4^ 



CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



The cleared space where the building stood was not many yards across. On each side of it, 

 the ground precipitously descended, on the one hand to the Don, on the other to the bottom of 

 the ravine where flowed the brook. Notwithstanding the elevation of the position, the view 

 was circumscribed, hill-side and table-land being alike covered with trees of the finest growth. 



Castle Frank itself was an edifice of considerable dimensions, of an oblong shape ; its walls 

 were composed of a number of rather small, carefully hewn logs, of short lengths. The whole 

 wore the hue that unpainted timber, exposed to the weather, speedily assumes. At the gable 

 end, in the direction of the roadway from the nascent capital, was the principal entrance, over 

 which a rather imposing portico was formed by the projection of the whole roof, supported by 

 lour upright columns, reaching the whole height of the building, and consistmg of the stems of 

 tour good-sized, well-matched pines, with their deeply-chapped, corrugated bark unremoved. 

 The doors and shutters to the windows were all of double thickness, made of stout plank, run- 

 ning up and down on one side, and crosswise on the other, and thickly studded over with the 

 heads of stout nails. Prom the middle of the building rose a solitary, massive chimney-stack. 



"We can picture to ourselves the cavalcade that was wont, from time to time, to be seen in the 

 summers and autumns of 1894-'5-'6, wending its way leisurely to the romantically situated 

 chateau of Castle Frank, along the reaches and windings, the descents and ascents of the forest 

 road, expressly cut out through the primitive woods as a means of access to it. 



First, mounted on willing and well-favored horse, as we will suppose, there would be General 

 Siracoe himself — a soldierly personage, iu the fuU vigour of life, advanced but little beyond his 

 fortieth year, of thoughtful and stern, yet benevolent aspect— as shown by the medallion in 

 ]uarble on his monument in the cathedral at Exeter — revolving ever in his mind schemes for the 

 development and defence of the new Society which he was engaged in founding ; a man "just, 

 active, enlightened, brave, frank," as the French Duke de Liancourt described him in 1795 ; 

 '■ possessing the confidence of the country, of the troops, and of all those who were joined with 

 him in the administration of public affairs." " No hillock catches his eye," the same observant 

 writer remarks, " without exciting in his mind the idea of a fort which might be constructed 

 on the spot, associating with the construction of this fort the plan of operatidhs for a campaign ; 

 especially of that which should lead him to Philadelphia," i. e., to recover, by force of arms, to 

 the allegiance of England, the Colonies recently revolted. 



By the side of the soldier and statesman Governor, also on horseback, would be his gifted 

 consort, small in person, " handsome and amiable," as the French Duke again speaks ; "fulfil- 

 ling," as he continues to say, " all the duties of the mother and wife with the most scrupulous 

 exactness ; carrying the latter so far," DeLiancourt observes, " as to be of great assistance to 

 her husband by her talent for drawing, the practice of which, in relation to maps and plans, 

 enabled her to be extremely useful to the Governor," while her skill and facility and taste in a 

 wider application of that talent were attested, the French traveller might have added, by 

 numerous sketch-books and portfolios of views of Canadian scenery in its primitive condition, 

 taken by her hand, to be treasured up carefully and reverently by her immediate descendants, 

 but unfortunately not accessible generally to Canadian students. This memorable lady — 

 memorable for her eminent Christian goodness, as well as for her artistic skill and taste, and 

 superior intellectual endowments — survived to the late period of 1850. Her maiden name 

 is preserved among us by the designation borne by two of our townships. East and West 

 " GAviUim"-bury. Her father, at the time one of the aides-de-camp to General Wolfe, was killed 

 at tho taking of Quebec. 



Conspicuous in the group would likewise be a young daughter and son, the latter about 

 five years of age and bearing the name of Francis. The chateau of which we have just given an 

 account was theoretically the private property of this child, and took its name from him, 

 although the appellation, by accident as we suppose, is identical, in sound ai; all events, with 

 that .of a certain " Castel-franc " near Rochelle, which figures in the history of the Huguenots. 



The Iroquois at Niagara had given the Governor a title, which in their language signified, 

 " One whose door is always open." They had, moreover, in Council declared his son a chief, 

 and had named him "Tioga;" and to humour them in return, as Liancourt informs us, the 

 child was occasionally attired in Indian costume. For most men it is well that the future is 

 veiled from them. It happened eventually that a warrior's fate befell the young chieftain 

 Tioga. The little spirited lad who had been seen at one time moving about before the assembled 



