19 JULY 1963, page 20

Classic Or Commercial?

PART of the peculiar interest of George Gissing as a novelist is 'that he represents, particularly clearly and sharply, one of the most intense intellectual and philosophical......

Low Talk

A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. By Captain Francis Grose. Edited by Eric Partridge. (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 45s.) EVERYBODY has heard of Dr. Johnson's dic-......