14 MARCH 1952, Page 22

Home, James

SIR,—Poor Henry James ! He was jealously proud of his invented names, for houses as well as for families. "Summersoft " was a stately home, set in a lordly park, in his story The Lesson of the Master (its original, he later confessed, was Osterley), and he used "Summersoft " again in a play written for, but never acted by, Ellen Terry. In two separate articles announcing the present revival of The High Bid at the New Boltons theatre The Times printed " Summercroft."

In The High Bid, as rewritten for Forbes Robertson and acted by him, James renamed his stately home Covering End." Your critic lain Hamilton last week (following one of many slips in the Boltons pro- gramme) printed Govering Hall." Poor Henry James !—Yours (and