It is a legend at the Players Club that the god of all the arts once whispered into the ear of the young Edwin Booth, and this is what he said:

"I shall give you hunger, and pain, and sleepless nights. Also beauty and satisfactions known to few, and glimpses of the heavenly life. None of these shall you have continually, and of their coming and going you shall not be foretold."

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I found this quote in several places among Edwin's papers, and so know he loved it. It describes his life. . . .

I would add: Nor is this untrue of poets' lives . . . .