152 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



a glimpse of tlie scene at Newai-k ou tlie occasion of a Parliament there iu 179j. " The- 

 w-liole retinue of the Governor," he says, "consisted in a guard of fifty men of the gaiTison of 

 the fort. Draped in silk, he entered the Hallmth his'hat on his head, attended by his adjutant 

 and tvro secretaries. The two members of the Legislative Council gave, by their speaker, notice 

 of it to the Assemblj-. Five members of the latter ha\-ing appe;ired at the bar, the Governor 

 delivered a speech, modelled after that of the King, on the political aftau-s of Europe, on the 

 treaty concluded with the United States [tlie teeaty of 1794], which he mentioned in expres- 

 sions very favom-able to the Union ; and on the peculiar concerns of Canada " (Travels, i. 258). 

 By the Quebec Act, passed iu 1791, it was enacted that the Legislative Council for Upper 

 Canada should consist of not fewer than seven members, and the Assembly of not less than 

 sixteen members, who were to be c;illed together at least once in every year. To account for 

 the smalluess of the attendance on the occasion just described, the duke explains that the 

 Governor had deferred the session " on account of the expected arrival of a Chief Justice, who 

 was to come from England ; and from a hope that he should be able to acquaint the members 

 with tlie particulars of the Treaty witli the United States. But the harvest had now begun, 

 wliieh, iu a higher degree than elsewhere, engages iu Canada the public attention, far beyond 

 what state affairs can do. Two members of the Legislative Council were present, instead of 

 seven ; no Chief Justice appeared, who was to act as Speaker ; instead of sixteen members of 

 tiie Assembly, five only attended ; and this was the whole nimiber tliat could be collected at 

 this time. The law required a greater niunber of members for each house, to discuss and deter- 

 miue upon any business ; but within two days a year would have expii-ed since the Last session. 

 The Governor, therefore, thought it right to open tlie session, reserving, however, to either 

 house the right of proroguing the sitting, fi-om one day to auotlier, in expectation that the ships 

 from Detroit and liing-ston would either bring the members who were yet wanting, or certain 

 intelligence of their not being able to attend." 



But again to return to tlie Houses of Parliament at York.— Extending from the Grounds 

 whicli siu-rounded the Buildings, iu the east, all tlie way to the fort at tlie entxauce of tlie har- 

 boiu', ill tlie west, there was a succession of fine forest trees, especially oaks ; underneath and 

 by the side of which the upper surface of the precipitous but nowhere very elevated cliff was 

 carpeted with thick green-swai'd, such as is still to be seen between the old and new Gaxrisous, 

 or at Jlississaga Point at Niagara. A fragment, happily preserved, of the ancient bank, is to be 

 seen in the ornamental piece of ground known as the Fair-green ; a strip of laud fli-st protected 

 by a fence and planted with shi-ubbery at the uistanee of Jlr. George Monro, when Mayor, who 

 also, in front of his property some distance further on, long guarded from hai-m a solitary sur- 

 ^ivor of the primteval grove that once fringed the harboiu'. 



Ou our fii'st visit to Southampton, many yeai's ago, we remember obseiwing a resemblance 

 between the walli to the river Itchen, shaded by trees and commanding a wide water-view on 

 the south, and the margin of the harboiu- of York. 



In the interval between the points where now Princes Street and Cai-oline Street descend to 

 the water's edge, was a favorite hmding-place for the small craft of the bay— a wide and clean 

 gravelly beach, with a convenient ascent to tlie cliff above. Here ou fine mornings, at the 

 proper seasons, skiffs and canoes, log and bircli-b:u'k, were to be seen puttiug iu, weighed 

 heaA-ily down with fish, speai-ed or otherwise taken durmg the preceding night, in the lake, bay, 

 or neighboring river. Occasionally a huge stiu-geon would be landed, one struggle of whicli 

 might suflice to upset a smaU. boat. Here were to be purchased, ui quantities, salmon, pickerell, 

 masqnelougue, wlutelish and herrings ; with the smaller fry of perch, bass and suufish. Here, 

 too, would be displayed unsightly catfish, suckers, lampreys, and other eels ; and sometimes 

 lizards, young allig:>tors for size. Specimens, also, of the cuiious steel-clad, inflexible, mnous- 

 looking pipe-fish were uot uncommon. About the submerged tiinbers of the wharves this crea- 

 ture was often to be seen,— at one moment stationary and stai, like the dragon-fly, or hnmming- 

 l>u'd poised on the wing, then, like those nervous denizens of the air, giraig a sudden dart off" to 

 the right or left, without curving its body. 



Across the bay, from this landing-place, a little to the eastward, was the narrowest pai-t of 

 ;he peniasula, a neck of sand destitute of trees, known as the portage or carrj-mg-place. where 

 tances and small boats were quickly passed to and fi-oiu the lake. 



