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intendance of the late General Simcoe, then 

 lieutenant governor ; in the space of five or six 

 years it became a respectable place, and rapidly 

 increased to its present importance : it now con- 

 tains a population of two thousand five hundred 

 souls. The parliament of the province annu-^ 

 ally holds its sittings here, as do all the courts^ 

 of justice. Considerable advances have also 

 been made in the commerce, general opulence, 

 and consequent amelioration of its society : 

 being the residence of the chief officers of go- 

 vernment both civil and military, many of the 

 conveniences and comforts of polished life are 

 to be met with. A newspaper is printed once 

 a week, and indeed at Kingston also. The 

 lands of the adjacent townships for several miles 

 round are in a high state of cultivation, so that 

 the market of the town is always well supplied- 

 The pressure of the late war has been consi- 

 derably felt here, as it was captured by the 

 American army on the 27th April, 1813 ; they 

 held it, however, but a few days, but in that 

 time the government-house, and all the public 

 buildings and stores, were burnt, after removing 

 so much of their contents as could be conve- 

 niently carried off. Immediately in the rear of 

 the town there is a very good road, called Yonge 

 street, that leads to Gwillimbury, a small village 

 thirty-two miles to the northward, and thence 



