ALEXANDER SELKIRK AND THE DANCING GOATS.
The adventures of Alexander Selkirk, an English sailor, who, more than one hundred and fifty years since, was left alone on the island of Juan Fernandez are very wonderful.
This extraordinary man sought to beguile his solitude by rearing kids, and he would often sing to them, and dance with his motley group around him. His clothes having worn out, he dressed himself in garments made from the skins of such as run wild about the island; these he sewed together with thongs of the same material. His only needle was a long slender nail; and when his knife was no longer available, he made an admirable substitute from an iron hoop that was cast ashore.
Upon the wonderful sojourn of this man, Defoe founded his exquisite tale of "Robinson Crusoe," a narrative more extensively read and better known than perhaps any other ever written.
JACOB BOBART.
A curious anecdote of Jacob Bobart, keeper of the physic garden at Oxford, occurs in one of Grey's notes to Hudibras—"He made a dead rat resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which, distended the skin on each side till it resembled wings. He let it dry as hard as possible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon; and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. Magliabecchi, librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; several fine copies of verses were wrote on so rare a subject; but at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat. However, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of the art; and, as such, deposited in the Museum."