What
aggravated the horrors of Flinders' confinement was, that he knew
that Baudin, the French navigator, whom he had encountered while
making his survey of the Australian coasts, would reach Europe
first, and claim the merit of all the discoveries he had made. It
turned out as he had expected; and while Flinders was still
imprisoned in the Isle of France, the French Atlas of the new
discoveries was published, all the points named by Flinders and
his precursors being named afresh. Flinders was at length
liberated, after six years' imprisonment, his health completely
broken; but he continued correcting his maps, and writing out
his descriptions to the last. He only lived long enough to
correct his final sheet for the press, and died on the very
day that his work was published!
Courageous men have often turned enforced solitude to account in
executing works of great pith and moment. It is in solitude that
the passion for spiritual perfection best nurses itself. The soul
communes with itself in loneliness until its energy often becomes
intense. But whether a man profits by solitude or not will mainly
depend upon his own temperament, training, and character. While,
in a large-natured man, solitude will make the pure heart purer,
in the small-natured man it will only serve to make the hard heart
still harder: for though solitude may be the nurse of great
spirits, it is the torment of small ones.
Pages:
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466