The name on the allotment following that occupied successively by Col. Bouchette and Col. Givins, is "David Burns." Mr. Burns, who had been a Navy surgeon, was the first Clerk of the Crown for Upper Canada, and one of the "Masters in Chancery." He died in 1806. In the Gazette and Oracle of Saturday, Feb. 15th, in that year, we have verses to the memory of the late David Burns, Esq. We make the following extract, which is suggestive:—
"Say, power of Truth, so great, so unconfined, And solve the doubt which so distracts my mind— Why Strength to Weakness is so near allied? Perhaps 'tis given to humble human pride. At times perchance frail Nature held the sway, Yet dimm'd not it the intellectual ray: Reason and Truth triumphant held their course, And list'ning hearers felt conviction's force: No precept mangled, text misunderstood, He thought and acted but for public good: His reasoning pure, his mind all manly light, Made day of that which else appear'd as night. In him instruction aim'd at this great end— Our fates to soften and our lives amend. Yet he was man, and man's the child of woe: Who seeks perfection, seeks not here below."
From the paper of September, 1806, it appears that numerous books were missing out of the library of the deceased gentleman. His administrator, Alexander Burns, advertises: "The following books, with many others, being lent by the deceased, it is particularly entreated that they may be immediately returned:—Plutarch's Lives, 1st volume; Voltaire's Works, 11th do., in French, half-bound; Titi Livii, Latin, 1st do.; Guthrie's History of Scotland, 1st and 2nd do.; Rollin's Ancient History, 1st do.; Pope's Works, 5th do.; Swift's Works, 5th and 8th do., half-bound; Molière's, 6th do., French."
Of Col. W. Chewett, whose name appears next, we have made mention more than once. His name, like that of his son, J. G. Chewett, is very familiar to those who have to examine the plans and charts connected with early Upper Canadian history. Both were long distinguished attachés of the Surveyor-General's department. In 1802, Col. W. Chewett was Registrar of the Home District.
Alexander Macnab, whose name occurs next in succession, was afterwards Capt. Macnab, who fell at Waterloo, the only instance, as is supposed, of a Canadian slain on that occasion. In 1868, his nephew, the Rev. Dr. Macnab, of Bowmanville, was presented by the Duke of Cambridge in person with the Waterloo medal due to the family of Capt. Macnab.
Alexander Macnab was also the first patentee of the plot of ground whereon stands the house on Bay Street noted, in our account of the early press, as being the place of publication of the Upper Canada Gazette at the time of the taking of York, and subsequently owned and occupied by Mr. Andrew Mercer up to the time of his decease in 1871.
Of Messrs. Ridout and Allan, whose names are inscribed conjointly on the following park lot, we have already spoken; and Angus Macdonell, who took up the next lot, was the barrister who perished, along with the whole court, in the Speedy.
The name that appears on the westernmost lot of the range along which we have been passing is that of Benjamin Hallowell. He was a near connection of Chief Justice Elmsley's, and father of the Admiral, Sir Benjamin Hallowell, K.C.B. We observe the notice of Mr. Hallowell's death in the Gazette and Oracle of the day, in the following terms:—"Died, on Thursday last (March 28th, 1799), Benjamin Hallowell, Esq., in the 75th year of his age. The funeral will be on Tuesday next, and will proceed from the house of the Chief Justice to the Garrison Burying Ground at one o'clock precisely. The attendance of his friends is requested."
Associated at a later period with the memories of this locality is the name of Col. Walter O'Hara.—In 1808 an immense enthusiasm sprang up in England in behalf of the Spaniards, who were beginning to rise in spirited style against the domination of Napoleon and his family. Walter Savage Landor, for one, the distinguished scholar, philosopher and poet, determined to assist them in person as a volunteer. In a letter to Southey, in August, 1808, he says: "At Brighton, I preached a crusade to two auditors: i. e., a crusade against the French in Spain: Inclination," he continues, "was not wanting, and in a few minutes everything was fixed." The two auditors, we are afterwards told, were both Irishmen, an O'Hara and a Fitzgerald. Landor did not himself remain long in Spain, although long enough to expend, out of his own resources, a very large sum of money; but his companions continued to do good service in the Peninsula, in a military capacity, to the close of the war.
In a subsequent communication to Southey, Landor speaks of a letter just received from his friend O'Hara. "This morning," he says, "I had a letter from Portugal, from a sensible man and excellent officer, Walter O'Hara. The officers do not appear," he continues, "to entertain very sanguine hopes of success. We have lost a vast number of brave men, and the French have gained a vast number, and fight as well as under the republic."