Old Glasgow: the place and the people, from the Roman occupation to the eighteenth century . alaccording to his taste. Sometimes her-aldic bearings occur on them and some-times not, but in every instance wherethey are found they are the familyarms of the incumbent. Before leaving the seals and armo-rial bearings, I must mention the originof the peculiar motto of the city—LetGlasgow flourish—about which therehas been a good deal of forms part of an old inscription onthe bell of the steeple of the Tron Church which bears the date 1592. The entire inscription is Lord let Glasgow fl
Old Glasgow: the place and the people, from the Roman occupation to the eighteenth century . alaccording to his taste. Sometimes her-aldic bearings occur on them and some-times not, but in every instance wherethey are found they are the familyarms of the incumbent. Before leaving the seals and armo-rial bearings, I must mention the originof the peculiar motto of the city—LetGlasgow flourish—about which therehas been a good deal of forms part of an old inscription onthe bell of the steeple of the Tron Church which bears the date 1592. The entire inscription is Lord let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of the word and praising thy certainly never was intended as a heraldic motto, and at no timewas it used as such. The city arms no doubt appear on the bell, but theinscription has reference not to them but to the bell itself. It is an invo-cation in short,—an ecclesiastical inscription, or dedication, or prayer,—examples of which are so common on the bells of churches. In subse-quent examples it is curtailed, and reads thus: Lord let Glasgow. 98 Tlie Cathedral. flourish by the preaching of thy word. In 1699 it appeared for thefirst time occupying the place of a heraldic motto in connection with thecity arms over the entrance to Blackfriars church, and here it is stillfurther shortened to the words, Let Glasgow flourish. In this formalone was it ever used heraldically. It continued to be so used in all thesubsequent examples, and it was approved and confirmed by the LordLyon, as what had become, by usage, the motto of the city. When thepatent was obtained, some members of the Town Council suggestedwhether we should not adopt one of the earlier forms of the inscription—Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the word—but it wasanswered that if we went back to the original, the whole invocationshould be adopted, and that the praising of God should be included,as a practice calculated to promote the prosperity of the city as well
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