REPORTS THAT Mr. Macmillan has followed up his appointment of
two ex-Whips, Lord Hailes and Lord Dalhousie, to important Governor- Generalships by an equally safe appointment to the Chair of Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford are both premature and out of date. The principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Miss Sutherland—I once heard her describe Dr. John- son as 'the great lexicographer'—was indeed offered the post but refused it; the retiring incum- bent is an expert on the public records in the Middle Ages; and those who thought that it was time the Chair was occupied by an historian of wide sympathies and interests were not sorry that Miss Sutherland, an authority on the London operations of the East India Company, turned it down. Why the Prime Minister was so anxious to appoint a woman is not clear. It was suggested to him, I believe, that if he really wanted to break with precedent, he should not be content merely with appointing a woman, he should go the whole way and appoint a coloured woman. This might have done something to offset the unfortunate effects of Lord Hailes's appointment in the West Indies, but for one reason or another the sug- gestion was not acted upon. Anyway, Mr. Mac- millan's feminist phase is apparently now over, and I gather that the odds against Mr. Hugh Trevor-Roper are rapidly shortening. He and Mr. A. J. P. Taylor are the two outstanding historians at Oxford today and either of them would be an excellent choice; on ability alone it might be difficult to choose between them, but if only be- cause to give the job to Taylor would require a major act of political masochism by Mr. Macmil- lan, my money is on Trevor-Roper. One of the most impressive things about the whole business has been the virtual unanimity with which each college has supported its own man : Christ Church, Trevor-Roper; Magdalen, Taylor; and Alt Souls, A. L. Rowse. There has not been such collegiate solidarity, I am told, since James H expelled the Magdalen fellows. Whoever gets the job has to move to Oriel.'
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