, which was surrounded with board tents, having one large gate for teams to go in and out, and three smaller ones.

"The Indians occupied one large tent, which was 220 feet long and 15 feet broad. It was covered overhead with boards, and the sides were made tight with laths to make it secure from any encroachments. It had four doors fronting the camp ground. In this long house the Indians arranged themselves in families, as is their custom in their wigwams. Divine service commenced towards evening. Elder Case first gave directions as to the order to be observed on the camp ground during the meetings. Brother James Richardson then preached from Acts ii. 21; after which I gave the substance in Indian, when the brethren appeared much affected and interested. Prayer-meeting in the evening. The watch kept the place illuminated during the night." The meeting continued for four days.

Where the dividing line occurs between York and Markham, at the angle on the right was the first site of the sign of the Green Bush, removed afterwards, as we have noted, to the immediate outskirts of York; and to the left, somewhere near by, was a sign that used to interest from its peculiarity, the Durweston Gate: a small white five-barred gate, hung by its topmost bar to a projection from a lofty post, and having painted on its lower bars "Durweston Gate," and the landlord's name. It was probably a reproduction by a Dorsetshire immigrant of a familiar object in his native village.

Not excluding from our notes, as will be observed, those places where Shenstone sighed to think a man often "found the warmest welcome" we must not forget Finch's--a great hostelry on the right, which we soon reached as we advanced northward, of high repute about 1836, and subsequently among excursion parties from town, and among the half-pay settlers of the Lake Simcoe region, for the contents of its larder and the quality of its cooking. Another place of similar renown was Crew's, six or eight miles further on.

When for long years, men, especially Englishmen, called by their occasions away from their homes, had been almost everywhere doomed to partake of fare too literally hard, and perilous to the health, it is not to be wondered at, when, here and there, at last a house for the accommodation of the public did spring up where, with cleanly quarters, digestible viands were to be had, that its fame should speedily spread; for is it not Dr. Samuel Johnson himself who has, perhaps rather sweepingly said, "there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn."

Where a long slope towards the north begins soon after Finch's a village entitled Dundurn was once projected by Mr. Allan McNab, afterwards the famous Sir Allan, acting, we believe at the time as agent for Mr. H. J. Boulton; but Dundurn never advanced beyond incipience. The name was afterwards familiar as that of Sir Allan's chateau close by Hamilton.

A well-travelled road now soon turned off to the right leading to certain, almost historic mills in Markham, known as the German Mills. In the _Gazetteer_ of 1799 these mills are referred to. "Markham township in the east riding of the County of York fronts Yonge Street," it is stated in that early work, "and lies to the northward of York and Scarborough. Here" it then adds "are good mills and a thriving settlement of Germans."

The German Mills are situated on Lot No. 4 in the third concession, on a portion of the Rouge or Nen--a river which the same _Gazetteer_ informs its readers was "the back communication from the German settlement in Markham to Lake Ontario. The expectation in 1799 was, as the _Gazetteer_ further shows, that this river, and not either the Humber or the Don, would one day be connected with the Holland river by a canal." It was not certainly known in 1794, where the river which passed the German Mills had its outlet. In Iredell's plan of Markham of that date, the stream is marked "Kitcheseepe or Great River," with a memorandum attached--"waters supposed to empty into Lake Ontario to the eastward of the Highlands of York." Information, doubtless, noted down, by Iredell, from the lips of some stray native. Kitche-seepe, "Big River" is of course simply a descriptive expression, taken as in so many instances, by the early people, to be a proper name. (It does not appear that among the aborigines there were any proper local names, in our sense of the expression.)

The German Mills were founded by Mr. Berczy, either on his own account or acting as agent for an association at New York for the promotion of German emigration to Canada. When, after failing to induce the Government to reconsider its decision in regard to the patents demanded by him for his settlers, that gentleman retired to Montreal, the German Mills with various parcels of land were advertised for sale in the _Gazette_ of April 27, 1805, in the following strain: "Mills and land in Markham. To be sold by the subscriber for payment of debts due to the creditors of William Berczy, Esq., the mills called the German Mills, being a grist mill and a saw mill. The grist mill has a pair of French burs, and complete machinery for making and bolting superfine flour. These mills are situated on lot No. 4 in the third concession of Markham; with them will be given in, lots No. 3 and 4 in the third concession, at the option of the purchaser. Also, 300 acres being the west half of lot No. 31, and the whole of lot 32 in the second concession of Markham. Half the purchase money to be paid in hand, and half in one year with legal interest. W. Allan. N.B.--Francis Smith, who lives on lot No. 14 in the third concession, will show the premises. York, 11th March, 1805."

