Sir: I, too, reading Hugh Trevor-Roper's criticism (6 September) of
Harold Nicolson, telt a sense of 'unalloyed pain.' It seemed to me to be insensitive, unkind and unfair.
1 consider Harold Nicolson to have been both a brilliant writer and an expert political com-
mentator. 1 have been a regular reader of the SPECTATOR for over thirty years and to me his 'Marginal Comments' stand out as eagerly anti- cipated and unforgettable. I still remember his impressive prophecy of the outcome of the war, made in December 1941, which foretold almost exactly the course of events.
The three Diaries make absorbing reading and now take their place among my most
cherished books. But I admit that 1 cannot help wishing Harold Nicolson had not worried so much about a title, and so disliked his own name! And I wish too that his devoted editor had omitted this aspect of his father, which I do not feel was characteristic and which was bound—particularly in the present age—to lay t 1.3
him open to derision. To me the name Harold Nicolson is one to conjure with. And if Harold Nicolson had disappeared in his lifetime, to be replaced by an unknown and alien Lord Cranfield. I should have felt bereft.
Margaret Crompton
Robin Hill, South Drive, Dorking, Surrey
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