15 NOVEMBER 1890, Page 15

PARSONS AND SIGN-POSTS.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—The parson and sign-post story is another of those -" stories to let " which the good story-teller gives point to by telling it of himself or his informant. If my memory does not fail me, I recollect it some sixty-five or more years ago as a stock riddle,—" Why is a parson like a sign-post ?" One of its variations was the comparison of Lord Eldon to a church