23 SEPTEMBER 1905, Page 16

Sin.,—There is a curious parallel to one of the complaints

of your correspondent, Mr. P. A. Vaile, in last week's Spectator on the "Tonelessness of Englishmen," in a letter (unpublished) written to Warren Hastings by one of his friends in the year 1801. The writer criticises adversely "the Young Men of the present age, whom I perceive seldom advance farther in Con- versation or observation than—a confounded Boar [bore], an Oath, and a 'Pan my Honor, ending all with an horse laugh, -very comprehensive to those they are talking with." The men of Trafalgar and Waterloo seem to have been superior to their descendants only in being able to laugh.—I am, Sir, &c., SYDNEY U. GRIER.

Eastbourne.