TORONTO OF OLD. 247 



character) ; specimens of kindly maiden aunts ; specimens of matronly wives and mothers, 

 keeping watch and'ward over bevies of comely daughters and nieces. 



Lady Sarah Maitland herself cannot be called a fixed member of society here, but having been 

 for so long a time a resident, it seems now, in the retrospect, as if she had been really a devel- 

 opment of the place. Her distinguished style, native to herself, had its effect, on her contem- 

 poraries of the gentler sex in these parts. Mrs. Dunn, also, and Mrs. "Wells, may likewise be 

 named as special models of grace and elegance in person and manner. In this alt-influential 

 portion of the community, a tone and air that were good prevailed widely from the earliest 

 period. It soon became a practice with the military, and other temporary sojourners attached 

 to the Government, to select partners for life from jthe families of York. Hence it has hap- 

 pened that, to this day, in England, Ireland and Scotland, and in the Dependencies of the 

 Empire on the other side of the globe, many are the households that rise up and call a daughter 

 of Canada blessed as their maternal head. — Local aspirants to the holy estate were thus unhap- 

 pily, now and then, to their great disgust, baulked of their first choice. But a residue was 

 always left, sufficient for the supply of ordinary wants ; and manifold were the interlacings of 

 local connection, in which fact there is nothing surprising and nothing to be condemned : it was 

 from political considerations alone that such aflBnities came afterwards to be referred to, in 

 some quarters, with bitterness.^Occasionally, indeed, a fastidious young man, or a disap- 

 pointed widower, would make a selection in parts remote from the home circle, quite unneces- 

 sarily. We recall especially to mind the sensible emotion in the congregation on the first 

 advent amongst them of a fair bride from Montreal, the then Paris of Canada ; and several 

 lesser excitements of the same class, on the appearance in their midst of aerial veils and orange 

 blossoms from Lobo, from New York, from distant England. Once the selection of a "help- 

 meet " from a rival religious communion, in the town of York itself, led to the defection from 

 the flock of a prominent member ; an occurrence that led also to the publication of two polemi- 

 cal pamphlets, which made a momentary stir ; one of them a declamation by a French bishop ; 

 the other, a review of the same, by the pastor of the abandoned flock.— The strictures on the 

 intelligence and moral feeling of the feminine, as well as the masculine portion of society at 

 York, delivered by such world-experienced writers as Mrs. Jameson, and. such enlightened 

 critics as were two or three of the later Governors' wives, may have been just, in the abstract, 

 to a certain extent, as from the point of view of old communities in England and Germany; 

 but they were unfair as from the point of view of persons calmly reviewing all the circum- 

 stances of the case. Here again the maxim applies : Tout comi'rendre, c'est tout pardonner. 



We have said that the long pew on the west side of the Governor's seat was allotted to the 

 military. In this compartment we remember often scanning with interest the countenance and 

 form of a youthful and delicate-looking ensign, simply because he bore, hereditarily, a name and 

 title all complete, distinguished in the annals of science two centuries ago — the Hon. Robert 

 Boyle : he was one of the aides-de-camp of Sir Peregrine Maitland. Here also was to be seen, 

 for a time, a Major Browne, a brother of the formerly popular poetess, Mrs. Hemans. Here, 

 too, sat a Zachary Mudge, another hereditary name complete, distmguished in the scientific 

 annals of Devonshire. He was an ofiacer of ArtiUcry, and one of Sir John Colborne's aides-de- 

 camp ; for some unexplained reason he committed suicide at York, and his remains were 

 deposited in the old military burying-ground. In this pew familiar forms were also — Major 

 Powell, Capt. Grubbe, Major Hillier, Capt. Blois, Capt. Phillpotts, brother of the Bishop. 



The compartment on the east side of the Governor's pew was, as we have said, appointed fcr 

 the use of the members of the Legislature when in session. Here at certain periods, generally 

 in mid-winter, were to be observed all the political notabilities of the day ; for at the period we 

 are glancing at, non-conformists as well as conformists were to be seen assisting, now and 

 again, at public worship here. The outward presentments of Col. Nichol (killed by driving 

 over the precipice at Queenston), of Mr. Horner (a Benjamin Franklin style of countenance), of 

 Dr. Leff'erty, of Hamnet Pinhey, of Mahlon Burwell, of Absalom Shade, of other owners of old 

 Canadian names, are well remembered. The spare, slender figure of Mr. Speaker Sherwood, 

 afterwards a Judge of the King's Bench, was bere to be seen. Mr. Chisholm, of Oakville, used 

 facetiously to object to the clause in the Litany where "heresy and schism" are deprecated, i^ 

 BO happening that the last term was usually, by a Scotticism, read "Chisholm." Up to the 

 Parliamentary pew we have seen Mr. William Lyon McKenzie himself hurriedly make his way 



