"IF THE WORST COMES TO THE WORST."
[To THY EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—I was surprised to read in a leading article in last week's Spectator the expression, "If the worst comes to the worst." I am aware that it is a phrase very commonly used, but surely it is bad English. How can the worst come to the worst ? My father, Lord Chancellor Chelmsford, always impressed upon me that the proper expression is, " If the worse comes to the worst," and this seems to me certainly more correct. Another popular phrase which he was fond of criticising was, " In my heart of hearts," and he pointed out that Shakespeare had correctly written, " In my heart of heart." I remember him correcting Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, who had used this phrase in a speech in the House of Lords, and the Bishop writing to him in his humorous way : " I thank you from my heart of heart for the correction."—I am,
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