29 AUGUST 1896, Page 14

[To TUB EDITOR OP THE " SPZOTLT010] Sin,—The writer of

the delightful article in the Spectator of August 22nd must have earned the gratitude of many of our church dignitaries, who will now be able entirely to lay aside any lingering scruples they may have had on the subject of bicycling. The writer's question, "Why should it be more- undignified to ride a bicycle than to ride an old grey horse?" may remind some of your readers of an amusing passage in the correspondence of Pope Gregory the Great. That excellent Bishop, who possessed large church estates in Sicily, wrote to Peter, his sub-deacon, to send him some- horses from the valuable stud which he kept in that island. Peter having made a not very fortunate selection, was rebuked by his master the Pope with characteristic humour : "Yon have sent me a wretched hack, and five good donkeys. The hack I cannot ride, he is such a brute, and the donkeys that. are good, I cannot mount beeause they are donkeys. (Caballuin istum sedere non possrim quiet miser eat., Mos antem bow*

tedere non possum quia asini Bunt.) So if you wish to make me content, be so good as to send me something more suitable."