Notes & Asides

□ Wm—

Months ago—a year ago?—I wrote to you to say that Francis Russell was full of johnnycake when he complained that you had used “seagull” in one of your books, when, said Francis, every old salt knows there are only gulls, or herring gulls, or brown gulls, and so on. I wrote to you, quoting Masefield from memory, where he indeed uses “seagulls,” but regretting that I couldn’t find the reference. I now have found it, in an indescribably roundabout way. Here is “Sea Fever” (one of my, and everybody’s, all-time favorites):

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

□ Wm—

Months ago—a year ago?—I wrote to you to say that Francis Russell was full of johnnycake when he complained that you had used “seagull” in one of your books, when, said Francis, every old salt knows there are only gulls, or herring gulls, or brown gulls, and so on. I wrote to you, quoting Masefield from memory, where he indeed uses “seagulls,” but regretting that I couldn’t find the reference. I now have found it, in an indescribably roundabout way. Here is “Sea Fever” (one of my, and everybody’s, all-time favorites):