VERSES

SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER SELKIRK,

DURING HIS SOLITARY ABODE IN THE ISLAND

OF JUAN FERNANDEZ.

I AM monarch of all I survey,

My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea,

I am lord of the fowl and the brute.

O Solitude! where are the charms,

That

sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms,

Than reign in this horrible place.

I am out of humanity's reach,

I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech,

10

I start at the sound of my own.

The beasts, that roam over the plain,

My form with indifference see; They are so unacquainted with man,

Their tameness is shocking to me.

20

Society, friendship, and love,
Divinely bestow'd upon man,

, O, had I the wings of a dove,

How soon would I taste you again! My sorrows I then might assuage

In the ways of religion and truth, Might learn from the wisdom of age,

And be cheer'd by the sallies of youth.

Religion! what treasure untold

Resides in that heavenly word! More precious than silver and gold,

Or all that this Earth can afford.

30

But the sound of the church-going bell

These vallies and rocks never heard, Never sigh'd at the sound of a knell,

Or smild when a sabbath appear'd.

Ye winds, that have made me your sport,

Convey to this desolate shore Some cordial endearing report

Of a land I shall visit no more.

My friends, do they now and then send

A wish or a thought after me? O tell me I yet have a friend,

Though a friend I am never to see.

40

How fleet is a glance of the mind!

Compar'd with the speed of it's flight, The tempest itself lags behind,

And the swift winged arrows of light.

And I to my cabin repair. There's mercy in every place,

And mercy, encouraging thought! Gives even affliction a grace,

And reconciles man to his lot.

ON THE

PROMOTION OF EDWARD THƯRLOW, ESQ.

TO THE LORD HIGH CHANCELLORSHIP

OF ENGLAND.

Round Thurlow's head in early youth,

And in his sportive days,
Fair Science pour’d the light of truth,

And Genius shed his rays.

See! with united wonder cried

Th' experienc'd and the sage,
Ambition in a boy supplied

With all the skill of age!

10

Discernment, eloquence, and grace

Proclaim him born to sway
The balance in the highest place,

And bear the palm away.