12 OCTOBER 1945, Page 4

" Prior to sitting down to write this letter," writes

a pillar of the Church, " there came to my mind the proverb about ' looking prior to leaping,' as I have never written to The Spectator prior to this. My request is urgent: Sir, can you do anything about the phrase prior to' which has now reared its head in The Spectator (p. 283)? Please do something, prior to its being too late." I may observe that p. 283 was neither a Janus page nor an editorial page. Outside