21 MAY 1937, Page 21

SIR,— About the year 1902 there was a novel called Sandford

of Merton in which I believe the untrained hero accomplished

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] this feat of oarsmanship. I forget the name of the author, but I do not think it was by Ouida. I am inclined to believe it was written as a skit on Ouida's sporting extravagances, as in the same book was a University football match played under an extraordinary mixture of Rugby and Association rules. Possibly the novel in question only had a circulation among Oxford undergraduates of the time.—Yours faithfully,

Royal Northern Hospital, Holloway, N. 7. A. L. IveNs.