11 NOVEMBER 1955, Page 18

THE SCHOLAR AS CRITIC

SIR,—I do not think we ought to accept Mr. Amis's belief that W. P. Ker was 'hostile or contemptuous', to 'modernity' without weigh' ing the evidence of the preface to his address as President of the English Association in 1916. This long passage was omitted when the lecture —the famous one on the eighteenth century-- was reprinted, so no wonder it is now forgotten. It was prompted by the death of Henry James, and it describes him as 'that most subtle mind: If we were to limit ourselves to a single phrase in description of James it would be hard to improve on Ker's.—Yours faithfully, GEOFFREY TILLOTS08

Birkbeck College (University of London), Malet Street, WC1