prings or other comfort; but still they served
to convey the body, and the mind that went with it at last discovered,
by degrees, that conveyances could be constructed so as to cause less
wear and tear on animal life. The result of time and labour has been the
elegant constructions of the present day. The first hackney-coaches were
started in London, A.D. 1625, by a Captain Bailey. Another conveyance
for the body, the sedan-chair, was introduced first into England in
1584, and came into fashion in London in 1634. The late Sir John
Sinclair was called a fool because he said a mail-coach would come from
London to Thurso. I am glad to say that he _saw_ it, and it opened up a
communication for the body and mind that has worked wonders in the far
North. We now have a railway.

_Steam._--We proceed next to the grandest stage--or, as it is said in
the North, "We took a start." What place have we to thank for this great
start, but the very town in which I have the honour to give this closing
address. Was not James Watt born here? The 19th January 1736 was a great
day for England, Scotland, and the world at large, for that day brought
into the world a man who, by his talents and by his observations of what
others had done before him, was the means of bringing to a workable
state that all-powerful and most useful machine, the steam-engine. The
people of Greenock may well indeed feel proud of being citizens of a
town that produced such a man; for though many places have given birth
to great and valuable men, and persons who rendered the world vast and
lasting service, yet, I may safely say, no one has surpassed James Watt
in the benefits he has bestowed on the world, on its trade, its
commerce, and its means of communication for both body and mind, as the
producer of the steam-engine. There were not even coaches in his time,
and his first journey to London was performed on horseback, a ten days'
ride, very different to our ten or twelve hours now-a-days. His life and
determination show what a man can do, both for himself and his
fellow-men, and are a bright example to be followed by all those
especially who belong to such associations as the one I now have the
honour to address. He not only thought, but carried out his thoughts to
a practical issue, and, though laughed at, he still stuck to his great
work, and by his perseverance gave to the world one of its greatest
boons, and certainly its greatest motive power--the steam-engine.