(1) _The British Museum Magna Carta, number one_—formally cited as “Cotton, Charters XIII. 31A.” The recent history of this document is well known. It was found among the archives of Dover Castle in the seventeenth century; and not improbably it may have lain there for centuries before, possibly from a date not much later than that of its original execution; for the castle of Dover, like the Tower of London, was a natural place for the preservation of documents of national value. There it was discovered by Sir Edward Dering while warden of the castle, and by him it was presented to Sir Robert Cotton, accompanied by a letter dated 10th May, 1630.[285] It still forms an item in the collection preserved in the British Museum, which bears the name of the famous antiquary. ----- Footnote 285: This letter is also preserved in the British Museum, and cited as “Cotton, Julius, C. III. Fol. 191.” ----- In the great fire of 23rd October, 1731, which attacked the Cottonian Library, this valuable Charter was seriously damaged and rendered in parts illegible, while the yellow wax of the seal was partially melted. It is possible that this accident has added somewhat to the prestige of this particular copy of Magna Carta, which, like the three others still extant, is written continuously, though with many contractions, in a neat, running, Norman hand. A special characteristic of this version is that some omissions seem to have been made in the body of the deed and to have been supplied at the foot of the parchment. These are five in number.[286] It is possible to regard them as corrections of clerical omissions due to carelessness or hurry in engrossing the deed; but the fact that one of the additions is distinctly in the King’s favour raises a strong presumption that they embodied additions made as afterthoughts to what had been originally dictated to the engrossing clerk, and that they were inserted at the King’s suggestion before he would adhibit the great seal. ----- Footnote 286: These are carefully noted among the variations described by the editors of the Charters of Liberties forming Part I. of the first volume of the _Statutes of the Realm_. These addenda are (1) at the end of c. 48, “_per eosdem, ita quod nos hoc sciamus prius, vel justiciarius noster, si in Anglia non fuerimus_,” providing that the King should receive intimation of all forest practices branded as “evil” before they are abrogated; (2) two small additions, near the beginning of c. 53, (a), “_et eodem modo de justicia exhibenda_,” and (b) “_vel remansuris forestis_”; (3) in c. 56, these four words, “_in Anglia vel in Wallia_”; and (4) in c. 61 the words “_in perpetuum_” after “_gaudere_.” In the 2nd British Museum MS. three of these addenda appear at the foot, viz. (1), (2_a_) and (2_b_); but the words of (3) and (4) are incorporated in the body of that MS. -----