...William Cowper s "The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk" that articulates this melancholy quite precisely: I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none...round to the sea I am lord of the fowl and the brute. Oh, solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms,...

...African slavery divine. The poet [William] Cowper represents Robinson Crusoe in these familiar lines: I am monarch of all I survey. My right there is none to dispute, From the center all round to the sea. I am the lord of the fowl and the brute. But when Crusoe saw upon the...

...that the great sullen brown continent killed him as one crushes nits. I find in my diary: Oh Africa, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in Old England on alms Than be rich in that terrible place. The life aboard ship, however, was an easy...