THE JOURNEY DOWN, AND CONCLUSION. 405 



depicted in his pages my companion in many a 

 solitary ramble. What happy remembrances, how 

 many visions of happy days long since numbered 

 with the past, has that book conjured up in my 

 mind ! and how many heartfelt blessings must 

 ever rest on the head of that man who can, by a 

 few strokes of his pencil, recall to the wanderer's 

 mind so many fond recollections of youth and 

 home ! 



Youthful impressions are hard to eradicate; 

 and perhaps of all our innocent loves that of wild 

 flowers clings to us the longest. I can pass by 

 the richest parterre with a very casual glance, and 

 though I cannot help admiring the gaudy colours 

 of the tulip, the dahlia, or the hollyhock, I scarcely 

 care to take a second look at them. Many a year 

 has now passed by since I plucked the violet, the 

 primrose, the dog-rose, and wild honeysuckle in 

 the sheltered lane of my own happy village ; but if 

 by chance I recognize one of them, or even a 

 representative, in a foreign land, it seems like 

 meeting with a dear old friend, and in an instant 

 I am again at home. For, 



" What fond recollections the cowslip awakes, 

 What sweet little islands twice seen in their lakes, 



Does the wild water-lily restore ! 

 What visions I read in the primrose's looks, 

 And what pictures of pebbled and minnowy brooks, 



In the vetches that tangle their shore!" 



