20 JULY 1962, Page 16

SIR,—Dr. Johnson's accomplishments were many and varied, but 1 do

not think that, as Mr. Fleming implies, a knowledge ot. Portuguese was among them. The relevant passage from Boswell's Life (Chapter IV) reads: 'Having mentioned that he had read at Pembroke College a Voyage to Abyssinia" by Lobo, a Portuguese Jesuit, and that he thought an abridgement and tran ;lation of it from the French into English might be a useful and profit- able publication, Mr. Warren and Mr. Hector joined in urging him to undertake it.' In view of the proximity of this sentence to the one -Mr. Fleming quotes, it is odd that he did not notice it.

A. P. NA Il LIAMS

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