5 AUGUST 1905, Page 16

[To THR EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR, —The correspondence about "

lie " or " lay " and "sit" or "set" reminds me of a story which my father, who fifty years ago was a barrister, used to tell us of a case in Court when one of the counsel engaged asked the Judge whether the Court would set on a certain day, whereupon the Judge replied : "The court will sit on that day. Hens set, Mr. So- and-so," who bowed his acknowledgment of the correction. In giving judgment, the Judge said he did not think that in the circumstances an action would lay. "Hens lay, my

Lord," retorted the counsel.—I am, Sir, &c., J. W. R.