18 NOVEMBER 1949, Page 36

"On a Dark Night "

SIR,—I find the following sentence in what purports to be a criticism of my novel On a Dark Night in the Spectator of October 28th: " This operation (a hanging) took seventeen minutes, and it described with loving horror, the author supposing the General to have been conscious all the time although his neck was broken by the drop." Neither the supposition nor the facts in this sentence are to be found in my book. I am inter- ested, but not impressed, by your critic's suggestion that the ordinariness of ordinary men debars them from God's mercy.—I am, yours faithfully, ANTHONY WEST. The Old Rectory, Tarrant Hinton, Blandford, Dorset.