THE "BUTCHER'S" BURGESS TICKET.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 16, 26 February 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE "BUTCHER'S" BURGESS TICKET.

On -nonday, April 21, 1746, Glasgow was en fete. At ten o'clock an the morning, by order of the Civic Council, the music bells in the city were set playing and the other bells a-ringing. Bonfires were lighted at the Cross, before the Collego gate, and in every street. The fronts of the dingy booths clustered round the Tolbooth blazed with unaccustomed decoration, and from their

-If-doors issued douce citizens, e xcited by thu great news that had come from tno north. The companies of the town's regiment of Militia, swaggering with a reputation gained several weeks before at Falkirk, paraded the streets. At six o'clock the troops gathered at tho Cross to give pomp and circumstance to the patriotic toasts of the Magistracy and the local notables, who 011 the top of Tolbooth stairs fronting the Trongate drank publicly the healths of His Grac'ous Majesty King George the Second, Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, and His Royal Highness th e Duke of Cumberland, who five days b.ifore had defeated the Pretender at Culloden. The joy of the Magistrates at the assurance of a settl>3d king, dom, which would admit of the growth of industry, found expression in the decision to send Bailies Murdoch and Allan to the North with congratulations and the offer of the freedom of the city to the Duke of Cumberland.

Glasgow had good reason to hail with self-gratulation the defeat of Prince Charles.' Tho rebels had marched South with £5,000 of Glasgow money in their pay chests and £SOO worth of goods. During his stay in Glasgow on h's return from Derby Prince Charlie issued an edict ordering the provision of 12.000 linen shirts, 6000 cloth coats, and as many pairs of shoes, tartan hose, and blue bonnets for the use of the travelstained H ighlanders. Provost Cochrane 1 was calL?d to account for assistance given to the Government, and was forced to (pay a fine of £SOO. The visit of tlie rebels had cost the town some £l4, 000. But in the rejoicings ever the victory on Drummossie Moor that loss sank into the background. In the following June tlx© Magistracy of the city had " tho honour of waiting on His Rcyal Highness, who most graciously received the freedom of our city and expressed a warm and affectionate regard fo. our Corporation to us. and afterwards to Lord I?os s and the JusticeCork." The presentation probably took place in London. The Burgess Ticket of Cumlierland belong to a gentleman in the South of Scotland. H s ancestors w To never Hanoverian: as a matter of fn~t. they suffered much in the cause of " the King ever the water." The parchment measure..-; about, 14 inches square, inclusive of illuminated border, 22 inches deep. At each corner are the emblems of the heraldic arms of Glasgow—the bird, the b 11. the fish, and the tree—and these symbols are introduced into various parts of tho ornament. 011 th.-> back is a docket, designed and illuminated, with tho motto, amid laurels. " Let Glasgow Flourish." The inscription is At Glasgow, the Eleventh day of June, one thousand seven hundred and fourty six years, The which day. in presence of the liiglit Honourable Andrew Cochran, Esq., Lord Provost of the Said City, Richard Allan. George Carmiehael, and Robers Donalson. Bailies thereof, G'-orgc Bogle, Dean of Gild, and Sundry of the Gild Council of Said t. -*<• y, His Royal Highness, William Duko of Cumberland, Duke of Brunswick Lunenbur.gh, Captain General of all his Majesty's Land Forces in Great Britain, etc., etc., is admitted, and received. Burges and Gildbroth:r of the Sa'd City, And the whole Liberies, Privileges, and Immunity's, be-' longing to an Burges and Gildbrother thereof, and granted, unto him in most ample form, who Gives h : s oath of Fidelity as use is. Extracted furth of the Gildbooks of Said City By Alex Fjnlavson.

The crude colouring i-; somewhat faded and the parchment itself shows s gns of wiar, holes appearing where it has been folded. Altogether it is neither beautiful nor "artistic. Tho best part of the work is the writing of the inscription, which is elegantly and gracefully done. The wanderings of tho document since the time it left the city secure in tho valise of the dauntless Cochrane can only lx> guessed.