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THE present work is not intended to be in any sense a
History of Glasgow; of which class, many works, of more or less
excellence, have been published from time to time, beginning with good,
quaint, old M’Ure, who wrote his View of the City of Glasgow in
1736.
Of such local histories,
two of the latest have been issued by the publisher of the present work,
and on this account we refrain from speaking of their merits. Both of them
bring the history of the second city of the empire down to very recent
years. We refer to MacGregor’s The History of Glasgow from the Earliest
Period to the Present Time, and Wallace’s A Popular Sketch of the
History of Glasgow. The first-mentioned work is an extremely
comprehensive one in all respects, containing, as it does, between five
and six hundred closely printed pages.
Nor does the present volume
aim at producing a formal and detailed record of lives and achievements,
industrial or otherwise, of the men who have made Glasgow in either
ancient, mediaeval, or modern times, although a biographical record of
that nature would prove highly interesting and instructive. And no doubt
in connection with such an immense city and enterprising people, there is
ample scope and abundance of material for a work of such a nature.
The purpose in these pages
is much less ambitious than those referred to. But it is hoped that the
volume will prove even more entertaining and popular than the class of
works mentioned. Its aim is to instruct while it amuses; and to amuse
while it instructs. Every effort has been made to secure accuracy and
reliability with regard to the Anecdotes. But as the object is purely
popular and not literary, it has been thought best not to unnecessarily
load the pages with references and uninteresting data.
The volume being of the
nature of a new departure in Glasgow literature, it is not expected that
it can have anything like exhausted such an immense field of literature as
the Anecdotes of Glasgow must represent. A few Anecdotes have been
purposely omitted for various reasons. But apart from that, it is
earnestly desired to make the work as complete as possible. And anything
tending towards that desired goal would be gladly welcomed as a favour by
the publisher, with a view to the improvement and greater completeness of
a subsequent edition.
All who, like the writer,
are of Glasgow birth, or who have made this city, for good and cogent
reasons, the home of their adoption, should be animated with a feeling of
interest in what relates to the past or present of their natal or adopted
home, which is, as the Apostle Paul said of the place of his birth, no
mean city, but rather one quite the reverse. And it is hoped that the
perusal of these pages will tend to increase interest in the associations
of this great mercantile centre. |
