the leader of the Opposition, according to which side in politics the
newspaper takes) is apocryphal. By this, the newspaper means to say
that the statement was untrue. Or, you will read that someone
obtained money or goods by saying that he possessed large estates
abroad; and that the estates turned out to be apocryphal. By this is
meant that they did not exist. But when you read of a book being
apocryphal, something rather different is meant: either that it is
"spurious," i.e. that it pretends to be written by someone who did
not write it; or that what is in it is fabulous and untrue, like the
stories of King Arthur; or both.

Now this word apocryphal is specially used, and perhaps most often
used, in connection with the Bible. Probably you have at least heard
of something called "the Apocrypha," even if you have not read it,
and even if you have mixed it up in your mind with another word,
Apocalypse, which has nothing whatever to do with it. Well, what is
"the Apocrypha"? It is to be found in many Bibles, bound up between
the Old and the New Testaments. It is a set of books, looking just
like the other books of the Bible, with chapters and verses. Some of
it is read in church as weekday lessons in the months of October and
November, as you may see by looking at the Table of Lessons in any
Prayer Book. Now, are all these books of "the Apocrypha" fabulous or
spurious? No. Some of them are. The Second Book of Esdras (that is,
Ezra) was not written by Ezra; The Book of Baruch (the companion of
the prophet Jeremiah) was not written by Baruch; The Wisdom of
Solomon was not written by Solomon. These and some others are
spurious. Also, the books of Tobit and of Judith are fabulous
stories. On the other hand, the book Ecclesiasticus was really
written by Sirach (who is mentioned in the Preface), and The First
Book of Maccabees is a true and valuable history.