44 Dr. Fitton's Notes on the History of English Geology, 



of education and leisure) felt the imperfections of his own 

 clear and eloquent style*, a man like Smith, engaged in la- 

 borious business, and struggling with difficulties, may well 

 be allowed to tremble at the prospect of appearing, for the 

 first time as an author, and oil a subject upon which he felt 

 his reputation must ultimately depend. He says himself, in 

 one of his letters, — ' Many of the better learned in the world 



* might deem it the height of folly, for a man who has never so 

 6 much as received a common grammatical education to at- 



* tempt to instruct the public' The work of composition, 

 therefore, went on but slowly ; and in reply to pressing letters 

 from Dr. Anderson during the autumn of 1799, there is a 

 draft of an answer from Smith apologizing for this delay, and 

 stating that without aid and instructions he was much at a 

 loss to arrange his papers in such order as would make them 

 fit for publication : ' But, ' he continues, ' had not business 



* and a multiplicity of concerns diverted my attention more 



* than usual from the pursuit of my favourite subject, you 



* might before this have been in possession of such remarks 

 4 as I shall be happy to consign to your care, for the good of 



* the public ; conscious that they may at some future period be 

 'found of much more value than may at fast be perceived, by 

 ' those who have not been accustomed, to view things in the same 

 ' light as 1 have done for some years past. Yet, ' he says, in 

 a draft of another letter, 'notwithstanding all the time and 

 f thought I have bestowed on the subject, and the ease with 

 6 which I can trace each stratum distinctly from the chalk hills 

 i of this country down to the coal, — 1 find it still difficult to be 

 ' described in writing, without entering into the minutiae of 

 6 the subject much further than I fear would be consistent 

 ' with your plan.' 



The expected memoir never made its appearance : But the 

 suggestion of it seems to have had the effect of inducing Mr. 

 Smith to put his materials into somewhat better arrange- 

 ment, and to hasten the preparation of his maps and papers, 

 several of which bear date soon after this period f. 



In 1799 also, he was introduced by his friend Richardson 



* " Quant a mon style, je n'en ferai point 1'apologie : je connois ses im- 



* perfections; mais, phis exerce a gravir les rochers, qu'a tourner et polir 



* les phrases, je ne me suis attache qu'a rendre clairement les ohjets que 

 ' j'ai vus, et les impressions que j'ai senties." — Voyages dans les Alpcs. 4to. 

 Diseours preliminairc : torn. i. p. xx. 



f A letter from Mr. Crawshay of Merthyr, in the beginning of 1804, 

 states that Dr. Turton of Swansea was at that time ready to become the 

 editor of Smith's works ; but nothing farther appears to have been done 

 in that direction. 



