3 
studies and to the great stone-book of Nature beneath his feet, the 
pages of which he loved so to explore. 
He began to draw natural objects, and to colour them, and he 
also prosecuted with diligence his study of geometry and mathe- 
matics, and whatever he could learn about surveying, until at last, 
at the age of 18, he so strongly recommended himself to Mr. 
Edward Webb, Land Surveyor, of Stow-on-the-Wold, that he 
took. him into his office as an assistant to make with Mr. Webb 
*¢a complete survey of the Parish of Churchill for the purposes of 
enclosure.” 
From this time a career seems to have been opened out to him, 
and the opportunities afforded him of making extended observa- 
tions over wide areas of country, and pursuing the bent of his 
mind for geological investigation. 
Edward Webb, like his assistant William Smith, was a self-taught 
man, but he possessed great ingenuity and skill in mechanics, in 
mensuration, logarithms, algebra, &c. His practise as a Surveyor 
included many things now conceded to the Engineer, such as the 
determination of the forces of water and the planning of 
machinery. 
Speedily entrusted with the management of all the ordinary 
business of a Surveyor, William Smith traversed in continual 
activity the Oolitic lands of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire ; the 
Lias Clays and Red Marls of Warwickshire (1788) ; the Sapperton 
Tunnel on the Thames and Severn Canal (1790), and examined 
the Boring for Coal in the New Forest, at Plaitford. 
All the varieties of soil in so many surveys in different districts 
were particularly noticed with the general aspect and character of 
the country, and how the nature of the ground affected the 
agricultural and commercial interests, the physical features, and 
the trees and plants peculiar to each part. 
In 1791 Mr. Webb entrusted his young assistant with the task 
of making a survey of an estate at Stowey, in Somersetshire. To 
reach Stowey Smith went on foot, as was often his wont, passing 
