Judgement on Levity Sut,--I am a regular adthker:Of Janus, and
was delighted to read last week the rebuke administered by Mr. McBain to Mr. Murphy for his belittling comments. Yet the personal remarks made by Janus regard- ing Mr. Isaat Foot and his marriage must have come as a considerable shock to many in Devon. Mr. Foot occupies, in this part of England, an honoured position analogous to that of Lady Astor, quite irrespective *of any party or religious affiliations. His " going off and getting married" during the correspondence concerning the celebrations at Boscobel and Worcester is denounced as " sinister" and " callous." This is a strange manner of describing a wedding, arranged weeks previously, in his own country, surrounded by all the members of his family in England.
He is " booked for a belated appearance at Worcester" ; that appear- ance will be on the tercentenary day itself ; if he had gone earlier it would, no doubt, have been denounced as a fussy advanced appearance. In addition; Janus makes a slighting remark about-Charles II as king which will be by no means agreed with by those whose views of Stuart times are not entirely guided. by the whiggery of Gardiner, Firth and Macaulay. It would have been better if he had digested the wise advice of Mr. Arthur Bryant and tried duly to appreciate what is best in all. Though myself a somewhat old-fashioned Church of England Tory, I resent personal animadversions on a Puritan Liberal like Mr. Isaac Foot, who has firmly maintained his principles, and ,has had to lose his seat in the House of Commons and, perhaps, a distinguished official life in cc-nsequence. ,His political wisdom may be. fairly impugned, but- not his personal character. "Sinister " and "callous" indeed !- [Janus writes: How oft words writ in jest are read in earnest. I ought to have known that. Resolved: Henceforward 'to be deadly serious (and deadly dull). Let me add that Mr. Foot is one of my oldest friends, and the last person about whom I would write a derogatory syllable.]
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