man). While reposing, on a judicial circuit, at a distance of seven miles from Glasgow, he heard the mighty voice of one invisible call him before the tribunal of Christ. His servants, roused from sleep, were struck with sudden terror at the voice they had heard, and the light which shone around them. The bishop, having afterwards taken a book in his hand and begun to read, again the same voice was heard by all around, and transfixed their minds with stupor. When it had resounded long, vehemently, and horribly, the bishop, uttering a huge groan, made an effort to speak, but was found dead in bed. This is so palpable an instance, says Buchanan, of Divine vengeance, that the mind is neither prepared to affirm nor refute the fact; nor is it possible to overlook it, when reported by others, and constantly rumoured by tradition.

The building of the cathedral was accomplished by John Achaius in 1136, and the origin of the commercial greatness of the community sheltered beneath its wing may be traced, about forty years subsequently, in the charters of William the Lion. One of these charters authorises the Bishop to hold" a weekly mercat ;" the other grants the privilege of an annual fair (still kept up in the second week of July)" from the 8th of the Apostle Peter, (29th June, O. S.) and for eight days complete." William the Lion, moreover,placed Glasgow upon the independent footing of a Royal Burgh by another charter, which seems, however, to have been ineffectual to protect the rights of the future" queen of the west against the texertions of the more ancient and powerful burghs of Rutherglen and Renfrew; for, however insignificant these little villages may now appear, Glasgow, in 1242, required for its protection a new charter of independence from Alexander II.

Throughout the five hundred years of gloom that obscures the history of the see of Glasgow, the country was devastated by the successive and long protracted conflicts of the Picts, Scots, Britons, Saxons, and Danes. The bishopric had been reduced to the verge of decay when John Achaius arose, in whose person it was confirmed. This eminent man was the preceptor, friend, and chaplain of David L., whose zeal for the church procured him canonization, much to the discontent of one of his royal successors, James I., whose income David's devout liberality had impaired, and who, therefore, always spoke of him with more of the impetuous freedom of a poet than of the dignity of a king, as a sair saunct for the crown." A portion of the diocese of Durham, situated betwixt the Tweed and the border mountains, which had been stripped, in his displeasure, by Henry I. of England, from Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, in 1100, was, by the care of David, then Prince of Cumberland, first annexed to the Bishopric of Glasgow in the reign of Alex-by English munificence, dismayed by the feebleander I. of Scotland.

66

The last five hundred years have never witnessed a time when the scenes of the exploits of the patriot Wallace were indifferent to the common mass of the Scottish people. The spot called the Bell of the Brae, in the High Street of Glasgow, is therefore consecrated to popular story. It recalls one of the boldest acts of a man sprung from the middle ranks of society, who struck many a vigorous blow for his country's independence when her greatest barons, corrupted

ness and poverty of their native land, or jealous of the popular champion's influence and renown, were sunk or lost in treachery or in apathy.

Even after the formation of streets had proceeded some length in Glasgow, the boundary of the town extended but a short space around the minster church, if we may judge from the position of the Rottenrow, or street of processions-a sort of street to be met with in most ecclesiastical towns, and which usually obtained its name in Catholic times from the numerous processions connected with the Romish ritual passing through it as the extreme to which it was addicted. The walled town was also, for limit available for the purposes of that ostentatious parade

Sixty years afterwards Ingelram, Bishop-elect, and Solomon, Dean of Glasgow, did some service to the cause of their country's independence, being of the number of select deputies who were escorted to Norham Castle to announce to Roger, Archbishop of York (rival of Thomas á Becket) the unanimous denial, by the Scottish clergy, of Roger's pretensions to the office of Roman Legate for Scotland, an appointment gained by misrepresentation, and at variance with the privilege always enjoyed by the Scottish Church, of hav-reasons of defence, confined for a long time to the summit ing the papal representative chosen from amongst themselves. Solomon the Dean was one of those whose eloquence and ability were engaged in this debate in defence of the national privileges. The Archbishop of York was not prevailed upon to lay aside his pretensions. But a bull from Pope Alexander III. soon afterwards decided the Scotch Church to be independent of all save the Roman See. Robert Wiseheart, Bishop of Glasgow, when attending at Norham, Edward the First's arbitrement of the claims of Bruce and Baliol, as a lord of the Scottish regency, appointed on the deaths of Alexander III. and the Maiden of Norway-again withstood the English king's preten