It appears from the same _Gazette_ that Mr. Berczy's vacant house in York had been entered by burglars after his departure. A reward of twenty dollars is offered for their discovery. "Whereas," the advertisement runs, "the house of William Berczy, Esq., was broken open sometime during the night of the 14th instant, and the same ransacked from one end to the other; this is to give notice that whoever shall lodge an information, so that the offender or offenders may be brought to justice, shall upon conviction thereof receive Twenty Dollars. W. Chewett. York, 18th April, 1805."

We have before referred to Mr. Berczy's embarrassments, from which he never became disentangled; and to his death in New York, in 1813. His decease was thus noticed in a Boston paper, quoted by Dr. Canniff, p. 364, "Died--In the early part of the year 1813, William Berczy, Esq., aged 68; a distinguished inhabitant of Upper Canada, and highly respected for his literary acquirements. In the decease of this gentleman society must sustain an irreparable loss, and the republic of letters will have cause to mourn the death of a man eminent for genius and talent."

The German Mills were purchased and kept in operation by Capt. Nolan, of the 70th Regiment, at the time on duty in Canada; but the speculation was not a success. We have heard it stated that this Captain Nolan was the father of the officer of the same name and rank who fell in the charge of the Light Brigade at the very first outset, when, at Balaclava,

"Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred."

The _Gazette_ of March 19, 1818, contains the following curt announcement: "Notice. The German Mills and Distillery are now in operation. For the proprietors, Alexander Patterson, Clerk, 11th March, 1818." Ten years later they are offered for sale or to lease in the _U. C. Loyalist_ of April 5, 1828. (It will be observed that they once bore the designation of Nolanville.) "For sale or to be leased," thus runs the advertisement, "all or any part of the property known and described as Nolanville or German Mills, in the third concession of the township of Markham, consisting of four hundred acres of land, upwards of fifty under good fences and improvements, with a good dwelling-house, barn, stable, saw-mill, grist-mill, distillery, brew-house, malt-house, and several other out-buildings. The above premises will be disposed of, either the whole or in part, by application to the subscriber, William Allan, York, January 26, 1828. The premises can be viewed at any time by applying to Mr. John Duggan, residing there."

In the absence of striking architectural objects in the country at the time, we remember, about the year 1828, thinking the extensive cluster of buildings constituting the German Mills a rather impressive sight, coming upon them suddenly, in the midst of the woods, in a deserted condition, with all their windows boarded up.

One of our own associations with the German Mills is the memory of Mr. Charles Stewart Murray, afterwards well-known in York as connected with the Bank of Upper Canada. He had been thrown out of employment by Capt. Nolan's relinquishment of the mills. He was then patronized by Mr. Thorne of Thornhill.

In our boyish fancy, a romantic interest attached to Mr. Murray from his being a personal friend of Sir Walter Scott's, and from his being intimately associated with him in the excursion to the Orkneys, while the Pirate and the Lord of the Isles were simmering in the Novelist's brain. "Not a bad Re-past," playfully said Sir Walter after partaking one day of homely meat-pie at the little inn of one Rae. Lo! from Mr. Murray's talk, a minute grain to be added to Sir Walter's already huge cairn of _ana_. Mr. M., too, was imagined by us, quite absurdly doubtless, to be an hereditary devotee of the Pretender, if not closely allied to him by blood. (His grandfather, or other near relative, had, we believe, really been for a time secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart)

A mile or two beyond where the track to the German Mills turned off, Yonge Street once more encountered a branch of the Don, flowing, as usual, through a wide and difficult ravine. At the point where the stream was crossed, mills and manufactories made their appearance at an early date. The ascent of the bank towards the north was accomplished, in this instance, in no round-about way. The road went straight up. Horse-power and the strength of leather were here often severely tested.

On the rise above, began the village of Thornhill, an attractive and noticeable place from the first moment of its existence. Hereabout several English families had settled, giving a special tone to the neighbourhood. In the very heart of the village was the home, unfailingly genial and hospitable, of Mr. Parsons, one of the chief founders of the settlement; emigrating hither from Sherborne in Dorsetshire in 1820. Nearer the brow of the hill overlooking the Don, was the house of Mr. Thorne, from whom the place took its name: an English gentleman also from Dorsetshire, and associated with Mr. Parsons in the numerous business enterprises which made Thornhill for a long period a centre of great activity and prosperity. Beyond, a little further northward, lived the Gappers, another family initiating here the amenities and ways of good old west-of-England households. Dr. Paget was likewise an element of happy influence in the little world of this region, a man of high culture; formerly a medical practitioner of great repute in Torquay.

