WILLIAM SMITH : HIS MAPS AND MEMOIRS ILi 
there was not a copy in the Library of the Geological Society in London ; 
but later one was found, the Title, as mis-quoted by Phillips, apparently 
being misleading. Phillips, in his Memoir of William Smith, makes only 
a very brief reference to it (p. 49) and adds, " It has long been out of 
print." That was in 1844, and I feel sure that even Phillips never saw 
a copy, especially as the title given by him is nothing like that given 
on the work itself. As Phillips was born in 1800, he would only be a 
boy of six when the book was published. 
However, after repeated advertising in the second-liand book- 
trade journals, and searching in innumerable channels, I was at last 
successful in securing a copy. It is 8vo in size, bound in boards. On 
the back is a label, " Smith on Water Meadows, &c. " ; and on the 
front, " Smith / on / Water Meadows, / Draining, / Peat Bogs, / and 
other Improvements." The title page, however, reads : — 
Observations / on the / Utility, Form and Management / 
OF / Water Meadows, / and the Draining and Irrigating / of / 
Peat Bogs, / with / An Account of Prisley Bog, / and other / 
Extraordinary Improvements, / conducted for / His Grace 
the Duke of Bedford, / Thomas William Coke, Esq., M.P./ and 
others ; / By William Smith, / Engineer and Mineralogist. / 
Norwich : Printed for John Harding, 66, St. James's Street, 
/ London, / 1806." 
On the back of the title page, at the bottom, is the imprint : — 
" Printed by Bacon, Cockney Lane, Norwich." 
The Contents " reads : — " Dedication, Preface, Introduction, 
The Origin and Antiquity of Water Meads, Their Advantages, Their 
Formation, Their Management, Low Meads and Marshes, The Prisley 
Bog, Various Water Meads, Lexham Water Meads, Ancient Water 
Meads, Conclusion." The Volume has v. + 121 pages, and two plates ; 
No. 2 (frontispiece) " Plan of a Water Meadow made out of that part 
of a Bog on Prisley Farm which was attempted to be drained in 1795, 
completed by Wm. Smith 1803 " ; and Plate I., " Plan of a Water- 
Meadow, made out of a Bog at Prisley Farm, belonging to His Grace 
the Duke of Bedford, by Wm. Smith, 1803. Containing 9 acres."* 
* The method of shading, as shown on these plans, is very similar 
to that in some of the old County Agricultural Surveys already referred 
to. 
