Final Word...

This week's Final Word comes from an author whose family originally came from Holland:

"How far I am away from the true temper of soul, this letter in its changing, uncertain moods, its scorn and bitterness, its aspirations and its failure to realise those aspirations, shows you quite clearly. But do not forget in what a terrible school I am sitting at my task. And incomplete, imperfect, as I am, yet from me you may have still much to gain. You came to me to learn the Pleasure of Life and the Pleasure of Art. Perhaps I am chosen to teach you something much more wonderful, the meaning of Sorrow, and its beauty. Your affectionate friend . . ."

The winner of last week's competition, who identified E. H. Gombrich's The Story of Art , is Mary Blackledge of Bath.