Another character of mark associated with Thornhill in its palmy days was the Rev. George Mortimer, for a series of years the pastor of the English congregation there. Had his lot been cast in the scenes of an Oberlin's labours or a Lavater's, or a Felix Neff's, his name would probably have been conspicuously classed with theirs in religious annals. He was eminently of their type. Constitutionally of a spiritual temperament, he still did not take theology to be a bar to a scientific and accurate examination of things visible. He deemed it "sad, if not actually censurable, to pass blind-folded through the works of God, to live in a world of flowers, and stars, and sunsets, and a thousand glorious objects of Nature, and never to have a passing interest awakened by any one of them." Before his emigration to Canada he had been curate of Madeley in Shropshire, the parish of the celebrated Fletcher of Madeley, whose singularly beautiful character that of Mr. Mortimer resembled. Though of feeble frame his ministerial labours were without intermission; and his lot, as Fletcher's also, was to die almost in the act of officiating in his profession.

An earlier incumbent of the English Church at Thornhill was the Rev. Isaac Fidler. This gentleman rendered famous the scene of his Canadian ministry, as well as his experiences in the United States, by a book which in its day was a good deal read. It was entitled "Observations on Professions, Literature, Manners, and Emigration in the United States and Canada." Although he indulged in some sharp strictures on the citizens of the United States, in relation to the matters indicated, and followed speedily after by the never-to-be-forgotten Mrs. Trollope, his work was reprinted by the Harpers. Mr. Fidler was a remarkable person,--of a tall Westmoreland mould, resembling the common pictures of Wordsworth. He was somewhat peculiar in his dress, wearing always an extremely high shirt-collar, very conspicuous round the whole of his neck, forming a kind of spreading white socket in which rested and revolved a head, bald, egg-shaped and spectacled. Besides being scholarly in the modern sense, Mr. Fidler possessed the more uncommon accomplishment of a familiarity with the oriental languages.

The notices in his book, of early colonial life have now to us an archaic sound. We give his narrative of the overturn of a family party on their way home from church. "The difficulty of descending a steep hill in wet weather may be imagined," he says, "The heavy rains had made it (the descent south of Thornhill) a complete puddle which afforded no sure footing to man or beast. In returning from church, the ladies and gentlemen I speak of," he continues, "had this steep hill to descend. The jaunting car being filled with people was too heavy to be kept back, and pressed heavy upon the horses. The intended youthful bridegroom (of one of the ladies) was, I was told, the charioteer. His utmost skill was ineffectually tried to prevent a general overturn. The horses became less manageable every moment. But yet the ladies and gentlemen in the vehicle were inapprehensive of danger, and their mirth and jocularity betrayed the inward pleasure they derived from his increasing straggles. At last the horses, impatient of control, and finding themselves their own masters, jerked the carriage against the parapet of the road and disengaged themselves from it. The carriage instantly turned over on its side; and as instantly all the ladies and gentlemen trundled out of it like rolling pins. Nobody was hurt in the least, for the mire was so deep that they fell very soft and were quite imbedded in it. What apologies the gentleman made I am unable to tell, but the mirth was perfectly suspended. I overtook the party at the bottom of the hill, the ladies walking homewards from the church and making no very elegant appearance."

As an example of the previously undreamt of incidents that may happen to a missionary in a backwoods settlement, we mention what occurred to ourselves when taking the duty one fine bright summer morn, many years ago, in the Thornhill Church, yet in its primitive unenlarged state. A farmer's horse that had been mooning leisurely about an adjoining field, suddenly took a fancy to the shady interior disclosed by the wide-open doors of the sacred building. Before the churchwardens or any one else could make out what the clatter meant, the creature was well up the central passage of the nave. There becoming affrighted, its ejection was an awkward affair, calling for tact and manoeuvring.

The English Church at Thornhill has had another incumbent not undistinguished in literature, the Rev. E. H. Dewar, author of a work published at Oxford in 1844, on the Theology of Modern Germany. It is in the form of letters to a friend, written from the standpoint of the Jeremy Taylor school. It is entitled "German Protestantism and the Right of Private Judgment in the Interpretation of Holy Scripture." The author's former position as chaplain to the British residents at Hamburg gave him facilities for becoming acquainted with the state of German theology. Mr. Dewar, to superior natural talents, added a refined scholarship and a wide range of accurate knowledge. He died at Thornhill in 1862.

The incumbent who preceded Mr. Dewar was the Rev. Dominic E. Blake, brother of Mr. Chancellor Blake; a clergyman also of superior talents. Previous to his emigration to Canada in 1832, he had been a curate in the county of Mayo. He died suddenly in 1859. It is remarked of him in a contemporary obituary that "his productions indicated that while intellect was in exercise his heart felt the importance of the subjects before him." These productions were numerous, in the form of valuable papers and reports, read or presented to the local Diocesan Society.

