7 MAY 1892, Page 17

WAS BOETHIUS A CHRISTIAN?

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTAT011.1

you allow me to assure Mr. Archibald Constable that M. Jourdain's conjecture—most ingenious, indeed, but to my mind both unsound and unnecessary—does not pass without notice in my essay ? It will be found on pp. 5 and 6.

Despite M. Jourdain's investigations and results, the claims of the Theological Tracts to authenticity are, I venture to think, firmly established,—(1), On internal evidence (see "Boetbius,' chap. 5, if I may be allowed a second reference to my own work) ; and (2), on the external evidence, confirming the medireval traditions, of the " Anecdoton Holderi," which, though per- sonally I am not prepared to accept it as final, is held by scholars of such weight as Drs. Usener and Hodgkin to put the question beyond the range of doubt. (See Usener, " Anec. Hold.," Bonn, 1871, passim; Hodgkin, " Cassiodorus," p. 82.)—I am, Sir, &c., HUGH ERASER STEWART. Marlborough College, May 4th.