Sir: Mr Seymour-Smith's article on the Hardy Festival was excellent.
The idea of a Hardy Fes- tival had a nasty taste; was it a sincere tribute to Hardy, or a wish to be on the festival map?
There must be many people, still living in Dorchester, who gave small honour to Hardy in his lifetime; who allowed that deplorable statue rather than commission that great por- trait sculptor, Epstein, who would have wel- comed the work (pages 88-89, Epstein's auto- biography); who did not make it possible that Max Gate, built by Hardy, should be kept as a place of pilgrimage. Past indifference and neglect cannot be wiped out by a festival.
Poor Hardy, who gave so much, and was served so badly by his home town. I suspect snobbery came into this. Let the man now rest in peace, his books read and enjoyed, and thanks given to him for his creations. Let us have no more books raking in by-ways for so-called facts about his private life.
E. M. J. Pleister 10 Manor Court, Pinehurst, Grange Road, Cambridge
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