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IT is almost unnecessary to mention that the series of
articles of which the present volume is composed were originally
published, with the signature of "Caleb" attached to them, in the columns
of the Glasgow Citizen newspaper, where they appeared at intervals
during the course of three successive years. The Rambles were written with
the intention of conveying to the readers of that journal some knowledge
of the principal landscape features of the country within a circle of from
eight to ten miles round Glasgow, with a
resumé of the Historical, Biographical, and
Traditional associations of the various localities included within the
scope we have indicated. The district of which Glasgow is the centre,
while it possesses many scenes of richest Lowland beauty, and presents
many glimpses of the stern and wild in Highland landscape, is peculiarly
fertile in reminiscences of a historical nature. In the latter respect,
indeed, it is excelled by few localities in Scotland,—a circumstance of
which many of our citizens seem to have been hitherto almost unconscious.
There is a story told of a gentleman who, having boasted that he had
travelled far to see a celebrated landscape on the Continent, was put to
the blush by being compelled to own that he had never visited a scene of
superior loveliness which was situated upon his own estate, and near which
he had spent the greater portion of his life. The error of this
individual, however, is one of which too many are guilty. We have
thousands amongst ourselves who can boast of their familiarity with the
wonders of other lands, yet who have never traced the windings of the
Clyde, the Cart, or the Kelvin, and who have never dreamed of visiting the
stately ruins of Bothwell, or of penetrating that sanctum of Gothic
magnificence, the crypt of our own venerable Cathedral! To such parties we
would say, that admiration, like charity, should begin at home; and that
there are many things of beauty and of interest to be met with in the
course of a brief ramble among the environs of our own city.
To those who may desire to
familiarize themselves with the topographical features, the historical
associations, and the antiquarian remains of the country round Glasgow,
the present volume will, it is hoped, prove in some respects a useful
companion and guide. The information which it embodies is the harvest of
many a pleasant excursion through woods and fields, of many a delightful
research among curious old tomes and chronicles of the past. Its
composition was, in truth, a labour of love. Daring the peregrinations to
which it had many valued friendships, many genial acquaintanceships were
formed; and the best wish which we can frame for the readers who may
honour us by following in our footsteps is, that they may everywhere
experience as much civility, as much kindness, and as much hospitality as
fell to our own share. Should such be the case, reader and author will
alike have pleasure in the remembrance of RAMBLES ROUND GLASGOW.
H. M'D.
92 John Street, Bridgeton.
July 26, 1854.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
THE first edition of the present
Work, although of considerable extent, was exhausted within a few months
of its publication. Since then there have been numerous inquiries for it;
and it has consequently been deemed advisable to issue the present new,
and, it is hoped, in many respects improved edition." The various
"Rambles" have been carefully gone over; mistakes where they had crept in
have been corrected; notes have been freely introduced wherever they were
thought necessary; while a considerable amount of new matter has been
introduced into the text. A frontispiece of "Crookston Castle," and a
vignette of "Rutherglen Church," both from original drawings, and engraved
by a first-class artist, will, it is hoped, contribute, along with its
other features of novelty, to render the present edition even more
acceptable to the public than its predecessor.
H. M'D.
92 John Street, Bridgeton.
August 7, 1856. |
