18 NOVEMBER 1949, Page 36

A Brickbat Query

SIR,—Mr. Stephen Lcc, in his interesting review of Mr. Ramsey's Henry Ireton in the Spectator of November 11th, has enriched our language with an intriguing new metaphor ; would he tell your readers just how, and at what season of the year, one " culls a brickbat " 1 Is it an autumn

fruit, or does it bloom perhaps early—very early indeed—in April %- Yours faithfully,

Tocknells House, Painswick, Gloucestershire. HOYLANU.