Page:The spiritual venality of Rome.djvu/80

57 edition of those which he used, and noticed the variationii of the others. We should tEe& have obtained some distinct acquamtance with eaqi Md some mfierenees of more or lessr momrai would probably have resulted from an inspec- tion of their discrepancies. These might be, and probably were, considerable. I hme abstained from giving any accoiittt the edition which appears in this book, and constitutes the main^ or most important por« tion, both on that account, and because it wants a date* The circumstances, proofs, and probabilities respecting its age and value will be seen in the appropriate place. I will now introduce the promised account of the MS. collection of these Taxsa in the British Museum. It is found in the Harleian depart* ment ; and is described in the last Catalogue of the MSS. in it, in 4 vols. fid. 1806, in Vol. II. pp. 262, &c. It consists of two volumes, small folio. Num. 1850, 1, 2, written on vellum, having every appearance of genuineness and coeval antiquity-^that is^ the former part of the sixteenth century. These volumes were with* drawn from the Archives of the Roman Chan- cery on the death of Innocent XII. by John Aymon^ Apostolic Frothonotary ; and bought