Toronto of Old Part 4

Mr. Miles' house was a rendezvous for various purposes. In a _Gazette and Oracle_ of Dec 8, 1798, we read--"The gentlemen of the Town and Garrison are requested to meet at one o'clock, on Monday next, the 10th instant, at Miles' Hotel, in order to arrange the place of the York a.s.semblies for the season. York, Dec 8, 1798." In another number of the same paper an auction is advertised to take place at Miles' Tavern.

In the _Gazette and Oracle_ of July 13th, 1799, we read the following advertis.e.m.e.nt: "O. Pierce and Co. have for sale: Best spirits by the puncheon, barrel, or ten gallons, 20s. per gal. Do. by the single gallon, 22s. Rum by the puncheon, barrel, or ten gallons, 18s. per gal.

Brandy by the barrel, 20s. per gal. Port wine by the barrel, 18s. per gal. Do. by single gallon, 20s. per gal. Gin, by the barrel, 18s. per gal. Teas--Hyson, 19s. per lb.; Souchong, 14s. do.; Bohea, 8s. do.

Sugar, best loaf, 3s. 9d. per lb. Lump, 3s. 6d. Raisins, 3s. Figs, 3s.

Salt six dollars per barrel or 12s. per bushel. Also, a few dry goods, shoes, leather, hats, tobacco, snuff, &c., &c. York, July 6, 1799." These prices appear to be in Halifax currency.

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II.

FRONT STREET, FROM THE MARKET PLACE TO BROCK STREET.

The corner we approach after pa.s.sing the Market Square, was occupied by an inn with a sign-board sustained on a high post inserted at the outer edge of the foot-path, in country roadside fashion. This was Hamilton's, or the White Swan. It was here, we believe, or in an adjoining house, that a travelling citizen of the United States, in possession of a collection of stuffed birds and similar objects, endeavoured at an early period to establish a kind of Natural History Museum. To the collection here was once rashly added figures, in wax, of General Jackson and some other United States notabilities, all in grand costume. Several of these were one night abstracted from the Museum by some over-patriotic youths, and suspended by the neck from the limbs of one of the large trees that over-looked the harbour.

Just beyond was the Steamboat Hotel, long known as Ulick Howard's, remarkable for the spirited delineation of a steam-packet of vast dimensions, extending the whole length of the building, just over the upper verandah of the hotel. In 1828, Mr. Howard is offering to let his hotel, in the following terms:--"Steamboat Hotel, York, U. C.--The proprietor of this elegant establishment, now unrivalled in this part of the country, being desirous of retiring from Public Business, on account of ill-health in his family, will let the same for a term of years to be agreed on, either with or without the furniture. The Establishment is now too well-known to require comment. N. B. Security will be required for the payment of the Rent, and the fulfilment of the contract in every respect. Apply to the subscriber on the premises. U. Howard, York, Oct 8th, 1828."

A little further on was the Ontario House, a hotel built in a style common then at the Falls of Niagara and in the United States. A row of lofty pillars, well-grown pines in fact, stripped and smoothly planed, reached from the ground to the eaves, and supported two tiers of galleries, which, running behind the columns, did not interrupt their vertical lines.

Close by the Ontario House, Market Street from the west entered Front Street at an acute angle. In the gore between the two streets, a building sprang up, which, in conforming to its site, a.s.sumed the shape of a coffin. The foot of this ominous structure was the office where travellers booked themselves for various parts in the stages that from time to time started from York. It took four days to reach Niagara in 1816. We are informed by a contemporary advertis.e.m.e.nt now before us, that "on the 20th of September next [1816], a stage will commence running between York and Niagara: it will leave York every Monday, and arrive at Niagara on Thursday; and leave Queenston every Friday. The baggage is to be considered at the risk of the owner, and the fare to be paid in advance." In 1824, the mails were conveyed the same distance, _via_ Ancaster, in three days. In a post-office advertis.e.m.e.nt for tenders, signed "William Allan, P. M.," we have the statement: "The mails are made up here [York] on the afternoon of Monday and Thursday, and must be delivered at Niagara on the Wednesday and Sat.u.r.day following; and within the same period in returning." In 1835, Mr.

William Weller was the proprietor of a line of stages between Toronto and Hamilton, known as the "Telegraph Line." In an advertis.e.m.e.nt before us, he engages to take pa.s.sengers "through by daylight, on the Lake Road, during the winter season."

