29 MARCH 1913, Page 21

"NE SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM." Fro THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."'

SIR,—" sutor ultra crepidam" is a hardy annual whieh I suppose will always be with us. It has no classical or other authority that I know of, and its meaning is rather vague. "Ne supra crepidatn sutor iudicaret," is what Pliny ',N.H., s5, 10, 85) attributes to Apelles, adding that it became a proverb. A shoemaker might criticise shoes, said the painter, but this did not qualify him to judge of legs. " Cui bono ? " too, which properly means "Who gets the benefit?" is another victim of persistent ill-treatment, being used again and again for "To what good end?" It is, of course, useless to protest against such general slovenliness, but one hopes not to see it in the Spectator.—I am, Sir, &c., G.