264 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



to his irretrievable losses in the unlucky speculation 

 already mentioned near Bath, and armed himself 

 with what seemed more than fortitude to meet it. 



One more used to monetary arrangements would 

 have foreseen and averted this occurrence ; but on 

 the practical geologist the blow fell with stunning 

 effect. He surrendered with deep regret his interest 

 in the much-loved and really valuable little pro- 

 perty near Bath, quitted London, and consented 

 to have no home. From this time for seven years 

 he became a wanderer in the north of England, 

 rarely visiting London, except when drawn thither 

 by the professional engagements which still, even 

 in his loneliest retirements, were pressed upon him, 

 and yielded him an irregular, contracted, and 

 fluctuating income. 



In the winter of 1819-20, Mr. Smith, having 

 perhaps more than usual leisure, undertook to walk 

 from Lincolnshire into Oxfordshire. The object 

 proposed was to pass along a particular line 

 through the counties of Rutland, Northampton, 

 Bedford, and Oxford, but the ultimate destination 

 was Swindon, in Wiltshire. 



"Leaving the great road at Colsterworth, with 

 some reflections on the birthplace of Newton,* we 

 crossed in a day's easy walk, the little county of 

 Rutland, its hills of oolite and sand, its slopes of 

 upper lias, and its valleys often showing marl- 

 stone, and reached the obscure village of Gretton, 

 on the edge of Rockingham Forest. Whatever 



* Written by his biographer. 