Communication with England was at this period a tedious process. So late as 1836, Mrs. Jameson thus writes in her Journal at Toronto (i. 182): "It is now seven weeks since the date of the last letters from my dear far-distant home. The Archdeacon," she adds, "told me, by way of comfort, that when he came to settle in this country, there was only one mail-post from England in the course of a whole year, and it was called, as if in mockery, the Express." To this "Express" we have a reference in a post-office advertis.e.m.e.nt to be seen in a _Quebec Gazette_ of 1792: "A mail for the Upper Countries, comprehending Niagara and Detroit, will be closed," it says, "at this office, on Monday, the 30th inst., at 4 o'clock in the evening, to be forwarded from Montreal by the annual winter Express, on Thursday, the 3rd of Feb. next." From the same paper we learn that on the 10th of November, the latest date from Philadelphia and New York was Oct. 8th: also, that a weekly conveyance had lately been established between Montreal and Burlington, Vermont. In the _Gazette_ of Jan. 13, 1808, we have the following: "For the information of the Public.--York, 12th Jan., 1808.--The first mail from Lower Canada is arrived, and letters are ready to be delivered by W. Allan, Acting-Deputy-Postmaster."

Compare all this with advertis.e.m.e.nts in Toronto daily papers now, from agencies in the town, of "Through Lines" weekly, to California, Vancouver's, China and j.a.pan, connecting with Lines to Australia and New Zealand.

On the beach below the Steamboat Hotel was, at a late period, a market for the sale of fish. It was from this spot that Bartlett, in his "Canadian Scenery," made one of the sketches intended to convey to the English eye an impression of the town. In the foreground are groups of conventional, and altogether too picturesque, fishwives and squaws: in the distance is the junction of Hospital Street and Front Street, with the tapering building between. On the right are the galleries of what had been the Steamboat Hotel; it here bears another name.

Bartlett's second sketch is from the end of a long wharf or jetty to the west. The large building in front, with a covered pa.s.sage through it for vehicles, is the warehouse or freight depot of Mr. William Cooper, long the owner of this favourite landing place. Westwards, the pillared front of the Ontario house is to be seen. Both of these views already look quaint, and possess a value as preserving a shadow of much that no longer exists.

Where Mr. Cooper's Wharf joined the sh.o.r.e there was a ship-building yard. We have a recollection of a launch that strangely took place here on a Sunday. An attempt to get the ship into the water on the preceding day had failed. Delay would have occasioned an awkward settling of the ponderous ma.s.s. We shall have occasion hereafter to speak of the early shipping of the harbour.

The lot extending northward from the Ontario House corner to King street was the property of Attorney-General Macdonell, who, while in attendance on General Brock as Provincial aide-de-camp, was slain in the engagement on Queenston Heights. His death created the vacancy to which, at an unusually early age, succeeded Mr. John Beverley Robinson, afterwards the distinguished Chief Justice of Upper Canada. Mr. Macdonell's remains are deposited with those of his military chief under the column on Queenston Heights. He bequeathed the property to which our attention has been directed, to a youthful nephew, Mr. James Macdonell, on certain conditions, one of which was that he should be educated in the tenets of the Anglican Church, notwithstanding the Roman Catholic persuasion of the rest of the family.

The track for wheels that here descended to the water's edge from the north, Church Street subsequently, was long considered a road remote from the business part of the town, like the road leading southward from Charing-cross, as shewn in Ralph Aggas' early map of London. A row of frame buildings on its eastern side, in the direction of King Street, perched high on cedar posts over excavations generally filled with water, remained in an unfinished state until the whole began to be out of the perpendicular and to become gray with the action of the weather.

It was evidently a premature undertaking; the folly of an over-sanguine speculator. Yonge street beyond, where it approached the sh.o.r.e of the harbour, was unfrequented. In spring and autumn it was a notorious slough. In 1830, a small sum would have purchased any of the building lots on either side of Yonge Street, between Front Street and Market Street.

Between Church Street and Yonge Street, now, we pa.s.s a short street uniting Front Street with Wellington Street. Like Salisbury, Cecil, Craven and other short but famous streets off the Strand, it retains the name of the distinguished person whose property it traversed in the first instance. It is called Scott Street, from Chief Justice Thomas Scott, whose residence and grounds were here.

Mr. Scott was one of the venerable group of early personages of whom we shall have occasion to speak. He was a man of fine culture, and is spoken of affectionately by those who knew him. His stature was below the average. A heavy, overhanging forehead intensified the thoughtful expression of his countenance, which belonged to the cla.s.s suggested by the current portraits of the United States jurist, Kent. We sometimes, to this day, fall in with books from his library, bearing his familiar autograph.

