) taken part in the battle of Copenhagen. In the
ordinary course of things he would, there can hardly be a doubt, have
followed his profession along normal lines. His virile intellect and
resourceful courage would probably have won him eminence, but it is not
likely that he would have entered upon that career of exploration which
shed so much lustre on his name, and in the end found him a grave beneath
the immemorial snows of the frozen north. It was by Flinders that young
Franklin was diverted into the glorious path of discovery; from Flinders
that he learnt the strictly scientific part of navigation. "It is very
reasonable for us to infer," writes one of Franklin's biographers* (*
Admiral Markham, Life of Sir John Franklin page 43.) "that it was in all
probability in exploring miles of practically unknown coastline, and in
surveying hitherto undiscovered bays, reefs, and islands in the southern
hemisphere, that John Franklin's mind became imbued with that ardent love
of geographical research which formed such a marked and prominent feature
in his future professional career. Flinders was the example, and
Australian exploration was the school, that created one of our greatest
Arctic navigators and one of the most eminent geographers of his day."

Another matter with which Flinders was occupied during his stay in
England was the preparation of a small publication dealing with his
recent researches. It was entitled "Observations on the coasts of Van
Diemen's Land, on Bass's Strait and its Islands, and on parts of the
coasts of New South Wales, intended to accompany the charts of the late
discoveries in those countries, by Matthew Flinders, second lieutenant of
His Majesty's ship Reliance." It consisted of thirty-five quarto pages,
issued without a wrapper, and stitched like a large pamphlet. John
Nichols, of Soho, was the publisher, but some copies were issued with the
imprint of Arrowsmith, the publisher of charts. Very few copies now
remain, and the little book, which is one of the rare things of
bibliography, is not to be found even in many important libraries.

Flinders dedicated the issue to Sir Joseph Banks. "Your zealous exertions
to promote geographical and nautical knowledge, your encouragement of men
employed in the cultivation of the sciences that tend to this
improvement, and the countenance you have been pleased to show me in
particular, embolden me to lay the following observations before you."
Generally spe