1799. The chief event which occupied the attention of the good people of Halifax during the autumn of this year was the arrival and movements of His Royal Highness Prince Edward, who had now been created Duke of Kent. Having received the appointment of commander-in-chief of the troops in British North America on 6th September, he arrived in H. M. Ship Arethusa, Capt. Wooley, forty-three days from England. The Prince landed in state. A procession of boats was formed from the frigate to the King's Wharf under a royal salute from the ships, and on reaching the wharf, by a salute from the Citadel. A double line of soldiers, including the militia, lined the street from the King's Wharf to Government House, through which the procession passed. The Governor and Council, Admiral Vandiput, General Ogilvie, the officers of the staff and public departments and a number of the principal citizens, attended. On his arrival at Government House the bells of St. Paul's and the old Mather Meeting House rang out a merry peal, and a large number of the inhabitants crowded around to bid him welcome again to Halifax. In the evening, bonfires were lit on the Grand Parade in honor of his arrival. The Duke soon after removed to his villa on the Basin, six miles from town. This beautiful little retreat had been erected by Prince Edward on the land of the Governor, Sir John Wentworth. The grounds were laid out and improved at considerable expense under his direction. The Rotunda, or music room, on the opposite side of the road, next the water, surrounded by the rich foliage of the beech groves, and surmounted by a large gilded ball, flashing in the sunlight, presented a beautiful and picturesque appearance on the approach to the Lodge. The villa was built altogether of wood, consisting of a centre of two stories containing the hall and staircase, with a flat roof. There were two wings containing the Duke's apartments. In the rear was a narrow wooden building with pointed gothic windows, resembling a chapel, containing the kitchen and offices, which extended some distance southward beyond the main building. The grouping of the beech and birch trees in the lawn and around the house was well arranged. They were the original forest trees, selected and permitted to stand in clearing away the space for the buildings. The rooms were not spacious, and the ceilings low, which appears to have been the fashion of building in Halifax at the time. The woods around were very beautiful. They were traversed by walks, and in several places by a carriage road with vistas and resting places where little wooden seats and several imitation Chinese temples were erected. Several of these small summer houses were in existence in 1828, and probably later, and portions of them could be seen through the openings in the trees on passing the main road. The Duke erected a range of low buildings on the edge of the Basin, a little to the north of the