Friday 12 July 1918

The Times on 9 July published a long letter from the Duke of Rutland suggesting that the bishops should instruct their clergy to read the Prayer for Rain in church since, in view of the disastrous effect of two months' drought on food crops, [...]

The following day brought a rejoinder from a correspondent who declared that rain was already being prayed for, as few of the clergy needed to wait upon the bishops' assessment of the 'correct meteorological moment'.

virginia woolf, diary