It is curious to observe that in 1798, salmon ascended the waters of the Don to this point on Yonge Street. Among the recommendations of a farm about to be offered for sale, the existence thereon of "an excellent salmon fishery" is named. Thus runs the advertisement (_Gazette_, May 16, 1798): "To be sold by public auction, on Monday, the 2nd of July next, at John McDougall's hotel, in the town of York, a valuable Farm, situated on Yonge Street, about twelve miles from York, on which are a good log-house, and seven or eight acres well improved. The advantages of the above farm, from the richness of its soil and its being well watered, are not equalled by many farms in the Province; and above all, it affords an excellent salmon fishery, large enough to support a number of families, which must be conceived a great advantage in this infant country. The terms will be made known on the day of sale."

As we move on from Thornhill with Vaughan on the left and Markham on the right, the name of another rather memorable early missionary recurs, whose memory is associated with both these townships--Vincent Philip Mayerhoffer.

Notwithstanding its drawbacks, early Canadian life, like early American life generally, became, in a little while, invested with a curious interest and charm; by means, for one thing, of the variety of character encountered. A man might vegetate long in an obscure village or country town of the old mother country before he rubbed against a person of V. P. Mayerhoffer's singular experience, and having his wits set in motion by a sympathetic realization of such a career as his.

He was a Hungarian; born at Raab in 1784; and had been ordained a presbyter in the National Church of Austria. On emigrating to the United States, he, being himself a Franciscan, fell into some disputes with the Jesuits at Philadelphia, and withdrew from the Latin communion and attached himself, in company with a fellow presbyter named Huber, to the Lutheran Reformed. As a recognized minister of that body he came on to Buffalo, where he officiated for four years to three congregations, visiting at the same time, occasionally, a congregation on the Canada side of the river, at Limeridge. He here, for the first time, began the study of the English language. Coming now into contact with the clergy of the Anglican communion, he finally resolved to conform to the Anglican Church, and was sent by Bishop Stewart, of Quebec, to the German settlement in Markham and Vaughan. Here he officiated for twenty years, building in that interval St. Stephen's Church in Vaughan, St. Philip's in the 3rd concession of Markham, and the Church in Markham village, and establishing a permanent congregation at each.

He was a vigorous, stirring preacher in his acquired English tongue, as well as in his vernacular German. He possessed also a colloquial knowledge of Latin, which is still a spoken language in part of Hungary. He was a man of energy to the last: ever cheerful in spirit, and abounding in anecdotes, personal or otherwise. It was from him, as we remember, we first heard the afterwards more familiarized names of Magyar and Sclave.

His brother clergy of the region where his duty lay were indebted to him for many curious glimpses at men and things in the great outer world of the continent of Europe. During the Napoleonic wars he was "Field Chaplain of the Imperial Infantry Regiment, No. 60 of the Line," and accompanied the Austrian contingent of 40,000 men furnished to Napoleon by the Emperor of Austria.--He was afterwards, when the Austrian Emperor broke away from Napoleon, taken prisoner with five regiments of the line, and sent to Dresden and Mayence. He was at the latter place when the battle of Leipsic was fought (Oct. 16, 17, 18, 19, 1813.) He now left Mayence without leave, the plague breaking out there, and got to Oppenheim, where a German presbyter named Muller concealed him, till the departure of the French out of the town. After several adventures he found his way back to the quarters of his regiment now acting in the anti-French interest at Manheim, where he duly reported himself, and was well received. After the war, from the year 1816, he had for three years the pastoral charge of Klingenmunster in the diocese of Strasbourg. He died in Whitby, in 1859.

A memoir of Mr. Meyerhoffer has been printed, and it bears the following title: "Twelve years a Roman Catholic Priest; or, the Autobiography of the Rev. V. P. Meyerhoffer, M.A., late Military Chaplain to the Austrian Army and Grand Chaplain of the Orders of Free Masons and Orangemen of Canada, B.N.A., containing an account of his career as Military Chaplain, Monk of the Order of St. Francis, and Clergyman of the Church of England in Vaughan, Markham and Whitby, C.W."

He had a musical voice which had been properly cultivated--This, he used to say, was a source of revenue to him in the early part of his public career, those clergy being in request and receiving a higher remuneration, who were able to sing the service in a superior manner. His features were strongly marked and peculiar, perhaps Mongolian in type; they were not German, English, or Italian. Were the concavity of the nose and the projection of the mouth a little more pronounced in "Elias Howe," the medallions of that personage would give a general idea of Mr. Mayerhoffer's profile and head.

