232 



GLAS 



GLASGOW 



occupations of the people. The green cheese 

 called Schabziger is wholly made here, and it and 

 other agricultural products are exported. The 

 constitution is drawn on broad democratic lines. 

 Full freedom of the press, of religion, of industry, 

 and of trade prevails. The capital of the canton is 

 the town of Glarus (5330 inhabitants in 1880), 43 

 miles SE. of Zurich by rail. It was founded by an 

 Irish monk, Fridolin, in the end of the 5th cen- 

 tury. Zwingli was pastor here from 1506 to 1516. 

 Glarus, having been peopled by German settlers, 

 passed after various changes into the possession of 

 the dukes of Austria, but ultimately secured its 

 independence by the victories of Nafels in 1352 and 

 1388. In 1450 it joined the Swiss Confederation. 



Glas, JOHN. See GLASSITES. 



JlasgOW, the industrial Tnetropolis of Scotland 

 and the most populous city in Great Britain next 

 to London, is situated on the banks of the Clyde, in 

 the county of Lanark, the portions heretofore in 

 Renfrew and Dumbarton shires having been trans- 

 ferred to Lanark under the act of 1889 ; at Green- 

 ock, 22 miles below, the river spreads out into a 

 great estuary, the Firth of Clyde. Glasgow is 

 within a nine hours, railway journey of London, 

 the distance being 405 miles, and is about an 

 hour's run (45 miles) from Edinburgh. The city 

 in extent is about 3 miles from north to south, 

 and the extreme length is 5 miles from east to 

 west. In reckoning area and population, however, 

 the ring of burghs which have since the passing 

 of the ' Lindsay' Burgh Act sprung up around and 

 almost hemmed in Glasgow ought to be taken 

 into consideration, as these burghs have been 

 formed by the overflow of the population from 

 the city proper. In 1891 the population within 

 municipal boundaries was 565,714; within suburbs 

 incorporated on 1st November 1891, 91,232; within 

 suburbs not yet incorporated (Govan, Partick, &c.), 

 113,525 a total of 770,471 in city and suburbs. To 

 this may be added 40,940 persons in business in 

 Glasgow residing beyond the suburbs, and 3000 at 

 the coast at census time, giving a grand total of 

 814,411. In 1881 the municipal population was 

 511,415, and, with the nine suburban burghs and 

 the non-burghal suburbs, the total was 692, 322 ; 

 in 1801 the population was only 77,385, so that the 

 increase has oeen rapid and enormous. 



The origin of the name Glasgow is a subject 

 which has been much disputed, and is still at best 

 a mere matter of conjecture. From the position 

 of the original settlement on the banks of the 

 Molendinar, which stream flowed to the Clyde 

 through a dark ravine, it has been argued that 

 the name means ' dark glen. ' A more favourite 

 interpretation, however, is based on the fact that 

 a village actually existed on the present site of 

 the city prior to the settlement of Kentigern, 

 and that it was called Cleschu, which name by a 

 series of natural changes in time came to be written 

 Glasghu or Glasgow. This conclusion is probably 

 correct, and admits easily enough of the meaning 

 deduced from it viz. that in Celtic Glas signifies 

 ' green,' and cu or ghu ' dear,' thus making the com- 

 bination Glasgow mean the beloved green spot. 



Glasgow does not occupy an important place in 

 the early history of Scotland. As an archiepiscopal 

 seat, and subsequently as a centre of Covenanting 

 activity, it has a prominence in religious affairs ; 

 but as an industrial city its history can hardly be 

 dated further back than the Union of 1707. This 

 event opened up to the town the most favourably 

 situated in Scotland for the enterprise an immense 

 trading prospect with America, and roused in its 

 inhabitants the extraordinary mercantile activity 

 which has been its leading feature ever since. And 

 yet the city of Glasgow is a very old one. It was 



about 560 A.D. that the half -mythical St Kentigern 

 (q.v. ) or Mungo established himself on the bank* 

 of the Molendinar, and appeared as the apostle of 

 Christianity to the rude Celts of Strathclyde. 

 There he built his little wooden church on the very 

 spot where now rises the venerable cathedral 

 trom this date for five hundred years the history 

 of the settlement by the Clyde is a blank. The 

 church disappeared from history, and if the village 

 which had clustered round it arid grown under the 

 fostering care of the clergy still remained, it was a 

 place of no importance. In the year 1115 the 

 Prince of Cumbria, afterwards David I. of Soot- 

 land, ordered an investigation to be made into 

 the lands and churches in the bishopric of Glasgow, 

 and from the deed still existing of that date it 

 is evident that a cathedral had been previously en- 

 dowed. In 1116 the diocese was restored, and when 

 David a few years after became king of Scotland 

 he gave to the see of Glasgow the lands of Partick, 

 besides restoring to it much of the property of which 

 it had been despoiled. In 1124 he also gifted 

 money for the purpose of building a church, which 

 was dedicated in 1136, and afterwards enriched by 

 many royal and private donations. Between 1175- 

 and 1178 Jocelyn, Bishop of Glasgow, received 

 authority from William the Lion to ' have and 

 hold ' a burgh in the neighbourhood of the cathe- 

 dral. Alexander II. supported Glasgow in a con- 

 flict of jurisdiction with Rutherglen, and bestowed 

 on it the rights of trade throughout the kingdom. 

 Robert the Bruce confirmed to the bishop the vari- 

 ous charters granted to him, and James II. pro- 

 hibited Renfrew and Rutherglen from exacting toll 

 ' by water or by land ' within its territories. In 

 1450 the city was erected into a regality which 

 gave the bishop the highest jurisdiction the crown 

 could bestow on a subject-superior, and within the 

 same year the university was constituted under 

 a bull of Pope Nicholas V., which was confirmed 

 three years later by a letter of privileges from the 

 king and a charter from the bishop and chapter. 



In 1454 reference is made to one John Stewart 

 as the first provost that was in the city of Glasgow. 

 After that date the magistrates are described a& 



Erovost and bailies ; and, though it is not recorded 

 ow they were elected at that time, in 1476 James 

 III. authorised the ruling bishop in Glasgow to 

 elect so many bailies, sergeants, and other officers 

 as were needed within the city, and to appoint 

 a provost, all to hold office during his pleasure. 

 This unsatisfactory mode of procedure continued 

 in force till 1587, when the whole of the church 

 lands were annexed to the crown, and several 

 months later granted to Walter, Commendator of 

 Blantyre, in feu for payment to the crown of 500> 

 Scots annually. Along with other privileges, 

 Blantyre and the Duke of Lennox both claimed the 

 right of choosing the provost and bailies of the 

 burgh, which privilege had been taken from the 

 church. James VI. in 1600 conveyed to Lennox 

 that right ; but five years later the city itself was 

 authorised to have the freedom of election of its 

 own magistrates, and in 1611 this authority was 

 confirmed by act of parliament not, however, 

 without the stipulation that both the church and 

 Lennox should reserve the right to influence the 

 election. Glasgow therefore did not fully receive 

 the position of a royal burgh till 1636, when it was 

 incorporated into one free royal burgh, with the 

 freedom of the Clyde from the bridge of Glasgow to 

 the Clochstane in the Firth of Clyde. At the time 

 of the Commonwealth the Glasgow citizens made a 

 strenuous effort to effect the union of England and 

 Scotland; but the death of Cromwell and sub- 

 sequent restoration of Charles II. delayed it, and 

 materially hindered the active trade between the 

 two countries which the policy of the Protector had 



