27 JULY 1951, Page 18

The Wilde Parents

Sta.—Your issue of April 27th reached this mess on July 8th. Mr. Ervine's review of Wyndham's life of Lady Wilde is perhaps not very informative but it is certainly very self-revealing. Dublin has always placed some value on wit, however Malicious, and on charm, however peculiar. The crude unshaped club of Piltdown, even when wielded with Oscaric presciosity, is not highly esteemed in that city—no doubt one of the reasons for the sharp curtailment of your reviewer's stay there.

H.M. Ship in Korean Waters.