In his younger days he had acquired some medical knowledge, which stood him in good stead for a time at Philadelphia, when he and Huber first renounced the Latin dogmas. His taste for the healing art was slightly indulged even after the removal to Canada, as will be seen from an advertisement which appears in the _Courier_ of February 29, 1832. (From its wording it will be observed that Mayerhoffer had not yet become familiarized with the English language.) It is headed thus: "The use and direction of the new-invented and never-failing Wonder Salve, by D. V. P. Mayerhoffer, of Markham, U.C., H.D., 5th concession."

It then proceeds: "Amongst all in the medicine-invented unguents his salve takes the first place for remedy, whereby it not in vain obtains the name of Wonder Salve for experience taught in many cases to deserve this name; and being urged to communicate it to the public, I endeavour to satisfy to the common good of the public. It is acknowledged by all who know the virtue of it, and experienced its worth, it ought to be kept in every house, first for its inestimable goodness, and, second, because the medicine the older it gets the better it is: money spent for such will shew its effect from its beginning for twenty years, if kept in a dry place, well covered. In all instances of burns, old wounds, called running sores, for the tetter-worm or ring, &c., as the discussions and use will declare, wrapped round the box or the medicine.

"It is unnecessary to recommend by words this inestimable medicine, as its value has received the approbation of many inhabitants of this country already, who sign their names below for the surety of its virtue and the reality of its worth, declaring that they never wish to be without it in their houses by their lifetimes. In Markham, Mr. Philip Eckhardt, jun., do. do., sen., Godlieb Eckhardt, Abraham Eckhardt, John Pingel, jun., Mr. Lang, Mr. Large, John Perkins, John Schall, Charles Peterson, Luke Stantenkough, Peter March. In Vaughan, Jacob Fritcher, Daniel Stang. Recommended by Dr. Baldwin, of York. The medicine is to be had in the eighth concession of Markham, called Riarstown, by Sinclair Holden; in the fifth concession by Christopher Hevelin and T. Amos; in the town of York, in J. Baldwin's and S. Barnham's stores; on Yonge Street, by Parsons and Thorne. Price of a box, two shillings and sixpence, currency. January 11, 1832."

Military associations hang about the lands to the right and left of Richmond Hill. The original possessor of Lot No. 22 on the west side, was Captain Daniel Cozens, a gentleman who took a very active part in opposition to the revolutionary movement which resulted in the independence of the United States. He raised, at his own expense, a company of native soldiers in the royalist interest, and suffered the confiscation of a considerable estate in New Jersey. Three thousand acres in Upper Canada were subsequently granted him by the British Crown. His sons, Daniel and Shivers, also received grants. The name of Shivers Cozens is to be seen in the early plans of Markham on lots 2, 4 and 5 in the 6th concession.

Samuel died of a fit at York in 1808; but Shivers returned to New Jersey and died there, where family connexions of Captain Cozens still survive. There runs amongst them a tradition that Captain Cozens built the first house in our Canadian York. Of this we are informed by Mr. T. Cottrill Clarke, of Philadelphia. We observe in an early plan of York the name of Shivers Cozens on No. 23 in Block E, on the south side of King Street: the name of Benjamin Cozens on No. 5 on Market Street: and the name of Captain Daniel Cozens on No. 4 King Street, (new town), north side, with the date of the grant, July 20, 1799. It is thus quite likely that Captain Cozens, or a member of his family, put up buildings in York at a very early period.

We read in the Niagara _Herald_, of October 31, 1801, the following: "Died on the 6th ult., near Philadelphia, Captain Daniel Cozens." In the _Gazette & Oracle_, of January 27, 1808, we have a memorandum of the decease of Samuel Cozens: "Departed this life, on the 29th ult., Mr. Samuel D. Cozens, one of the first inhabitants of this town [York]. His remains were interred with Masonic honours on the 31st."

Another officer of the Revolutionary era was the first owner, and for several years the actual occupant, of the lot immediately opposite Captain Cozens'. This was Captain Richard Lippincott, a native of New Jersey. A bold deed of his has found a record in all the histories of the period. The narrative gives us a glimpse of some of the painful scenes attendant on wars wherein near relatives and old friends come to be set in array one against the other.

On the 12th of April, 1782, Captain Lippincott, acting under the authority of the "Board of Associated Loyalists of New York," executed by hanging, on the heights near Middleton, Joshua Huddy, an officer in the revolutionary army, as an act of retaliation,--Huddy having summarily treated, in the same way, a relative of Captain Lippincott's, Philip White, surprised within the lines of the revolutionary force, while on a stolen visit of natural affection to his mother on Christmas Day.

On Huddy's breast was fastened a paper containing the following written notice, to be read by his co-revolutionists and friends when they should discover the body suspended in the air.--"We, the Refugees, having long with grief beheld the cruel murders of our brethren, and finding nothing but such measures carrying into execution, therefore determined not to suffer without taking vengeance for the numerous cruelties; and thus begin, having made use of Captain Huddy as the first object to present to your view; and further determine to hang man for man while there is a Refugee existing. Up goes Huddy for Philip White."

