Lord Cranfield as he wasn't
Sir: As one of the hundreds of authors whti were lucidly and kindly reviewed by Harold Nicolson, how could one not shrink mentally from the inelegant and biased criticisms of him by Professor Trevor-Roper (6 September). As the French say, 'une levee de boucliers' should defend the memory of a inan who was honest enough to share with prospective readers his disappointment at not being raised to the Upper House. Isn't it a distinction which is still recognised as such by thousands, and which the Professor might well want to enjoy himself?
It is all to the honour of his editor—who could have suppressed it all—that we have read of Harold Nicolson's small vanities. It endears one to the man who not only wrote splendid books but penned for us the picture of his vanishing world.
Thinking of him at Sissinghurst, in a memorable garden he helped his wife Vita • Sackville-West to design, should one not say about him with Milton : 'There we shall build a monument, and plant round it with shade of laurel ever green .. . and branching palm. .
Marie Nate Kelly Romden, Smarden, Kent
Previous page
