All

sides of the half-octagon staircase, with its two squints or stair lights. this is still better shown in pl. iv., which also enables us to see the proportions between this building and the rest of the Cathedral.

Another mistake may be here pointed out. M'Ure, who could never have been at the pains of measuring either of these towers, coolly states that the church "hath a session house on the north side, and a consistorial house on "the south side thereof-the length of each being 30 feet and 50 feet wide," p. 688.

This south tower, or building, is best known as the consistory house. In old records it was called the library house of the Cathedral; and the books may have been kept in one of the upper floors. It was popularly known as the "gutty tower."

Its chief interest lies in the fact that it was the place in which the Bishops held their ecclesiastical courts, and where the Diocesan records were kept.

Bishop Cameron (1426-45) arranged that Commissariat Courts of Glasgow, Hamilton, and Campsie, should be held three times a week, i.e., on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, in the consistorial house. The court-room was 25 feet long and 22 feet wide. In the Liber Protocollorum, published by the Grampian Club, and which contains ancient records from 1499 to 1513, are entries of various transactions gone through in the consistory house. The first of these entries was in the year 1505, and is "an instrument narrating "that Quintin Mortoun, citizen of Glasgow, cessioner and assignee to all the "goods of Katherine Wryght, compeared in presence of Mr. John Sprewle, "commissary, and Mr. David Conigham, official general of Glasgow, sitting as Judges in the consistory of the Metropolitan Church thereof, and pro"tested and alleged that all the said goods which fell to him by the said "Katherine, ought to belong to himself in full right, because he gave the said goods out of his own, in dowry to the said Katherine, his spouse, who had "died within a year after the completion of their marriage; and accordingly "they ought to be wholly converted to his own use and to belong to none else. "Done in the said consistory, about eleven o'clock A.M., 8th April, 1505."

Another document, dated 13th May, 1510, shows that Mr. Andrew Birkmyre, a vicar of the church, was convicted of having used reproachful language to Mr. Martin Rede, the chancellor and official of the Diocese, sitting in court

in the consistory house. The Archbishop ordered the offender to ask pardon on his knees on the floor of the consistory house, both of the official, and of himself as representing the Church, pp. 15, 471, 473.

During the troublous times of the Reformation and following years, the west end and other parts of the fabric required repairs. The minutes of the Town Council towards the end of the 16th, and the beginning of the 17th century, show efforts made in this direction, and attest that the north-west tower and the consistory house, as well as the choir and nave, have shared their care. Dr. Marwick's volume of extracts shows, under date 21st August, 1574, that the Provost, Bailies, and Council, with the deacons of the crafts and divers other honest men of the town, met in the council house, to take into consideration the great decay and ruin caused by taking away the lead, slate, and other material, etc., etc.

What was done to the north-west tower, about 64 years after the Reformation, is found in a minute under date 15th May, 1624:-"The Provost, "Bailies, and Council, ordain that the laich steeple of the Cathedral be "theiked with lead."

The south-west tower required a more extensive repair. A minute, under date 5th April, 1628, states that the Provost, Bailies and Councils, have arranged and agreed that James Colquhoun, wright, and John Boyd, mason, build and repair the decayed parts of the library house of the Cathedral, put the roof thereon, geist and loft the same, and theik the same with lead, and do all things necessary thereto for 3,100 merks. (Old Glasgow, p. 104).

The wretched state of dilapidation into which its custodians had permitted the Cathedral to fall, forms a sad contrast to the reverential care bestowed previously on the noble edifice. An instrument is printed in the Diocesan Registers showing a formal call, made on 11th January, 1504, by Mr. David Cunningham, the Archbishop's vicar general, to Mr. John Gibson, rector of Renfrew, and master of work of the church of St. Mungo, to lay out money on the "small and minute matters necessary, both inside and outside" the fabric, as his predecessors, masters of the said work, were in the practice of doing. (See p. 309).

