Notwithstanding the agitation of alternate hopes and fears as to the realisation of his dream of becoming a clergyman, young William Smith had shown no want of willing application to the business of news-agency, upon which he entered at the age of sixteen. While it is impossible to doubt the reality of his religious conviction and the large place which it filled in all his schemes for the future, it is equally impossible not to admire the resolution with which he acted on Candide's maxim — il faut cultivev notre jardin.

There is an entry in his journal for August 1846, highly characteristic of his thoughtful and precise habit of mind: —

The last few weeks have been marked with very important and serious events. First came the decision affecting my future life, of the results of which no one can form any estimate. Then my coming of age on 24th June was a serious event, as, with the liberal means afforded me by my father, and the general though tacit concession of freedom of thought and action,.. the acknowledgment that I am a man—all have opened up fresh responsibilities and duties, without removing any that previously existed. … On the 30th ulto., Mr Ford waited upon us by appointment to take our joint instructions as to the Partnership, which gives me £500 a-year clear, board and lodging, a comparative interest in the capital of £2000 — for seven year, but liable to six months’ notice on either side. These terms, with which was coupled an express declaration that they were only temporary, as a prelude to much greater concessions, are extremely liberal and considerate.