27 OCTOBER 1967, Page 36

Dead language

Sir: I am sorry for Mr Raven's dismal turn of mind, but offer him for an epigraph:

SIMPLE SIMON.

M. J. W. Bell Junior Carlton Club, Pall Mall, London, SW1 Sir: As a slight return for Mr Simon Raven's en- joyable article on the epitaphs in Westminster Abbey, may I add to his collection one that is the most succinct and simple of them all. It is in the cloisters and reads':

`JANE LISTER-DEARE CHILD.'

W. P. Authers Horsdon House, Tiverton, Devon