16 DECEMBER 1955, Page 30

A recent reference by Professor Pevsner to the typical English

habit of under- statement prompts me to offer the £5 prize this week for brief (and imaginary) under- statet'nents from any three of the following eminent Victorians : Dr. Thomas Arnold on comprehensive schools; Ruskin on London's new 'packing-case' architecture; Carlyle on commercial television; Matthew Arnold on the proposed relief roads at Oxford; Swinburne on the erotic poetry of D. H. Lawrence; Holman Hunt on Picasso; Dickens on horror comics; Samuel Smiles on football pools. Limit, 150 words.

Entries, addressed 'Spectator Competition No. 305,' 99 Gower Street, London, WC1, must be received by December 28. Results in the Spectator of January 6.