6 MARCH 1959, Page 21

SIR,—It is no surprise to me to have to correct

a flat mistake of fact on the part of Dr. Leavis, for one no more expects accuracy from him than one would sensibility or sense. But one should ,get one's facts right, and the fact is that my essay on Eastwood in the new composite biography of Lawrence was not commissioned by the editor: it is a slightly shortened version of the essay originally printed in my book The English Past.

As for Dr. Leavis's opinions, it is amusing to be disapproved of along with Eliot, Hulme and Valery- distinguished company. It is occasionally somebody's duty to tell the Emperor when he hasn't got any clothes on. Has no one ever told Dr. Leavis what an ass he makes himself?—Yours faithfully.

The University of Wisconsin

A. L. ROWSE