11 JANUARY 1935, Page 20

FRANCIS THE FIRST [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I

have just seen in your issue of December 28th Mr. Hackett's comments on my recent review in your columns of his book on Francis I.

That Mr. Hackett's attitude to Francis is a sentimental one, will be clear to any reader of his first few pages. That he deliberately adopted this attitude for ulterior motives and, having adopted it, deliberately adjusted his facts to it, it never entered my head to suggest. Every artist must sub- ordinate his detail to his general conception of his subject. Except in this sense, it did not occur to me to " attribute " to Mr. Hackett any " motives " at all.—Yours faithfully,