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8
I cannot permit this opportunity to pass without recording my deep
and profound estimation—the warm and cordial appreciation—of those
high and lofty philanthropic deeds which have sprung from the Queenly
munificence of Miss Burdett-Coutts.
The elegant—and as useful as elegant—edifice, which, through her
generous and bounteous liberality, now adorns a portion of the northern
boundary of our Parish, reflects, in every sense, a double lustre. On the
one hand, profound respect and deep gratitude must be ever entertained
for the wise and accomplished benefactress of her time, and of the age ; on
the other, everyone must appreciate the civilizing influence a structure
erected for purposes so ennobling and so worthy—is calculated to cast around
a neighbourhood graced by its shadow and humanized by its presence.
Strong indeed is the contrast, and striking the vicissitude. But a few
years ago, and the spot on which Columbia Square and its Market stands
was the dwelling-place of the thief, and the abode of the assassin ; the
cesspool of vice, and a garden of crime—the dwellings alone fit emblems
of the character of the occupiers ; and the once noted Nova Scotia gardens
have at length passed away, and shall be no more seen.
The salutary influence which buildings of this nature cast around and
about them, is, in my opinion, incalcnlable, and the highway it opens up
to the graceful embellishment of the surroundings is not the only good
arising. The artisan and the labourer—the man, as he issues forth from
the gates, intent on the duties of the day before him; the woman, as she
steps forth to her lighter toil; the youth and the maiden, just entering
upon the bustling stage of life; the child, as he scampers away to his
school;—one and all feel the elastic bound—the atmospherical buoyancy;
is conscious of being in the mere corporeal feeling, and reciprocally in his
mental condition, lighter, nobler, better, with a healthier vigour and
stronger energy, very far better equipped to encounter and to vanquish
the stern and arduous difficulties that ever beset the rugged road of
life's highway. Shakespeare has said, and truly too :—
" The evil some men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred!"
But never will the good which the comprehensive wisdom, widespread
and bright intelligence—that wealth of benevolence which ever
characterizes all the actions of this noble lady—be interred, so long as
those beautiful monuments—raised by her queenly hand, and consecrated
by her boundless generosity—adorn and enrich the land of her birth, and
maintain their existence amongst the works of man: nor will her memory,
dear to the heart, and lasting in the recollection of every Englishman and