When the surrender of Capt. Lippincott was refused by the Royalist authorities, Washington ordered the execution of one officer of equal rank to be selected by lot out of the prisoners in his hands. The lot fell on Capt. Charles Asgill of the Guards, aged only nineteen. He was respited however until the issue of a court-martial, promised to be held on Capt. Lippincott, should be known. The court acquitted; and Capt. Asgill only narrowly escaped the fate of Andre, through prompt intervention on the part of the French Government. The French minister of State, the Count de Vergennes, to whom there had been time for Lady Asgill, the Captain's mother, to appeal--received directions to ask his release in the conjoint names of the King and Queen as "a tribute to humanity." Washington thought proper to accede to this request; but it was not until the following year, when the revolutionary struggle ended, that Asgill and Lippincott were set at liberty.

The former lived to succeed to his father's baronetcy and to become a General officer. Colonel O'Hara, of Toronto, remembered dining at a table where a General Sir Charles Asgill was pointed out to him as having been, during the American revolutionary war, for a year under sentence of death, condemned by General Washington to be hanged in the place of another person.

Capt. Lippincott received from the Crown three thousand acres in Upper Canada. He survived until the year 1826, when, aged 81, and after enjoying half-pay for a period of forty-three years, he expired at the house of his son-in-law in York, Colonel George Taylor Denison, who gave to his own eldest son, Richard Lippincott Denison, Captain Lippincott's name. (A few miles further on, namely, in North and East Gwillimbury, General Benedict Arnold, known among United States citizens as "the traitor," received a grant of five thousand acres.)

In connexion with Richmond Hill, which now partially covers the fronts of Captain Cozens' and Captain Lippincott's lots, we subjoin what Captain Bonnycastle said of the condition of Yonge Street hereabout in 1846, in his "Canada and the Canadians."

"Behold us at Richmond Hill," he exclaims, "having safely passed the Slough of Despond which the vaunted Yonge Street mud road presents between the celebrated hamlet of St. Albans and the aforesaid hill."

And again: "We reached Richmond Hill, seventeen miles from the Landing, at about 8 o'clock (he was moving southward) having made a better day's journey than is usually accomplished on a road which will be macadamized some fine day;--for the Board of Works," he proceeds to inform the reader, "have a Polish engineer hard at work surveying it; of course, no Canadian was to be found equal to this intricate piece of engineering; and I saw a variety of sticks stuck up; but what they meant I cannot guess at. I suppose they were going to grade it, which is the favourite American term."

The prejudices of the Englishman and Royal Engineer routinier here crop out. The Polish engineer, who was commencing operations on this subdivision of Yonge Street, was Mr. Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski, whose subsequent Canadian career renders it probable that in setting up "the variety of sticks," the meaning of which Capt. Bonnycastle does after all guess at, he understood his business. We are assured that this portion of Yonge Street was in fact conspicuous for the superior excellence of its finish.

Captain Bonnycastle indulges in a further little fling at civilians who presume to undertake engineering duties, in a story which serves to fill a page or two of his book, immediately after the above remarks on Yonge Street, about Richmond Hill. He narrates an incident of his voyage out:--

"A Character," he says, "set out from England to try his fortune in Canada. He was conversing about prospects in that country, on board the vessel, with a person who knew him, but whom he knew not. 'I have not quite made up my mind,' said the character, 'as to what pursuit I shall follow in Canada; but that which brings most grist to the mill will answer best; and I hear a man may turn his hand to anything there, without the folly of an apprenticeship being necessary; for if he have only brains, bread will come; now what do you think would be the best business for my market?' 'Why,' said the gentleman, after pondering a little, 'I should advise you to try civil engineering; for they are getting up a Board of Works there, and want that branch of industry very much, for they won't take natives: nothing but foreigners and strangers will go down.' 'What is a civil engineer?' said the Character. 'A man always measuring and calculating,' responded his adviser, 'and that will just suit you.' 'So it will,' rejoined Character, and a civil engineer he became accordingly, and a very good one into the bargain, for he had brains, and had used a yard measure all his lifetime."--Who "the Character" was, we do not for certain know.

A short distance beyond Richmond Hill was the abode of Colonel Moodie, on the right,--distinguished by a flag-staff in front of it, after the custom of Lower Canada, where an officer's house used to be known in this way. (In the neighbourhood of Sorel, as we remember, in the winter of 1837, it was one of the symptoms of disaffection come to a head, when in front of a substantial habitan's home a flag-staff was suddenly seen bearing the inscription "----, Capitaine, elu par le peuple.")

