29 MARCH 1986, Page 23

Macaulay and Croker

Sir: The charge, first made by Gladstone and most recently by Paul Johnson (The press, 4 January, and Letters, 15 February) that Macaulay's review of Croker's Boswell was an act of mean revenge on a par- liamentary opponent who had bested Macaulay in debate, was painstakingly examined and conclusively refuted by E. S. de Beer in the Review of English Studies, Vol. X, No. 40 (1959). The argument is too long to rehearse in a letter, but may I ask those of your readers who are interested in the question to at least suspend judgment until they have read de Beer's article for themselves?

David Watkins

Pirmount', High Street, Laleston, Bridgend, Glamorgan