TORONTO OP OLD. 181 



place selected for this purpose was a picturesque spot on laud possessed 1 )y him on the Humbei; 

 river, entailing at the same time the surrounding property. In 1S53, — although at that date an 

 act of parliament had cancelled entails,— his heir. Col. G. T. Denison, primus, connected the 

 land referred to together with the burial plot, perpetually with his family and descendants, by 

 converting it into an endowment for an ecclesiastical living, to be always in the gift of the 

 legal representative of his name. This is the projected rectory of St. John's on the Humber. 

 In 18.57, a son of Col. Denison's, Robert Britton Denison, erected at his own cost, in immediate 

 proximity to the old Belle vue homestead, the church of St. Stephen, and took steps to make 

 it in xierpetuity a recognized ecclesiastical benefice. 



The boundary of Major Littlehales' lot westward was near Avhat is now Bathurst Street. In 

 front of this lot, on the south side of Lot Street, and stretching far to the west, was the Gov- 

 ernment Common, of which we have previously spoken, on which was traced out, at first 

 ideally, and at length in reality, the arc of a circle of 1,000 yards' radius, having the Garrison 

 as its centre. Southward of the concave side of this arc no buildings were for a long time 

 permitted to be erected. Tins gave rise to a curiouslj'-shaped enclosure, northward of St. 

 Andrew's Market-house, -wide towards the east, but vanishing off to nothing on the west, at 

 the X)oint where Lot Street formed a tangent with the military circle. 



Of Portland Street and Bathurst Street we have already spoken in our survey of Front Street. 

 Immediately opposite Portland Street was the abode, at the latter period of his life, of Dr. Lee' 

 to whom we have referred in our accounts of Front and George Streets. Glancing northward 

 as we pass Bathurst Street, which, by the way, north of Lot Street, was long known as 

 Crookshank's Lane, we are reminded again of Mr. Murchisou, whom we have likewise briefly 

 commemorated elsewhere. The substantial abode to which he retired after acquiring a good 

 competency, and where in 1870 he died, is to be seen on the east side of Bathurst Street. 



XLII.— QUEEN STREET— FROM BATHURST STREET TO THE ASYLUM. 



The names which appear in the early plans of York and its suburbs, as thd first possessors of 

 the park lots westward of Major Littlehales', are. In order of succession, respectively. Col. 

 David Shank, Cajit. McDonell, Capt. S. Smith, Cajit. jE. Shaw, Capt. Bouchette. We then 

 arrive at the line of the present Dundas road, where it passes at right angles north from the 

 line of Queen Street. This thoroughfare is not laid down in the plans. Then follow the 

 names of David Burns, William Chewett and Alexander MacNab (conjointly), Thomas Ridout 

 and William Allan (conjointly), and Angus Macdonell. We then reach a road duly marked, 

 leading straight down to the French Fort, Fort Rouille, commonly known as Fort Toronto. 

 Across this road westward, only one lot is laid off, and on it is the name of Benjamin HaUowell. 



Most of the names first enumerated are very famQiar to those whose recollections embrace 

 the period to which our attention is now being directed. Many of them have occurred again 

 and again in these papers. 



In regard to Col. David Shank, the first occupant of the park lot westward of Major 

 Littlehales', we must content ourselves with some brief " collections." In the Simcoe 

 correspondence, preserved at Ottawa, there is an interesting mention of him, associated, as it 

 appropriately happens, with his neighbour-locatees to the east and west here on Lot Street. 

 In a private letter to the " Secretary of War," Sir George Yonge, from Governor Simcoe, 

 dated Jan. 17th, 1792, announcing his arrival at Montreal, en route for the new Government, 

 still far up " the most august of rivers," Capt. Shank is spoken of as being on his way to the 

 same destmation in connnand of a portion of the Queen's Rangers, in company with Capt. 

 Smith. There is noted m the same document, it will be observed, a gallant achievement of 

 Capt. Shaw's, who, the Governor reports, had just successfully marched with his division of 

 the same regiment aU the way from New Brunswick to Montreal, in the depth of winter, on 

 snow-shoesv "It is with infinite jileasure," writes Governor Simcoe to Sir George Yonge, 

 "that I received your letter of the 1st of April by Capt. Littlehales. On the 13tli of June," 

 he continues, " that officer overtook me on the St. Lawrence, as I was on my passage in 

 batteaux up the most august of rivers. It has given me great satisfaction," the Governor 

 says, "that the Queen's Rangers have arrived so early. Capt. Shaw, who crossed in the depth 

 of winter on snow-shoes from New Brunswick, is now at Kingston with the troops of the two 



