25 FEBRUARY 2006, Page 30

Commandments à la Clough

From Terry Saunders

Sir: Paul Johnson (And another thing, 18 February) asserts that Arthur Hugh Clough is only remembered for one poem, ‘Say not the struggle naught availeth’. I think he does him a disservice. A couplet from his acerbic commentary on the Ten Commandments — ‘The Latest Decalogue’ — has been much quoted during the recent debate on euthanasia: ‘Thou shalt not kill; but need’st not strive/ Officiously to keep alive.’ Terry Saunders

Epsom, Surrey