“Vital spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, O quit; this mortal frame.
I am ashamed to say that I was obliged to stuff my handkerchief into my mouth to keep from laughing outright; and no wonder, for I never heard such an insane screeching in all my life.
In the course of the summer, Mr. Buchanan, the British Consul, visited Guelph, when the superintendent gave a public dinner at the Priory, to which I had the honour of an invitation. Amongst other guests was John Brandt, the chief of the Mohawks, and son of the celebrated chief whom Campbell the poet, in his “Gertrude of Wyoming,” has stigmatized as—
“The monster, Brandt,
With all his howling, desolating band.”
And again—
“Accursed Brandt! he left of all my tribe,
Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth.”
It is said that John Brandt was very angry when these lines were pointed out to him.[[1]]
[1] Campbell subsequently made an apology to him.
On his health being drunk, he acknowledged the courtesy in a short but eloquent speech. He was not handsome, though rather a fine-looking man. I believe he died of cholera in 1832.
One day, Dr. Dunlop came to my house, and informed me that I was to accompany him on an expedition to the township of Wilmot, joining the Huron tract, to examine the site, and make a report of the probable cost of building a bridge over the river Nith—or “Smith’s Creek,” as it was then called—one of the tributaries of the Grand River. “The accountant,” he said, “has taken it into his head that he will accompany us; and, as he has never been in the Bush before, won’t we put him through his facings before he gets back? that is all. Mind, and keep your eye on me. When I am ready to play him off, I will give the signal to you.”