Colonel Moodie's title came from his rank in the regular army. He had been Lieut.-Colonel of the 104th regiment. Sad, that a distinguished officer, after escaping the perils of the Peninsular war, and of the war with the United States here in 1812-13, should have yet, nevertheless, met with a violent death in a petty local civil tumult. He was shot, as all remember, in the troubles of 1837, while attempting to ride past Montgomery's, regardless of the insurgent challenge to stop.

"Thou might'st have dreamed of brighter hours to close thy chequered life Beneath thy country's victor-flag, sure beacon in the strife; Or in the shadow of thy home with those who mourn thee now, To whisper comfort in thine ear, to calm thine aged brow. Well! peaceful be thy changeless rest,--thine is a soldier's grave; Hearts like thine own shall mourn thy doom--meet requiem for the brave-- And ne'er 'till Freedom's ray is pale and Valour's pulse grown cold Shall be thy bright career forgot, thy gloomy fate untold."

So sang one in the columns of a local contemporary paper, in "Lines suggested by the Lamented Death of the late Colonel Moodie."

At a certain period in the history of Yonge Street, as indeed of all the leading thoroughfares of Upper Canada, about 1830-33, a frequent sign that property had changed hands, and that a second wave of population was rolling in, was the springing up, at intervals, of houses of an improved style, with surroundings, lawns, sheltering plantations, winding drives, well-constructed entrance-gates, and so on, indicating an appreciation of the elegant and the comfortable.

We recall two instances of this, which we used to contemplate with

## particular interest, a little way beyond Richmond Hill, on the left: the

cosy, English-looking residences, not far apart, with a cluster of appurtenances round each--of Mr. Larratt Smith, and Mr. Francis Boyd. Both gentlemen settled here with their families in 1836.

Mr. Smith had been previously in Canada in a military capacity during the war of 1812-13, and for many years subsequently he had been Chief Commissary of the Field Train Department and Paymaster of the Artillery. He died at Southampton in 1860.

Mr. Boyd, who emigrated hither from the county of Kent, was one of the first, in these parts, to import from England improved breeds of cattle. In his house was to be seen a collection of really fine paintings, amongst them a Holbein, a Teniers, a Dominichino, a Smirke, a Wilkie, and two Horace Vernets. The families of Mr. Boyd and Mr. Smith were related by marriage. Mr. Boyd died in Toronto in 1861.

Beyond Mr. Boyd's, a solitary house, on the same side of Yonge Street, lying back near the woods, used to be eyed askance in passing:--its occupant and proprietor, Mr. Kinnear, had in 1843 been murdered therein by his man-servant, assisted by a female domestic. It was imagined by them that a considerable sum of money had just been brought to the house by Mr. Kinnear. Both criminals would probably have escaped justice had not Mr. F. C. Capreol, of Toronto, on the spur of the moment, and purely from a sense of duty to the public, undertaken their capture, which he cleverly effected at Lewiston in the United States.

The land now began to be somewhat broken as we ascended the rough and long-uncultivated region known as the Oak Ridges. The predominant tree in the primitive forest here was the pine, which attained a gigantic size; but specimens of the black oak were intermingled.

Down in one of the numerous clefts and chasms which were to be seen in this locality, in a woody dell on the right, was Bond's Lake, a pretty crescent-shaped sheet of water. We have the surrounding property offered for sale in a _Gazette_ of 1805, in the following terms; "For Sale, Lots No. 62 and 63, in the first concession of the township of Whitchurch, on the east side of Yonge Street, containing 380 acres of land: a deed in fee simple will be given by the subscriber to any person inclined to purchase. Johnson Butler. N.B. The above lots include the whole of the Pond commonly called Bond's Lake, the house and clearing round the same. For particulars enquire of Mr. R. Ferguson and Mr. T. B. Gough at York, and the subscriber at Niagara. March 23, 1805."

Bond's farm and lake had their name from Mr. William Bond, who so early as 1800 had established in York a Nursery Garden, and introduced there most of the useful fruits. In 1801 Mr. Bond was devising to sell his York property, as appears from a quaint advertisement in a _Gazette_ of that year. He therein professes to offer his lot in York as a free gift; the recipient however being at the same time required to do certain things.

"To be given away," he says, "that beautifully situated lot No. one, fronting on Ontario and Duchess Streets: the buildings thereon are--a small two-and-a-half storey house, with a gallery in front, which commands a view of the lake and the bay: in the cellar a never failing spring of fine water; and a stream of fine water running through one corner of the lot; there is a good kitchen in the rear of the house, and a stable sufficient for two cows and two horses, and the lot is in good fence.

