"'Il a du merite. Il a beaucoup d'avenir.'

"'Ah,' said I, 'c'est une belle chose que l'avenir.'

"The elderly French gentleman rolled up the whites of his eyes and
answered:--

"'Oui, c'est une belle chose; mais vous et moi, nous n'en avons pas
beaucoup!'

"Superfluous information!--H. W. L."

It would be both an endless and unprofitable task to recall more of
the curious experiences which popularity brought down upon him. There
is a passage among Mr. Fields's notes, however, in which he describes
an incident during Longfellow's last visit to England, which should
not be overlooked. Upon his arrival, the Queen sent a graceful
message, and invited him to Windsor Castle, where she received him
with all the honors; but he told me no foreign tribute touched him
deeper than the words of an English hod-carrier, who came up to the
carriage door at Harrow, and asked permission to take the hand of the
man who had written the "Voices of the Night."

There was no break nor any change in the friendship with his publisher
during the passing of the years; but in 1861 there is a note
containing only a few words, which shows that a change had fallen upon
Longfellow himself, a shadow which never could be lifted from his
life. He writes:--

"MY DEAR FIELDS,--I am sorry to say No instead of Yes; but so it must