7 JUNE 1946, Page 14

WHAT A PLACE TO LOOT !

Sm,—Would Mr. Harold Nicolson kindly tell us where we can find the story which he quotes, of how Marshal Blucher in 1854, surveying London from the top of the Monument, " remarked in true Prussian spirit, What a place to loot! '"? I have often heard it quoted, but I have also heard it told that it was from the dome of St. Paul's that he looked down and that, struck with the lack of town-planning in London as he saw the confusion of streets below, exclaimed " Was fiir Plunder! " " What a mess! " or "What a jumble! "• I should be very glad to be able to " verify my references," which Dr. Routh recommended as a " very good practice," and find out which is the true story.—Yours, &c.,