6 DECEMBER 1919, Page 13

LU CANT.

[TO THE EDITOR OF TILE SPECTATOR:1

SIR,—I In Lord Ormont and Inc Antinta we are told that one of the ushers at the school described at the beginning of the novel was admired by the boys beCause he read Virgil and Dwell for his pleasure. To what extent do teachers or any others react Lucan now? He was once universally studied by everybody pretending to classical scholar-ship, and it is very surprising that he should have so completely lost his vogue in the-nine- teenth century. Ile was read by Mont rose and Claverhouse, by Voltaire and Chesterfield, by Burke and Mackintosh,by Pitt and Sheridan, by Scott and Byron and Shelley. Recently when passing thi'ough the quadrangle of Glasgow University I ob- served from a notice on the board of the Humanity Class that he was one of the subjects there. I was interested to see this because I have a favourite copy of the Pharsalia, which waa printed in 1751 at Glasgow, " Glascuae in aedibus Roberti Uric." Is Lucan seriously studied in other Universities and schools?—I am, Sir, &c., . J. A. L. FRASER. 3 Plowden Buildings, Temple, E.C.