6 JANUARY 1912, Page 26

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

Shuttleworth, writing in your issue of last week, .Says : "It is a common thing to find Keats described as assistant to an ' apothecary' or chemist. I am not sure that Mr. Rudyard Kipling does not use the expression, but I fail to find IL"

Probably he has in his mind Mi.. Kipling's story, " Wire- less," one of the most brilliant examples of this writer's consummate craftsmanship. The story is told in the first person, and the narrator says in reference to Keats, " He's the only poet who ever was a druggist."—I am, Sir, &c.,

JAMES H. BLACKWOOD.

7 Talbot Square, Hyde Park, W.