456 



GLASGOW. (HISTORY.) 



gow, flushed wilh victory, where he was reguled by 

 flie magistrates, to whom lie expressed his sense of 

 obligation, ami to the incorporation of bakers he gave 

 the mill ot'l'artick. and lands connected with it, in 

 return for their having liberally supplied his army 

 with bread, when quartered in their neighbourhood. 



I n 1570, the castle of G lasgow was again besieged, 

 l;y a party in the queen's interest, who were so warmly 

 received by the besieged for several days that they 

 were obliged to retire with considerable loss. Shortly 

 after, Sir \Villiam Drury arrived in Glasgow with an 

 English army, and besieged the queen's party in Ha- 

 milton castle, which he took and demolished. 



In 1581, the confession of faith was subscribed in 

 Glasgow by 2250 individuals, the subscription papers 

 being carried from house to house by the elders. 

 From the subscription papers, it appears that the 

 population was then chiefly confined to the High 

 Street, Gallowgate, Trongate, Saltmarket, Bridge- 

 gate, and Stockwell Street. 



In 1615, one John Ogilvie, a Jesuit, from the col- 

 lege of Gratz, was apprehended at Glasgow, under 

 suspicion of his being engaged in treasonable prac- 

 tices, tending- to destroy the supremacy of the king, 

 and to establish that of the pope. After a long trial, 

 he was found guilty, and executed in the streets of 

 Glasgow on the same day he received his doom. 



In 1638, the general assembly of the church of 

 Scotland met in the choir of the cathedral of Glas- 

 gow. This was the most important assembly in its 

 consequences ever held. It was attended by all the 

 rank and influence which could be collected in Scot- 

 land by the contending parties. The court or king's 

 party was outvoted ; the commissioner, the marquis 

 of Hamilton, retired ; and the assembly, having held 

 twenty-six diets after his departure, decreed, 1st. the 

 abjuration of episcopacy and the articles of Perth ; 

 2d. the abolition of the service books and the high 

 commission ; 3d. the proceedings of the six preceding 

 assemblies during episcopacy were declared null and 

 void ; 4th. the archbishops of St Andrews and Glas- 

 gow, and the bishops of Galloway, Edinburgh, Aber- 

 deen, Ross, Argyle, and Dunblane, were deposed 

 and excommunicated, as were also a number of other 

 clergymen who were favourable to episcopacy ; 5th. 

 the covenant being approven of, was ordered to be 

 signed by all ranks under pain of excommunication ; 

 6th. churchmen were incapacitated from holding any 

 place in parliament. " Thus," in the language of 

 Hume, " the whole fabric which James and Charles, 

 during a course of years, had been raising with so 

 much care and policy, fell at once to the ground." 

 A commissioner was appointed to lay the resolutions 

 of this assembly before the king ; but, conscious that 

 they would never receive his sanction, war was soon 

 after resolved on, and a military force was raised to 

 defend their cause. 



In 1645, an engagement took place at Kilsyth, 

 within a few miles of the city, betwixt the royalists 

 and covenanters, in which the army of the latter, 

 to the amount of seven thousand, was almost com- 

 pletely cut off by the king's forces, under the com- 

 mand of the marquis of Montrose. This gallant 

 general, after the battle, marched into the city, where 

 he levied a contribution upon the inhabitants for the 

 disaffection they entertained for the royal cause. 

 Here, however, he retrained only one night, owing 

 to the plague, which at that time raged with fury in 

 Glasgow, as well as in most towns in Scotland. 



In 1648, when Charles I. was delivered up to the 

 English government, the Scotch, partly from remorse, 

 and partly from the improper manner in which he 

 was used, and the duty which they owed him as their 

 sovereign, agreed to arm themselves in his favour, 

 and prepared for an invasion of England. In these 



preparations tliey were disturbed by discontents and 

 animosities amongst themselves. Forces were ordered 

 to be levied, and each district being required to fur- 

 nish a particular quota, the clergy, whose aversion to 

 Charles was extreme, took an active part in opposing 

 the levy. Excited by their discourses, several of the 

 burghs and shires were extremely backward, and 

 even refractory, in providing their contingent of troops. 

 The town of Glasgow being amongst the number of 

 these contumacious burghs, the magistrates ami 

 council were summoned to attend parliament to 

 answer for their conduct, and although the fault w as 

 common to them with the greater part of the king- 

 dom, they were imprisoned and detained for several 

 days. Having professed scruples of conscience with 

 regard to promoting the levy, they were also depriv- 

 ed of their offices by an act of parliament, dated 1 1th 

 June, 1648, and a commission was sent to the old 

 council, authorizing them to elect new magistrates, 

 which tliey did accordingly, while some regiments of 

 horse and foot were quartered gratuitously on the 

 town. The magistrates thus elected, did not, how- 

 ever, long enjoy the situation, for by an act of the 

 committee of the estates, the old magistrates were 

 replaced, as having been unjustly ejected. 



To the miseries of civil war, were added, in 1649, 

 the plague, and a grievous famine, and in three years 

 thereafter, a fourth calamity of another kind befell 

 the city, viz., in 1652, upon the 17th of July, when 

 a dreadful fire took place, which threatened Glasgow 

 with total ruin. It broke out in a narrow alley 

 upon the east side of the High-street, and within a 

 short space, burnt up six alleys of houses, with 

 several very considerable buildings. The wind blow- 

 ing from the norlh-east, carried such sparks of the 

 fire in the opposite direction, as kindled some houses 

 on the west side of the Saltmarket, insomuch, that 

 both sides of that street were totally consumed, and 

 in it the best and most considerable buildings of the 

 town. From the Saltmarket, the fire was carried by 

 contiguous buildings to the Trongate, Gallowgate, 

 and Bridgegate streets, where a great many houses, 

 with the furniture of the inhabitants, fell a sacrifice 

 to its fury. This calamity continued nearly eighteen 

 hours, before the great violence of the fire began to 

 abate. In that space of time, many were reduced to 

 poverty, and the dwellings of near one thousand 

 families utterly consumed. The greater part of these 

 unfortunate sufferers were obliged to betake them- 

 selves to the shelter of huts erected in the fields, till 

 more comfortable accommodation could be got ready. 

 By Saturday in the evening, numbers had returned 

 to the city, and it was hoped that the calamity was 

 completely over. However, this was not the case, 

 for betwixt the hours of seven and eight on Sunday 

 morning, the fire broke out afresh on the north side 

 of the Trongate, and continued burning violently till 

 near twelve at noon. This second conflagration not 

 only destroyed a great number of dwelling houses, 

 and occasioned the pulling down of many more, but 

 so terrified the whole of the inhabitants, that they 

 carried from their houses what moveables they had, 

 and betook themselves for several nights to the open 

 fields, where they continued till the fire was com- 

 pletely extinguished. This event, whereby one third 

 part of the city was destroyed, is attested in a letter 

 from colonels Overtoil and Blackmore to Oliver 

 Cromwell, wherein they reckon the damage at no 

 less than one hundred thousand pounds sterling. 

 Cromwell, upon the receipt of this letter, and of a 

 representation by the magistrates, with whom he had 

 formerly been acquainted, (by residing for some time 

 in the city two years before) generously set on foot a 

 subscription for their relief. To these fires, however 

 afflicting at the tune, is the city of Glasgow partly 



