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ALEXANDER SELKIRK,

During his solitary abode in the Island of Juan Fernandes.

BY COWPER.

[Alexander Selkirk was a seaman who, in 1704, was left on the desert island of Juan Fernandez, of which he remained the sole inhabitant during five years. His adventures supplied the foundation of the most popular book in the world-Robinson Crusoe.]

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-
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,
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 cheered 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 valleys and rocks never heard ;
Ne'er sighed at the sound of a knell,

Or smiled when a Sabbath appeared.

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!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,

And the swift-winged 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 has laid down in his lair:
E'en 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.

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THE SABBATH MORN.

BY JAS, GRAHAME.

How still the morning of the hallowed day! Mute is the voice of rural labour; hushed The ploughboy's whistle, and the milkmaid's song. The scythe lies glittering in the dewy wreath Of tedded grass, mingled with fading flowers, That yester-morn bloomed waving in the breeze. Sounds the most faint attract the ear,-the hum Of early bee, the trickling of the dew, The distant bleating, mid-way up the hill: Calmness sits throned on yon unmoving cloud. To him, who wanders o'er the upland leas, The blackbird's note comes mellower from the dale; And sweeter from the sky the gladsome lark Warbles his heaven-tuned song; the lulling brook Murmurs more gently down the deep-worn glen; While from yon lowly roof, whose curling smoke

O'er-mounts the mists, is heard at intervals
The voice of psalms, the simple song of praise.

With dove-like wings, peace o'er yon village broods!
The dizzying mill-wheel rests; the anvil's din
Hath ceased; all, all around is quietness.
Less fearful on this day, the limping hare

Stops and looks back, and stops, and looks on man,
Her deadliest foe. The toil-worn horse, set free,
Unheedful of the pasture, roams at large;
And as his stiff unwieldy bulk he rolls,
His iron-armed hoofs gleam in the morning ray.
But chiefly man the day of rest enjoys.
Hail SABBATH! thee I hail, the poor man's day!
On other days, the man of toil is doomed
To eat his joyless bread, lonely; the ground

Both seat and board; screened from the winter's cold,
And summer's heat, by neighbouring hedge or tree ;-
But on this day embosomed in his home

He shares the frugal meal with those he loves;
With those he loves he shares the heartfelt joy
Of giving thanks to Gop-not thanks of form,
A word and a grimace, but reverently,
With covered face, and upward earnest eye.

Hail, SABBATH! thee I hail, the poor man's day!
The pale mechanic now has leave to breath
The morning air, pure from the city's smoke;
While wandering slowly up the river side,
He meditates on HIM, whose power he marks
In each green tree that proudly spreads the bough,
As in the tiny dew-bent flowers that bloom
Around its root; and while he thus surveys,
With elevated joy, each rural charm,

He hopes, yet fears presumption in the hope,
That heaven may be one SABBATH without end!

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Monthly Retrospect of Public Affairs.

THE unhappy inquiry into the conduct of the Queen, during her residence abroad, continues almost exclusively to occupy the public attention. We call it unhappy, because, however essential it may be that not even a suspicion should attach itself to the first female of this great country, without explanation, yet the attempt which has been made, too successfully, to awaken the most malignant feelings against the Government, in consequence of this inquiry, must make every reflecting person deplore the circumstance which has so violently stimulated all factious and anarchical passions. It is unquestionably the duty-the clear and imperative duty-of every honest man and of every loyal subject, not to prejudge this solemn question-not to affirm the Queen guilty on the one hand-for that would be unfeelingly and unjustly to deny her what is conceded to the worst of criminals;-nor to maintain her innocence on the other hand-for that would be ignorantly and malevolently to affirm that the first men in the country are base and unprincipled persecutors.

In consequence of the determination of the Queen that the inquiry should not be suspended, by her concession to the wishes of the House of Commons, the proceedings in the House of Lords were immediately resumed. On the 4th of July the Earl of Harrowby presented the Report of the Secret Committee, to whom the papers connected with his Majesty's Message had been referred. It was as follows:

"By the Lords' Committee, appointed a Secret Committee to examine the papers laid before the House of Lords on Tuesday the 6th of June last, in two sealed bags, by his Majesty's command, and to report thereupon, as they shall see fit, and to whom have been since referred several additional papers, in two sealed bags, relative to the subject-matter of his Majesty's most gracious message of the 6th of June last.-Ordered to report,

"That the Committee have examined, with all the attention due to so important a subject, the documents which have been laid before them, and they find that those documents contain allegations supported by the concurrent testimony of a great number of persons in various situations of life, and residing in different parts of Europe, which deeply affect the honour of the Queen, charging her Majesty with an adulterous connexion with a foreigner originally in her service in a menial capacity; and attributing to her Majesty a continued series of conduct highly unbecoming her Majesty's rank and station, and of the most licentious character.

"These charges appear to the Committee so deeply to affect not only the honour of the Queen, but also the dignity of the Crown and the moral feelings and honour of the country, that in their opinion it is indispensible that they should become the subject of a solemn inquiry; which it appears to the Committee may be best effected in the course of a legislative proceeding, the necessity of which they cannot but most deeply deplore."

In consequence of this Report, a Bill was on the following day laid upon the table of the House of Lords, of which the following is the

substance:

"A Bill to deprive her Majesty, Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth, of the title, prerogatives, rights, privileges, and pretensions of Queen-Consort of this realm, and to dissolve the marriage between his Majesty and the said Queen.

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Whereas, in the year 1814, her Majesty, Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth, then Princess of Wales, and now Queen-Consort of this realm, at that time residing at Milan, took into her service one Bartholomew Bergatni, alias Pergami, a foreigner in a low situation, the said Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, having before served in a similar capacity : and whereas, after the said Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, had so entered her service, a most improper intercourse took place between them. She not only advanced him to a high situation in her household, and employed his relations-some in inferior, and others in confidential situations-but bestowed on him various other marks of her approbation ; having obtained for him the decorations of several foreign orders, and even instituted, on his account, an order of her own will, without any competent authority. And, forgetful of her rank and station, and wholly regardless of her honour and character, she conducted herself towards the said Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, with indecent and offensive familiarity and freedom, and carried on with him a scandalous and adulterous intercourse-by which great scandal and dishonour were brought on her Royal Highness, as well as on this kingdom. And the said scandalous and adulterous conduct towards his Majesty having rendered the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth unworthy of the situation of Queen of this realm; therefore we, your Majesty's most dutiful subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, do humbly entreat your Majesty,

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"That it may be enacted, and be it enacted, by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the consent of the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, that the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth shall, from and after the passing of this Act, be hereafter deprived of the title and dignity of Queen of this realm, and of all rights, prerogatives, privileges, and pretensions connected therewith; and that, from and after the passing of this Act, the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth shall for ever be rendered incapable of enjoying the same in any way whatsoever.

"And be it further enacted, that the marriage between the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth and his Majesty be wholly dissolved, annulled, and made void, to all intents and purposes."

In consequence of those proceedings several petitions were presented by the Queen, the most important of which contained a request that a list of witnesses should be furnished her Majesty. About this time some Italians who had landed at Dover, for the purpose of giving evidence, were most grossly ill-treated by the populace. The petition was rejected upon several grounds;-but principally upon the unanswerable argument that the publication of such a list would impede the course of justice by subjecting the parties to the outrages of inflamed and ignorant mobs.

The second reading of the Bill of Pains and Penalties, upon which the trial will commence, is fixed for the 17th August. Both Houses have in the mean time adjourned.

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