20 AUGUST 1977, Page 14

Not guilty

Sir: It would be wrong to let Mr. Nigel Dawson's sour letter about Mr Simon Raven (6 August) go by unanswered.

. 'Slipshod writing'? — Never! If he happened to be inaccurate in his reporting of the whereabouts of an exhibition, does that really matter?

The impression, surely, is that when Mr Raven writes his shoes are on and correctly laced.

Reading your intelligent book reviews — so often more engaging that the books themselves — it is his direct and, apparently, effortless writing, especially, which leaves one thirsting for more, whether it is of Sutherland, Trollope or of the passing scene.

Daphne F. Boulden Salisbury House, 51 Strand Street, Sandwich, Kent