20 JANUARY 1990, Page 26

On the contrary

Sir: In a piece called 'Blessings and blasts' (6 January) I quoted from a poem by George Herbert. But I did not say 'it would be impossible, I hope, to introduce that poem to the young'. What I said was that it would be impossible, I hoped, to introduce it without saying something about George Herbert. Somehow, at the printers, a rogue full-stop crept in. It was an exces- sively complicated sentence, of which someone tried to make sense, and there- fore the fault was mine. Nevertheless, if anyone noticed, and was puzzled, the sense as printed was the opposite of what I intended.

P. J. Kavanagh

Sparrowthorn, Elkstone, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire