en
years when we met again. I accepted his invitation to dine and sleep at
his house, which was about seven miles from the town. He sent handsome
saddle horses over for three of us. I found him located on a beautiful
farm of about four hundred acres, the major portion of it cleared; his
house was a very elegantly built cottage ornee, every thing had the
appearance of a handsome English country residence; he had married a
beautiful woman of one of the first families. We sat down to an
excellent dinner, and, in every respect, the whole set-out was equal to
what you generally meet with in good society in England. He was really
living in luxury. We returned the next day, in a handsome carriage and
as fine a pair of horses as one would wish to see.

I could hardly credit that all this could have been accumulated in seven
years--yet such was the case, and it was not a singular one; for the
whole road from his farm to Toronto was lined with similar farms and
handsome houses, belonging to gentlemen who had emigrated, forming among
themselves, a very extensive and most delightful society.

Although they do not go ahead as fast as some of the American cities,
(for instance, Buffalo,) still Upper Canada has, within the last ten or
fifteen years, taken a surprising start, and will now, if judiciously
governed, increase in wealth almost as fast as any of the American
States. About Toronto, most of the gentlemen have incomes of from seven
hundred to fifteen hundred pounds per annum, and keep handsome
equipages; but there are many other towns which have lately risen up
very rapidly. Peterborough is an instance of this. "Peterborough in
1825 contained but one miserable dwelling; now, in 1838, may be seen
nearly four hundred houses, many of them large and handsome, inhabited
by about fifteen hundred persons; a very neat stone church, capable of
accommodating eight hundred or nine hundred persons, [see Note 1] a
Presbyterian church of stone, two dissenting places of worship, and a
Roman Catholic church in progress. The town has in or near it, two
grist, and seven saw-mills, five distilleries, two breweries, two
tanneries, eighteen or twenty shops (called stores), carriage, sleigh,
wagon, chair, harness, and cabinet-makers and most other useful trades.
Stages run all the year, bringing mails five times a week and steamboats
whilst the navigation is open; there is one good tavern (White's), and
two inferior ones. Families may n