2 OCTOBER 1993, Page 23

Sir: Since my name does not appear on the short-list

for the headmastership of Eton (or on any other for that matter), I do not feel able to dispute your description of it as 'dismal'.

I must, however, challenge your compari- son of our public schools to the monaster- ies 'ripe for dissolution'. Had the Dissolu- tion not taken place, this country would have avoided many of the great evils that have since taken place, not least of which is the deplorable destruction of English education.

Michael Schutzer-Weissmann

Shrewsbury School, The Schools, Shrewsbury, Shropshire