GLASGOW. (ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.) 



471 



to Glasgow, made a trip to and from Liverpool, in 

 the space of sixty hours, including the time of load- 

 ing and unloading her cargoes. 



The inland trade of Glasgow was for a long time 

 retarded by the expense incurred by land carriage, 

 and from her great distance from the eastern coast, 

 she was precluded from taking any active share in 

 the shipping of the Baltic and German ocean. To 

 obviate these inconveniences, an act of parliament 

 was granted in 1768, to cut a canal between the 

 Forth, at the Carron mouth, and the Clyde, near 

 Dalmuir, about ten miles below the city. This 

 canal was completed in 1790, together with a branch 

 terminating at Port Dundas, about a mile north- 

 west of the cross. The length of the Forth and 

 Clyde canal is thirty-five miles, the cut to Port 

 Dundas, two and a half miles. The average breadth 

 at top is fifty-six feet, and at bottom twenty feet; the 

 depth, ten feet. The enterprising spirit of the Glas- 

 gow merchants is well exhibited in this undertaking, 

 which required twenty-two years for its completion, 

 and the investment of an immense capital, but the 

 undertaking has amply repaid the shareholders. The 

 yearly revenue may at present be rated about 

 a47,000. There were originally 1297 shares of 

 iClOO each, but so much has their value increased, 

 that a share cannot now be bought for less than 

 about '600. The facilities of inland commerce 

 were still farther augmented, by the cutting of the 

 Monkland canal, which was finished in 1791. This 

 canal, which is about twelve miles in length, five 

 feet in depth, and of proportionate width at surface 

 and bottom, connects Glasgow, at Port Dundas, with 

 the rich district of coal mines in the parishes of Old 

 and New Monkland. The value of this canal has 

 been somewhat lowered by the formation of the 

 Garnkirk railway, which passes through the same 

 district, and was opened in 1831. In 1811, a 

 canal was completed, connecting Glasgow with Pais- 

 ley and Johnstone, a distance of eleven miles. This 

 canal was originally intended by its projector, the 

 earl of Eglinton, to reach to Ardrossan, on the coast 

 of Ayrshire, but has never been completed in conse- 

 quence of the cheapness of carriage by steam boats 

 on the Clyde. (For an account of the introduction 

 of the swift passage boats in 4830, upon this canal, 

 see the article Canal.) In 1822, the Union canal was 

 opened, connecting Edinburgh with the Forth and 

 Clyde canal, at lock number sixteen, near Falkirk. 



Arts and manufactures. Paper-making com- 

 menced in Glasgow about 1679, a few of the mer- 

 chants having entered into partnership with one De 

 Champ, a Norman, who previously to this had set- 

 tled at Collington near Edinburgh. A paper mill 

 was built at Woodside. Shortly afterwards the Nor- 

 man built a mill for himself at Cathcart, about two 

 miles from the city. The business was continued at 

 Milnholm by his son-in-law, John Hill, a native of 

 Glasgow, and paper of various kinds continues to be 

 manufactured by merchants of Glasgow. A com- 

 pany for the manufacture of ropes was established in 

 1698, and, in order to encourage this trade, a duty 

 was laid on ropes imported into Glasgow. Another 

 company, called the Glasgow Rope-work Company, 

 was established in 1766, and many other concerns of 

 the same kind have been established in the city since 

 that time. The arts of tanning and brewing seem 

 also to have commenced at an early period, and 

 are at present carried on to a considerable extent. 

 The manufacture of delft ware was introduced in 

 1748, and of stone ware about 1766, being the first 

 manufactory of the kind in Scotland. In 1730, glass- 

 making was introduced. The first kind made was 

 green bottle glass, but in 1752 a crown glass manu- 

 lactory was established, and, in 1777, the first flint 



glass house in Scotland was erected at Finnieston, a 

 suburb of Glasgow. Brushes were first made for 

 export in 1755, copper and tin-plate wares in 1747, 

 gloves in 1763, and jewellery in the same year. 

 The manufacture of saddlery and shoes for export 

 commenced in 1725, and an improved method of 

 preparing saddle leather was instituted in 1735. 

 Stockings were first woven in the frame in Glasgow 

 in the year 1740. 



George Anderson introduced letter-press printing 

 into Glasgow in 1638, having been brought here by 

 the magistrates. He was succeeded by his son, who, 

 however, went ultimately to Edinburgh, and became 

 printer to the king for Scotland. Robert Saunders 

 was the next printer in Glasgow. Saunders was for 

 a time the only printer in the west of Scotland. He 

 was succeeded by his son, Robert, but the works 

 which he produced were neither elegant nor accur. 

 ate, a character which must be given to all the 

 printers in Scotland at that time. This low state of 

 the art must be mainly attributed to the monopoly 

 enjoyed by Anderson by the royal grant. So late as 

 the year 1713, the university was under the neces- 

 sity of sending to Edinburgh to get even a single 

 sheet correctly printed. In 1713, Mr Thomas Har- 

 vie, a student of theology, made overtures to the 

 university to become their printer. No decided 

 arrangement was, however, entered into. Hugh 

 Brown printed here, from 1712 to 1720, on his own 

 account. One work has been preserved, printed by 

 James Hart, printer to the university, having a date 

 1714, and another by Donald Duncan, also printer 

 to the university, having the date 1715. In 1718, 

 we find James Duncan, letter founder in Glasgow; 

 but his types were no way remarkable for accuracy 

 or elegance. James and William Duncan printed 

 in partnership from 1718 to 1720, when they sepa- 

 rated. James, however, prosecuted the business till 

 1750. During the same period there were four 

 other printers of less note in the city ; but the art in 

 Glasgow received its first great improvement from 

 Robert Urie, who commenced business in the Gal- 

 lowgate in 1742. He printed the Glasgow Journal, 

 which commenced in July 1741, and is continued to 

 the present day ; but before that time there had been 

 a newspaper published here, called the Glasgow 

 Courant and the West Country Intelligencer, which 

 was commenced in 1715, and terminated at the sixty- 

 seventh number in the following year. The various 

 classical and other works issued from the press of 

 Robert Urie, are still preserved as fine specimens of 

 correct and elegant printing, and to him is due 

 the merit of having laid the foundation of that 

 fame which Glasgow has long enjoyed for the 

 accuracy and beauty of her typography. Robert 

 Foulis, who had previously been a bookseller, com- 

 menced business as a printer, in 1742, being assisted 

 by two of the professors of the University in the cor- 

 rection of the press. In a few years after he was 

 joined by his brother Andrew. Their valuable edi- 

 tions of the classics are too well known to require any 

 praise here. As a proof of the great care that was 

 taken to ensure correctness, it may be stated that the 

 proof-sheets of their celebrated edition of Horace 

 were laid open for inspection in the university, and 

 a reward offered to any one who should detect an 

 error. Robert travelled through a great part of 

 the continent and sent to Glasgow an engraver, a 

 copper-plate printer, and a painter, with the view of 

 forming an academy for the fine arts. The Foulises 

 held apartments from the university, in which their 

 business was carried on, and they were allowed the 

 faculty hall, immediately above the gateway of the 

 college, as an exhibition room for their paintings and 

 other works of art. This design, so creditable to the 