Mr. Scott was the first chairman and president of the "Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada," organized at York in 1812. His name consequently appears often in the Report of that a.s.sociation, printed by William Gray in Montreal in 1817. The objects of the Society were "to afford relief and aid to disabled militiamen and their families: to reward merit, excite emulation, and commemorate glorious exploits, by bestowing medals and other honorary marks of public approbation and distinction for extraordinary instances of personal courage and fidelity in defence of the Province." The preface to the Report mentions that "the sister-colony of Nova Scotia, excited by the barbarous conflagration of the town of Newark and the devastation on that frontier, had, by a legislative act, contributed largely to the relief of this Province."

In an appeal to the British public, signed by Chief Justice Scott, it is stated that "the subscription of the town of York amounted in a few days to eight hundred and seventy-five pounds five shillings, Provincial currency, dollars at five shillings each, to be paid annually during the war; and that at Kingston to upwards of four hundred pounds."

Medals were struck in London by order of the Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada; but they were never distributed. The difficulty of deciding who were to receive them was found to be too great. They were defaced and broken up in York, with such rigour that not a solitary specimen is known to exist. Rumours of one lurking somewhere, continue to this day, to tantalize local numismatists. What became of the bullion of which they were composed used to be one of the favourite vexed questions among the old people of York. Its value doubtless was added to the surplus that remained of the funds of the Society, which, after the year 1817, were devoted to benevolent objects. To the building fund of the York General Hospital, we believe, a considerable donation was made.

The medal, we are told, was two and one-half inches in diameter. On the obverse, within a wreath of laurel, were the words "FOR MERIT." On this side was also the legend: "PRESENTED BY A GRATEFUL COUNTRY." On the reverse was the following elaborate device: A strait between two lakes: on the North side a beaver (emblem of peaceful industry), the ancient cognizance of Canada: in the background an English Lion slumbering. On the South side of the Strait, the American eagle planing in the air, as if checked from seizing the Beaver by the presence of the Lion. Legend on this side: "UPPER CANADA PRESERVED."

Scott Street conducts to the site, on the north side of Hospital Street, westward of the home of Mr. James Baby, and, eastward, to that of Mr.

Peter Macdougall, two notable citizens of York.

A notice of Mr. Baby occurs in Sibbald's _Canadian Magazine_ for March, 1833. The following is an extract: "James Baby was born at Detroit in 1762. His family was one of the most ancient in the colony; and it was n.o.ble. His father had removed from Lower Canada to the neighbourhood of Detroit before the conquest of Quebec, where, in addition to the cultivation of lands, he was connected with the fur-trade, at that time, and for many years after, the great staple of the country. James was educated at the Roman Catholic Seminary of Quebec, and returned to the paternal roof soon after the peace of 1783. The family had ever been distinguished (and indeed all the higher French families) for their adherence to the British crown; and to this, more than to any other cause, are we to attribute the conduct of the Province of Quebec during the American War. Being a great favourite with his father, James was permitted to make an excursion to Europe, before engaging steadily in business; and after spending some time, especially in England, rejoined his family. * * * There was a primitive simplicity in Mr. Baby's character, which, added to his polished manners and benignity of disposition, threw a moral beauty around him which is very seldom beheld."

In the history of the Indian chief Pontiac, who, in 1763, aimed at extirpating the English, the name of Mr. Baby's father repeatedly occurs. The Canadian _habitans_ of the neighbourhood of Detroit, being of French origin, were unmolested by the Indians; but a rumour had reached the great Ottawa chief, while the memorable siege of Detroit was in progress, that the Canadians had accepted a bribe from the English to induce them to attack the Indians. "Pontiac," we read in Parkman's History, p. 227, "had been an old friend of Baby; and one evening, at an early period of the siege, he entered his house, and, seating himself by the fire, looked for some time steadily at the embers. At length, raising his head, he said he had heard that the English had offered the Canadian a bushel of silver for the scalp of his friend. Baby declared that the story was false, and protested that he never would betray him.

Pontiac for a moment keenly studied his features. 'My brother has spoken the truth,' he said, 'and I will show that I believe him.' He remained in the house through the evening, and, at its close, wrapped himself in his blanket and lay down upon a bench, where he slept in full confidence till morning." Note that the name Baby is to be p.r.o.nounced Baw-bee.

