THE CONSOLATIONS OF THE CLASSICS.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.")
Bra,—With reference to your article on " The Consolations of the Classics " in last week's Spectator, I think the following incident may be of interest. We have a patient in the auxiliary military hospital in which I am nursing who has been confined to his bed with a bad leg for over a week. On the first morning he asked a nurse to pass him a book, which, to her astonishment, proved to be Pope's translation of the Iliad. He had been through the Gallipoli campaign, and was anxious to return to the scene of his exploits in the company of Homer, and was only grieved that his knowledge of Greek was so limited—presumably he picked up a word or two on the Peninsula—that he was unable to read the original. This man is not, as might be supposed, a scholar in the ranks of the New Army, but an ordinary private belonging to the old " Regulars." Moreover, his interest is not confined to the Iliad alone, as a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare is a constant companion at his bedside.—I am, Sir, de.,
A V.A.D. Num.
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