A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various
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the staff of the Montreal Daily Witness; but, as has been the case with many another son of genius, his life was one long struggle with poverty. Through all his earlier years of toil and harassing cares, he devoted himself to study and poetical composition, but published nothing till he was nearly forty years of age. A poem in blank verse saw the light in 1854. This production, crude, no doubt, and immature, met with a chilling reception, even from his friends. Some time afterwards appeared a collection of fifty sonnets, many of them vigorous and even lofty in tone, but almost all of them defective in execution, owing to the author’s want of early culture. “Saul,” his greatest work, was published in 1857, and fortunately fell into the hands of Hawthorne, then a resident of Liverpool, who had it favourably noticed in the North British Review. Longfellow and Emerson, too, spoke highly of its excellence, the former pronouncing it to be “the best tragedy written since the days of Shakespeare.” Canadians then discovered that Heavysege was a genius, and made partial atonement for their neglect; but even to the end the poet’s struggle with fortune was a bitter one. In 1857, he published “Saul: A scriptural tragedy.” “Count Flippo or, The Unequal Marriage:” a drama in five acts (1860). This production is inferior to “Saul,” not only because it does not possess the epic sublimity of the sacred drama, but because in it there is too much straining after effect, the characterization is defective, and the criticism of life displayed is not of the highest quality. “Jephthah’s Daughter,” (1865): a drama which follows closely the scriptural narrative, and, so far as concerns artistic execution, is superior to “Saul.” The lines flow with greater smoothness; there are fewer commonplace expressions, and the author has gained a firmer mastery over the rhetorical aids of figures of speech. His mind, however, shows no increase in strength, and we miss the rugged grandeur and terrible delineations of his earliest drama. “The Advocate:” a novel (1865). Besides these works, Heavysege produced many shorter pieces, one of the finest of which, “The Dark Huntsman,” was sent to the Canadian Monthly just before his death. To Art Heavysege, so his critics say, owed little. Even his most elaborate productions are defaced by unmusical lines, prosaic phrases and sentences, and faults of taste and judgment. But he owed much to Nature; for he was endowed with real and fervid, though unequal and irregular, genius. To the circumstances of his life, as much as to the character of his mind, may be attributed the pathetic sadness that pervades his works. Occasionally, it is true, there is a faint gleam of humour; but it is grim humour, which never glows with geniality or concentrates into wit. Irony and quaint sarcasm, too, display themselves in some of the Spirit scenes in “Saul.” But for sublimity of conception and power of evoking images of horror and dread, Heavysege was unsurpassed except by the masters of our literature. He possessed also, an intimate knowledge of the workings of the human heart; his delineations of character were powerful and distinct; and his pictures of impassioned emotion are wonderful in their epic grandeur. Every page of his dramas betrays an ardent study of the Bible, Milton, and Shakespeare, both in the reproduction of images and thoughts, and in the prevailing accent of his style. But he had an originality of his own; for many of his sentences are remarkable for their genuine power, and keen and concentrated energy. Here and there, too, we meet with exquisite pieces of description, and some of the lyrics in “Saul” are full of rich fancy and musical cadence. Without early culture, and amid the toilsome and uncongenial labours of his daily life, Heavysege has established his right to a foremost place in the Canadian Temple of Fame: what might he not have done for himself and his adopted country, had he been favoured by circumstances as he was by Nature! His death took place at Montreal, in August, 1876.
