Mr. Ormsby-Gore's predecessor at the Office of Works is, like
him, an author ; but though Mr. Lansbury did, I believe, refer very justifiably in his autobiography to his achievements as Lido-maker, he produced no volume bearing directly on the work of his own depart. ment. The present First Commissioner, the possessor of considerable literary talent (as readers of The Spectator should know), has put students of Roman and mediaeval Britain under a great obligation by the publication of a little book from his own pen on the antiquities of which his department has the care in the North of England. More than that, he has put the remains—Hadrian'S Wall and Ricvaulx Abbey and the rest—in their historical setting, compressing into eight pages as complete and accurate a survey as any casual reader has a right to ask for of the Roman conquests and occupations of Britain. And somehow or other he has persuaded the Stationery Office to issue it, bound, at the very moderate price of n shilling. Title, Ancient Monuments. I. Northern Britain'. Which seems to hint encouragingly that there is more to come.
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