15 MARCH 1986, Page 5

AGE DIFFERENCE '

THE indignation over the appearance of a 12-year-old Iranian bride in Britain would have puzzled our ancestors. In the most famous love story in our language, the girl is only 13, and no one suggests that this makes her too young for sexual love. Indeed, Lady Capulet tells her daughter to get a move on: 'Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,/ Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,/ Are made already mothers. . .