Chapter 426

Chapter

49

I received one morning by the post, the following letter, dated Canterbury, and addressed to me at Doctor’s Commons; which I read with some surprise:

‘MY ''dear Sir'',

‘Circumstances beyond my individual control have, for a

considerable lapse of time, effected a severance of that intimacy

which, in the limited opportunities conceded to me in the midst of

my professional duties, of contemplating the scenes and events of

the past, tinged by the prismatic hues of memory, has ever afforded

me, as it ever must continue to afford, gratifying emotions of no

common description. This fact, my dear sir, combined with the

distinguished elevation to which your talents have raised you,

deters me from presuming to aspire to the liberty of addressing the

companion of my youth……