tion of the Shaws' Water, and (4) the development of steam, following on the invention of the steam-engine by our great townsman, James Watt. But, leaving these general remarks, and making them, so far, the basis of what is to follow, we come now, more particularly, to look at the early social characteristics of our town, comparatively unknown, but at the same time of deep account, not only to the historian and the sociologist, but to all who have any interest in the good old town of Greenock. And, as the streams, having run their course, commingle their waters in the sea, so from the varied streams of the social life of the time, will we seek to draw our views of the past, which, uniting at the close, will, we trust, give us a clear idea of the manner in which our forefathers lived and moved and had their being.

I.—The Town and its Surroundings.

Sir John Shaw, who may be styled the Maker of Greenock, was one of those strong men whom Carlyle aptly designates as Captains of Industry. Early in the eighteenth century, watching with a seeing eye, the tide of commerce with America and the West Indies, and the possibilities of the town from its situation, he granted several favourable Charters of Rights to its inhabitants, and built, at his own expense, the town's first harbour, now known as the West Harbour of Greenock. In order to provide for its upkeep, he obtained an Act of Parliament authorising the levy of two pennies Scots on each pint of ale brewed in Greenock and the surrounding districts, and as this was the favourite beverage of

the period, the income must have amounted to a considerable sum. Previous to this, for the erection of Quays, there had been a voluntary assessment of one shilling and fourpence on every sack of malt brewed into ale in the town, but, not being compulsory, it did not work satisfactorily. To give, at a glance, the progress of the town during the past two centuries, it may be mentioned. that the population, including Cartsdyke, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, numbered 1,000-at the beginning of the nineteenth century, 17,000-and at the beginning of the twentieth century, 68,217. At the period immediately preceding the earliest of Sir John's charters, the town extended from the West Kirk to the Rowend, with several intervals between, and virtually consisted of what is now known as Shaw Street, then Laigh Street, and Dalrymple Street, then High Street. The

houses lined the shore, and most of them had special jetties of their own for boats, the Breasts-East and West-not having been then built. So improbable did it seem, even in the end of the eighteenth century, that the town would ever extend up the hill, that, when the Inverkip Street burying ground was contemplated, the inhabitants petitioned against it, because of the great toil involved in carrying their dead, for burial, to such an out of the way spot, and giving as their opinion that, if any future extension of the town took place, it would doubtless be only along the shore. The Vennel, running inwards, was one of the earliest off-shoots from the line of shore-side houses, designated in the early titles as the 'road leading to Inverkip,' and described in one of Lady Shaw's letters as "a handsome. street." Gradually, Cathcart Street and Hamilton Street were added, connected with