ST. JOHN vire 44.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Though my experience does not go quite so far back as 1878, I remember that in the "eighties" the translation "for he [the devil] is a liar and so is his father " was recognised in school Greek Testament, the explanation being that the latter part was probably an interpolation by a heretical copyist. The school was so far removed from the possible influence of Moncure Conway that one may expect to find common authority for all three instances earlier than in 1876. If it is a "howler," it would be interesting to hear what is the correct translation P The Revisers of the New Testament were clearly in a dilemma because they could neither sanction a heresy nor cut out (or sensibly alter) a passage which had given Biblical authority for the popular expression, "the Father of Lies."—I am, Sir, taa., J. CALVERT &MEM.
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