of the hill. It appears that, in 1300, the town reached and Wallace baving occurred in High Street, below "The somewhat lower-from the terrible rencontre betwixt Percy Bell of the Brae." This ancient portion of the town continued until within the last thirty years to present an array of the most antique dwellings in Glasgow; all now replaced by the every day aspect of plain matter-of-fact sixstorey houses. Traces of antiquity yet linger in the old street called the Drygate, as well as in the Rottenrow. built of wood, besides their unhealthy fashion of packing But, as the town dwellings of our ancestors were mostly them away in narrow lanes and closes off the main streets, which, in the case of Glasgow, undoubtedly provoked four visitations of the plague during the 14th, and five during the 17th century, perpetuating also the disease of leprosy down at least to 1589, when lepers were still contained in the Lazar-house of Gorbals-it is the less to be wondered at that so few of the Dutch-built wooden houses of old, with their quaint gables, piazzas, and galleries, now retain.

the celebrated Black Book of Paisley. How-
ever it may have been that the minstrel ulti-
mately became blind, that he could at one time
see to write, is manifested once and again in the
course of his poem of Wallace. Who, then, can
doubt that the minstrel drew his materials
directly from Blair's authentic memoir, when he
winds up his poem with this explicit avowal ;-
"Thus in defence the hero ends his days
Of Scotland's right to his immortal praise,
Whose valiant acts were all recorded fair-
Written in Latin by the famous Blair."

Not only has the truth of Blind Harry's state-
ments met with general confirmation in contem-
porary history, but even where that "old al-
manac is silent upon the subject of Wallace's
visit to France, any documents since recovered
support Blind Harry's account of Wallace's ex-

With indomitable energy and terrible resolution, monastery of Paisley, the most accomplished coma spirit which the love of country rendered auda-munity of the age, to whom we are indebted for cious, and a sense of her wrongs relentless; with the major part of Scottish history contained in the chivalry of knighthood mellowing in his heart the ferocity engendered by oppression-Wallace was one who, whilst he could weep his country's woes, could bleed to avenge them. Living under the union of the hostile crowns, how can we conceive the bitter animosity which must have rinkled at the core of Scottish society under the military despotism of England? How can we expect to catch so much as a glimpse of that ardent enthusiasm with which the devoted patriots of that forty years' war rallied round the champion Wallace? The presence of the hero has consecrated every spot to which it can be traced. His trees at Elderslie, both mouldering oak and tough old yew; the house in which he is alleged to have been born; the stone with its W. Wa W. built into the neighbouring church wall; the place where young Selby fell in his pride at Dundee ; Wallace's dizzy track on horse-ploits. We offer those reasons out of many and back over Kinnoul Cliff, whence he swam his steed across the Tay, and found a refuge at Lindores; the site of the "burnt barns of Ayr;" the "Bell of the Brae" in Glasgow ; as many caves in various parts of Scotland echoing to his name, as there are caverns in the Scottish Highlands resounding to the fabled name of Fingal; and last, not least, his gigantic sword (long as it seems, wanting still nine inches off the point!) in Dumbarton Castle, and the chamber or guardhouse in which he was immured betwixt the clefts of Dumbarton Rock, associated with the lasting infamy of Menteith, the traitor ;-such are the memorials that preserve in Scotland the fame of him to whom the country, that owes a monument, never yet paid a single tribute. The possession of a historic site connected with the name of Wallace must be classed amongst the chief boasts of the city of Glasgow,

even stronger sentiments of reliance upon Blind Harry's account of the battle of "the Bell of the Brae." We deem the apology for appealing to such an authority by no means a lame one, nor yet quite uncalled for, since, as unfortunately happens with too many of Wallace's transactions, there is no other authority to cite.

