this but the determination of man to communicate with his fellow-men, and his thirst for the knowledge of what is doing in places where he, as an individual, could not be present.  When there were no roads, it was no easy matter to move about, so the people remained at rest.  But the Romans, a people who aspired to conquer the world, were not a people to sleep and let things stand still.  They began the making of roads in Britain, and to them we owe the first of our greatness.  They saw, as every wise man now sees, that the first thing to the improvement of land and property is easy communication, and facilities for bringing the things needed for the improvement of the land, and the means also of export for the produce.  The earliest roads were, as we may say, right on end; and the Roman roads, as I hear, have borne the traffic of two thousand years.  I hope I may say that even a Roman road would not bear the traffic of a town like Greenock for anything like that period of time, or I fear the commerce of this populous and most thriving town would be in a bad way.  The great Telford and Macadam are the persons to be thanked for our beautiful system of road-making, and no person can, I am sure, deny the utility of their plans.  As I said, roads are a means of communication for the body, and also for the mind; and therefore, now that their advantages are seen, we should strive to further their advance in all districts.

Coaches.—­We come now to the means of communication on the roads for the body, and also for the mind, as both must go together—­viz., the coach and the carriage or cart (for before the roads were made we had no coaches).  In the first place, these carts or carriages were rude and heavy waggons, without springs 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