And further, let it be added, that in 1870, to do honour to the memory of the then recently deceased Bishop Strachan, the congregation of St. James "beautified" the chancel of their church at a cost of Seven thousand five hundred dollars, surrounding the spacious apse with an arcade of finely carved oak, adding seats for the canons, a decanal stall, a bishop's throne, a pulpit and desk, all in the same style and material, elaborately carved, with a life-like bust in white marble of the departed prelate, by Fraser of Montreal, in a niche constructed for its reception in the western wall of the chancel, with a slab of dark stone below bearing the following inscription in gilded letters:—
"NEAR THIS SPOT REST THE MORTAL REMAINS OF JOHN STRACHAN, FIRST BISHOP OF TORONTO, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE NOVEMBER THE 1ST, 1867, IN THE NINETIETH YEAR OF HIS AGE AND THE TWENTY-NINTH OF HIS EPISCOPATE. HIS CONSPICUOUS LABOURS, FORESIGHT, AND CONSTANCY IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH AND COMMONWEALTH, AS AN EDUCATOR, AS A MINISTER OF RELIGION, AS A STATESMAN, FORM AN IMPORTANT PORTION OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF WESTERN CANADA. DURING THIRTY-FIVE YEARS HE WAS RECTOR OF THIS CHURCH AND PARISH. IN REMEMBRANCE OF HIM, THE CONGREGATION HAVE BEAUTIFIED THE CHANCEL AND ERECTED THIS MEMORIAL. EASTER, 1870."
XI.
KING STREET: DIGRESSION NORTHWARD AT CHURCH STREET: THE OLD DISTRICT GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
mmediately north of the church plot, and separated from it by an allowance for a street, was a large field, almost square, containing six acres. In a plan of the date 1819, and signed "T. Ridout, Surveyor-General," this piece of ground is entitled "College Square." (In the same plan the church reservation is marked "Church Square;" and the block to the west, "Square for Court House and Jail.") The fact that the Jail was to be erected there accounts for the name "Newgate Street," formerly borne by what is now Adelaide Street.
In the early days, when the destined future was but faintly realized, "College Square" was probably expected to become in time, and to continue for ever, an ornamental piece of ground round an educational institution. The situation, in the outskirts of York, would be deemed convenient and airy.