Readers of the first volume, by the late Dr. Robert
Ren- wick, of the History of Glasgow, which appeared ten years ago, may well have despaired of seeing a fresh instalment of the work which is, very properly, a Glasgow municipal under- taking like Marwick and Renwick's magnificent edition of the burgh records. However, a second volume, continuing the story from the Reformation to the Revolution, has now been published (Jackson Wylie, 25s.) and maintains the high standard of scholarship and comprehensiveness which Ren- wick set. No one was better qualified to write the book than Mr. George Eyre-Todd, the veteran Glasgow antiquary. His intimate knowledge of the subject and his interest in its lighter as well as its graver sides are shown on every page. He brings out very clearly the difficulties that beset a thriving but defenceless burgh whose lands and offices were coveted by the neighbouring lords. There is a pretty anecdote of Zachary Boyd, minister of the Barony church. His young second wife asked him on his death-bed to leave something to Mr. Durham, another minister. He replied : "I'll leave him naething but what I canna keep frae him and that's your bonnie sel'." And a few months later the widow became Mrs. Durham. This fine book is admirably illustrated with portraits and local views.
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