7 SEPTEMBER 1962, Page 7

All My Own Work These exceedingly Scottish remarks would probably

have flattered rather than offended Rintoul. But the entry for the following day shows Hunter's patience sadly strained:

Came home at nine and was rather annoyed to have Mr. Rintoul again ... R was even more coxcombical this evening than formerly. I had thought that Lord Grey and his fellow Minis- ters had had something to do in carrying the Reform Bill—but according to Mr. Rintoul it would never have been carried but for him. He was the first to raise the cry of 'The whole Bill' etc.—to call the King 'Reform Bill' and so forth, whereby the right direction was given to the efforts of the people. Faugh! The puppy staid till near two—and I went to bed a sadder and not a wiser man than 1 have been since I came to London.

Has anyone noticed in the features which looked out of the woodcut of Rintoul we repro- duced on the cover of our seven thousandth

issue any traces of the trait which so disgusted his critical compatriot? Or was this just another case of Scot meeting Scot? Next time I run into C. D. Hamilton, the editor of the Sunday Times, who wrote on 'the ideal editor' in our seven thousandth issue, I must ask him what he thinks about John Hunter's view of the creature.