" CROSSING THE BAR."
[To THE EDITOR 07 THE "SPECTATOR."] SIB,—It is difficult to believe that any one could have accepted the spurious interpretation of " the dark," in " Crossing the Bar," contradicted by the present Lord Tennyson, in Mr.
Craik's letter. of October 19th, who knew the Laureate's epilogue to Tiresias ( " Tiresias, and other Poems," p. 17)
And the master gone.
Gone into darkness, that full light Of friendship ! past, in sleep, away By night, into the deeper night !
The deeper night ? A clearer day Than our poor twilight dawn on earth—
If night, what barren toil to be !
What life, so maim'd by night, were worth Our living out ? Not mine to me."
I venture to quote the lines, because I fear that they are not so well known as they should be.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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