23 JANUARY 1948, Page 17

LOVE AND AGE

Stu,—I hope that Mr. Harold Nicolson will answer the interesting questions put by Mr. Sykes about M. Queval's research into English love affairs. May I be allowed to add one more question to Mr. Sykes's five? Could Mr. Nicolson explain when a love affair is mature? To express the problem differently, could Mr. Nicolson say which of the famous lovers of tradition and literature may be regarded as mature? Were Paolo and Francesca? Do Antony and Cleopatra or Anna and Vronsky qualify? Or is a mature love affair the affection of an ageing couple like Albert Chevalier and his old Dutch?—I am, Sir, your Whites, S.W .r.