23 NOVEMBER 1945, Page 14

BY AND LARGE

Sta,—As distance causes us to receive our issue of The Spectator a bit late, I may be also too late in making a comment on your penultimate paragraph of November 9th, but on the chance of its not being so, I should like to tell you that I once was one of those irritated by the phrase " by and large" till I discovered that it was a yachting term in connection with the wind. I soothed the irritation of someone else later by this explanation. Perhaps you could spread the soothing syrup fur- ther. It does not seem to be given in dictionaries that have glossaries of technical terms—at least not those I possess.—Yours faithfully,