The English had made truce with Wallace as Governor of Scotland for one year, commencing in February, 1300; but in breach of it, proclaimed in June of the same year a Justice-Air, which they converted to the purpose of entrapping and presently executing the friends of Wallace under colour of justice, but without form of trial, as they singly and successively entered a barn prepared for the purpose, with a high baulk for a gibbet. This fate was more expressly intended for Wallace himself, and he narrowly escaped it by coming later than the rest to the Warned by a woman on place of rendezvous, his way of the murderous deeds thus perpetrated, Wallace did not enter the town of Ayr till after nightfall, when, with the aid of what force he could hurriedly collect, he burned 5000 Englishmen in the houses, the doors of which the same woman had marked with chalk, where they were mostly all asleep. He also gained possession of the castle by an ambush, upon the terrified garrison issuing forth to extinguish the con

Mounting 300 cavalry on horses taken from the English, he instantly set out for Glasgow, which he reached at 10 a.m., just in time to prevent the

The exploits of Wallace, in consequence of the loss of the Latin memoir of his chaplain, Blair, are chiefly recorded in the Scots Metre of Blind Harry, a wandering minstrel of the era of 1460, This rhymster deserves to be regarded as the Homer of his country. Hamilton of Gilbertfield's modernised Scotch version of Blind Harry's Wallace has long animated the spirit of the Scottish peasant. This was the book that enkindled the early genius of Robert Burns. The blind bard's strains, however debased by vulgar in-flagration. novations on their original sturdy vigour, have, under every modification, evinced the ardour of a poetic, and even the graces of a polished, mind. Certain embellishments bestowed upon his narrative, such as the terrible apparition of the slaughtered Faudoun holding his bloody head in his hand amidst the flames of the burning castle of Gask, have excited an unreasonable prejudice against his veracity. Harry is also reputed to have been blind from infancy, so that he could never have consulted for himself the original Latin memoir of Blair, if such a work ever existed. On the other hand, it is alleged that he was a monk of the Clugniac

he

*Liber Niger Pasleti: British Museum.

+ Thus, in his opening anathema against
"Picts, Danes, and Saxons, Scotland's very pest,"
says, in reference to

* illustrious patriots and bold,
Who boldly did maintain our rights of old,
Of such, I say, I'll brag and vaunt so long
As I have power to use my pen or tongue."
Hamilton's Version.
And in concluding the first book, he says—
"This ends the first book-here I draw my score."
also, in concluding the second-

As

"Here ends my second book, I say no more,

But quietly I draw a second score.

The foundation of the University in 1450 by Bishop Turnbull, who obtained for the purpose a charter from King James II., and a bull from Pope Nicholas V. must not be omitted as amongst the chief things which contributed to the extension of Glasgow.

horrors of another "Justice-Air" being inflicted | Beik's men, perceiving the death of Percy, by Bishop Beik and Lord Henry Percy* on speedily retreated, by the Rotten-row, to the the gentlemen of Clydesdale. Wallace and his Friars' Church, and out through the wood; of company succeeded in passing the bridge over the which, however, they durst not long venture to Clyde ere the English were apprised of their ap-retain possession, but hurriedly fled from thence proach. Percy immediately drew out his force, to Bothwell. Wallace followed up his advantage consisting of 1,000 men in armour, in order of by a pursuit, which, notwithstanding the exhausbattle, under his own and the Bishop's command, tion of himself and his followers, he protracted and prepared to dispute with Wallace the passage till dawn, cutting down many of the fugitives.of the High Street. Wallace, having reconnoitred Thus ended one of the most glorious achievements the foe, ascertained their strength; and, in conse- of Wallace, in which fell seven hundred Englishquence, divided his company into two squadrons. men, with their valiant leader, Lord Henry Percy. One of these he despatched, under command of Those who found refuge along with Bishop Beik his uncle, Adam Wallace, and Alexander Auch- and Sir Aymer de Vallance, in the stronghold of inleck, to outflank the enemy. They took the Bothwell, did not exceed three hundred men.* route by St. Mungo's Lane, and gained the northeast of the town, behind the Drygate, unperceived. By this means they were enabled to attack the enemy in the rear, or, as Wallace jeeringly expressed it, "to bear up the Bishop's tail" -an expression which was caught up, and bandied about throughout the day, as the watchword of the Scottish onset. Wallace, in person, along with Robert Boyd, led on the remaining squadron against the van of Percy's Northumbrians. The English were astonished when they beheld a mere handful of horsemen advance up the street to attack them. But the narrowness of the space counterbalanced the advantage of numbers; and one of the fiercest encounters ever witnessed betwixt parties belonging to the contending nations ensued, upon the Ensign who was with Percy and the Bishop demanding of the Scots-who and what they were? Sparks flew from the clashing swords as if the collision had been that of flint and steel. Beneath the desperate blows of the Scots heaps of slain began to strew the street. Their sword points frequently pierced the very steel plates with which the Southern warriors were clad. The dust of the conflict arose in clouds fit to darken the sun. Bent on acquiring honour, each Scotsman put forth his greatest energies; and, though pressed by numbers, fought gallantly, and pushed forward amongst the enemy. On the other hand, Percy's men, expert in war, fought fiercely, and never flinched a foot. But Adam | Wallace and Auchinleck having effected their circuitous movement, entered, sword in hand, amidst the heat of the contest. Some of the English bravely faced about, and charged the Scots resolutely and impetuously. They were ultimately compelled to give way, as the newcomers, being fresh, fought keenly and eagerly, making such gaps amongst the foe as gave them ample elbow-room. In the thick of the carnage, Wallace, with his tremendous sword, drew such a stroke at the head of Percy as actually shred the skull, sending the bone in one direction, whilst the brain was scattered in another. Bishop

