A footnote to what has been said and written about
Mr. Asquith in connection with his centenary last week. For some- thing like ten years in the seventies and eighties of last century Asquith regularly wrote one of-the two leading articles in each week's Spectator. Those were the great days of Townsend and Hutton. " There has, I suppose," wrote Lord Oxford in his Memories and Reflections, " in the history of English - journalism rarely, if ever, been such a partnership as that which prevailed for the lifetime of a generation between Townsend and Hutton." The qualification is unnecessary. There never has. But Asquith did a little more than write leaders. When one of the two joint-editors went off on his annual holiday the future Prime Minister took his place and played his part in the technical business of " putting the paper to bed " on Press day. The Spectator has had many distinguished contributors in its long history, but none to whom a higher place can be accorded.
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