1862; and although again encountering nursing difficulties, it is to be hoped that it will become an established fact. But here we are at the Trongate, with its Tron church, where Dr. Chalmers was for many years the minister. The church, however, stands a little back from the street, and we only see its tower and steeple.* They are the surviving relics of the old church destroyed by fire in 1793; and they appear to be as much beloved as Temple Bar, and nearly as obstructive, for the Tron tower strides across the pavement supported by several arches, through which the stream of circulation is with difficulty filtered. The tower is altogether of an obtrusive character, and towards its summit becomes light-headed, and throws out an irruption of illuminated clocks, that are still further projected over the street, and which in their turn are the parents of other projections in the shape of lamps flung outwards, so that they may shine upon the clock-face, after the fashion we may see in the front of many London shops. Standing under the Tron steeple we gaze across the street upon that wonderfully elaborate branch bank, upon which the architect seems to have cleverly condensed every peculiarity of Scottish mediæval architecture steep roofs, crow-stepped gables, canopied dormer windows, shot-holes, and a profusion of pepper-box towers with extinguisher tops cropping out from unexpected localities. Conspicuous also are the city arms, and the city motto. The coat-ofarms is made up of curious emblems—a tree, a bird, a salmon, a ring, and a bell-which have mightily puzzled antiquaries, but are supposed to refer to miracles per The Tron was a place for weighing merchandise, and the ground flat of the steeple was long used for weighing butter, cheese, and tallow. This circumstance most probably gave the name to the steeple, and also to the street in which it stands. THE GLASGOW ARMS. 69 53 formed by the patron saint, St. Mungo.* The treeif it is not, as some say, an oak, or St. Serf's rod that blossomed into an apple tree t--is emblematical of a frozen hazel bush which the saint miraculously set in a blaze once, when all the lamps in the monastery of Culross had gone out; the bird-of a favourite robin of St. Serf's, which he there restored to life, after it had not only been killed but torn to pieces; and the salmon with the ring in its mouth-of a dilemma from which he extricated the Queen of Cadzow, exposed to the fury of her jealous lord from the loss of her marriage ring, by ordering the first fish taken from the Clyde to be brought to him, and extracting the ring from its mouth; whilst the bell represents the famous "St. Mungo's bell," brought by him from Rome, and preserved in Glasgow down till the Reformation, having been rung through the streets for the repose of departed souls.' § A writer on Glasgow || suggests, that if ever the Glasgow citizens should wish to change the civic arms, they could not do better than to select a lump of coal, a bar of iron, a steam-engine, a spinning-machine, and a ship; for that these have made Glasgow what she is. The following lines on the armorial bearings of Glasgow were written by Dr. Main, Professor of Physic at the University. Salmo maris, terræque arbor, avis aëris, urbi Promittunt, quicquid trina elementa ferunt ; * Before the Reformation, St. Mungo's head, mitred, was on the right of the shield, with two salmon for supporters. † Forsyth's Beauties of Scotland, iii. 216. This is a very common legend. It appears in Herodotus, Pliny, and the Koran. English examples of it are found at Newcastle-uponTyne, Ribbesford, and Stepney. See Moule's Heraldry of Fish. § Menzie's Glasgow Guide. Mr. George Dodd, in The Land we Live in. Et campana, frequens celebret quod numinis aras As symboled here, the sea, the earth, the air, The things of earth; the union pledge is given. To the words that now form the motto to the arms was originally added by the preaching of the Word ;' but when the commercial spirit gained the ascendancy these words were obliterated, and the motto condensed to its present form-Let Glasgow flourish!'-'whilk,' as Baillie Nicol Jarvie observes, is elegantly putten round the town's arms by way of a by-word.' But it is a good by-word, and one that has stuck to it. Glasgow has flourished; and long may it continue to do so. CHAPTER VI. MORE OF ST. MUNGO'S CITY. King William's Statue-The Cross-The Saltmarket—A E have not only seen the bizarre exterior of the WE Trongate bank, but we have paid a visit also to the interior, where we have had a cheque converted into strange notes of one pound in value, covered with elaborate steel engravings, and having some remote connection with a Linen Company. Then we pass the piazza of the Tontine Hotel, fronted by a ludicrous equestrian statue of Macaulay's pet, the third William, standing supreme over cabs and omnibuses. He deserves a better memorial, for he was a good friend to Glasgow, and when the citizens had assured him of their attachment to his person and crown, cemented the friendship by giving them a charter, and permitting them to worship God after their own fashion. Now we are at the Cross: the Gallowgate is before us, High Street to our left hand, and to our right the Saltmarket of Baillie Nicol Jarvie. When the Queen had passed down this street, in August 1849, she marked her lively appreciation of the creations of Sir Walter Scott, by asking Mr. Sheriff Alison to point out to her Baillie Nicol Jarvie's residence.* The street stretches from the Cross to the river, and in many of its buildings, with their lofty crow-stepped gables, still presents some traces of its former respectability, when it was the headquarters of the homes of civic dignitaries, and James Duke of York had his lodgings within its precincts. But the Saltmarket has now descended to the dregs, and is in rags and tatters; and the Baillie's father, the Deacon, would have many a groan at the dirt and drink that mark the locality. By the time that we have reached this spot, our senses of sight, and hearing, and smell will tell us that Glasgow, like London, has its East as well as its West End, and that the two are as wide as the poles asunder. The second city in the kingdom can rival the first in its slums as well as its palaces; and, notwithstanding sunshine and blue sky, and despite those picturesque peculiarities of Scottish architecture that make the closes and wynds of Glasgow and Edinburgh look so well upon paper, they are as equally filthy to the outward and moral senses as are the slums of any other great city. The Saltmarket, the Gallowgate, the Cowcaddens, and the Goosedubs of eastern Glasgow are the very antipodes of the shining splendours * This part of the street was called 'The Old Coffee-House Land,' being used as a sort of exchange for the merchants before the erection of the Tontine. It had a projecting lantern-story, much used by the higher classes for witnessing the hangings at the Cross. In 1766-9 it was occupied as a book auction-room by Robert and Andrew Foulis, the celebrated printers. (Glasgow and its Clubs. By Dr. Strang, p. 6. Journey from Edinburgh. By Alex. Campbell, ii. 270.) For the Foulis works, see The Literary History of Glasgow, edited by W. J. Duncan for the Maitland Club, p. 49. |