"THE WITCH IN THE WOOD" SIR, —Much as I admire and
respect Miss Rebecca West's opinions, I should like, if I may, to break a,lance on behalf of those who are temperamentally incapable of appreciating Mr. T. H. White's new renderings of the Arthurian legend, even when they are as notable as The Sword in the Stone. I do not know whether Miss Kate O'Brien will be able to read it with the pleasure she anticipates, but I very much doubt it. Mr. White's work has that rare magnetic quality which inevitably divides readers into two groups : the fascinated and the repelled. The fascinated cannot but forgive Mr. White his many lapses for the sake of his shining successes ; but the repelled cannot
read him without great discomfort, even though they may fully recognise the excellence of parts—as, for example, the account of Arthur's metamorphosis and fish life.
Facetiousness, Mr. White's worst vice, is an English failing peculiarly repugnant to the Irish as to the French. To the Irish it is unforgivable; to the French .incomprehensible. The English are more tolerant because they prize their armour of humour and facetiousness is its odious imitation. Unfortunately, they do not always make the proper distinction between the two. If Mr. White had been able to do that we should all unite in admiration.
zb Bay Tree Lodge, Frognal, London, N.W. 3.
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