11 AUGUST 1923, Page 23

Mr. Weigall is what we believe to be termed a

field archaeo- logist by contrast with him who stays at home with his library and occasionally adventures as far as a museum. The advantage from the reader's point of view is obvious : one is at once in contact with the life of the past and Mr. Weigall's prose clothes the most distant figures and scenes in the hues of a many-coloured imagination. What precisely the old- time specialist would say to this fearless pictorialization of his carefully checked and hoarded scraps of fact can only be guessed. At least it is certain that this freedom of treat- ment will entice to a nodding acquaintance with Pharaohs many who would otherwise have ignored their majesty and pomp.