HIS MARRIAGE AND DEATH. ; 689

and friends, though, from the habits he had acquired in his island-solitude,
he would leave them for long intervals, and retire into the groves and valleys
to enjoy the luxury of lonely meditation. But by degrees this contented-
ness of disposition wore away. He was seized with paroxysms of dejection,
and was often heard to murmur, ‘‘ Oh, my beloved island!—I wish I had
never left thee!—I never was before the man I was on thee!—I have not
been such since I left thee! and, I fear, never can be again!” We are
tempted to bolieve that religious fears were at the bottom of this singular
despondency, and that he was haunted by an apprehension of relapsing into
the errors and wayward follies of his early youth.

On the summit of an eminence commanding a picturesque view of the
Forth he constructed a cave, where he spent a considerable portion of his
time. He also spent several hours every day in fishing, either in the beautiful
Bay of Largo, or at Kingscraig Point,—but always alone. Yet not always
alone. In his later wanderings, he met with an amiable young peasant girl,
named Sophia Bruce, and a romantic attachment springing up between the
wave-worn seaman and the simple maiden, the two agreed to become one,
and secretly set off for London. As no obstacle could be opposed to their
marriage by parents or friends, it is reasonable to suppose that the elope-
ment was dictated by a desire to avoid the laughter of the foolish. How
easily might jests be manufactured at the expense of a recluse s0 aeiaey
converted to a belief in the happiness of married life!

Of the later years of Alexander Selkirk we know but little. It would
seem that the gentle Sophia died some time between 1717 and 1720; that
Selkirk, who entered the royal navy, and rose to the rank of a lieutenant.
married a second time. For towards the end of 1724, or about the beginning
of 1725, his widow, Frances Candis by name, made her appearance in
Largo, to claim the property left to Alexander by his father—a house at or
near the Craigie Well. She duly proved her marriage before the proper
authorities; the will, which was dated December 12,1720; and her hus-
band’s death on board H.M.S. Weymouth, 1728. Her claims having been
adjusted, she left Largo.

The various relics which Selkirk had left behind him were greatly valued
by his friends, and his sea-chest, his shell-cup, and his flip-can, inscribed—

“* Alexander Selkirk, this is my can.

* * * *

When you take me on board of ship,
Pray, fill me with punch or flip ;”—

these, and other memorials of the solitary of Juan Fernandez island, are
now preserved in the Museum of Science and Arts, Edinburgh. Butsolong
as “ Robinson Crusoe” is read, and Englishmen retain aught of the old
Norse spirit of adventure, Alexander Selkirk will not be forgotten.

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