of the FitzTaylor.

It was after a rather prolonged period of absence that he wrote to
Girdelstone privately, announcing a great discovery. On his return he
was bringing home, he said, some MSS. recently unearthed by himself in
the monastic library of St. Basil, and bought for an enormous sum from
Sarpedon, the Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis. He was willing to sell
them to 'some public institution' for very little over the original
price. Girdelstone told several of us in confidence. It was public news
next day. Scholars grew excited. There were hints at the recovery of a
lost MS., which was to 'add to our knowledge of the antique world and
materially alter accepted views of the early state of Roman and Greek
society.' On hearing the news I smiled. 'Some institution,' that was
suspicious--MSS.--they meant forgery. The new treasure was described as
a palimpsest, consisting of fifty or sixty leaves of papyrus. On one
side was a portion of the _Lost Book of Jasher_, of a date not later than
the fourth century; on the other, in cursive characters, the too
notorious work of Aulus Gellius--_De moribus Romanorum_, concealed under
the life of a saint.

But why should I go over old history? Every one remembers the excitement
that the discovery caused--the leaders in the _Times_ and the
_Telegraph_, the doubts of the sceptical, the enthusiasm of the
archaeologists, the jealousy of the Berlin authorities, the offers from
all the libraries of Europe, the aspersions of the British Museum. 'Why,'
asked indignant critics, 'did Dr. Groschen offer his MS. to the
authorities at Oxbridge?' 'Because Oxbridge had been the first to
recognise his genius,' was the crushing reply. And Professor Girdelstone
said that should the FitzTaylor fail to acquire the MS. by any false
economy on the part of the University authorities, the prestige of the