440 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTOUY : 



A silver medal Tvhicli had Tseen deposited under the old buildingwas now transferred to a cavity 

 in the foundation stone of its proposed successor. It bore on the obverse, " Francis Gore, Esq., 

 Lieutenant-Governor, 1S16," and on the reverse "Fifty-sixth of George Third." To it were 

 now added a couple of other medals of silver : one bore on the obverse, " John Strachan, D.D., 

 Bishop of Toronto ; Alexander Sanson, Minister, 1843;" on the reverse, "Sixth of Victoria." 

 The other had inscribed on it the name of the architect, Mr. J. G. Howard, with a list of other 

 churches erected in Upper Canada under his direction. Among the persons present during 

 the ceremony were Chief Justice Kobinson, Vice-Chancellor Jameson, the Hon. and Rev. A. 

 Cavendish, and the Bev. G. Mortimer, of Thornhill. Prior to the out-door proceedings a 

 remarkable scene had been witnessed within the walls of the old building. Four gentlemen 

 received the rite of Confirmation at the hands of the Bishop, all of them up to a recent date, 

 non-conformists ; three of them non- conformist ministers of mark, Mr. Townley, Mr. Leach 

 (whom we heard just now pronouncing a eulogy on Mr. Hogg,) and Mr. Ritchie ; the fourth, 

 Mr. Sanson, not previously a minister, but now in Holy Orders of the Church of England, and 

 the minister appointed to officiate in the new church. 



At the present day Tonge Street crosses Hogg's Hollow in a direct line on a raised embank- 

 ment which the ancient Boman roadmakers would have deemed respectable — a work accom- 

 plished about the year 1835, before the aid of steam power was procurable in these parts for 

 such purposes. Mr. Lynn was the engineer in charge here, at that time. The picturesque 

 character of the valley has been considerably interfered with. Nevertheless a winding road 

 over the hills to the right leading up to the church (St. John's) has still some sylvan surroundings. 

 In truth, were a building or two of the chalet type visible, the passer-by might fancy himself 

 for a moment in an upland of the High Alps, so Swiss-like is the general aspect. It may be 

 added tlaat the destruction of the beautiful hereabout has to some extent a set-off in the fine 

 geological studies displayed to the eye in the sides of the deep cuts at both ends of the great 

 causeway. Lake Ontario's ancient floor here lifted up high and dry in the air, exhibits, stratum 

 super stratiim, the deposits of successive periods long ago. (The action of the weather, however, 

 has at the present time greatly blurred the interesting pictures of the past formerly displayed 

 on the surface of the artificial escarpments at Hogg's Hollow.) 



L.— YONGE STBEET, FROM HOGG'S HOLLOW TO THORNHILL. 



Beyond the Hollow, Mr. Humberstone's was passed on the west side, another manufacturer 

 of useful pottery ware. A curious incident used to be narrated as having occurred in this 

 house. The barrel of an old Indian fowling piece turned up by the plough in one of the fields, 

 and made to do duty in the management of unwieldly back logs in the great fire-place, sud- 

 denly proved itself to have been charged all the while, by exploding one day in the hands of 

 Mr. Humberstone's daughter while being put to its customary use, and killing her on the spot. 

 (Somewhat similarly, at Fort Erie, we have been told, in the fire which destroyed the wharf at 

 the landing, a condemned cannon which had long been planted in the pier as a post, went off, 

 happily straight upwards, without doing any damage.) Mr. Humberstone saw active service 

 as a lieutenant in the incorporated militia in 1812. He was put in charge of some of the 

 prisoners captured by Col. Fitzgibbon, at the Beaver Dams, and when now nearing his desti- 

 nation, Kingston, with his prisoners in a large batteau, he, like the famous Dragoon who caught 

 the Tartar, was made a prisoner of himself by the men whom he had in custody, and was 

 adroitly rowed over by them to the United States shore, where being landed he was swiftly 

 locked up in jail, and thence only delivered when peace was restored. 



The next memorable object, also on the left, was Shephard's inn, a noted resting place for 

 wayfarers and their animals, flanked on the north by large driving sheds, on the south by 

 stables and barns : over the porch, at an early period, was the efflgy of a lion gardant, 

 attempted in wood on the premises. Constructiveness was one of the predominant faculties in. 

 the first landlord of the Golden Lion. He was noted also for skilful execution on several 

 instruments of music : on the bassoon for one. In the rear of the hotel, a little to the south, 

 on a fine eminence, he put up for himself after the lapse of some years, a private residence, 

 remarkable for the originality of its design, the outline of its many projecting roofs presenting 

 a multitude of concave curves in the Chinese pagoda style. In several buildings in this neigh- 

 bourhood an efi'ort was at one time made, chiefly, we believe, through the influence of Mr. Shep- 