Mr. Macdougall was a gentleman of Scottish descent, but, like his compatriots in the neighbourhood of Murray Bay, so thoroughly Lower-Canadianized as to be imperfectly acquainted with the English language to the last. He was a successful merchant of the town of York, and filled a place in the old local conversational talk, in which he was sometimes spoken of as "Wholesale, Retail, Pete McDoug,"--an expression adopted by himself on some occasion. He is said once to have been much perplexed by the item "ditto" occurring in a bill of lading furnished of goods under way; he could not remember having given orders for any such article. He was a shrewd business man. An impression prevailed in certain quarters that his profits were now and then extravagant. While he was living at Niagara, some burglars from Youngstown broke into his warehouse; and after helping themselves to whatever they pleased, they left a written memorandum accounting for their not having taken with them certain other articles: it was "because they were marked too high."

That he was accustomed to affix a somewhat arbitrary value to his merchandise, seems to be shown by another story that was told of him. He was said, one day, when trade in general was very dull, to have boasted that he had that very morning made 400 by a single operation. On being questioned, it appeared that it had been simply a sudden enlargement of the figure marked on all his stock to the extent of 400.

One other story of him is this: On hearing a brother dealer lament that by a certain speculation he should, after all, make only 5 per cent., he expressed his surprise, adding that he himself would be satisfied with 3, or even 2, (taking the figures 2, 3, &c., to mean 2 hundred, 3 hundred, &c.)--We shall hear of Mr. Macdougall again in connection with the marine of the harbour.

Of Yonge Street itself, at which we now arrive, we propose to speak at large hereafter. Just westward from Yonge Street was the abode, surrounded by pleasant grounds and trees, of Mr. Macaulay, at a later period Sir James Macaulay, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a man beloved and honoured for his sterling excellence in every relation. A full-length portrait of him is preserved in Osgoode Hall. His peculiar profile, not discernable in that painting, is recalled by the engraving of Capt. Starky, which some readers will remember in _Hone's Every-Day Book_.

Advancing a little further, we came in front of one of the earliest examples, in these parts, of an English-looking rustic cottage, with verandah and sloping lawn. This was occupied for a time by Major Hillier, of the 74th regiment, aide-de-camp and military secretary to Sir Peregrine Maitland. The well-developed native thorn-tree, to the north of the site of this cottage, on the property of Mr. Andrew Mercer, is a relic of the woods that once ornamented this locality.

Next came the residence of Mr. Justice Boulton, a s.p.a.cious family domicile of wood, painted white, situated in an extensive area, and placed far back from the road. The Judge was an English gentleman of spare Wellington physique; like many of his descendants, a lover of horses and a spirited rider; a man of wit, too, and humour, fond of listening to and narrating anecdotes of the _ben trovato_ cla.s.s. The successor to this family home was Holland House, a structure of a baronial cast, round which one might expect to find the remains of a moat; a reproduction, in some points, as in name, of the building in the suburbs of London, in which was born the Judge's immediate heir, Mr. H.

J. Boulton, successively Solicitor-General for Upper Canada, and Chief Justice of Newfoundland.

When Holland House pa.s.sed out of the hands of its original possessor, it became the property of Mr. Alexander Manning, an Alderman of Toronto.

It was at Holland House that the Earl and Countess of Dufferin kept high festival during a brief sojourn in the capital of Ontario, in 1872.

Suggested by public addresses received in infinite variety, within Holland House was written or thought out that remarkable cycle of rescripts and replies which rendered the vice-regal visit to Toronto so memorable,--a cycle of rescripts and replies exceedingly wide in its scope, but in which each requisite topic was touched with consummate skill, and in such a way as to show in each direction genuine human sympathy and heartiness of feeling, and a sincere desire to cheer and strengthen the endeavour after the Good, the Beautiful and the True, in every quarter.

Whilst making his visit to Quebec, before coming to Toronto, Lord Dufferin, acting doubtless on a chivalrous and poetical impulse, took up his abode in the Citadel, notwithstanding the absence of worthy arrangements for his accommodation there.

Will not this bold and original step on the part of Lord Dufferin lead hereafter to the conversion of the Fortress that crowns Cape Diamond into a Rheinstein for the St. Lawrence--into an appropriately designed castellated habitation, to be reserved as an occasional retreat, n.o.bly-seated and grandly historic, for the Viceroys of Canada?

