17 DECEMBER 1983, page 27

Instead Of Scrooge

John Stewart Collis T n one of his letters Wilhelm von 'Humboldt wrote: 'All that is truly great in life centres around the sense of sorrow. But in their ignorance ordinary men......

The Faith Of A Gypsy

Roy Kerridge W e stood at the doorway of a grey Norman church in East Sussex, look- ing along a narrow lane that wound its way between brown winter hedges. 'They're not coming......

One Hundred Years Ago

The Poet-Laureate is really to be made a Baron, and it is said that he will take the title of Lord Tennyson D'Eyn- court, an old title in the Tennyson fami- ly. The news has......