10 FEBRUARY 1939, Page 24

[To the Editor of THE SpEcreroal Sra,—In justice to Thackeray,

may I say that I did not quote him as having said that in order to be a " gentleman " a man must be, inter alio, "wide "—either in a physical or, still more certainly, in its present-day very unattractive sense! What he did say was, of course, that he must be "wise."

I do not add the usual apology for "bad hand-writing" to explain the error, as my letter to you was typed, and I see I did say "wise "!—Faithfully yours, Bisham Cottage, Marlow, Bucks. P. S. LONG-INNEs.