OF MR. WILLIAM SMITH. 219 



al kindness was omitted by the worthy proprietor of Hack- 

 ness, to encourage the veteran geologist, whose mind, singu- 

 larly gifted with the power of living through the past, was 

 often far away from the spot where his labours, and perhaps 

 his life, were amusingly and usefully prolonged. 



The time, however, came at length, when the young geolo- 

 gists of England drew from his retirement the unforgotten 

 leader of their science. The Geological Society of London 

 awarded the first medal placed at their disposal by the be- 

 quest of Wollaston, to Mr. William Smith, "in consideration 

 of his being a great original discoverer in English Geology : 

 and especially for his being the first, in this country, to dis- 

 cover and to teach the identification of strata, and to deter- 

 mine their succession by means of their imbedded fossils." 



Professor Sedgwick then occupied the chair of the Geolo- 

 gical Society, and added to the value of the distinction he 

 was conferring on Mr. Smith, by a careful estimation and 

 proof of his right to receive it, and by the acknowledgment 

 which could come with better grace or greater force from no 

 living geologist, of his undoubted claim to be recognised as 

 the * Father of English Geology.' " If," observes this elo- 

 quent advocate of truth, "in the pride of our present strength, 

 we were disposed to forget our origin, our very speech would 

 bewray us ; for we use the language which he taught us in 

 the infancy of our science. If we, by our united efforts, are 

 chiselling the ornaments, and slowly raising up the pinnacles 

 of one of the temples of nature, it was he who gave the plan, 

 and laid the foundation, and erected a portion of the solid 

 walls, by the unassisted labour of his hands." 



In 1835 he received the degree of LL.D. in Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin. 



No man ever withstood more bravely than Mr. Smith, the 

 pressure of pecuniary difficulties ; they were, in fact, neither 

 rashly nor recklessly incurred, but inevitably brought on by 

 the unconquerable desire of personally tracing the strata of 

 England and Wales. These difficulties were however often 

 excessive; and after the public tribute to the 'Father of Eng- 

 lish Geology,' decreed by the Geological Society, it was im- 

 possible to avoid an anxious fear that in the winter of his age 

 he would be destitute. An application was made to the 

 crown, on the part of several eminent men of science, and 

 persons of high station, in the country, who had known the 

 practical value of Geology, for the grant of a suitable pension. 

 An annuity of One Hundred Pounds was the result of this 

 well-timed application ; and from this limited income, at three 

 score years and ten, the first English geologist draws his 



