444 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY: 



United States, in relation to the matters indicated, and followed speedily after by the never-to-be^ 

 forgotten Mrs. Trollope, his work was reprinted by the Harpers. Mr. Fidler was a remarkable 

 person, — of a tall Westmoreland mould, resembling the common jjictures of Wordsworth. He 

 was somewhat peculiar in his dress, wearing always an extremely high shirt-collar, very con- 

 spicuous round the whole of his neclc, forming a kind of spreading white socket in which rested 

 and revolved a head, bald, egg-shaped and spectacled. Besides being scholarly in the modern 

 sense, Mr. Fidler possessed the more uncommon accomplishment of a familiarity with the 

 oriental languages. The notices in his book of pearly colonial life have now to us an archaic 

 sound. We give his narrative of the overturn of a family party on their way home from church. 

 " The difliculty of descending a steep hill in wet weather may be imagined," he says. " The 

 heavy rains had made it (the descent south of Tliornhill) a complete puddle which afforded no 

 sure footing to man or beast. In returning from church, the ladies and gentlemen I speak of," 

 lie continues, "had this steep hill to descend. The jaunting-car being filled with people was 

 too heavy to be kept back, and pressed hard upon the horses. The intended youthful bride- 

 groom (of one of the ladies) was, I was told, the charioteer. His utmost skill was ineffectually 

 tried to prevent a general overturn. The horses became less manageable everj' moment. But 

 yet the ladies and gentlemen in the vehicle were inapprehensive of danger, and their mirth and 

 jocularity betrayed the inward pleasure they derived from his increasing struggles. At last the 

 horses, impatient of control, and finding themselves their awn masters, jerked the carriage 

 against the parapet of the road and disengaged themselves from it. The carriage instantly 

 turned over on its side ; and as instantly all the ladies and gentlemen trundled out of it like 

 rolling pins. Nobody was hurt in the least, for the mire was so deep that they fell very soft 

 and were quite imbedded in it. What apologies the gentleman made I am rtnable to tell, but 

 the mirth was perfectly suspended. I overtook the party at the b&ttom of the hill, the ladies 

 walking homewards from the church and making no very elegant appearance." — As an example 

 of the previously undreamt-of incidents that may happen to a missionary in a backwoods 

 settlement, we mention what occurred to ourselves when taking the duty one fine bright sum- 

 mer morn, many years ago, in the Thornhill Church, yet in its primitive unenlarged state. A 

 farmer's horse that had been mooning leisurely about an adjoining field, suddenly took a fancy 

 to the shady interior disclosed by the wide opened doors of the sacred building. Before the 

 churchwardens or any one else could make out what the clatter meant, the creature was well 

 up the central passage of the nave. There becoming affrighted, its ejection was an awkward 

 affair, calling for tact and manoeuvring. 



The English Church at Thornhill has had another incumbent not undistinguished in litera- 

 ture, the Rev. E. H. Dewar, author of a work published at Oxford in 1844, on the Theology or 

 Modern Germany. It is in the form of letters to a friend, written from the standpomt of the 

 Jeremy Taylor school. It is entitled " German Protestantism and the Right of Private Judg- 

 ment in the Interjyretation of Holy Scripture." The author's former position as chaplain to 

 the British residents at Hamburg gave him facilities for becoming acquainted with the state of 

 German theology. Mr. Dewar, to superior natural talents, added a refined scholarship and a 

 wide range of accurate knowledge. He died at Thornhill in 1862. The incumbent who preceded 

 Mr. Dewar was the Rev. Dominic B. Blake, brother of Mr. Chancellor Blake ; a clergyman also 

 of superior talents. Pi-evious to his emigration to Canada in 1832, he had been a curate in the 

 county of Mayo. He died suddenly in 1859. It is remarked of him in a contemporary obituary 

 that "his productions indicated that while intellect was in exercise his heart felt the impor- 

 tance of the subjects before him." These productions were numerous, in the form of valuable 

 papers and reports, read or presented to the local Diocesan Society. 



It is curious to observe that in 1798, sahnon ascended the waters of the Don to this point on 

 Tonge Street. Among the recommendations of a farm about to be offered for sale, the existence 

 thereon of "an excellent salmon flsherj'" is named. Thus runs the advertisement (Gazette, May 

 16, 1798): "To be sold by public auction, on Monday, the 2nd of July next, at John McDougall's 

 hotel, in the town of York, a valuable Farm, situated on Yonge Street, about twelve miles from 

 Y'ork, on which are a good log house, and seven or eight acres well improved. The advantages 

 of the above farm, from the richness of its soil and its being well watered, are not equalled by 

 many farms in the Province ; and above all, it affords an excellent salmon fishery, large enough 

 to support a number of families, which must be conceived a great advantage in this infant coun- 

 •try. The terms will be made known on the day of sale." 



