20 AUGUST 1983, page 20

Pudding And Plums

James Michie A Beggar in Purple: Selections from the Commonplace Book of Rupert Hart-Davis (Hamish Hamilton £6.95) C ir Rupert Hart-Davis has been a mem- ber of the Coldstream......

Rough Beasts

Christopher Hawtree Slouching Towards Kalamazoo Peter De Vries (Victor Gollancz £7.95) `rrhe standards for immorality are get - ". ting progressively steeper ... A hun- dred......

Chastity . . . But Not Yet

Peter Ackroyd In The Dorian Mode: A Life of John Gray, 1866-1934 Brocard Sewell (Tabb House £18) J ohn Gray, who proceeded from the gutter to the altar, who was known in his......