20 DECEMBER 1919, Page 23

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

[Notice in this adman does not necessarily proolsds subsequent regime.] The new Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester (Longmans, 2s.), contains, among other important papers, a most interesting article by Professor Tout on " Mediaeval Forgers and Forgeries," with special reference to the pseudo- Ingulf and the " chronicle " attributed to Richard of Cirencester. As this later " chronicle " is still quoted by unwary people, it is worth while to call attention to Professor Tout's account of how the book was manufactured by Charles Bertram, a young Englishman living at Copenhagen in the years 1755-57, for the delectation of the credulous Dr. Stukeley. Professor Tout remarks feelingly that " the local antiquary finds it even harder to cleanse his system of the virus of Richard than he does to purge it of the infection of the false Ingulf," and that the Ordnance Survey " faithfully marked in its maps the imaginary sites of Riohard's Roman stations."