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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