After this elopement, nothing was heard of him for some years. At length, however, a gay widow, of the name of Frances Candis, or Candia, came to Largo, to claim the property left to him by his father, and produced documents to prove her right, from which it appeared that Sophia Bruce lived but a very few years after her marriage. He himself, after attaining the rank of Lieutenant, died on board his Majesty’s ship Weymouth, some time in the year 1723.
POSTSCRIPT.
The chest and cup which Selkirk had with him on the island, are in the possession of a family in Nether Largo, in Fifeshire, who reside in the house in which he was born. The former is in excellent preservation although at least 123 years old. It is made of cedar, strongly built, and very massy. The initials A. S. are rudely carved on the lid. The cup is the shell of some kind of nut which probably grew on the island. The late Mr. Constable, of Edinburgh, caused it to be much adorned and beautified, by giving it a new pendicle, and having its edge surmounted with silver.—Imperial Magazine.
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.
Oh solitude! where are the charms,