I am out of humanity’s reach; I must finish my journey alone: Never hear the sweet music of speech; 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. Society, friendship, and love, Divinely bestowed upon man, Oh, 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 or gold, Or all that this earth can afford. But the sound of the church-going bell, These vallies and rocks never heard; Ne’er sigh’d at the sound of a knell, Or smil’d 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. How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compar’d with the speed of its flight, The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-wing’d arrows of light. When I think of my own native land, In a moment I seem to be there; But alas! recollection at hand Soon hurries me back to despair. But the sea-fowl has gone to her nest, The beast is laid down in his lair; Even here is a season of rest, 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. COWPER. THE END OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK. STARBOARD. HISTORY OF THE WANDERINGS OF TOM STARBOARD. I herewith give my young readers extracts from a little work under this title, which I think they will find entertaining. Mr. Starboard is one of those redoubted travellers, who are generally the heroes of their best stories, and his adventures are no less varied than wonderful. But we will let him speak for himself: “I was two years and a few days wandering over South America. I travelled about one thousand eight hundred miles; but I did not walk all the way; oh no! I frequently went with the Indians up their rivers; and for about five hundred miles I rode on mules, or wild horses, which I caught by stratagem.