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The Anecdotage of Glasgow
"The Young Chevalier" in Glasgow


REV. DR. THOM of Liverpool, who was a native of Glasgow, relates the following incident as told to him "by the late Mr. William Walker, orginally a printer in Glasgow’, afterwards a teller or accountant in the ‘Glasgow Arms Bank.’"

"Well do I remember his taking me, in 1815, to a spot in the Saltmarket, two or three doors from my lhther’s shop, and mentioning that under the then piazza, close to where we were, he had stood and seen the rebel army pass up from the review on the Green. The Pretender rode at their head. He was pale, and in Mr. Walker’s apprehension, looked dejected."

Mr. Walker said "that lie had a distinct recollection of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ after the lapse of seventy years. He saw the rebel forces, when they had reached the Cross, turn to the left, and march along the ~ on their way to Shawfield House, at the bottom of the present Glassford Street, then the residence and headquarters of the Chevalier."

Mr. Walker was then, he told me, about ten years of age.

The Rev. Dr. rrhonl also relates the following, as told to him by a veteran, namely, old Mr. Stewart of Fasnacloich, who died in 1810:

"I happened to be residing for a few weeks with my father’s relation, the late William Stewart, Esq. of Ardvorlieh, when old F’asnacloich paid him his annual visit~ This was in September, 1818, The topic of the ‘Forty-five’

was kindly introduced by Mr. Stewart, my relation. Old Fasnacloich’s face positively brightened up at the mention of that stirring and romantic time. Anecdote after anecdote he gave us. All have been forgotten excepting one. lie had been, it seems, at the time only a boy—a sort of benchman, or attendant, on an elder brother. In that capacity he had been present at the battle of Falkirk. His eyes kindled as he described the action. One expression of his, with the gesture and intonation which accompanied it, I shall not soon forget. ‘There were the Glasgow shopkeepers,’ said he, ‘with their big bellies, at the bottom of the muir. And, by my faith, we did paik into them.’

As to the St. Mungo volunteers, it is satisfactory to know from the records of the time, that they behaved creditably, and, indeed, in a manner which put the courage of many of the regulars to the blush."

Mrsl Campbell, great-grandmother to the Rev. Dr. Thom of Liverpool, stated that during the stay of the rebels in Glasgow—from Christmas,1745, till 3rd January, 1746—two officers of considerable rank were quartered in her house (in the Gorbals)—that is, in the front lodging upstairs. One of these gentlemen the old dame described as decorous and respectable in his conduct, the other as light and giddy, and fully confident in the ultimate triumph of the cause of the grandson of James the Seventh.

Upon both, however, she appears to have won by her most benevolent disposition and demeanour. Although a sturdy Hanoverian, and making no secret of her disapproval of their enterprise, both gentlemen treated her with the most marked respect. She received from both officers a strong invitation to witness the review of the rebel forces, which took place during their stay on the Green; but even this she courteously but steadfastly declined.

l)uring the sojourn of the rebels in the city, and on the Sunday after their arrival, her husband, Mr. Campbell (who was prol~~Ily the most important functionary of the kind ai t he town or neighbourhood), was sent for, in his capacity of sniitli and farrier, to shoe the Pretender’s horse. This, as a strict Presbyterian, he refused to do, as the act would involve, iii his opinion, a profanation of the Sabbath. Some threats having been uttered, however, and the worthy man viewing: the matter in the light of a work of necessity, he ultimately complied,


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