Published 1880, revised 1889
Lines on Thorold performed by Oliver Porteus
Thorold is famous for its mills,
And the grand view from off its hills,
A view so charming and extended,
Nature’s beauties sweetly blended.
Poetic thoughts it doth awake
To view Ontario’s broad lake,
And husbandmen have their reward in
Fruits of this Provincial garden.
For from the hill you see below
Gardens where choice fruits do grow,
The landscape all within your reach
Doth both produce grape and peach.
Macready[i] said in the New World
The finest view was from Thorold.
You see St. Catharines thriving town
And steamers sailing up and down.
And you can see on a clear day
All along Toronto Bay,
And you clearly see the haze
Where Niagara doth amaze.
And glance where Grimsby’s gardens yield,
Or view Beamsville’s fruitful field,
Then this thought you can advance,
This is Canada’s sunny France.
You see Niagara’s ancient town,
Though it has lost its old renown,
And you have a splendid view
Of boats on old canal and new.
[i] Macready: a likely reference to William Charles Macready (1793-1873), a then-famous English actor.
Published in Spirit of the Big Ditch: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs. Compiled, edited and annotated by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor. St. Catharines: The Historical Society of St. Catharines, 2024
The Historical Society of St. Catharines 