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
Other memorials in his honour have been projected and thought of. One of
them we record for its boldness and originality and fitness, although we
have no expectation that the æsthetic feeling of the community will soon
lead to the practical adoption of the idea thrown out. The suggestion
has been this: that in honour of the deceased Bishop, there should be
erected, in some public place, in Toronto, an exact copy of Michael
Angelo's Moses, to be executed at Rome for the purpose, and shipped
hither. The conception of such a form of monument is due to the Rev. W.
Macaulay, of Picton. We need not say what dignity would be given to the
whole of Toronto by the possession of such a memorial object within its
precincts as this, and how great, in all future time, would be the
effect, morally and educationally, when the symbolism of the art-object
was discovered and understood. Its huge bulk, its boldly-chiselled and
only partially-finished limbs and drapery, raised aloft on a plain
pedestal of some Laurentian rock, would represent, not ill, the man whom
it would commemorate--the character, roughly-outlined and incomplete in
parts, but, when taken as a whole, very impressive and even grand, which
looms up before us, whichever way we look, in our local Past.
One of the things that ennoble the old cities of continental Europe and
give them their own peculiar charm, is the existence of such objects in
their streets and squares, at once works of art for the general eye, and
memorials of departed worth and greatness. With what interest, for
example, does the visitor gaze on the statue of Gutenberg at Mayence;
and at Marseilles on that of the good Bishop Belzunce!--of whom we read,
that he was at once "the founder of a college, and a magistrate,
almoner, physician and priest to his people." The space in front of the
west porch of the cathedral of St. James would be an appropriate site
for such a noble memorial-object as that which Mr. Macaulay
suggests--just at the spot where was the entrance, the one sole humble
portal, of the structure of wood out of which the existing pile has
grown.
Our notice of the assembly usually to be seen within the walls of the
primitive St. James', would not be complete, were we to omit all mention
of Mr. John Fenton, who for some time officiated therein as parish
clerk. During the palmy days of parish clerks in the British Islands,
such functionaries, deemed at the time, locally, as indispensable as the
parish minister himself, were a very peculiar class of men. He was a
rarity amongst them, who could repeat in a rational tone and manner the
responses delegated to him by the congregation. This arose from the
circumstance that he was usually an all but illiterate village rustic,
or narrow-minded small-townsman, brought into a prominence felt on all
sides to be awkward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account