THE WEBBS
SIR,-1 was much interested in Lord Beveridge's letter about my review of Beatrice Webb's Diary, 1924-32, and in view of his own long personal knowledge of the Webbs would not wish to pit my judgement against his. What I had in mind, however, when describing Beatrice as the 'senior partner' was
not so much a judgement on their respective intellectual contributions as on the impression which they made socially, conversationally, and generally, upon many who knew them well. Surely the drive, sparkle, initiative, and —dare one add?—income, of Beatrice went a long way towards making her the dominant partner, even though her husband's contribu- tion to their joint sociological work may have been greater. At all events this seems to be a fairly general impression.
Lord Beveridge expresses doubts about Mrs. Cole's reliability as editor of the diary. I agree with him that it is perhaps rash to praise an editor, unless one has full access to the com- plete diary from which selection has been made, but if this rule were rigidly applied, no reviewer could ever praise any editor—except in most unusual circumstances. I think myself that it is possible to form some opinion of an editor's capacity from the interest of the material selected, the nature of the footnotes and explanatory comments, and the informa- tion given in the introduction. In all these matters, so far as I am competent to judge, Mrs. Cole comes out extremely well, and, despite the one criticism of her introduction mentioned by Lord Beveridge, I would not like to modify the favourable opinion which I published in my review.—Yours faithfully.
Christ Church, Oxford .
ROBERT BLAKE
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