Roman Eoads in Britain. 59 



1747, when Charles Bertram declared he had deciphered a MS. 

 existing at Copenhagen, written by Richard of Cirencester, a 

 well-known monkish historian. He made what he called a 

 copy of the non-existent Latin text, with notes and a map. It 

 was one of the most clever literary forgeries ever devised, 

 being the fruit of his own genius without a vestige of foun- 

 dation in fact. Bertram resolved to dujDe Dr William Stukeley, 

 the most noted antiquarian of the time. Stukeley was quite taken 

 in by the supposed Itinerary, and published it with a commentary 

 and map. The Itinerary gave 18 Roman roads. Stukeley's autho- 

 rity was sufficient to give the forgery possession of the field, 

 Whitaker, the historian of Manchester, General Roy, Dr Lingard, 

 Lappenberg, Stuart, the author of " Caledonia Romana," and others, 

 have treated it as a genuine work. Classical atlases like that of 

 Sir William Smith abound with errors from this source, and many 

 of Bertram's imaginary names have found their way into the 

 ordnance map. Even in 1872 Dr Giles translated the forgery as 

 a genuine work for Bohn's Antiquarian Library. The forgery 

 was exposed by the late Mr B. B. Woodward, librarian of Windsor 

 Castle, in a series of papers published in the Gentleman^ s Magazifie 

 for 1866 and 1867. Those who cannot procure Woodward's 

 papers may consult Mr Henry Bradley's article on " Charles 

 Bertram " in the Dictionary of National Biography. Doubts had 

 been expressed as to the genuineness or authenticity of Richard of 

 Cirencester's Itinerary by Thomas Reynolds, who published, at 

 Cambridge in 1799, the part of Antoniue's Itinerary entitled " Iter 

 Britanniarum " with a commentaiy and maps. Birrens, therefore, 

 enjoys the singular distinction of being the only Roman station in 

 Scotland bearing the imprimatur of the Imperial Itinerary. This 

 enhances the value of the work recently performed by our dis- 

 tinguished members Dr James Macdonald and Mr James Barbour. 

 Can anyone throw light upon the meaning of the name Blatum 

 Bolsfium ? 



