12 OCTOBER 1912, Page 15

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR: ] SIR,—Mr. de

Montmorency's laughter recalls the noble words in which Scott summed up the devotion of the clansmen— words which, mutatis mutandis, would be no inapt reply to the "crackling of thorns under a pot " "If the Saxon gentlemen are laughing because a poor man, such as me, thinks my life, or the life of six of my degree, is worth that of Vich Ian Vohr, it's like enough they may be very right ; but if they laugh because they think I would not keep my word and come back to redeem him, I can tell them they ken neither the heart of a Hielandman, nor the honour of a gentleman."

Eversley, Poole.