Part 10 (1/2)

The same tone is a.s.sumed when recording the locally famous entertainment, given by himself and Lady Willis, as above described.

Having received a hint that the colonelcy of a militia regiment might possibly be offered him, he says: ”This information was unequivocally acceptable; and accordingly,” he continues, ”I resolved to change my recluseness into something more cordial towards the general inhabitants of York. I therefore directed one of the clerks [the gentleman who figured as Rizzio,] to whom I thought the task might be agreeable, to make arrangements for giving a general Fancy Ball to all my acquaintance, and the princ.i.p.al inhabitants. I could not be troubled,”

he observes, ”with the details myself, but exhorted him to make the invitations as numerous as possible.”

In extenuation of his evident moodiness of mind, it is to be observed that his quarters at York were very uncomfortable. ”The reader is probably acquainted,” he says in his Autobiography, ”with the manner of living in the American hotels, but without experience he can have no right notion of what in those days (1827,) was the condition of the best tavern in York. It was a mean two-storey house; the landlord, however, [this was Mr. Frank,] did,” he says, ”all in his power to mitigate the afflictions with which such a domicile was quaking, to one accustomed to quiet.”

Such an impression had his unfortunate accommodation at York made on him, that, in another place, when endeavouring to describe Dover, in Kent, as a dull place, we have him venturing to employ such extravagant language as this: ”Everybody who has been at Dover knows that it is one of the vilest [hypochondriacal] haunts on the face of the earth, except Little York in Upper Canada.” We notice in Leigh Hunt's _London Journal_ for June, 1834, some verses ent.i.tled ”Friends and Boyhood,” written by Mr. Galt, in sickness. They will not sound out of place in a paper of early reminiscences:

”Talk not of years! 'twas yesterday We chased the hoop together, And for the plover's speckled egg We waded through the heather.

”The green is gay where gowans grow, 'Tis Sat.u.r.day--oh! come, Hark! hear ye not our mother's voice, The earth?--she calls us home.

”Have we not found that fortune's chase For glory or for treasure, Unlike the rolling circle's race, Was pastime, without pleasure?

”But seize your gla.s.s--another time We'll think of clouded days-- I'll give a toast--fill up my friend!

Here's 'Boys and merry plays!'”

But Market Lane and its memories detain us too long from King Street. We now return to the point where Church Street intersects that thoroughfare.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

VIII.

KING STREET: ST. JAMES' CHURCH.

The first Church of St. James, at York, was a plain structure of wood, placed some yards back from the road. Its gables faced east and west, and its solitary door was at its western end, and was approached from Church Street. Its dimensions were 50 by 40 feet. The sides of the building were pierced by two rows of ordinary windows, four above and four below. Altogether it was, in its outward appearance, simply, as a contemporary American ”Geographical View of the Province of Upper Canada,” now before us, describes it, a ”meeting-house for Episcopalians.”

The work just referred to, which was written by a Mr. M. Smith, before the war of 1812, thus depicts York: ”This village,” it says, ”is laid out after the form of Philadelphia, the streets crossing each other at right angles; though the ground on which it stands is not suitable for building. This at present,” the notice subjoins, ”is the seat of Government, and the residence of a number of English gentlemen. It contains some fine buildings, though they stand scattering, among which are a Court-house, Council-house, a large brick building, in which the King's store for the place is kept, and a meeting-house for Episcopalians; one printing and other offices.”

The reservation of land in which the primitive St. James' Church stood, long remained plentifully covered with the original forest. In a wood-cut from a sketch taken early in the present century, prefixed to the ”Annals of the Diocese of Toronto,” the building is represented as being in the midst of a great grove, and stumps of various sizes are visible in the foreground.

Up to 1803 the Anglican congregation had a.s.sembled for Divine Wors.h.i.+p in the Parliament Building; and prior to the appointment of the Rev. Mr.

Stuart, or in his absence, a layman, Mr. Cooper, afterwards the well-known wharfinger, used to read the service. In March, 1799, there was about to be a Day of General Thanksgiving. The mode proposed for its solemn observance at York was announced as follows in the _Gazette and Oracle_ of March 9: ”Notice is hereby given that Prayers will be read in the North Government Building in this Town, on Tuesday, the 12th instant, being the day appointed for a General Thanksgiving throughout the Province to Almighty G.o.d for the late important victories over the enemies of Great Britain. Service to begin half after eleven o'clock.”

We give a contemporary account of the proceedings at an important meeting of the subscribers to the fund for the erection of the first St.

James' Church at York, in 1803. It is from the _Oracle and Gazette_ of January 22, in that year.

”At a Meeting of the subscribers to a fund for erecting a Church in the Town of York, holden at the Government Buildings, on Sat.u.r.day the 8th day of January instant, the Hon. Chief Justice [Elmsley] in the Chair.

Resolved unanimously: That each subscriber shall pay the amount of his subscription by three instalments: the first being one moiety in one month from this day; the second being a moiety of the residue in two months; and the remainders in three months: That Mr. William Allan and Mr. Duncan Cameron shall be Treasurers, and shall receive the amount of the said subscriptions; and that they be jointly and severally answerable for all moneys paid into their hands upon the receipt of either of them: That His Honour the Chief Justice, the Honourable P.

Russell, the Honourable Captain McGill, the Reverend Mr. Stuart, Dr.

Macaulay, Mr. Chewett, and the two Treasurers, be a Committee of the subscribers, with full power and authority to apply the moneys arising from subscriptions, to the purpose contemplated: Provided, nevertheless, that if any material difference of opinion should arise among them, resort shall be had to a meeting of the subscribers to decide. That the Church be built of stone, brick, or framed timber, as the Committee may judge most expedient, due regard being had to the superior advantages of a stone or brick building, if not counterbalanced by the additional expense: That eight hundred pounds of lawful money, be the extent upon which the Committee shall calculate their plan; but in the first instance, they shall not expend beyond the sum of six hundred pounds (if the amount of the sums subscribed and paid into the hands of the Treasurers, together with the moneys which may be allowed by the British Government, amount to so much), leaving so much of the work as can most conveniently be dispensed with, to be completed by the remaining two hundred pounds: Provided, however, that the said six hundred pounds be laid out in such manner that Divine Wors.h.i.+p can be performed with decency in the Church: That the Committee do request the opinion of Mr.

Berczy, respecting the probable expenses which will attend the undertaking, and respecting the materials to be preferred; due regard being had to the amount of the fund, as aforesaid; and that after obtaining his opinion, they do advertise their readiness to receive proposals conformable thereto. N.B. The propriety of receiving contributions in labour or materials is suggested to the Committee. A.

MacDonell, Secretary to the Meeting.”

In the _Gazette and Oracle_ of June 4, 1803, D. Cameron and W. Allan are inviting tenders for the supply of certain materials required for ”building a Church in this Town.”