23 MAY 1958, Page 20

`MY BOOKS OF THE YEAR'

S1R,—Mr. Cicero T. Ritchie really ought to brush up on his distinguished namesake. The old Republi- can (no elephant) may have been vain enough to fancy himself a second Socrates, but he never went near hemlock in his life. After some mildly undig- nified toing and froing, he stuck his neck out of his litter and was smartly decapitated by a zealous cen- turion; which, when you come to think of it, is exactly what has happened to Mr. Ritchie himself in your columns. Not—I hasten to add—that I fancy Mr. Levin as a sergeant-major; but he is remarkably efficient with a pole-axe.—Yours faithfully,