*Not as vulgarly supposed the "Hotspur" of Shakspere, who flourished half or three quarters of a century later, but probably another son or brother of the Earl of Northumberland, bearing the same name-a name likewise borne by the Earl of this period; but there is reason to suppose that the Earl himself, though invested with the English command, was absent in another part of the country.

During the regency of Arran, in the minority of Queen Mary, the Castle was the scene of a bloody siege and massacre of the surrendering garrison, under the Earl of Lennox, who had defended it with brass guns; and a place called "the Butts," near the present Infantry barracks, where the " Weaponschaw" used to be held, was signalised by a sanguinary engagement between Arran and the Earl of Glencairn. The citizens took part with Glencairn, and Arran being again triumphant, gave their city up to plunder. battle of Langside, which decided the fate of the unfortunate Mary, was fought in the immediate neighbourhood, a mile and a half south of the city, the citizens taking part with the Regent Murray, in retaliation for the sacking of the town after "the Battle of the Butts." The mills of Partick, on the Kelvin, still belonging to the incorporation of bakers, were given them on this occasion, for supplying the army with bread.

The

The zeal of the Reformation nowhere broke out with greater fervour than in Glasgow ; but such was the attachment of the citizens to the cathedral fabric, that though urged to its destruction as an idolatrous monument by Mr. Andrew Melville, the Principal of the college, and a day set for the purpose, when the men of Renfrew and Rutherglen, headed by their preachers, repaired to the spot at tuck of drum; the men of Glasgow rose up in its defence, and only yielded to a compromise for the destruction of the monumental and other images, preserving the building itself entire. The Cathedral of Glasgow thus remains, with exception of that of St. Magnus of Kirkwall in Orkney, the only entire Minster fabric in Scotland..

Glasgow is memorable in the Ecclesiastical Annals of Scotland as the seat of the Great As

Andrew Brown, in his History of Glasgow, 1797, has fallen into an error, the more unaccountable as he endeavours, like us, to follow Blind Harry. He states that it was Wallace who, at the close of the fight, was unable to keep the wood, and sought refuge in Bothwell! Exactly the reverse was the case. Bothwell was then in the hands of the English. Wallace pursued them thither: he afterwards rode to Dundaff ere he partook of rest; and, reciting the occurrences at Ayr and Glasgow, abode there five days with Sir John the Graham,

ARGUMENTS FOR THE REPEAL OF THE UNION.

BY JOHN O'CONNELL, M.P.

It was on no theory, but on a very practical | so strong in natural right and justice as to be point, indeed, that we mentioned, at page 44 of the last number of this Magazine, the demand in Ireland for a " Repeal of the Legislative Union." The point was Money; and the argument indicated was, that, by the operation of no measure, nor set of measures, short of that just named, could money be retained, made to circulate, and increased in Ireland; and thus a natural and healthful stimulus be given to all the branches of industry in that country.

