336 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY : 



in mature years, by their plain baptismal names, Jolm, Andrew, Duncan, George, and so on. 

 And then, there was a third marking-off of a few, against whom, for one vague reason or another, 

 there had grown up in the popular mind a certain degree of prejudice. These, by a curtailment 

 or national corruption of their proper prenomen, would be ordinarily styled Sandy this, Jock 

 that. In some instances the epithet "old" would irreverently precede, and persons of consid- 

 erable eminence might be heard spoken of as old Tom so-and-so, old Sam such-a-one. And 

 similarly in respect to the sons and nephews of these worthy gentlemen. Had the community 

 never been replenished from outside sources, few of them would, to the latest moment of their 

 lives, have ever been distinguished except by the plain John, Stephen, Allan, Christopher, and 

 so on, of their infancy, or by the Bill, Harry, Alec, Mae, Dolph, or Bob, acquired in the nursery 

 or school. But enough has been said, for the present at least, on the humours and ways of our 

 secondary characters, as exemplified in the crowd customarily gathered in front of the old 

 Market at York. "We shall now proceed on our prescribed route. 



The lane leading northward from the north-west corner of Market Square used to be known 

 as Stuart's Lane, from the Eev. George Okill Stuart, once owner of property here. On its west 

 side was a well-known inn, The Farmers' Arms, kept by Mr. Bloor, who, on retiring from busi- 

 ness, took up his abode at Yorl^lle, where it has curiously happened that his name has been 

 attached to a fashionable street, tlie thoroughfare formerly known as the Concession Line.— The 

 street running north from the north-east angle of Market Square, now known as Nelson Street, 

 was originally New Street, a name which was commemorative of the growth of York westward. 

 The terminal street of the to-mi on the west, prior to the opening of this New Street, had been 

 George Street. The name of "New Street" should never have been changed, even for the 

 heroic one of Nelson. As the years rolled on, it would have become a quaint misnomer, involv- 

 ing a tale, like the name of "New College" at Oxford— a College nearly five hundred years old. 



At a point about half-way between New Street and George Street, King Street was, in 1849, 

 the scene of an election fracas which, in distant quarters, damaged for a time the good name of 

 the town. While passing in front of the Coleraine House, an inn on the north side of the 

 street, and a rendezvoiis of the unsuccessful party, some persons walking in procession, in 

 addition to indulging in the usual harmless groans, flung a missile into the house, when a shot, 

 fixed from one of the windows, killed a man in the concourse below.— Owing to the happy set- 

 tlement of numerous irritating public questions, elections are conducted now, in our towns and 

 throughout our Provinces, in a calm and rational temper for the most part. Only two relics of 

 e^'il and ignorant days remain amongst us, stirring bad blood twice a-year, on anniversaries 

 consecrated, or otherwise, to the object. A generous-hearted nation, transplanted as they have 

 been almost en masse to a new continent, where prosperity, wealth and honours have everywhere 

 been their portion, would shew more wisdom in the repudiation than they do in the recognition 

 and studied conservation of these hateful heir-looms of their race. 



XV.— KING STEEET— DIGRESSION INTO DUKE STREET. 



On passing George Street, as we intimated a moment ago, we enter the parallelogram which 

 constituted the original town-plot. Its boundaries were George Street, Duchess Street, 

 Ontario Street (with the lane south of it), and Palace Street. From this, its old core, York 

 spread westward and northward, extending at length in those directions respectively (under 

 the name of Toronto) to the Asylum and YorkviUe ; while eastward its developments — though 

 here less solid and less shapely — were finally bounded by the windings of the Don. Were 

 Toronto an old town on the European Continent, George Street, Duchess Street, Ontario Street 

 and Palace Street, would probably be boulevards, shewing the space once occupied by stout 

 stone walls. The parallelogram just defined represents "the City" in modern London, or "la 

 Cite " in modern Paris — the original nucleus round which gradually clustered the dwellings of 

 later generations. 



Before, however, we enter upon what may be styled King Street proper, it will be convenient 

 to make a momentary digression northwards into Duke Street, anciently a quiet, retired 

 thoroughfare, skirted on the right and left by the premises and grounds and houses of several 

 most respectable inhabitants. M- the north-west angle of the intersection of this street with 

 George Street was the home of Mr. Washburn ; but this was comparatively a recent erection. 



