252 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



prevailed, as we are assured : and in 1S19 an allowance of £20 was made to Mr. H' thorington 

 for giving instruction in church music. One of the principal eneouragers of the vocalist-party 

 ■was Dr. Burnside. But all expedients for doing what was, in reality, the work of the congre- 

 gation itself were unreliable ; and the clerk or choir-master too often found himself a solitary per- 

 former. Mr. Hetherington's bassoon, however, may be regarded as the harbinger and foreshadow 

 of the magnificent organ presented in after-times to the congregation of the " Second Temple" 

 of St. James, by Mr. Dunn — a costly and fine-toned Instrument (presided over, for a short time, 

 by the eminent Dr. Hodges, subsequently of Trinity Church, New York), and destined to be 

 destroyed by fire together with the whole church, after only two years of existence, in 1S39. — 

 (In the conflagration of 1S39 another loss occurred, not so much to be regretted ; we refer to the 

 destruction of a very large triplet window of stained glass over the altar of the church, contain- 

 ing tliree life-size figures by Mr. Craig, a local "historical and ornamental" painter, not well- 

 skilled in the ecclesiastical style. As home-productions, however, these objects were tenderly 

 eyed : but Mrs. Jameson in her work on Canada cruelly denounced them as being "in a vUe, 

 tawdry taste." Conceive the critical authoress of the "History of Sacred and Legendary Art " 

 in the presence of these three " Craigs.") 



Before lea^dng St. James's Church and its precincts, it may be well to give some account of 

 the steps taken in ISIS, for the enlargement of the original building. This we are enabled to 

 do, having before us an all but contemporary narrative. It wUl be seen that great adroitness 

 was employed in making the scheme acceptable, and that pains were shrewdly taken to prevent 

 a burdensome sense of self-sacriflee on the part of the congregation. At the same time a 

 pleasant instance of voluntary liberality is recorded. " A very respectable cliurtli was built at 

 York of the Home District, many years ago" — the narrative referred to, in the Christian 

 Recorder for 1819, p. 214, proceeds to state— "which at that time accommodated the inhabitants ; 

 but for some years past, it has been found too small, and several attemirts were made to enlarge 

 and repair it. At length, in April 181S, in a meeting of the whole congi-egation, it was resolved 

 to enlarge the church, and a committee was appointed to suggest the most expeditious and 

 economical method of doing it. The committee reported that a subscription in the way of loan, 

 to be repaid when the seats were sold, was the most promising method. No subscription to be 

 taken under twenty-five pounds, payable in four instalments. Two gentlemen," the narrative 

 continues, "were selected to carry the subscription paper round; and in three hours from 

 twelve to thirteen hundred pounds were subscribed. Almost all the respectable gentlemen 

 gave in loan Fifty Pounds ; and the Hon. Justice Boulton, and George Crookshank, Esq., con 

 tributed £100 each, to accomplish so good an object. The church was enlarged, a steeple 

 erected, and the whole building with its galleries, handsomely finished. In January last [1S19]" 

 oux authority proceeds to say, "when every thing was completed, the pews were sold at a 

 year's credit, and brought more money than the repairs and enlargement cost. Therefore " it 

 is triumphantly added, "the inhabitants at York erect a very handsome church at a very little 

 expense to themselves, for every one may have bis subscription money returned, or it may go 

 towards payment of a pew ; and, what is more, the persons who subscribed for the first church 

 count the amount of their subscription as part of the price of their new "pews. This fair 

 arrangement has been eminently successful ; and gave great satisfaction." The special instance 

 of graceful voluntary liberality above TefeiTed to is then subijoined in these terms : "George 

 Crookshank, Esq., notwithstanding the greatness of his subscription, and the pains whicli he 

 took in getting the chuTcli well-finished, has presented the clergyman with cushions for the 

 pulpit and reading desk, covered with the richest and finest damask ; and likewise cloth for 

 the communion-table. This pious liberality," the wi'iter remarlcs, "cannot be too much com- 

 mended ; ft tells us that the benevolent zeal of ancient times is not entirely done away. The 

 congregation were so much pleased," it is further recorded, "that a vote of thanks was 

 unanimously offered to Mr. Crookshank for his munificent present." (The pulpit, sounding- 

 toard, and desk had been a gift of Governor Gore to the original church, and had cost the sum 

 of one hundred dollars.) 



When the necessity arose in 1830 for replacing the church thus enlarged and improved, by an 

 entirely new edifice of more respectable dimensions, the same cool, secular ingenuity was again 

 displayed in the scheme proposed ; and it was Tesolved by the congregation (among other 

 things) "that the pew-holders of the present church, if they demanded the same, be credited one- 



