Life of Sir John Beverly Robinson, Bart., C.B., D.C.L., Chief-Justice of Upper Canada (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVI CONCLUSION--PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, ETC. Speaking of my father's private life, and some of his personal characteristics, the Law Journal of Upper Canada, of March 1863, says: --Sir John Robinson's social life exercised a great influence on the masses. His private life gained for him, if possible, more thoroughly the affections of the people than even his public services. He was emphatically a good man, and a God-fearing Christian. He had none of those peculiarities or eccentricities which frequently characterise the dispositions of great men. His manners and tastes were simple and unaffected. His conversation was varied with lively illustrations of wit and humour. Generously hospitable, none enjoyed sociability more than Sir John. His hand was at all times open to relieve any urgent case of suffering or necessity. His genuine kind-heartedness, and his downright honesty of purpose, made him the idol of society, and the valued companion of all who were honoured by his friendship. He was gifted with remarkable accuracy and strength of memory, and from all parts of the country he was frequently appealed to to explain the relationship of present affairs with the distant past. And in alluding to the purity of style of some of his addresses upon public occasions, it instances the one delivered at the laying the foundation-stone of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum in Toronto in 1846. I therefore give here a few extracts from this address, which was of some length: --Let us consider who are the insane? Here we see one who for some inscrutable purpose of Providence, doubtless wise and just as we shall know hereafter, has in his blood or in his brain (for who can solve the mystery?) the seeds of hereditary insanity. There another who has lost his reason by ...