22 AUGUST 1896, Page 14

JOHN WOOLMAN, THE QUAKER.

[To THE EDITOR OF TUE "SPECTATOR."]

Srit.,—In a short notice of a work called "Quaker Worthies,' in the Spectator of August 15th, my name is suddenly in- troduced by your reviewer as having spoken disparagingly of John Woolman. "Canon Ainger, it must be admitted, has not done Woolman justice in his few words of description." Your critic should have been a little more careful. The words cited to support this charge,—namely, that Woolman • was "an illiterate tailor,"—are quoted by me, as the inverted commas in my note to Lamb's essay make perfectly clear;. and are, in fact, from Crabb Robinson's Diary, where he- follows up this description by expressions of the warmest admiration of Woolman. I must submit that it is hardly fair to me to quote Crabb Robinson's words as if they were mine; neither is it fair to either of us to omit the words that follow, which show that we both entirely agreed with Charles. Lamb's most just appreciation of the beauty of Woolman's character.—I am, Sir, &c.,