Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of OntarioScadding, Henry
History
Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario
Scadding, Henry
Toronto (Ont.) -- Description and travel; Toronto (Ont.) -- History
Here the Rev. Joseph Hudson officiated now and then, a military
chaplain, appointed at a comparatively late period to this post; a
clergyman greatly beloved by the people of the town generally, both as a
preacher and as a man. He was the first officiating minister we ever saw
wearing the academical hood over the ordinary vestment.
Here, during the sittings of Parliament, of which he was chaplain, Mr.
Addison, of Niagara, was sometimes to be heard. The Library of this
scholarly divine of the old school was presented by him _en bloc_ to St.
Mark's Church, Niagara, of which he was incumbent. It remained for some
years at "Lake View," the private residence of Mr. Addison; but during
the incumbency of Dr. McMurray, it has been removed to the rectory-house
at Niagara, where it is to continue, in accordance with the first
rector's will, for the use of the incumbent for the time being.
It is a remarkable collection, as exhibiting the line of reading of a
thoughtful and intelligent man of the last century: many treatises and
tracts of contemporary, but now defunct interest, not elsewhere to be
met with, probably, in Canada, are therein preserved. The volumes, for
the most part, retain their serviceable bindings of old pane-sided calf;
but some of them, unfortunately, bear marks of the havoc made by damp
and vermin before their transfer to their present secure place of
shelter. Mr. Addison used to walk to and from Church in his canonicals
in the old-fashioned way, recalling the Johnsonian period, when clergy
very generally wore the cassock and gown in the streets.
Another chaplain to the Legislative Assembly was Mr. William Macaulay, a
preacher always listened to with a peculiar attention, whenever he was
to be heard in the pulpit here. Mr. Macaulay was a member of the
Macaulay family settled at Kingston. He had been sent to Oxford, where
he pursued his studies without troubling himself about a degree. While
there he acquired the friendship of several men afterwards famous,
especially of Whately, sometime Archbishop of Dublin, with whom a
correspondence was maintained.
Mr. Macaulay's striking and always deeply-thoughtful manner was set off
to advantage by the fine intellectual contour of his face and head,
which were not unlike those to be seen in the portrait of Maltby,
Bishop of Durham, usually prefixed to Morell's Thesaurus.
One more chaplain of the House may be named, frequently heard and seen
in this church--Dr. Thomas Phillips--another divine, well read, of a
type that has now disappeared. His personal appearance was very clerical
in the old-fashioned sense. His countenance was of the class represented
by that of the late Sir Henry Ellis, as finely figured, not long since,
in the _Illustrated News_. He was one of the last wearers of hair-powder
in these parts. In reading the Creed he always endeavoured to conform to
the old English custom of turning towards the east; but to do this in
the desk of the old church was difficult.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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