were apparent. (* Mitchell Library
manuscripts.) At this time she believed that she was to make the voyage
to Australia in the Investigator with her husband, and hardly knew
whether the happiness of her new condition or the regretful prospect of a
long farewell to her circle of friends prevailed most in her heart.

"April 17th, 1801.

"My beloved Betsy,

"Thou wilt be much surprised to hear of this sudden affair; indeed I
scarce believe it myself, tho' I have this very morning given my hand at
the altar to him I have ever highly esteemed, and it affords me no small
pleasure that I am now a part, tho' a distant one, of thy family, my
Betsy. It grieves me much thou art so distant from me. Thy society would
have greatly cheered me. Thou wilt to-day pardon me if I say but little.
I am scarce able to coin one sentence or to write intelligibly. It pains
me to agony when I indulge the thought for a moment that I must leave all
I value on earth, save one, alas, perhaps for ever. Ah, my Betsy, but I
dare not, must not, think [that]. Therefore, farewell, farewell. May the
great God of Heaven preserve thee and those thou lovest, oh,
everlastingly. Adieu, dear darling girl; love as ever, though absent and
far removed from your poor

ANNETTE."

We are afforded a confidential insight into Mrs. Flinders' opinion of her
husband in a letter from her to another girl friend. It was written after
the marriage, and when Matthew was again at sea, prosecuting that voyage
from which he was not to return for over nine years. "I don't admire want
of firmness in a man. I love COURAGE and DETERMINATION in the male
character. Forgive me, dear Fanny, but INSIPIDS I never did like, and
having not long ago tasted such delightful society I have now a greater
contempt than in former days for that cast of character." An "insipid"
Ann Chappell certainly had not married, and she found in Matthew Flinders
no lack of the courage and determination she admired.

A second marriage contracted by the elder Matthew Flinders, connecting
his family with the Franklins, had an important influence upon the life
of another young sailor who had commenced his career in the Navy in the
previous year. The Franklin family, which sprang from the village of
Sibsey (about six miles north-east of Boston), was now resident at
Spilsby. At the time of the Flinders-Chappell wedding, young John
Franklin was serving on the Polyphemus, and had only a few days
previously (April 1