MATTHEW ARNOLD.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 Sin,—May a lover of Matthew Arnold's poetry, while thank- ing you much for the article thereupon on March 25th, point out that through a slight misquotation (or possibly misprint) you somewhat obscure, in one of the instances you cite,. that very quality of the poet's which you are illustrating ?
"And tasks in hours of insight will'd May be in hours of gloom fulflll'd ; "— so you quote the lines.
" But tasks in hours of insight will'd
Can be through hours of gloom fulftll'd ; "- so Arnold wrote them.
And surely the substitution of " through " for LP in'" in the second line, marking as it does the weariness of the struggle through long hours of effort to attain an ideal the vision of which has come in some glad hour of inspiration, forms a, striking instance of that "rare carving of his words " which, as you say, makes so many of his single lines and phrases memorable.—I am, Sir, &c., WEAR W. HUNT.
Troweil Rectory, Notts., March 30th.
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