“ The transformation effected within a century and a half is due to the energy and enterprise of the Clyde Navigation Trust. The earliest shipping-port of Glasgow was Irvine in Ayrshire, but lighterage was tedious and land carriage costly, and in 1658 the civic authorities endeavoured to purchase a site for a spacious harbour at Dumbarton. Being thwarted by the magistrates of that burgh, however, in 1662 they secured 13 acres on the southern bank at a spot some 2 m. above Greenock, which became known as Port Glasgow, where they built harbours and constructed the first graving dock in Scotland. ”

“ The Institute of Fine Arts, in Sauchiehall Street, is mostly devoted to periodical exhibitions of modern art. There are also pictures on exhibition in the People’s Palace on Glasgow Green, which was built by the corporation in 1898 and combines an art gallery and museum with a conservatory and winter garden, and in the museum at Camphill, situated within the bounds of Queen’s Park. The library and Hunterian museum in the university are mostly reserved for the use of students. ”

“ As a county of a city Glasgow has a lieutenancy (successive lords provost holding the office) and a court of quarter sessions, which is the appeal court from the magistrates sitting as licensing authority. Under the corporation municipal ownership has reached a remarkable development, the corporation owning the supplies of water, gas and electric power, tramways and municipal lodging-houses. The enterprise of the corporation has brought its work prominently into notice, not only in the United Kingdom, but in the United States of America and elsewhere. ”

“ The Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, formed in 1886 out of a combination of the arts side of Anderson College, the College of Science and Arts, Allan Glen’s Institution and the Atkinson Institution, is subsidized by the corporation and the endowments board, and is especially concerned with students desirous of following an industrial career. St Mungo’s College, which has developed from an extra-mural school in connexion with the Royal Infirmary, was incorporated in 1889, with faculties of medicine and law. ”

“ The corporation also laid down the tramways, which were leased by a company for twenty-three years at a rental of £150 a mile per annum. When the lease expired in 1894 the town council took over the working of the cars, substituting overhead electric traction for horse-power. One of the most difficult problems that the corporation has had to deal with was the housing of the poor. By the lapse of time and the congestion of population, certain quarters of the city, in old Glasgow especially, had become slums and rookeries of the worst description. ”

“ Although almost all the old public buildings of Glasgow have been swept away, the cathedral remains in excellent preservation. It stands in the north-eastern quarter of the city at a height of 104 ft. above the level of the Clyde. It is a beautiful example of Early English work, impressive St Mungo’s Cathedral. in its simplicity. Its form is that of a Latin cross, with imperfect transepts. Its length from east to west is 319 ft., and its width 63 ft.; the height of the choir is 93 ft., and of the nave 85 ft. At the centre rises a fine tower, with a short octagonal spire, 225 ft. high. ”

“ Trade.—Natural causes, such as proximity to the richest field of coal and ironstone in Scotland and the vicinity of hill streams of pure water, account for much of the great development of trade in Glasgow. ”

“ The news-room of the exchange is a vast apartment, 130 ft. long, 60 ft. wide, 130 ft. high, with a richly-decorated roof supported by Corinthian pillars. Buchanan Street, the most important and handsome street in the city, contains the Stock Exchange, the Western Club House (by David Hamilton) and the offices of the Glasgow Herald. In Sauchiehall Street are the Fine Art Institute and the former Corporation Art Gallery. Argyll Street, the busiest thoroughfare, mainly occupied with shops, leads to Trongate, where a few remains of the old town are now carefully preserved. ”

“ The entrance hall and grand staircase, the council chamber, banqueting hall and reception rooms are decorated in a grandiose style, not unbecoming to the commercial and industrial metropolis of Scotland. Several additional blocks have been built or rented for the accommodation of the municipal staff. Admirably equipped sanitary chambers were opened in 1897, including a bacteriological and chemical laboratory. Up till 1810 the town council met in a hall adjoining the old tolbooth. It then moved to the fine classical structure at the foot of the Saltmarket, which is now used as court-houses. ”

