advanced in life. The root of an ash tree, on the bank
which bends round the little bay, had been half bared by the waters during
one of the winter floods, and afforded a commodious resting-place, whereon
I took my seat, at once basking in the sun and bathing, as it were, in the
vernal breeze. But delightful as all about me was to eye, and ear, and
feeling, it brought with it a natural reflection, that the scene which I
now beheld was the same which it had been and would continue to be, while
so many of those with whom I had formerly enjoyed it, were past away. Our
day-dreams become retrospective as we advance in years; and the heart feeds
as naturally upon remembrance in age as upon hope in youth.

"Where are they gone, the old familiar faces?"

I thought of her, whom I had so often seen plying her little skiff upon
that glassy water, the lady of the lake. It was like a poet's dream, or a
vision of romance, to behold her--and like a vision or a dream she had
departed!

"O gentle Emma, o'er a lovelier form
Than thine, earth never closed; nor e'er did heaven
Receive a purer spirit from the world!"

I thought of D., the most familiar of my friends during those years when we
lived near enough to each other for familiar intercourse--my friend, and
the friend of all who were dearest to me; a man, of whom all who knew him
will concur with me in saying, that they never knew, nor could conceive of
one more strictly dutiful, more actively benevolent, more truly kind, more
thoroughly good; the pleasantest companion, the sincerest counsellor, the
most considerate friend, the kindest host, the welcomest guest. After our
separation, he had visited me here three summers; with him it was that I
had first explored this land of lakes in all directions; and again and
again should we have retraced our steps in the wildest recesses of these
vales and mountains, and lived over the past again, if he had not, too
early for all who loved him,

"Began the travel of eternity."

I called to mind my hopeful H----, too, so often the sweet companion of my
morning walks to this very spot; in whom I had fondly thought my better
part should have survived me, and

"With whom it seemed my very life
Went half away!
But we shall meet--but we shall meet
Where parting tears shall never flow;
And when I think thereon, almost
I long to go!"

"Thy dead shall live, O Lord; together with my dead bo