154 CANADIAN LOCAL STSTORY. 



■s continued as a baptismal name. In tlie same family is also preserved an interesting portrait 

 of Mr. Peter EusseU himself, from wliich we can see that lie was a gentleman of portly presence, 

 of strongly marked features, of the Thomas Jefferson type. 



Russell Ahhey became afterwards the residence of Bishop Macdonell, a universally-respected 

 Scottish Boman Catholic ecclesiastic, whose episcopal title was at fii-st derived from Rhesina in 

 partibus, but afterwards from our Canadian Kingston, where his home usually was. His civil 

 duties, as a member of the Legislative CouncU of Upper Canada, required his presence in York 

 during the Parliamentary sessions.— It used to be supposed by some that the occupancy of Rus- 

 seU Abbey by the Bishop caused the portion of Front Street which lies eastward of the Jlarket- 

 Place to be denominated Palace Street. But the name appears in plans of York of a date many 

 years anterior to that occupancy. In connection with this mention of Bishop McDonell, it may 

 be of some interest to add that, in 1S2G, Thomas Weld, of Lulworth Castle, Dorsetshire, was 

 consecrated as his coadjutor, in England, under the title of Bishop of Ainylaj. But it does not 

 appear tliat he ever came out to Canada. (This was afterwards the weU-known English Cardi- 

 nal. He had been a lajmian, and married, up to the year 1S25 ; when, on the death of his wife, 

 he took orders ; and in one year he was, as just stated, a Bishop.) Russell Abbey may indeed 

 have been styled the "Palace" ; but it was probably from being the residence of one who for 

 thi-ee years administered the Government ; or the name " Palace Street " itself may have sug- 

 gested the appellation. " Palace Street " was no doubt intended to indicate the fact that it led 

 directly to the Government reservation at the end of the To-ivn on which the Parliament Houses 

 were erected, and where it was supposed the "Palais du Governement,"'the oflacial residence of 

 the representative of the sovereign in the Province, would eventually be. On an Official Plan of 

 this region, of the year ISIO, the Parliament BuUdings themselves are styled "Government 

 House." 



At the laying-out of York, however, we find, from the plans, that the name given in the 

 first instance to the Front street of the town was, not Palace Street, but King Street. Modern 

 King Street was then Duke Street, and modern Duke Street, Duchess Street. These street 

 names were intended as loyal compliments to members of the reigning family ; to George the 

 Third ; to his son the popular Duke of York, from whom, as we shaU learn hereafter, the 

 to-\vn itself was named; to the Duchess of York, the eldest daughter of the King of Prussia. 

 In the cross streets the same chivalrous devotion to the Hanoverian djmasty was exhibited. 

 Georc-e Street, the boundary westward of the first nucleus of York, bore the name of the heir- 

 apparent, George, Prince of "Wales. The next street eastward was honoured with the name of 

 his next brother, Frederic, the Duke of York himself. And the succeeding street eastward, 

 Caroline Street, had imposed upon it that of the Princess of Wales, afterwards so unhappily 

 famous as George the Fourth's Queen Caroline. Whilst in Princes Street (for such is the correct 

 ortho"Taphy, as the old plans shew, and not Princess Street, as is generally seen now,) the rest 

 of the male members of the royal family ware coUeetively commemorated, namely, the Duke of 

 Clarence, the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Sussex, and the Duke of 

 Cambridge. 



When the Canadian town of York was &st projected, the marriage of the Duke of York 

 with the daughter of the King of Prussia, Frederica Charlotta Ulrica, had only recently been 

 celebrated at Berhn. It was considered at the time an event of importance, and the ceremo- 

 nies on the occasion are given with some minuteness in the Annual Register for 1791. We are 

 there informed that "the supper was served at sis tables ; that the first was placed under a 

 canopy of crimson velvet, and the %-ictuals [as the record terms them] served on gold dishes and 

 plates ; that Lieutenaut-General Bornstedt and Count Brulil had the honour to carve, without 

 beino- seated ; that the other five tables, at which sat the generals, ministers, ambassadors, all 

 the officers of the court, and the high nobility, were served in other apartments ; that supper 

 being over, the whole assembly repahed to the White Hall, where the trumpet, timbrel, and 

 other music, were playing ; that the flambeau-dance was then began, at which the ministers of 

 state carried the torches ; that the new couple were attended to their apartment by the reigning 

 Queen and the Queen dowager ; that the Duke of York wore on this day the English uniform, 

 and the Princess Frederica a suit of drap d'argent, ornamented with diamonds." In Ashbiu-- 

 ton's " New and Complete History of England, fi'om the first settlement of Brutus, upwards of 



