13 MARCH 1909, Page 16

CHILDREN IN LATIN POETRY.

• [To TIER EDITOR or TUN " SPROTATOR.".] • SIR,—The writer of the article in the Spectator of February 27th has hardly been happy in his selection from Lucretius. Many much more familiar aspects of child life are to be found depicted in the "De Rerum Natura.". For example, there are the children who tremble in the dark and ate afraid of everything, or the children who turn round and round till everything swims and they think the roof is coming down upon them. Then there is the little boy who has been ill and will not take his dose of castor-oil till the doctor has smeared the edges of the glass with honey, when be drinks off the nasty draught at a gulp without knowing anything about it. Or the well-known pictures of the children, running to kiss their father and soothing his anger with their winning Ways. Evidences like these of the poet's joy in life, standing out in sharp contrast to the despair of his philosophy, give a perennial interest to Lucretiva's writings.—I am, Sir, &e.,