Note 29 — VI STAGE FOLK AND OTHERS
Reading edition
On April 20, 1870, Longfellow wrote to Fields (See Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, etc., edited by Samuel Longfellow, III, 148):—
“Some English poet has said or sung:
‘At the close of the day, when the hamlet is still, And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove.’
“I wish Hamlet would be still! I wish I could prove the sweets of forgetfulness! I wish Fechter would depart into infinite space, and ‘leave, oh, leave me to repose!’ When will this disturbing star disappear, and suffer the domestic planetary system to move on in the ordinary course and keep time with the old clock in the corner?”