Towns > Glasgow > 1787 - Reprint of Jones's directory; or, Useful pocket companion for the year 1787

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that ever occupied the Greek Chair in the Glasgow University. He
expounded the ancient classics with an enthusiasm that has never
been surpassed; and, moreover, he was an ardent admirer of the
drama and of Edmund Kean. The learned professor was the son of
a cooper, and the students on that account dubbed him "Cocky
Bung. " While in the theatre one night, he became so absorbed by
witnessing Kean's "Shylock," that he also commenced to act the
part in dumb-show, to the amusement of the audience; and a witty
ex-Provost made note of the circumstance in rhyme, as follows : —
*' The very Jew I've surely seen
That Shakspeare painted, played by Kean,
While plaudits loudy rung;
But what was all his acting fine,
To the diverting pantomime
Displayed by Cocky Bung?"
WALTER GRAHAM.
This notability kept a rum-cellar in Wallace's Closs, Bell's Wynd,
and was known in the city by the sohiquet of "The General," on
account of his tall, erect figure, and "lordly bearing" on the streets.
He was one of the founders of the Camperdown Club, and was
never known to change an opinion which he had once fairly adopted.
He detested changes and mnovations of all kinds, even in dress,
and stuck to knee breeches and white worsted stockings long after
the oldest man in the city had discarded them. In 1803, the
''General" was appointed Master of the Glasgow Police, an office
which he held for two years. He was much respected by his fellow-
citizens, and died in the eighty-seventh year of his age.
GILBERT HAMILTON,
A "merchant councillor" in 1787, and Lord Provost of the city in
1793. During the reign of Mr. Hamilton, a monetary panic over-
spread the country : banks failed by the score, firms broke down by
the hundred, and the greatest distress prevailed everywhere. In
this emergency Provost Hamilton went to London, and applied for
Government aid, to save the manufacturers of Glasgow from ruin,
and the application was successful. He was a thin, spare, skeleton
of a man, a real scarecrow provost; and when arrayed in his dark
velvet suit, it was said of him that he "looked like Death running
away with the mortcloth!" While in London on his benevolent
mission, he was held to be a palpable evidence of a famishing city;
and having accomplished the object of his journey, the worthy chief
magistrate returned and adopted measures for relieving his distressed
fellow-citizens. During Mr. Hamilton's tenure of office, the Tron
Church was rebuilt, and the ancient Cathedral was repaired and
reseated.