“ At the busier periods of the day it bears a very heavy traffic. The stream is spanned between Victoria and Albert Bridges by a bridge belonging to the Glasgow & South-Western railway and by two bridges carrying the lines of the Caledonian railway, one below Dalmarnock Bridge and the other a massive work immediately west of Glasgow Bridge. ”

“ There are a large number of well-endowed chairs and lectureships and the normal number of students exceeds 2000. The universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen unite to return one member to parliament. Queen Margaret College for women, established in 1883, occupies a handsome building close to the botanic gardens, has an endowment of upwards of £25,000, and was incorporated with the university in 1893. Muirhead College is another institution for women. ”

“ Jocelin (d. 1199) , made bishop in 1174, was the first great bishop, and is memorable for his efforts to replace the cathedral built in 1136 by Bishop John Achaius, which had been destroyed by fire. The crypt is his work, and he began the choir, Lady chapel, and central tower. The new structure was sufficiently advanced to be dedicated in 1197. Other famous bishops were Robert Wishart (d. 1316) , appointed in 1272, who was among the first to join in the revolt of Wallace, and received Robert Bruce when he lay under the ban of the church for the murder of Comyn ”

“ It is a favourite area for popular demonstrations, and sections have been reserved for recreation or laid out in flower-beds. Kelvingrove Park, in the west end, has exceptional advantages, for the Kelvin burn flows through it and the ground is naturally terraced, while the situation is beautified by the adjoining Gilmore Hill with the university on its summit. ”

“ Several cotton mills are still worked, but the leading feature in the trade has always been the manufacture of such light textures as plain, striped and figured muslins, ginghams and fancy fabrics. Thread is made on a considerable scale, but jute and silk are of comparatively little importance. The principal varieties of carpets are woven. ”

“ One of the most familiar statues is the equestrian figure of William III. in the Trongate, which was presented to the town in 1735 by James Macrae (1677–1744) , a poor Ayrshire lad who had amassed a fortune in India, where he was governor of Madras from 1725 to 1730. ”

“ In point of fact they never needed to build, as private enterprise more than kept pace with the operations of the improvement. The work was carried out promptly and effectually, and when the act expired in 1881 whole localities had been recreated and nearly 40,000 persons properly housed. Under the amending act of 1881 the corporation began in 1888 to build tenement houses in which the poor could rent one or more rooms at the most moderate rentals; lodging-houses for men and women followed, and in 1896 a home was erected for the accommodation of families in certain circumstances. ”

“ Mild steel is manufactured extensively, and some crucible cast steel is made. In addition to brass foundries there are works for the extraction of copper and the smelting of lead and zinc. With such resources every branch of engineering is well represented. ”

“ The Port.—The harbour extends from Glasgow Bridge to the point where the Kelvin joins the Clyde, and occupies 206 acres. For the most part it is lined by quays and wharves, which have a total length of 81/4 m., and from the harbour to the sea vessels drawing 26 ft. can go up or down on one tide. ”

“ Locomotive engines are built for every country where railways are employed, and all kinds of builder’s ironwork is forged in enormous quantities, and the sewing-machine factories in the neighbourhood are important. Boiler-making and marine engine works, in many cases in direct connexion with the shipbuilding yards, are numerous. ”

“ Elementary instruction is supplied at numerous board schools. Higher, secondary and technical education is provided at several well-known institutions. There are two educational endowments boards which apply a revenue of about £10,000 a year mainly to the foundation of bursaries. ”

“ It was built in the 15th century and has a groined roof supported by a pillar 20 ft. high. Many citizens have contributed towards filling the windows with stained glass, executed at Munich, the government providing the eastern window in recognition of their enterprise. The crypt beneath the choir is not the least remarkable part of the edifice, being without equal in Scotland. ”