5 FEBRUARY 1977, Page 18

Will Shakespeare

Sir: Mr Burgess (22 January) tells us that 'Shakespeare is never familiarly called Will.' Shakespeare's contemporary, Heywood, knew better: 'Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting quill Commanded mirth or passion, was but Mr Burgess also informs us that Hamlet is a revision of a play by Kyd. if he knows this, he knows more than anyone else does: but perhaps he merely forgot that he was writing a review, not a novel.

Ralph Leavis Lincoln College, Oxford