Torrance, Rev. Robert, D.D., Guelph, Ontario, was born at Markethill, county of Armagh, Ireland, on the 23rd of May, 1825, and was the youngest of seven sons. His ancestor on his father’s side—M. Torrance—left Ayrshire, Scotland, during the times of the persecution, and settled in the north of Ireland, and their descendants have lived there, in the same locality, ever since. Robert Torrance, the subject of this sketch, went to school at an early age in his native village, and remained under the same tutor until he was ten years old, when he began the study of the Latin and Greek languages. In 1837, his parents removed to Glenluce, Wigtonshire, Scotland, and here Robert entered the school in this place, and continued the studies he had already begun before leaving Ireland, and began others preparatory to the life-work selected for him by his parents. In 1839, he was enrolled as a student in the Royal Academical Institution, Belfast, then or shortly afterwards affiliated with the London University; then he studied Greek and logic, and belles-lettres; mental and moral philosophy under Dr. Robert Wilson; mathematics under Prof. Young; natural philosophy, including astronomy and optics, and Hebrew under Professor Harte, assistant to Dr. Hincks, who was then an old man, and confined his attention to the senior class. This Dr. Hincks, was the father of the celebrated Oriental scholar, Dr. Hincks, and of the late Sir Francis Hincks, whose name is well known in Canada. After the completion of his art course and passing the usual examination by the Presbytery in whose bounds he resided, he entered on the study of divinity, in the halls of the United Secession Church in Scotland. His first session was spent in Glasgow, and the subsequent ones in Edinburgh. His course was completed in 1845, with the exception of one session, and, as there was great want at that time for missionaries to go out to Canada, he offered his services, and was accepted, it being agreed, under the circumstances, to exempt him from attending the last or fifth session on his furnishing testimonials as to fitness for the field and work. These having been produced to the satisfaction of the Committee on Foreign Missions, of which Dr. John McKerrow was convener, the Presbytery of Kinross was instructed to take him on trials for license, with a view to his proceeding to Canada. According to appointment, these trials were delivered in the church at Inverkeithing, a village in Fifeshire, about four miles south from Dunfermline. Having passed the Presbytery and been licensed, he preached two Sabbath days in Scotland, one for Rev. Dr. MacKelvie, in Balgedie, in whose family he had been tutor for three seasons; and the other for Rev. Mr. Puller, in Glenluce, where he had spent his boyhood. He then at once left for Liverpool, taking his parents with him, and from that port sailed, in a few days, for New York, which was reached safely after a voyage of four weeks. Without delay, he proceeded to Toronto, and there occupied the pulpit of Rev. Mr. Jennings for a few Sabbaths, Mr. Jennings being at the time in Scotland recruiting his health. Mr. Torrance spent one year as a probationer, travelling through the western section of Canada, from Toronto to Goderich and Detroit, as he had determined not to settle down in a charge till he had gone over a good part of the mission field, and given as much supply as in his power. Travelling in those days was far from possessing the conveniences and comforts now enjoyed. There were no railways; in several of the districts there were no stage coaches. The probationer was thus under the necessity of purchasing a horse, and making his journeys on horseback. In winter he was exposed at times to intense cold, and in summer to prostrating heat. He had to clothe himself for such changes of temperature. Roads were sometimes obstructed with snow, and he had to wait till parties turned out and made them passable, or opened up a way through adjoining fields; in spring and fall there was deep mud and often the horse had difficulty in getting through, and some of the stations were difficult of access from other causes, such as their recent formation. Accommodation when he reached his destination, was not always such as he had been accustomed to in the fatherland. But the people were uniformly kind and courteous; they gave the best they had ungrudgingly, often wishing it were better; and extended a cordial welcome. Many an event then befell him which interested him at the time and still lingers in his recollection. After receiving and declining calls from three or four congregations, he accepted a call from a congregation in Guelph, and was ordained and inducted on the 11th of November, 1846. He remained in this charge till January, 1882, when his resignation was placed in the hands of the Presbytery, and its acceptance pressed. Towards the close of the same month the pastoral relationship to his congregation was dissolved, the General Assembly giving permission to retain his name on the Roll of Presbytery. Since that time he has not had a stated charge, but has been frequently employed as moderator of sessions of vacant congregations in the bounds, and doing other work of a ministerial character. Shortly after his settlement in Guelph, he was appointed a trustee on the High School Board, and filled that position for a number of years. He succeeded for a time to the superintendence of the Common (now called Public) schools, in the south riding of the county, having the oversight of the townships of Erin, Eramosa, Guelph and Puslinch. Finding the labours too onerous in connection with his pastoral work, he resigned the position after two years