THE BLUE-GRASS REGION OF KENTUCKY, (TO THE EDITOR OF THE
"SPECTATOR.") Sr,—There is a curious mistake in your review in the Spectator of June 2nd of Mr. James Lane Allen's Blue- Grass Region of Kentucky." You say : "With a population exceeding two millions Kentucky only boasts of one town with more than five thousand inhabitants." This, of course, is incorrect. I have not Mr. Allen's book at hand, but I read the articles when they appeared in a magazine a year or so ago, and as far as my recollection goes, what Mr. Allen really says is that there is only one inland town in Kentucky of more than five thousand white inhabitants,—a very different statement. Louisville has nearly two hundred thousand inhabitants, and Newport, Covington, Henderson, Paducah, and, I think, Owensboro, have all more, and some considerably more, than five thousand inhabitants. These places are all on the Ohio, the water-front of Kentucky. Lexington is the inland town referred to by Mr. Allen; it has a population of over twenty thousand. Many of the other country towns have a population of over five thousand, but of course there is always a large coloured element. No doubt you will later receive letters from America making this correction, but I send this meanwhile, as I spent some happy yeari in the Blue- Grass State, and do not like to see it undervalued in spite of its present unsavoury political reputation, which, by the way,
your review leaves out of sight.—I am, Sir, M.
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