OLD FfilENDS WITH NEW FACES. 371 



of mingled joy and sorrow which may have passed away 

 since our last visit, we had no difficulty in recognising, in 

 .spite of mist and vapour, many an old familiar scene. It 

 often happens that a few repeated persevering look; at 

 what were once familiar places, have much the same effect 

 as clearing away the moss and lichens which encrust an 

 ancient tomb-stone, or rubbing the rust from off some old 

 time-honoured coin. All that wa 3 dim, or even dead, in 

 our remembrance, gains gradually increase of strength, 

 till at last the sad waters of oblivion roll slowly back- 

 wards, and sunny scenes of youth or early manhood are 

 brought to view in all their original brightness. So is it 

 also with the well-remembered aspect of a much-loved, 

 long-lost friend, — some one in whom a score of years 

 (and no furlough) beneath a burning clime has changed 

 the fair fresh hue of youth to that of the Nabob's hoarded 

 gold, and has grizzled redundant locks once glossy as the 

 raven's wing. The gay aid limber youth, as wild with 

 glee as any mountain fawn, can scarcely at first be recog- 

 nised in the staid features and somewhat sombre bearing 

 of the highly respectable middle-aged gentleman (retired 

 upon a good allowance, and not without thought of the 

 East India direction), who unexpectedly presents himself 

 before you, under an old familiar name. And yet before 

 the first cheerful evening you spend together has elapsed, 

 the voice, the eye, the manner, .node of speech, the very 