We now pa.s.sed the grounds and house of Chief-Justice Powell. In this place we shall only record our recollection of the profound sensation created far and wide by the loss of the Chief-Justice's daughter in the packet ship _Albion_, wrecked off the Head of Kinsale, on the 22nd of April, 1822. A voyage to the mother country at that period was still a serious undertaking. We copy a contemporaneous extract from the _Cork Southern Reporter_:--"The _Albion_, whose loss at Garrettstown Bay we first mentioned in our paper of Tuesday, was one of the finest cla.s.s of ships between Liverpool and New York, and was 500 tons burden. We have since learned some further particulars, by which it appears that her loss was attended with circ.u.mstances of a peculiarly afflicting nature.

She had lived out the tremendous gale of the entire day on Sunday, and Captain Williams consoled the pa.s.sengers, at eight o'clock in the evening, with the hope of being able to reach Liverpool on the day but one after, which cheering expectation induced almost all of the pa.s.sengers, particularly the females, to retire to rest. In some short time, however, a violent squall came on, which in a moment carried away the masts, and, there being no possibility of disengaging them from the rigging, enc.u.mbered the hull so that she became unmanageable, and drifted at the mercy of the waves, till the light-house of the Old Head was discovered, the wreck still nearing in; when the Captain told the sad news to the pa.s.sengers, that there was no longer any hope; and, soon after she struck. From thenceforward all was distress and confusion. The vessel soon went to pieces, and, of the crew and pa.s.sengers, only six of the former and nine of the latter were saved." The names of the pa.s.sengers are added, as follows: "Mr. Benyon, a London gentleman; Mr.

N. Ross, of Troy, near New York; Mr. Conyers, and his brother-in-law, Major Gough, 68th regiment; Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, Americans; Madame Gardinier and son, a boy about eight years of age; Col. Prevost; Mr.

Dwight, of Boston; Mrs. Mary Pye, of New York; Miss Powell, daughter of the Honourable William Dummer Powell, Chief-Justice of Upper Canada; Rev. Mr. Hill, Jamaica, coming home by the way of the United States; Professor Fisher, of New Haven, Connecticut; Mr. Gurnee, New York; Mr.

Proctor, New York; Mr. Dupont, and five other Frenchmen; Mrs. Mary Brewster; Mr. Hirst, Mr. Morrison, and Stephen Chase."

The _Weekly Register_ of York, of June 13, 1822, the number that contains the announcement of the wreck of the _Albion_ packet, has also the following paragraph: "Our Attorney-General arrived in London about the 22nd of March, and up to the 11th of April had daily interviews of great length with ministers. It gives us real pleasure to announce,"--so continues the editorial of the _Weekly Register_--"that his mission is likely to be attended with the most complete success, and that our relations with the Lower Provinces will be put on a firm and advantageous footing. We have no doubt that Mr. Robinson will deserve the general thanks of the country." A family party from York had embarked in the packet of the preceding month, and were, as this paragraph intimates, safe in London on the 22nd of March. The disastrous fate of the lady above named was thus rendered the more distressing to friends and relatives, as she was present in New York when that packet sailed, but for some obscure reason, she did not desire to embark therein along with her more fortunate fellow townsfolk.

After the house and grounds of Chief-Justice Powell came the property of Dr. Strachan, of whom much hereafter. In view of the probable future requirements of his position in a growing town and growing country, Dr.

Strachan built, in 1818, a residence here of capacious dimensions and good design, with extensive and very complete appurtenances. A brother of the Doctor's, Mr. James Strachan, an intelligent bookseller of Aberdeen, visited York in 1819, soon after the first occupation of the new house by its owners. The two brothers, John and James, had not seen each other since 1799, when John, a young man just twenty-one, was setting out for Canada, to undertake a tutorship in a family at Kingston; setting out with scant money outfit, but provided with what was of more value, a sound const.i.tution, a clear head, and a good strong understanding trained in Scottish schools and colleges, and by familiar intercourse with shrewd Scottish folk.

As James entered the gates leading into the new mansion, and cast a comprehensive glance at the fine facade of the building before him and over its pleasant and handsome surroundings, he suddenly paused; and indulging in a stroke of sly humour, addressed his brother with the words, spoken in grave confidential undertone,--"I hope it's a' come by honestly, John!"

On his return to Scotland, Mr. James Strachan published "A Visit to the Province of Upper Canada in 1819," an interesting book, now scarce and desired by Canadian collectors. The bulk of the information contained in this volume was confessedly derived from Dr. Strachan.

The bricks used in the construction of the house here in 1818 were manufactured on the spot. One or two earlier brick buildings at York were composed of materials brought from Kingston or Montreal; recalling the parallel fact that the first bricks used for building in New York were imported from Holland; just as in the present day, (though now, of course, for a different reason,) houses are occasionally constructed at Quebec with white brick manufactured in England.