Blunders and Forgeries. By the Rev. T. C. Bridgett. (Kegan
Paul, Trench, and Co.)—In this volume, Mr. Bridgett exposes various more or less ludicrous mistakes which have been made by writers—and writers, too, with some claims to knowledge—in dealing with matters that concern the Roman Church. He does this, for the most part, in a good-humoured way, as, indeed, he could afford to do, having the laugh on his side. The first is par- ticularly amusing. A certain priest in the diocese of Chichester is reported to the Bishop as "having two wives." " Duas habet nocores, ut dicitur." But uxores means "benefices," the ut dicitur being added to apologise, so to speak, for the bold metaphor. The Spectator, following a very respectable authority, fell into this blunder, and is glad to have the opportunity of acknowledging it. To the next paper, "On the Sanctity of Dirt" (reprinted from the Contemporary), more answer might, we think, be made. But it is too long a matter to enter upon. We may remark, however, that in the quotation from the Rule of St. Benedict, tardius concedatur can hardly be translated "should not be granted too frequently." It seems to mean that there must be very good reason why it (the privilege of the bath, granted to the sick as often as they require it) should be granted at all "to those in good health, and especially to the young." In another paper, Mr. Bridgett makes not a little fun out of Canon Perry's account of St. Hugh of Lincoln. But he makes a very lame defence indeed of the Saint's abstraction of a relic from the Monastery of Fescamp.
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