What, then, will stop the drains, and circulate and increase the money of Ireland? To stop the drains, a beginning should be made with the severest of them, that of the absentee rents-five out of the twelve or thirteen millions composing the rental of Ireland. To do this, as has been remarked in our former article, an absentee-tax is the first obvious expedient. This strong measure of interference with property and with indi

of "Repeal of the Union;" while, by restoring to Ireland her Parliament, you can substitute a milder and more natural form of the, in all shapes

his own beneficent purposes (and are, therefore, when duly regulated and directed, quite as honourable and as deserving of respect), the Irish advocates of Repeal may, with a safe conscience, as they do, with a willing heart, approach the argument, on the plain practical points alone, of their favourite measure. They profess and feel an entire incapability of comprehending by what other measure, or set of measures, the wasting money-drains can be checked; and the healthful | vidual volition is not necessary, say the advocates circulation, and natural increase and re-production of capital be promoted. In the last number of this Magazine, the article to which reference has already been made treated shortly of the much-efficient, coercion of self-interest. spoken-of project of a general reclamation of the Irish waste lands, and the equally canvassed proposition of an extended system of Poor Laws in Ireland. At the best, the reclamation of waste lands, if carried out, can but indirectly, and after a period of some time at least, produce an increase of the national wealth. There is, at the best, little in it at all likely to create any surplus of capital beyond what the reclamation-process itself, the due cultivation of the reclaimed soil, and the proper support of those located upon it, must require; and many, who have well considered the subject, express their suspicion that the inevitable waste attending a Government experiment in agriculture will anticipate and absorb every penny of what might otherwise constitute that surplus. And, under the most successful plan, the additions to the productive land of the country will scarcely keep pace with the increase of the population, aided as the latter is likely to be by a decrease of the annual emigration. Nay, it is but the other day that an English journalist announced, as a strong probability, that, as soon as the Government should have actually committed themselves with the reclamation project, a pretty extensive immigration into Ireland, from other parts of the empire, would take place.

Poor Laws have, indeed, to do with the circulation of money, but only in the way of interference (by re-distribution) with that otherwise existing. And while no one has pretended that they open up new sources of wealth, their absorbing tendency, which frightened England into her fiftieth experiment upon them, some twelve years ago, is now, notwithstanding the boasted amendment of that state, once again becoming a matter of most serious alarm.

Additions to the elective franchise, even with some addition (small in any case, as English jealousy would scarcely permit it to be otherwise), to the number of Irish representatives in the United Parliament-enlargement of municipal privileges-civil equality among all the inhabitants of Ireland-these, and such as these, are, undoubtedly, points of importance and of value; but do not, of themselves, create or circulate wealth. The aggregation or combination of the individually inefficient measures just alluded to could have little more effect in making them collectively potent than the aggregation and combination of cyphers can be made to express a power in numerals.

Give, then, in order to induce home-residence, the object and the interest of watching and directing, by their personal weight, in either House, or influencing, by efforts out of doors, the legislation which is to affect their rights and properties. Give them the strong inducement to stay at home during, at least, part of the Parliamentary recess, which the advisability of conciliating the electors will supply, now that the old handy mode of packing Parliament, by means of pocketboroughs, is gone, and gone for ever. Mr. M‘Culloch's theory-that absenteeism is no loss to a country-is equally gone for ever; abandoned, or, at least, no longer defended by its unnatural parent. The benefit of the personal expenditure of the returned absentee no one now is hardy enough to question. Monies now altogether lost to Ireland-lost to her as if they were flung from her cliffs into the sea-would then be retained, and in constant circulation; passing and re-passing, from hand to hand, in each locality-in small sums, perhaps, but still with the beneficial effect that is ever attendant upon the quick and frequent turning and returnings even of the smallest capitals. The increased expenditure in Dublin would then meet and commingle with the smaller circles of prosperity spreading from a thousand minor localities; and the entire surface of society be redeemed from the dead, dull stagnation now brooding heavily upon it.

Can it at all be maintained, or for a moment advanced, that the inducements dwelt upon in the foregoing paragraphs would not be abundantly efficient in causing the absentee proprietors to return to their long-neglected duties at home? Should they not be designated as madmen, who would voluntarily and deliberately forego the powers in their own hands of guarding their own interests, the more especially when such neglect on their part involved also an abandonment of duties as well as powers, to such an extent and in such a degree as richly to deserve and assuredly to call forth a punishment of commensurate severity? The first step of that punishment, viz., the enactment of an absentee-tax, an Irish Parliament would of course be quite as competent to pass as is the United Parliament, and to increase it if the first moderate rates should prove inefficient. Thus one of the heaviest itens of "money-drain" from Ireland would be speedily and effectively checked and prevented; and, by the circulation at home of the restored monies,