TORONTO OP OLD. 101 



Vie Lord Bishop of Toronto, on his right, and the Senior Visitor, the Chief Justice, on his left, 

 proceeded on foot through the College Avenue to the University grounds. The countless array 

 moved forward to the sound of military music. The sun shone out with cloudless meridian 

 splendour, one blaze of banners flashed upon the admiring eye. — ^The Governor's rich Lord 

 Lieutenant's dress, the Bishop's sacredotal robes, the Judicial Ermine of the Chief Justice, the 

 splendid Convocation robes of Dr. McCaul, the gorgeous uniforms]of the suite, the accoutre- 

 ments of the numerous Firemen, the national badges worn by the Office-bearers of the different 

 Societies, and what on such a day (St. George's) must not be omitted, the Red Crosses on the 

 breasts of England's congregated sons, the grave habUiments of the Clergy and Lawyers, and 

 the glancing lances and waving plumes of the First Incorporated Dragoons, all formed one 

 moving picture of civic pomp, one glorious spectacle which can never be remembered but with 

 satisfaction by those who had the good fortune to witness it. The- following stanza from a 

 Latin Ode," the note goes on to say, "recited by Master Draper, son of the late Attorney 

 ■General, after the ceremony, expresses in beautifully classical language the proud occasion of 

 all this joy and splendid pageantry ,• 



" lo 1 triumphe ! flos Canadensium J 

 Est alma nobis mater ; semula 

 Britanniae haec sit nostra terra, — 

 Terra diu domibus negata !" 



Another contemporary account adds : " As the procession drew nearer to the site where the 

 stone was to be laid, the 43rd Regiment lined the way, with soldiers bearing arms and placed, 

 on either side, at equal intervals. The 93rd regiment was not on duty here, but in every 

 <iirection the gallant Highlanders were scattered through the crowd, and added by their 

 national garb and nodding plumes to the varied, beauty of the animated scene. When the site 

 was reached," this account says, " a new feature was added to the interest of the ceremony.. 

 Close to the spot, the north-east corner, where the foundation was to be deposited, a temporary 

 building had been erected for the Chancellor, and there, accompanied by the officers of the 

 University and his suite, he took his stand. Fronting this was a kind of amphitheatre of seats, 

 constructed for the occasion, tier rising above tier, densely filled with ladies, who thus com- 

 manded a view of the whole ceremony. Between this amphitheatre and the place where the 

 Chancellor stood, the proceesion ranged itself." 



The Chancellor above spoken of was the Governor General of the day. Sir Charles Bagot, a 

 man of noble bearing and genial, pleasant aspect. He entered with aU the more spirit into the 

 ceremonies described, from being himself a graduate of one of the old universities. Memories 

 •of far-off' Oxford and Christ Church would be sure to be roused amidst the proceedings that 

 rendered the 23rd of April, 1842, so memorable amongst us. A brother of Sir Charles' was at 

 the time Bishop of Oxford. Ih his suite, as one of his Secretaries, was Captain Henry Bagot, 

 of the Royal Navy, his own sou. Preceding him in the procession, bearing a large gilded mace, 

 was an "Esquire Bedell," like the Chancellor himself, a Christ Church man, Mr. Williaiu 

 Cayley, subsequently a member of the Canudian Government. 



Although breaking ground for the University building had been long delayed, the commence- 

 ment now made proved to be premature. The edifice begun was never completed, as we have 

 already latima/ted ; and even in its imperfect, fragmentary condition, it was not fated to be for 

 any great length of time a scene of learned labours. In 1856 its fortune was, to be converted 

 into a Female Department for the over-crowded Provincial Lunatic Asylum. 



The educational system inaugurated in the new building in 1843, was, as the plate enclosed 

 .in the foundation-stone finely expressed it, "praestantissimum ad exemplar Britannicarum 

 Universitatum." But the " exemplar" was not, in practice, found to be, as a whole, in harmony 

 ■with the genius of the "Western Canadian people. (In truth, the same " exemplar," as 

 constituted in 1842, was pronounced not long afterwards out of harmony with the genius of 

 modern Britain itself.) 



The revision of the University scheme for Upper Canada with a view to adapting it to the 

 wants of the Western Canadian i^eople, was signalized by the erection in 1857 of a flew building 

 on an entirely difi'erent site, and a migration bodily of president, professors and students to it, 

 icoiitinuing however still within the limits of the spacious paik originally pi'ovided for the 