A view of the building as it was in M'Lellan's time, i.e., in 1836, when both towers were standing and in good repair, may be seen in his book.

In M'Ure's Glasghu Facies, Dr. Gordon, in a note, remarks that "The "flat above (the consistory house) was fitted up as a store for different official "papers connected with the court, and an immense mass of documents "had collected uncared for by any one. Externally it was nothing but a "room full of paper-rubbish, exposed to the weather and covered with the "droppings of crows and pigeons.” (p. 65).

Two letters are printed by him bearing on this subject. The first was written to the Glasgow Herald, in 1850, by a Mr. Gabriel Neil, a Glasgow manufacturer, and a member of the Council of the Glasgow Archæological Society :

666

66

"THE OLD DOCUMENTS IN THE LATE CONSISTORY HOUSE. '

"To the Editor of the Glasgow Herald.

"SIR,-In your paper of yesterday you put the following question: 'By the way, what has become of the wreck of these old documents that accumu"'lated in the consistory house since the dates of the Bishops?' Perhaps I "may be able to tender some scrap of information as to the fate of the 'wreck.' "About the time when the consistory house was doomed to destruction, I "one evening met with a friend who, from his personal observation the "previous day, told me that what were considered the valuable documents "connected with the consistory court had been carried off, and that the rest 'were being condemned to the flames; but that many people were taking "away numbers of them. Having a species of literary avidity to share in "part of the spoil, I went next morning as early as seven o'clock to the "consistory house, the whole of the lower part or ground floor, of which "I found filled with a heavy, dark brown smoke, where certainly conflagration "was making its way-little tufts of loose paper flaming up here and there"but the great mass smouldering; for, sorry indeed, did the documents "appear to wish to become defunct, even by the help of two stout labourers "stirring them up with long sticks. Vexed at what I deemed the recklessness "of such proceedings, and, with a desire to secure even yet a few, I ventured, "under a feeling next to suffocation, knee-deep among the mass, and, picking "up parcels, I thought, might contain a subject or two for future use, was "making my exit: however, I was detained under instructions the labourers ■ M'Ure, p. 65-6.

"had received, that no more papers were to be taken away. But, never mind "how it was or through what agency, whether per fas aut nefas, I got released, "possessed of a goodly number of documents, which, arranging into a portable "bundle on a grave-stone, I departed, very down in the mouth and afflicted, "to witness this scandalous auto-da-fe and last solemn obsequies of what "might have supplied food to many local antiquarian pens, and contributions "to newspaper columns for generations to come. On a leisurely examination "of the contents of my random bundle, I discovered them to consist of such "as the following:-many loose papers in strips, which, from having been "tossed about, had lost their relationship to their parent subjects, on which "were written names and genealogies not a few-these most likely bearing "reference to cases before the consistory court; several leaves of a sermon, "in a fine, small, clear, close handwriting, of some two centuries ago; stanzas "of poetry; a beautifully engraved and partly written official document in the "Danish language, with two seals, dated May, 1711; bills of exchange and "bills of lading, and mercantile letters-all connected with our trade to "Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, prior to, and about the date of the Union "of our Kingdom with England. I regret, Mr. Editor, that my "memory does not serve me in giving you further details of the foregoing "documents, having put them long since into the hands of our late worthy "and intelligent townsman, Mr. Robert Stuart, when compiling his Notices "of Glasgow in Former Times for any use he could make of them; but "from the sample, you may judge how much curious and interesting matter "we have lost by the conflagration of many hundred weights of stock.

.

"I am, SIR,

"GLASGOW, 20th Jany., 1850.

"Yours, etc.,

"GABRIEL NEIL."

Further information on the subject is given in the following letter from the Commissary Clerk of Lanarkshire in 1850:

"To the Editor of the Glasgow Herald.1

"GLASGOW, 29th Jany., 1850.

"SIR, I observe from the Report of the Proceedings of the Dean of Guild "Court, in your paper of the 28th January, that a desire is expressed to know

I Gordon, p. 67.