360 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY : 



"Were the tall and very beautiful spire -whicli in the pre3ent day is to be seen where the Daven- 

 port Road enters Yonge Street, the appendage of an ecclesiastical edifice of the mediseval period — 

 as the architecture implies— it would indicate, in all probability, the presence of a Church of 

 St. Giles. St. iEgidius or Giles presided, it was imagined, over the entrances to cities and 

 towns. Consequently, fancy will always have it, whenever we pass the very interesting pile 

 standing so conspicuously by a public gate, or where for a long whUe there was a public gate, 

 leading into the town, that here we behold the St. GO.es' of Toronto. 



Of long standing is the group of buildings on the right after passing the northern gate, or 

 the site of the northern gate. It is the Brewery and malting-house of Mr. Severn, settled 

 here since 1835. The main building overlooks a ravine which, as seen by the passer-by on. 

 Tonge Street, retains to this day in its eastern recess a great deal of natural beauty, although 

 the stream below attracted manufacturers at an early period to its borders at numerous 

 points. There is a picturesque irregularity about the outlines of Mr. Severn's brewery. The 

 projecting galleries round the domestic portion of the building pleasantly indicate that the 

 adjacent scenery is not unappreciated ; nay, possibly enjoyed on many a tranquil autumn. 

 evening. 



Further on, a block-house of two storeys, both of them rectangular, but the upper turned 

 half round on the lower, built in consequence of the troubles of 1837, and supposed to 

 command the great highway from the north, overhung a high bank on the right. (Another of 

 the like build was placed at the eastern extremity of the First Concession Road. It was 

 curious to observe how rapidly these two relics acquired the character and even the look, gray 

 and dilapidated, of age. With many, they dated at least from the war of 1812.) 



A conbiderable stretch of striking landscape here skirts our route on the right. Rosedale- 

 house, the old extra-mural home, stiU existent and conspicuous, of Mr. Stephen Jarvis, Regis- 

 trar of the Province in the olden time, afterwards of his son the Sheriff, of both of whom we 

 have had occasion to speak repeatedly, was always noticeable for the romantic character of its 

 situation ; on the crest of a precipitous bank overlooking deep winding ravines. Set down 

 here while yet the forest was but little encroached on, access to it was of course for a long 

 time, diflBoult and laborious. — The memorable fancy ball given here at a comparatively late 

 period, but during the Sheriff's lifetime, recurs as we go by. On that occasion, in the dusk of 

 evening, and again probably in the gray dawn of morning, an irregular procession tlironged 

 the highway of Yonge Street and toiled up and down the steep approaches of Rosedale-house — 

 a procession consisting of the simulated shapes and forms that usually revisit the glimpses of 

 the moon at masquerades, — knights, crusaders, Plantagenet, Tudor and Stuart princes, queens 

 and heroines ; aU mixed up with an incongruous ancient and modern canaille, a Tom of 

 Bedlam, a Bottom " with amiable cheeks and fair large ears," an Ariel, a Paul Pry, a Pickwick, 

 Ac, &c., not pacing on with some veri-similitude on foot or respectably mounted on horse, ass, 

 or mule, but borne along most prosaically on wheels or in sleighs. This pageant, though only 

 a momentary social relaxation, a transient but still not unutUitarian freak of fashion, accom- 

 plished well and cleverly in the midst of a scene literally a savage wild only a few years 

 previously, may be noted as one of the many outcomes of precocity characterizing society in 

 the colonies of England. In a burlesque drama to be seen in the columns of a contemporary 

 paper (the Colonist, of 1839) we have an allusion to this memorable entertainment. The news 

 Is supposed to have just arrived of the union of the Canadas, to the dismay, as it is pretended, 

 of the official party, among whom there will henceforth be no more cakes and ale. A messenger, 

 Thomas, speaks : 



List, oh, list — the Queen hath sent 

 A message to her Lords and trusty Commons — 

 All. — What message sent she ? 

 Thomas. — Oh the dreadful news ! 

 That both the Canadas in one be joined. — (faints.) 

 Sheriff William then speaks : 



Farewell ye masquerades, ye sparkling routs : 

 Now roated out, no more shall routs be ours ; 

 No gilded chariots now shall roll along ; 

 No sleighs tliat sweep across our icy path, — 

 Sleighs ! no : this news that slays our warmest hopes. 

 Ends pageantry, and pride and masquerades. 



