'UNTIL RECENTLY,' Mr. Tom Driberg asserted on his return from
Russia, 'the English books translated by the Russians were chiefly those of Charles Dickens—or of fellow travellers in the West. But since Guy Burgess went there they have brought out Sir Harold Nicolson's book on Diplomacy. It has been widely read in the Russian Foreign Service.' The impli- cation being, I suppose, that dear Guy (see page 379) has been playing a noble part in the great Russian thaw. But Burgess skipped from England on the night of May 25, 1951. In his preface to the second edition of his Diplomacy (Home Univer- sity Library) Sir Harold says : 'I am glad indeed that this book has been translated into the Russian language and circulated by the Soviet Government to their missions and consulates abroad.' The preface was written in January, 1949. * * *
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