162 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



and of very graceful form, resemtilmg that of the Greek letter Psi. It -will be a matter of regret 

 when the necessities of the case shall render the removal of this relic indispensable. At the 

 corner to the south of this conspicuous tree, was an inn long known as the Greenland Fishery. 

 Its sign bore on one side, quite passably done, an Arctic or Greenland scene ; and on the 

 other, vessels and boats engaged in the capture of the whale. A traveUing sailor, familiar with 

 whalers, and additionally a man of some artistic taste and skill, paid his reckoning in labour, 

 by executing for the landlord, Mr. Wright, these spirited paintings, which proved an attraction 

 to the house. 



John Street, which passes north, by the Greenland Fishery, bears one of the Christian names 

 of the first Governor of Upper Canada. Graves Street, on the east side of the adjoining Square 

 bore his second Christian name ; but Graves Street has, in recent times, been transformed iato 

 Simcoe Street. 



When the Houses of Parliament, now to be seen stretching across Simcoe Place, were first 

 built, a pai-t of the design was a central pediment supported by four stone columns. This 

 would have given dignity to the edifice. The stone platform before the principal entrance was 

 erected, with a flight of steps leading thereto ; but a momentary economy, as we suppose, led 

 to the postponement of the ornamental superstructure. The monoliths for the intended pUlars 

 were duly cut out at a quarry near Hamilton. They long remained lying there, in an unfinished 

 state. In the lithographic view of the Parliament Buildings, published by J. Young, their 

 architect, in 1S36, the pedunent just spoken of is given as though it existed. 



Along the edge of the water, below the properties, spaces and objects which we have been 

 engaged ui noticing, ran a shingly beach of a width sufficient to admit of the passage of vehicles. 

 A succession of dry seasons, we suppose, must then have kept the waters low. In 1815, the 

 waters of the Lake appear to have been unusually high. An almanac of that year, published by 

 John Cameron, at York, offers the subjoined explanation of the phenomenon, from which i 

 will seem that the Lake-level and the temperature of the air were subject to fluctuations just 

 as they are now. "The comet which passed to the northward three years since," the writer 

 suggests, "has sensibly affected our seasons : they have become colder ; the snows fall deeper ; 

 ' and from lesser exhalation, and other causes, the Lakes rise much higher than usual." 



Tlie commissariat store-houses were situated here, just beyond the broken ground of Simcoe 

 Place ; long white structures of wood, with the shutters of the windows always closed ; built 

 on a level with the bay, yet having an entrance by a narrow gangway from the cliff above, on 

 which, close by, was the guard-house, a smaU budding, painted of a dun colour, with a roof of 

 one slope, inclining to the south, and an arched stoup or verandah open to tlie north. Here a 

 sentry was ever to be seen, pacing up and down. A light bridge over a deep water-course led 

 up to the guard-house. Over other depressions or ravines, close by here, were long to be seen 

 some platforms or floored areas of stout plank. These were the spaces occupied by different 

 portions of the reno'wned canvas-house of the first Governor, a structure manufactured in Lon- 

 don and imi5orted. The convenience of its plan, and the hospitality for which it afforded room, 

 were favourite topics among the early people of the country. We have in Bouchette's British 

 North America a reference to this famous canvas house. "In the spring [i. e., in 1T94]," that 

 writer says, " the Lieutenant-Governor moved to the site of the new capital [York], attended 

 by the regiment of Queen's Bangers, and commenced at once the realisation of his favourite 

 project. His Excellency inhabited, during the summer, and through the winter, a canyas- 

 house, which he imported expressly for the occasion ; but, fraO. as was its substance, it was 

 rendered exceedingly comfortable, and soon became as distinguished for the social and urbane 

 hospitality of its venerable and gracious host, as for the peculiarity of its structure," vol. i. 80. 

 After this allusion to the home Canadian life of the first Governor, the following remarks of de 

 Liancourt, on the same subject, will not appear out of place : — "In his private life," the Duke 

 says, "Gov. Simcoe is simple, plain and obliging. He inhabits [the reference now is to Newark 

 or Niagara,] a small, miserable wooden house, which formerly was occupied by the Commissa- 

 ries, who resided here on account of the navigation of the lake. His guard consists of four sol- 

 diers, who every morning come from the fort [across the river], and return thither in the evening. 

 He lives in a noble and hospitable manner, without pride ; his mind is enlightened, his character 

 mud and obliging ; he discourses with much good sense on all subjects ; but his favourite topics 



