13 JANUARY 2001, Page 34

Queen as castrator

From Mr Stewart Trotter Sir: In the woodcut that Paul Healey writes about (Letters, 6 January) Queen Elizabeth I is not about to kill the stag, nor has it 'fallen exhausted at her feet'. The stag is dead and the Queen is about to 'undo' it with the Forester's knife. Following Gervase Markharres instructions in his hunting manual The Gentleman's Academy (1595), she will 'take the assay [penis] before the company then firm cut off the coddes'.

Stewart Trotter

London W9