1 SEPTEMBER 1990, Page 25

Quibbling

Sir: The Spectator was far too kind in heading the carping letter from Mr Clifford Gardner (25 August) 'Texan pedant', even though it came from that centre of scho- larship, Austin. A pedant is someone who is irritatingly right. Mr Gardner is pitifully wrong. When Mr Bumble said, 'The law is a ass', he was only, in his own idiom, quoting a proverbial phrase. 'The law is such an ass' occurs in George Chapman's play, Revenge for Honour, 200 years be- fore Mr Bumble. Who is a ignoramus?

James Michie

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