30 AUGUST 1913, Page 16

• THE ETHICS OF RECEIVING.

[To 'RN EDITOR 07 TBN "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I recall a good description of the desired delicacy

in the art of giving, and an excellent instance of when a man in need would be willing to receive, which is given by Burns in " The Brigs of Ayr "? This is how he concludes:—

" Still, if some patron's generous care he trace, Skilled in the secret to bestow with grace, When Ballantyne befriends his humble name, And hands the rustic stranger up to fame, With heartfelt throes his grateful bosom swells; The godlike bliss, to give, alone excels."

Mansfield, Notts.