Dancers Inherit The Arty Sir: The reason why I did
not reply to Mr Ian Hamilton Finlay's charges =in his letter to the SPECTATOR (2 Anne) and his letters written to other journalsois lin the matter has, since before any of these fitters were published, been the subject of corres- pondence between our respective solicitors. That is not to say that I accept the Charges as just, as Mr Finlay knows very 'w 3l I do not.
Perhaps I might now refer to a few examples of such charges made public by Mr Finlay.
Firstly, Mr Finlay passed and praised galley proofs of his poems. It was at his express request that the list was ,Omitted from the acknowledgements. 'I think we should leave out the list of where the poems were first printed'.
Secondly, as is customary as well as a term of the contract in this instance, the Publisher had 'the entire control of the publication' and all details of presentation 'in his sole discretion'.
Thirdly, the Edinburgh solicitors he originally instructed to advise him in this matter sent a cheque for the advance pay- able under the contract to my solicitors who promptly returned it to them: nothing further has been heard about it since.
Where a dispute is the subject of com- munication between solicitors and, as in this instance, a threat of legal action has been made it must be inappropriate for the parties to take up your space as if to air a personal vendetta in public—which' as far as I am concerned does not exist.
Stuart 101mtgomery Fulcrum Press, 20 Fitzroy Square, London wl
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