In the Waughs
Surr: Sae Muster Oberon Wauch
(ur dizzy ca' Waw?) cannae unnerstaun whi' Uz Yins sez — uz vilent, stun'ed, hauf-wi"ed, yazhully druckn yins, spungin' on the tahx-peyer fur the lahst sax year ur mair. Ay, weel, bu' mibby Uz Yins couldnae unnerstaun Muster Wauch eetherz, ivvy speaks kinna like the wey y wri'es, awfae Hiech Ung-lish an' unco Big-Hoose.
Bu' y neednae' bi sae feart an' rin awa' frae uz like a herr; wur barrk's wurrse nur wur bi'e. Could yu, surr, no arrange a mee'in atween'z, an' mibby ge' Surr Denis Brogan tae interrpre', like (him a Pruffehsser an' al)? I' couldnae dae ony herrm an' i' micht dae a wee bi' o' guid — espeshly iv i' wuz a braw day an' we wen' a trup doon the wa"er an' le' Muster Wauch see a' thae emty yairds fur 'izsel'; emty fur the lahst sax year ur mair.
We arr, surr, Yours truly,
A Hunner Rivve'ers an' Twa Hunner Hauders-on (maistly on the Burroo).
J. R. Morrison Abbey Cottage, Coldingham, Berwickshire Sir: "I am not quite sure," says Mr Auberton Waugh (July 17), " what the airt is, or why the wind show blow frac it ". He could be quite sure if he looked up ' airt ' in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, and he could remedy a deficiency in his knowledge of famous lines of verse if he looked up 'airts ' in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Wilfred Harrison 73 Coten End, Warwick
Sir: I was dazzled by the display of intellectual fireworks in Auberon Waugh's review of Nicholas Mosley's Natalie Natalia. What a mind that man has! — Waugh, I mean. Isn't it a shame that the authors he reviews so rarely have even a few of his conspicuous gifts? After all many of them do try very hard, poor untalented wretches, to write books worth reading. But, I suppose, that's always been one of the harsh ironies of life, and always will be.
Dan HazIewood 22 Grena Road, Richmond, Surrey
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