THE valley through which the once limpid Molendinar murmured has been so filled up and changed in its character by the improvements of recent years, and the extension of the City, that it practically has ceased to exist. The name of the streamlet is derived from Molendinarius rivus, the mill-stream - a name given to it by the old monks, from the circumstance that it drove an ancient town mill in the neighbourhood of the Cathedral. Rising in Hogganfield Loch it flowed for some miles through fields and gardens, and after emerging from the rocky gorge between the Fir-tree park and the Cathedral, it held its course through the gardens of the Old College, from

which point to its junction with the river it was spanned by eighteen bridges. So late as the beginning of this century it was an open rivulet from its source to the Clyde. It may be noted as an interesting fact that the title deeds of property on the east side of the Saltmarket, written 200 years ago, bear that the owners shall have "free isch and entry" by the closes leading to the burn, and "the privilege of fishing therein"! This privilege adds but little, we fear, to the value of the property at the present time. Dr John Buchanan, the accomplished archaeologist, in one of his interesting contributions to Glasgow Past and Present, tells us that "in ancient times the Molendinar was celebrated as the scene of a meeting on its banks, near what was in after-times the Gallowgate, between those early pioneers of Christianity in Pagan Scotland, Kentigern, the patron saint of Glasgow, and St. Columba from Iona, who are said to have discoursed amidst the solitude of the spot on that new faith which they were desirous to implant not more than a century and a half after the Romans had withdrawn from this island. A small wood, close to the Molendinar at Spoutmouth, long retained the name of 'Kentigern's trees,' and is so spoken of so late as the century of the Reformation." What would be the thoughts of these half mythical saints were it possible for them now to look upon the scene of their meeting?

The Royal Infirmary, now only one of the many noble institutions for the relief of the poor and suffering which the city possesses, was erected by voluntary subscription in 1792. It is built upon the site once occupied by the ancient palace or castle of the Archbishop, the last ruins of which were removed in 1789 to make room for it. It possesses a royal charter creating an incorporation for its management, and containing a grant of the ground on which it stands, which was the property of the Crown. It has been greatly enlarged and extended since the view presented in the accompanying drawing was taken.