TORONTO OF OLD. 153 



Along the bank, above tlio landing-place, Indian encampments, were occasionally set uj>. 

 Here, in comfortless wigwams, we have seen Dr. Lee, a medical man attached to the Indian 

 department, administering from an ordinary tin cup nauseous but salutary draughts to sick and 

 convalescent squaws. It was the duty of Br. Lee to visit Indian settlements and in'escribe for 

 the sick. In the discharge of tliis duty he performed long journeys, on horseback, to Pene- 

 tanguisliene and other distant j>osts, carrying with him his drugs and apparatus in saddle-bags. 

 When advanced in years, and somewhat disabled in regard to activity of movement, Dr. Lee was 

 attaclied to the Parliamentary staff as Usiier of tlie Black Rod. — The locality at which we are 

 glancing suggests the name of another never-to-be-forgotten medical man, whose home and 

 property were close at hand. This is the eminent surgeon and jihysician, Christopher Widmer. 

 It is to be regretted that Dr. Widmer left boliind )iim no wTittcn memorials of his long and 

 varied experience. Before Ids settlement in Yorlc, ho had been a staff cavalry sni'geon, on active 

 service during tlie campaigns in the Peninsula. A personal narrative of his public life would 

 have been full of interest. But his ambition was content wth the homage of his contempora- 

 ries, rich and poor, rendered with sincerity to liis pre-emment abilities and inextinguishable zeal 

 as a surgeon and phj'sician. Long after Ms retirement from general practice, he was every day 

 to be seen passing to and from tlie old Hospital on King Street, conveyed in his well-known 

 cabriolet, and guiding with his own hand tlie reins conducted in tlu-ough the front window of 

 the vehicle. He had now attained a great age ; but his slender form continued erect ; the hat 

 was worn jauntily, as in otlier days, and the dress was ever scrupulously exact; the expression 

 of the face in repose was somewhat abstracted and sad, but a quick smile appealed at the 

 recognition of friends. The ordinary engravings of Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of 

 the blood, recall in some degree the countenance of Dr. Widmer. Within the General Hosjutal, 

 a portait of him is appropriately preserved. One of the earliest, and at the same time one of 

 the most graceful lady-equestrians ever seen in York was this gentleman's accomplished wife. 

 At a later period a sister of Mr. Justice Willis was also conspicuous as a skilful and fearless 

 horsewoman. The description in the Percy iViiecdotes of the Princess Amelia, youngest daugh- 

 ter of George II., is curiously applicable to the last-named lady, who united to the amiable 

 peculiarities indicated, talents and vu-tues of the highest order. "She," the brothers Sholto 

 and Reuben say, "was of a masculine turn of rniud, and evinced this strikingly enough in her 

 dress and manners : she generally wore a riding-habit in the German fashion with a round hat ; 

 and delighted very much in attending her stables, particularly when any of the horses were out 

 of order." At a phenomenon such as tliis, suddenly appearing in their midst, tlie staid and 

 simple-minded society of York stood for a while aghast. 



At the soiith-west corner of Princes Street, near where we are now supposing ourselves to be, 

 was a budding popularly kno\m as RusseE Abbey. It was the house of the Hon. Peter Rus- 

 sell, and. after his decease, of liis maiden sister. Miss Elizabeth Russell, a lady of great refine- 

 ment, who survived her brother many years. The edilice, lUve most of the early homes of York, 

 was of one storey only ; but it exliibited in its design a degree of elegance and some peculiarities. 

 To a central building were attaclied wings with gables to the south : the windows had each an 

 architectural decoration or pediment over it. It was this feature, we believe, that was supposed 

 to give to the place something of a monastic air ; to entitle it even to the name of " Abbey." In 

 front, a dwarf stone wall ■with a light wooden paling surrounded a lawn, on which grew tall 

 acacias or locusts. Mr. Russell was a scion of the Bedford Russells. He apparently desired to 

 lay the foundation of a solid lauded estate in Upper Canada. His position as Administrator, on 

 the departure of the first Governor of the Province, gave him facilities for the selection and 

 acquisition of wild lands. The duality necessarily assumed in the wording of the Patents by 

 which the Administrator made grants to himself, seems to have been regarded by some as hav- 

 ing a touch of the comic in it. Hence among the early people of ^these parts the name of Peter 

 Russell was occasionally to be heard quoted good-humouredly, not malignantly, as an example 

 of " the man who would do weU unto liimself." — On the death of Mr. Russell Ids property 

 passed into the hands of his sister, who bequeathed the whole to Dr. William Warren Baldwin, 

 into whose possession also came the valnable family plate, elaborately embossed with the ai-mo- 

 rial bearings of the RusseUs. Russell HiU, long the residence of Admiral Augustus Baldwin, 

 had its name from Mr. Russell ; and in one of the elder branches of the Baldwin family, Russell 



