Lord Cranfield as he wasn't
Sir : Judged by his fascinating diaries, Harold Nicolson was a 'dear,' loving man, a wonderful family man, with charming values. He wished to draw a line between himself and all the nastiness of the twentieth century world— which consisted of 90 per cent of the world as we know it.
What is now in question is the importance of his character and career; and a streak of amateurishness diluted both : he was not wholly male, but had a feminine streak of over- sensitivity and value for little things. He was not Wholly a married man, nor satisfactorily a bachelor. He could not let himself be a Tory —the party for which his craving for life as it used to be truly fitted him. He was not a countryman nor a townsman. He might have made a serious career, but his feminine sub- mission to his masculine wife made this im- possible.
The world was richer for his presence, a man whom his friends must have loved. But his only 100 per cent whole-hearted achievement was as a devoted father.
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