THE REV. H. 0. COXE.
[To TRX EDITOX OF TIM " EIPXOTATOX.")
SIR,—For love of Mr. H. 0. Coxe I should like to be allowed to correct the inadequate version given in the Spectator of March 26th of the well-known story of his triumph over the fraudulent Simonides. The glory of his triumph.
over which he twinkled considerably, was not that he had detected a fraud which had, as he said, deceived Berlin, but that he had done thia by mere sense of touch without ever seeing one page of the MS.! He told me 'the story himself. "I never really opened the book, but I held it in my hand and took one page of it between my finger and thumb while I listened to the rascal's account of how he found this most interesting antiquity. At the end of three or four minutes I handed it back to him with the short com- ment, 'Nineteenth century paper, my dear Sir,' and he took it away in a hurry and did not come again. Yes, I was pleased ! but I have handled several ancient MSS. in my time, and I know the feel of old paper."—I am, Sir, Snt., Aldenham, Vicarage, March 26th. KENNETH F. Glens.
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