TORONTO OP OLD. 9T 



J. G. Spragge, Esq., the present vei'y highly esteemed and respected Master of the Court 

 of Chancery, E. J. Turner, Esq., a skilful Equity Draftsman and Solicitor in Chancery. See 

 Jo^irnals of Honse of Assembly, 1841." 



The notes to Curice Canadenses teem with interesting matter relating to the laws, courts, 

 erms, districts and early historj', legal and general, of Lower as well as Upper Canada. A 

 copious table of contents renders the volume quite valuable for reference. The author must 

 have been an experienced compiler, analyst, and legal index maker. In the text of the work, 

 Christopher Anstey's poetical " Pleader's Guide" is taken as a model. As a motto to the portion 

 of his poem that treats of Upper Canada he places the line of Virgil, " Gensque vlrum truncis 

 et d%iro rdbore. nata," which may be a compliment or not. The title in full of Mr. Eumsey's 

 brochure, which consists of only 126 octavo pages, is as follows : " Curiae Canadenses ; or. 

 The Canadian Law Courts : being a Poem, describing the Several Courts of Law and Equity 

 which have been erected from time to time in the Canadas ; with copious notes, explanatory 

 and historical, and an Appendix of much useful Matter. Itur in antiquam Sylvam, stabula 

 alta ferarum ; Procumbunt picete , sonant icta secu.ribus ilex, Fraxineeeque trabes : cuneis et 

 fissile robur Scinditur : advolvunt ingentes montibus ornos. — Virgil. By Plinius Secundus. 

 Toronto : H. & W. Rowsell, King Street, 1843." The typography and paper are admirable. 

 The Cwrim, in a jacket of fair calf, should be given a place on the shelves of our Canadian law- 

 libraries. ~ 



XXXVr.-QUBEN STREET— YORK STREET. 



It rather puzzles one to conceive why York Street received that name. If a commemoration 

 of the Duke of York of sixty years since was designed, the name of the whole town was that 

 sufficiently already. Frederick Street, besides, recorded his specific Christian name, and Duke 

 Street his rank and title. Although interesting now as a memento of a name borne of old by 

 Toronto, York Street, when Toronto was York, might well have been otherwise designated, it 

 seeming somewhat irrational for any particular thoroughfare in a town to be distinguished by 

 the name of that town. — A certain poverty of invention in regard to street names has in other 

 nstances been evinced amongst us. Victoria Street, for example, was for a time called Upper 

 George Street, to distinguish it from George Street proper, so named from George, Prince of 

 Wales, the notable Prince Regent. It is curious that no other name but George should have 

 been suggested for the second street ; especially too as that street might have been so fittingly 

 named Toronto Street, as being situated within a few feet of the line of the original thorough- 

 fare of that name which figures so largely in the early descriptions of York. — If in " York 

 Street" a compliment had been intended to Charles Yorke, Secretary at War in 1802, the ortho- 

 graphy would have been " Yorke Street." 



After all, however, the name " York Street" may have arisen out of the circumstance that, 

 at an early period, this was for teams on their way to York, the beaten track, suddenly turning 

 off here to the south out of the line of Dundas or Lot Street, which, if followed, would take the 

 traveler to Kingston. 



The street on the west of the grounds of Osgoode Hall is now known as University Street. 

 By the donor to the public of the land occupied by the street, it was designated Park Lane — 

 not without due consideration, as is likely. In London there is a famous and very distinguished 

 Park Lane. It leads from Oxford Street to Piccadilly, and skirts the whole of the east side of 

 Hyde Park. The position of what was our Park Lane is somewhat analogous,, it being open 

 along its whole length on the left to the plantation of an ornamental piece of ground. Un- 

 meddled with, our Park Lane would have suggested from time to time in. the mind of the 

 ruminating wayfarer pleasant thoughts of a noble and interesting part of the great home 

 metropolis. The change to University Street was altogether uncalled for. It ignored the 

 adjoining " College Avenue," the name of which shewed that a generally recognized " Univer- 

 sity Street " existed already : it gave moreover a name which is pretentious, inasmuch as the 

 roadway indicated is comparatively narrow. 



Of the street on the east side of the grounds of Osgoode Hall we have already spoken. But 

 in connexion with the question of changes in street names, we must here again refer to it. 



