20 NOVEMBER 1976, Page 15

Sir: Mr David Pryce-Jones has published a biography. What your

readers may legitimately expect from a review of the book is some account of its contents, a discussion of the evidence which the author uses, and an appreciation of its truth and vividness as a portrait. The piece by Lord Lambton which you publish does none of these things. It busies itself instead with unfriendly remarks about the author, his father and his publisher. This style of reviewing cannot but damage the cause of literature which (it may be supposed) your literary pages exist to uphold and defend.

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