510 
COL. SYKES’ PAPER ON BILLS OF MORTALITY. 
Towards the beginning of this period, 
nine covenanters were hanged in Glas- 
gow, and their heads stuck on pikes on 
the jail.' Their graves were covered 
with what are called the “ Martyr’s 
stones,” one of which is now placed on 
the north facade of the Cathedral. 
The Union with England opened up 
a spirit for trade hitherto unknown in 
Scotland. This great measure, which 
met with so much opposition in Scot- 
land, and nowhere more so than in 
Glasgow, contributed greatly to the 
prosperity of that city. 
At the time of the Union, and for 
half a century after it, the habits and 
style of living of the citizens of Glas- 
gow were of a very moderate and frugal 
cast. The houses, in the early part of 
this century, were, almost without ex- 
ception, covered with thatch, and those 
occupied by the highest class of citizens 
contained only one public room, a di- 
ning-room, and even that was us'ed only 
when they had company ; the family at 
other times usually eating in a bedroom. 
The people were in general religious, 
and, about 1745, particularly strict in 
their observance of the Sabbath, some of 
them, indeed, to an extent that was 
considered by others to be extravagant. 
There were families who did not sweep 
or dust their houses, did not make the 
beds, or allow any food to be cooked or 
dressed on the Sabbath. There were 
some who opened only as much of the 
shutters of their windows as would serve 
to enable the inmates to move up and 
down, or an individual to sit at the open- 
ing to read. Influenced by a regard for 
the Sabbath, the magistrates employed 
persons,, termed “ compurgators,” to 
perambulate the city on the Saturday 
nights, and when the approach of twelve 
o’clock, these inquisitors happened to 
hear any noisy conviviality going on, 
even in a private dwelling-house, they 
entered it and dismissed the company. 
Another office of these compurgators was 
to perambulate the streets and public 
walks during the time of divine service 
on Sunday, and to order every person 
they met abroad, not on necessary duty, 
to go home, and if they refused to obey, 
to take them into custody. The employ- 
ment of these officials was continued till 
about 1750, when upon their taking Mr. 
Peter Blackburn, father of Mr. Black- 
burn of Killearn, into custody for walk- 
ing on the public green on Sunday, he 
prosecuted the magistrates for an un- 
warrantable exercise of authority, and, 
prevailing in his suit in the court of 
session, the attempt to compel this obser- 
vance was abandoned. 
The wealth introduced into the com- 
munity after the Union, gradually led to 
a change in the habits and style of living 
of the citizens. About the year 1735, 
several individuals built houses to be 
occupied solely by themselves, in place 
of dwelling on a floor entering by a com- 
mon stair, as they had hitherto done. 
This change, however, proceeded very 
slowly, having been retarded by the 
effects of the rebellion of 1745, so that 
up to the year 1755, very few of these 
single houses had been built At that 
period, there were only three houses 
from Virginia street to Anderston, about 
a mile distant, excepting a few hovels, 
malt-kilns, and barns ; now the whole 
line is filled up with elegant houses 
Previous to the breaking out of the 
American war, the Virginians who were 
looked up to as the Glasgow aristocracy 
had a privileged walk at the cross, which 
they trod in long scarlet cloaks and 
bushy wigs ; and such was the state of 
society, that when any of the most res- 
pectable master tradesmen of the city 
had occasion to speak to these tobacco 
lords, he was required to walk on the 
other side of the street, till he was for- 
tunate enough to meet the eye of the 
patrician, for it would have been pre- 
sumption to approach him. 
Col. Sykes directed attention to the 
portion of the paper containing the re- 
sults derived from the bills of mortality, 
which show that there is an excess of 
males from I to 15, but from 15, upwards 
an excess of females. He also remarked, 
that the common law of mortality, 1 in 
59, must be too favourable for duration 
of life, since Dr. Cleland’s returns and 
the Belgium tables gave the result only 
1 in 39, and the French tables give 1 in 
44 for the northern provinces, and 1 in 
40 for the southern provinces of France. 
— Mr. Hallam was of opinion that the 
average obtained in Glasgow for dura- 
tion of life was not a decisive proof of 
inaccuracy in the general standard ; 
because the rate of mortality must be 
greater in Glasgow, which was a close 
manufacturing town, than in agricul- 
tural districts. — Dr. Bowring said, that 
until the new registration bill came into 
full operation, the data for calculation 
