Note 3 — Chapter I

The De Situ Britanniæ “professed to be a manuscript of the fourteenth century, written by a monk named Richard of Cirencester, made up by him from certain fragments left by a Roman General. The person who stepped forth as the lucky discoverer of so precious a relic was Charles Julius Bertram, English Professor in the Royal Marine Academy at Copenhagen. His revelation was accepted without hesitation, and revolutionized the existing notions about the geography of Roman Britain. After all, the hoax was not absolutely useless; it stimulated inquiry, and, in itself, what it professed to lay down on authority, were the guesses and theories of a learned and acute man.”—Burton’s History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 13.