14 MAY 1937, Page 20

SIR,—I agree with Mr. P. Mortimer Maddox in thinking that

this votation is from one of Oujda's earlier novels and regret I cannot give the reference.

In her Idalia : 1867: Vol. I : p..4 : she describes " Sir Fulke Erceldoune " shooting on a Scottish moan Though " he had looked for no rarer game than the blackcocks or the snipes, or at very best a heron from the marshes," he only succeeds in grassing an eagle : this feat, however, gives him little pleasure for, leaning on his rifle, he exclaims, " God forgive me, I have taken a better life than my own."

I have always understood that Ouida is famous for other sporting howlers and that it is not only her race-course pro- cedure which is unsound.—Yours truly, Capenoch, Penpont, Dumfries. HUGH S. GLADSTONE.