3 JULY 1953, Page 26

SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 177

Set by Richard Usborne

Hilaire Belloc will be eighty-three on July 27th. In his " Dedicatory Ode " he wrote :

And One (Myself I mean—no less)

Ah Posterity believe it—

Not only don't deserve success But hasn't managed to achieve it.

Readers are asked to compose not more than six stanzas (in the same mood and metre) of an " Expostulatory Ode " in answer to this self- depreciation, and, in praise of Hilaire Belloc. The usual prizes are offered.

Pr Entries must be addressed to the Spectator, 99 Gower Street, London, W.C.1, in envelopes marked " Competition," and must be received not later than July 15th. Results will be printed in the Spectator of July 24th.