The harbour constructed under this agreement Avas not finished till 1710, in which year Greenoek was established as a custom house port. In 1751 an Act of Parliament was obtained whereby a duty of 2d Scots was imposed on every Scots pint of ale or beer "brewed, brought in, tapped, or sold" within the town "for cleaning, deepening, building, and repairing " the harbour and piers. Till the year 1772 the harbour was simply leased to the town by the superior, but in that year and in 177:5 the magistrates and town council received a feu-right to it from John Shaw Stewart the owner of the Greenock estate. From that date down to the present time the additions made to the harbour by parliamentary authority have been very numerous. The dock and quay accom modation now amounts to eighty acres. In addition there is in course of construction an immense dock to be named the "James Watt Dock," which is intended to afford accommodation to vessels of the largest tonnage, and maintain them water-borne hi all states of the tide. The estimated cost of this dock, with warehouses and sheds, is 250,000. The harbour trustees who now have the manage ment of the docks consist of the town council and nine elective members chosen by the local shipowners and harbour ratepayers. The commercial prosperity of Greenock received its first great impetus from the Treaty of Union in 1707. The earliest trade seems to have been iu herrings, a trade which, however, has long been extinct. Trading in tobacco was also carried on at a very early period. It was first brought from the colonies, and then exported to the Continent. The Greenland whale-fishing com menced as far back as 1762, but it never rose to be of any import ance, and is now discontinued. The American war greatly inter rupted the progress of Greenock, as the principal trade of the port was then with that country; but after the peace in 1783 it speedily revived, ami within the seven following years the shipping trade was trebled in amount. At present the principal intercourse is with the East and West Indies, Australia, and the United States and Canada. Newfoundland and South America have also em ployed a considerable quantity of shipping. The gradual increase of trade is shown by the following table of the number and tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared from and to foreign ports in various years since 1784 : INWARDS. OUTWABD8. British. Foreign. British. Foreign. Xo. Tons. No. Tons. Xo. Tons. No. Tons. 1784 52 6,569 4 530 63 7,297 3 520 1804 165 30,802 25 5,120 155 31,896 20 5,965 1824 188 46,162 11 3,054 188 46,857 9 2,699 1853 274 94,575 44 13,764 153 55,630 45 11,975 1878 428 219,521 178 64,918 419 198,267 Interesting historical details will be found in Memorials of James W<M, by G. Williamson, 1856. The first volume of Historical Sketches of the Town and Harbours of Greenock, by Dugald
Campbell, appeared in 1879.
(J. Pa.)
GREENOUGH, Horatio (1805-1852), an American
sculptor, son of a Boston merchant, was born at Boston,
September 6, 1805. At the age of sixteen he entered
Harvard College ; but while there he devoted his principal
attention to art, and in the autumn of 1825 he went to
Rome, where he enjoyed the advantage of instruction from
Thorwaldsen. After a short visit in 1826 to Boston, where
he executed busts of John Quincy Adams and other persons
of distinction, he returned to Italy and took up his residence
at Florence. Here one of his first commissions was from
James Fenimore Cooper for a group of Chanting Cherubs;
and the success of this work, joined to the strong recom
mendation of Cooper, Dana, Everett, and others, led to his
being chosen by the Government to execute the colossal
statue of Washington for the national capital. It was
unveiled in 1843 ; and as an accurate likeness, conceived in
a lofty and truly poetical spirit, it is entitled to high rank
among modern works of a similar kind. Shortly afterwards
he received a second commission from Government for a
colossal group, the " Rescue," intended to represent the
conflict between the Anglo-Saxon and Indian races. In
1851 he returned to Washington to superintend its erection,
and in the autumn of 1852 he was attacked by brain fever,
of which he died, 18th December. Among other works of
Greenough may be mentioned a bust of Lafayette, the
Medora, and the Venus Victrix in the gallery of the
Boston Athenaeum. Grsenoughwas a man of wide culture,
and his occasional productions in prose and verse gave
evidence of a capacity to attain the same eminence in
literature as in art. See Memoir of Horatio Greenovgh,
by H. T. Tuckermnnn, 1853.
GREENSHANK, one of the largest of the birds com
monly known as Sandpipers, the Totanus glottis of most
ornithological writers. Some exercise of the imagination
is however needed to see in the dingy olive-coloured legs
of this species a justification of the English name by which
it goes, and the application of that name, which seems to
be due to Pennant, was probably by way of distinguishing
it from two allied but perfectly distinct species of Totanus
(T. calidris and T. fuscus), having red legs and usually
called Redshanks. The Greenshank is a native of the
northern parts of the Old World, but in winter it wanders
far to the south, and occurs regularly at the Cape of Good
Hope, in India, and thence throughout the Indo-Malay
Archipelago to Australia. It has also been recorded from
North America, but its appearance there must be considered
accidental. Almost as bulky as a Woodcock, it is of a
much more slender build, and its long legs and neck give
it a graceful appearance, which is enhanced by the activity
of its actions. Disturbed from the moor or marsh, where it
has its nest, it rises swiftly into the air, conspicuous by its
white back and rump, and uttering shrill cries flies round
the intruder. It will perch on the topmost bough of a tree,
if a tree be near, to watch his proceedings, and the cock
exhibits all the astounding gesticulations in which the
males of so many other Limicolce indulge during the breeding-
season with certain variations, however, that are peculiarly
its own. It breeds in no small numbers in the Hebrides,
and parts of the Scottish Highlands from Argyllshire to
Sutherland, as well as in the more elevated or more north
ern districts of Norwaj 7 , Sweden, and Finland, and probably
also from thence to Kamchatka. In North America it is
represented by two species, Totanus semipalmatus and T.
melanoleucus, there called Willets, Telltales, or Tattlers,
which in general habits resemble the Greenshank of the
Old World.
(A. N.)
GREENWICH, a market-town and parliamentary
borough in the county of Kent, England, is pleasantly
situated on the right bank of the Thames, 6 miles S.E of
London Bridge by the river. The streets towards the river
are narrow and irregular, but in the higher situations there
are many fine terraces and villas. The town has manu
factories of various kinds, including the works of the
telegraph maintenance company, engineering works, soap
work, chemical works, and a brewery. On account of its
picturesque views, its fine air, and its public park and other
attractions, it is one of the favourite resorts of Londoners.
Fronting the river stands the splendid range of buildings in the Grecian style of architecture, formerly known as Greenwich Hospital, but now the Royal Naval College. It occupies the site of an ancient royal palace called Green wich house, which was a favourite royal residence as early as 1300, but was granted by Henry V. to Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, from whom it passed to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester ; and it did not revert to the crown till his death in 1433. It was the birthplace of Henry VIII., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. The building was en larged by Edward IV,, by Henry VIII. , who made it his chief residence and named it Placentia, by James I;, and by Charles I., who erected the "Queen s House" for Henrietta Maria. Along with other royal palaces it was at the Revolution appropriated by the Protector, but it reverted to the crown on the restoration of Charles II., by whom it was pulled down, and the west wing of the present hospital was erected as part of an ext3nsive design which was not further carried out. In its unfinished state it