"TO MATTHEW ARNOLD IN AMERICA." [To THE EDITOR OF THE
"SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Had I known that this little poem was to have the honour of appearing a second time in the Spectator, in a Latin dress, I should have written before to beg you to correct a misprint. The last verse should be read as follows :—
" Ab, yet consider it again !'
Thy Thyrsis sang of yore :—
We borrow thy lost friend's refrain, And bid thee sing once more."
The " Thyrsis " of Mr. Arnold's penis is A. H. Clough ; and the allusion here is to the verses of the latter with the refrain, " Ab, yet consider it again !"
Some of your readers may share with me the remembrance of a certain University sermon preached at Oxford by the present Bishop of Manchester, to which this poem of Clough's formed the peroration ; and of the hushed and breathless attention through the crowded galleries, as again and again sounded the ringing burden, " Ah, yet consider it again !"—I am, Sir, &c., F. W. B.
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