I HOPE Ian Bayne's ''ambitious, young, academic historian'' - surely the job description of all aspirant doctors? - will consider Wishart's French name and the language and culture he represented in the court and church of medieval Scotland which condemned the Scots language of his forebears as ''fort rurale, barbare, mal sonnante, et seante''.

Duncan Bryson,

109 Martin Avenue, Irvine.

March 3.