21 JUNE 1902, Page 13

"IN MEMORIAM " : A PARALLEL.

[TO THE EDITOR OF TIER "SPECTATOR.']

SIR,—In regard to the vexed expression at the end of the third section of "In Memoriam," "a vice of blood," I am unaware that the following Shakespearian parallel has been noticed. In Othello (Act I., Scene 3, line 123) Othello says : "As truly as to heaven I do confess the vices of my blood."

I have been unable to discover any mention of this parallel, which seems to throw some light on the question, in any of the numerous commentaries on the poem, which indeed concur in avoiding the difficulty.—I am, Sir, &c., S. S. N.