6 
afterwards ; but it was sent by his friends Rev. Benj. Richardson 
and the Rev. J. Townsend, to Sedgwick, and was preserved in the 
Museum of the Geological Society of London. 
Liberated from the Canal Company’s service, William Smith 
was quickly occupied in various works as a Surveyor ; his 
desire to see different parts of the country, leading him to enter 
upon engagements far and wide. Wherever he went, he was 
possessed with the idea of making notes of the strata and plotting 
them down upon such topographical maps as he could procure. 
After a time he had all these facts transferred to one of Cary’s. 
large Maps of England and Wales, 8ft. gin. by 6ft. 2in., and on 
this he laid down the solid geology of the country, adding to and 
correcting as he went along. During all this time he was working 
very hard as a professional Surveyor and Engineer occupied in the 
draining and irrigating of land, the protection of coasts, the 
guarding against landslips caused by springs, and in matters of 
water supply, for which he had a high reputation. Lord Leicester, 
the Duke of Bedford, Sir Joseph Banks, and Mr. Crawshay were 
among his patrons, but although for years in receipt of a very good 
income, he impoverished himself with the one idea of publishing 
his cherished map. 
His Books, Maps and Collections were removed to London 
from Bath, and after repeated vain attempts in 1812 he accepted a 
proposal from Mr. Cary, the engraver, to publish his great map.. 
Terms were soon settled and the work begun in January, 1813.. 
In 1814 some portions of the map were completely coloured, 
particularly four sheets of the vicinity of Bath. 
The first copy completed as regards the geological colouring was. 
on May 23, 1815, exhibited at a meeting of the Board of 
Agriculture. 
The Society of Arts awarded its author a premium of £50, 
which he might have claimed ten years earlier had not an honest 
desire to produce his work complete withheld the attempt. 
Just as his cherished map was completed, upon which he had 
