8 NOVEMBER 1913, Page 17

"OIL ON THE TROUBLED WATERS."

[To THE EDITOR OF TEN "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,-In your issue of October 18th I see under the heading of "Oil on the Troubled Waters," a quotation from Bede's " Historia," iii., 17: " Utta, setting out on a voyage, asks Aida.n for his prayers," and the phrase "Bede relates among the 'miracles' of Aidan." The writer ends by saying, "It would be interesting to know of other early evidence of this use of oil." The phrase occurs in Plutarch (first century), on the cessation of the oracles, but in its English form it does not occur in any of the quotation books, and consequently not in the Bible nor in Shakespeare.—I am, Sir, &c., G. H. B.