"The conditions are, with the person or persons who accept of the above present, that he, she or they purchase not less than two thousand apple-trees at three shillings, New York currency, each; after which will be added, as a further present, about one hundred apple, thirty peach, and fourteen cherry trees, besides wild plums, wild cherries, English gooseberries, white and red currants, &c. There are forty of the above apple trees, as also the peach and cherry trees, planted regular, as an orchard, much of which appeared in blossom last spring, and must be considered very valuable: also as a kitchen garden, will sufficiently recommend itself to those who may please to view it.--The above are well calculated for a professional or independent gentleman; being somewhat retired--about half-way from the Lake to the late Attorney General's and opposite the town-farm of the Hon. D. W. Smith [afterwards Mr. Allan's property.] Payment will be made easy; a good deed; and possession given at any time from the first of November to the first of May next. For further particulars enquire of the subscriber on the premises. William Bond. York, Sep. 4, 1801."--The price expected was, as will be made out, 750 dollars. The property was evidently the northern portion of what became afterwards the homestead-plot of Mr. Surveyor General Ridout.

It would appear that Mr. Bond's property did not find a purchaser on this occasion. In 1804 he is advertising it again, but now to be sold by auction, with his right and title to the lot on Yonge Street. In the _Gazette_ of August 4, 1804, we read as follows:--"To be sold by auction, at Cooper's tavern, in York, on Monday, the twentieth day of August next, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon (if not previously disposed of by private contract), that highly cultivated lot opposite the Printing Office [Bennett's] containing one acre, together with a nursery thereon of about ten thousand apple, three hundred peach, and twenty pear trees, and an orchard containing forty-one apple trees fit for bearing, twenty-seven of which are full of fruit; thirty peach and nine cherry trees full of fruit; besides black and red plums, red and white currants, English gooseberries, lilacs, rose bushes, &c., &c., also a very rich kitchen garden.

"The buildings are a two-and-a-half storey house, a good cellar, stable and smokehouse. On the lot is a never-failing spring of excellent water, and fine creek running through one corner most part of the year. The above premises might be made very commodious for a gentleman at a small expense; or for a tanner, brewer, or distiller, must be allowed the most convenient place in York. A view of the premises (by any person or persons desirous of purchasing the same) will be sufficient recommendation. The nursery is in such a state of forwardness that if sold in from two to three years (at which time the apple trees will be fit to transplant) at the moderate price of one shilling each, would repay a sum double of that asked for the whole, and leave a further gain to the purchasers of the lot, buildings, and flourishing orchard thereon. A good title to the above, and possession given at any time after the first of October next.

"Also at the same time and place the right as per Register, to one hundred acres in front of lot 62, east side Yonge Street, for which a deed can be procured at pleasure, and the remainder of the lot procured for a small sum. It is an excellent soil for orchard, grain and pasture land. There is a field of ten acres in fence besides other clearing. It is a beautiful situation, having part of the Lake commonly called Bond's Lake, within the said lot, which affords a great supply of Fish and Fowl. Terms of payment will be made known on the day of sale. For further particulars enquire of the subscriber on the former premises, or the printer hereof. William Bond. York, 27th June, 1804."

Thirty years later we meet with an advertisement in which the price is named at which Lot No. 63 could have been secured. Improvements expected speedily to be made on Yonge Street are therein referred to. In a _Gazette_ of 1834 we have: "A delightful situation on Yonge Street, commonly called Bond's Farm, containing 190 acres, beautifully situated on Bond's Lake upon Yonge Street, distant about 16 miles from the city of Toronto: price L350. The picturesque beauty of this lot," the advertisement says, "and its proximity to the flourishing capital of Upper Canada, make it a most desirable situation for a gentleman of taste. The stage-coaches between Toronto and Holland Landing and Newmarket pass the place daily; and there appears every prospect of Yonge Street either having a railroad or being macadamized very shortly. Apply (if by letter, free of postage) to Robert Ferrie, at Hamilton, the proprietor."

In the advertisement of 1805, given above, Bond's Lake is styled a pond. The small lakes in these hills seemed, of course, to those who had become familiarized with the great lakes, simply ponds. The term "lake" applied to Ontario, Huron, and the rest, has given a very inadequate idea of the magnitude and appearance of those vast expanses, to externs who imagine them to be picturesque sheets of water somewhat exceeding in size, but resembling, Windermere, Loch Lomond, or possibly Lake Leman. "Sea" would have conveyed a juster notion: not however to the German, who styles the lakes of Switzerland and the Tyrol, "seas."

Bond's Lake inn, the way-side stopping place in the vale where Yonge Street skirts the lake, used to be, in an especial degree, of the old country cast, in its appliances, its fare, its parlours and other rooms.

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