REFLECTIONS. 325 



me back to early times and feelings, and to 

 create again the hopes and happiness of 

 youthful days. 



PHYS. I felt something like what you 

 described ; and were I convinced that in the 

 cultivation of the amusement, these feelings 

 would increase, I would devote myself to it 

 with passion; but, I fear, in my case this 

 is impossible. Ah ! could I recover any 

 thing like that freshness of mind, which I 

 possessed at twenty-five, and which, like the 

 dew of the dawning morning, covered all 

 objects and nourished all things that grew, 

 and in which they were more beautiful even 

 that in mid-day sunshine, what would I 

 not give ! All that I have gained in an 

 active and not unprofitable life. How well 

 I remember that delightful season, when, 

 full of power, I sought for power in others ; 

 and power was sympathy, and sympathy 

 power ; when the dead and the unknown, 

 the great of other ages and of distant places, 

 were made, by the force of the imagination, 

 my companions and friends; when every 

 voice seemed one of praise and love ; when 

 Y 3 



