13 OCTOBER 1973, Page 5

Tom Paine

Sir: A man may be permitted to have read George Selwyn on the Gordon Riots executions, and Hazlitt on Cobbett and Paine, before encountering these familiar allusions in the pages of Miss Audrey Williamson. A glance at The Spectator of June 2, 1973, will assure her that my familiarity with Sel: wyn long anticipated my unfortunate acquaintance with her book; a moment's reflection on my references to Cobbett's projected life of Paine (which she does not discuss) will demonstrate both the relevance of the Hazlitt allusion and the fact that these matters were not, in the first instance, brought to my attention by her work.

Richard Luckett St Catherine's College, Cambridge.