20 AUGUST 1988, page 30

The Luck Of It

Of course it is luck in a sense, In every sense indeed, Lucky for you that the words arrive out of what Really does seem a perfect, cloud-absent sky But the luck is not for that......

The Wicked Old Buzzard Becomes A Cult

Peter Levi A. E. HOUSMAN: COLLECTED POEMS AND SELECTED PROSE edited by Christopher Ricks Allen Lane, £18.95, pp.528 T he older one gets the more Penguins, however defined, tend......

The Bubble Reputation Not Yet Burst

David Gilmour FREDERICK II: A MEDIEVAL EMPEROR by David Abulafia Allen Lane, £17.95, pp. 466 T he purpose of this book is the defla- tion of Frederick II, King of Sicily and......